Remembering The Gutter
For those of you that were there when The Gutter (Tribe's Flashing In The Gutters) was in full swing, it was a sight (and a site) to be relished like a dog in a bun.
It housed the best collection of flash fiction under 700 words, mostly with a crime bent, but no other rules restricting submissions. Along with Olen Steinhauer, Duane Szwierczynski and a few others, I happened to be one of the first to submit, the story being Poodle Girl.
My sentimental Australian abbreviation, The Gutter, caught on some. Tribe even referenced it himself. In my country, you know you've made it when you've been abbreviated. Although sometimes that abbreviation is more like an extension ... AC/DC = Acker Dacker.
Here are three of my stories from those wild and crazy heydays. For those of you that may remember, one of them is missing. It's doing the rounds in an extended version, so I won't spoil the fun when it comes.
Jesse's Lucky Knife (PDF)
Inspired by Blind Willie McTell's 'The Dying Crapshooter's Blues'.
Down In The Hole (PDF)
It's not easy being careful when you're that damned drunk.
Poodle Girl (PDF)
Playing in the park doesn't always turn out as expected.
6 comments:
Jessie's Lucky Knife. Loved it then, loved it now. I didn't know about The Gutter until April or May of last year. Steve Allan told me about it. Actually, what he said was more like, "You haven't checked it out? What the fuck is wrong with you?" Damn, I miss it.
But Aldo Calcagno and DZ Allen are putting up some good flash on their sites.
I miss it too. And I miss Tribe's voice on here even more. I'm turning my stories into longer pieces and one into a novel (or trying to). It was such a great way to generate ideas personally and for the crime fiction community at large, a common interest.
I never could get my huskies into buns. They don't fit. And they're far too big and stubborn.
So I can't compare it to that, but FITG was something else.
Patrick, I really should get together some flash for those guys. Gotta keep the flash alive and flowing.
Patti, it felt so much like a playground for writers to experiment in. I learned a lot from the place.
Sandra, I think it was the recent post on Greg Olsen at Murderati that got me thinking exactly on those lines. You must have read between them.
I miss the Gutter...
*sigh*
Thanks to Tribe and his brilliant baby, I got my feet wet and realized that, not only could I string together a few good sentences, but also develope them into a story worth reading. I miss Flashing In The Gutters and I hope there is a special place in Literary Hell for a certain group of trolls.
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