Five Questions with Our New Review Editor: Peter Fontaine

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Sophie Rosenblum: Tell our readers a little about yourself. What do you like to read? And Write?

Peter Fontaine: I’m thirty-five, I live in Atlanta, I work as a teacher, and my most exciting accomplishment of the year is being selected as the reviews editor at NANO Fiction, for which I’m very proud and grateful. As to what I read, there’s perhaps too much to tell. I love so many different genres and forms that I could keep us here all day listing everything I enjoy reading or I otherwise get something out of reading. I love discovering new authors who are brilliant but seemingly under everybody’s radar. A mentor turned me onto Leonard Michaels about six years ago and now I’m hooked for life. I came across Kathy Acker on my own years ago and it seems criminal to me more people aren’t reading her work and talking about her today. Both of them knew how to write dangerous work that was also sexy and even a little icky, the way it gets inside of you and makes you squirm. Back when I was writing fiction, that was the work I most wanted to do. Transgressive fiction is alluring and engrossing, but it’s also important fiction in how it challenges our perspective, the way we accept the world around us. When it’s executed properly, there’s probably nothing I enjoy reading (or writing) more.

SR: What got you interested in flash fiction?

PF: I took a summer fiction workshop back in 2007 that was thematically built around reading and generating flash fiction. It was the best fiction workshop I ever participated in as a student or teacher, and the form of writing a complete piece in 250-750 words was staggering in its promise and difficulty. It was the first time I truly felt like fiction was being treated with the gravity of poetry, where every word, every metaphor, every turn in the dialogue or narration was of exceeding importance. We slaved over our pieces in a way we never had before in a traditional workshop with conventional length stories. We also read and presented on amazing works as well. I remember reading two anthologies by Robert Shapard and James Thomas: Flash Fiction Forward and New Sudden Fiction. Both are excellent and well worth your time, literally and euphemistically. A dozen flash pieces each day and you’ll be finished outside of a week. I also read Robert Olen Butler’s Severance, which is a bit uneven, but good fun and fast. The form holds so much potential, and even though it’s as old as Hemingway (and his six word story), there are whole eras worth of work left to be done.

photoSR: Which reviews do you read? What kind of books will you be reviewing for NANO?

PF: I’ll read whatever reviews come my way. Usually, I’m interested in a particular author or a new title I hear is coming out soon and I’ll do the search online or at the library to find what reviews are available. I like knowing about books before I start reading them. I’m not a big believer in spoilers (or spoiler alerts for that matter). If something is really good, it can’t be spoiled by revealing a plot twist or dénouement. I’m currently at work finishing up a mandate of the reviews editor’s responsibilities and goals. This is a new role within the journal, and it needs some definition, but one thing absolutely certain to me is that I want to focus on books of flash, new or old.

SR: Describe your perfect day.

PF: If there is such a thing as a perfect day, then it is one I would make happen for myself. I can’t just wait for it to come along; the things we all want require action. Today, I’m answering the questions for this interview, responding to some student creative work, working at my summer tutoring job, reading Kathy Fish’s latest book, having dinner with my partner, and then meeting with a new friend to watch movies well into the evening with plenty of wine and homemade guacamole. It may not be the perfect day, but it’s the closest I can come to perfect for today.

SR: When will readers get to see NANO‘s first book review?

PF: Our first review will be available on June 3rd, and I am thrilled to have this opportunity to turn readers on to books of flash fiction!

Peter Fontaine earned his Ph.D. from Georgia State University and is currently a post-doctoral fellow at Georgia Tech. His reviews have been published in The Collagist, The Southeast Review, and The Monteserrat Review. He lives in Atlanta, GA.