Proles by Barry Bergman

A meaningful portrait of the distance between conviction and consequence
The post Proles by Barry Bergman appeared first on Independent Book Review.
https://independentbookreview.com/2026/02/04/proles-by-barry-bergman/

#bookreview #barrybergman #indiebookreview #litfic #LiteraryAndGeneralFiction

#Writing a short story (genre fic, not #LitFic , where it's all prose and not plot-forward) is like an animal hunting in the wild.

You surround the story idea and the characters. And you encircle it, constantly cutting off possible escape routes. You feint this way and that, until the story gets an inkling of what is coming...

By the end, you calmly apply the killing stroke—and the story, the reader, realizes that there was only one possible way it could end.

#WritingCommunity

✨ 2026 reading thread ✨

Book 1 of 2026

Kurangaituku by Whiti Hereaka

4.5 stars

A feminist retelling of a Maori legend with a kaleidoscopic structure. The three parts can be read in any order and the book is bound so there is no single canonical version of the story. You can start reading from either end or the middle, then flip the book over and read the rest. Apparently the ebook and audiobook versions do the same!

I started reading with the miromiro (light) section and the middle section, which were both 10/10 for me. I found the ruru (dark) section less engrossing and it was kind of a bummer to end on a low note, chasing the high I had when reading the other sections. Personally I don't think I would have enjoyed the story as much if I started with ruru, but I'm curious about others' experience reading in different orders!

Overall, this was such a unique reading experience. I really enjoy seeing art from cultures with very different narrative structures and storytelling motifs. And best of all it's powerful and beautifully written, with a few passages that spoke to me in ways that seared my soul.

#Reading #AmReading #Bookstodon #Books #BookReview #Fiction #Litfic

Just dropped a new Between Corners episode: A Blown Fuse…
A wiring failure, a short temper, and the moment Charlotte sees Doug in a way she never has before.

If you’re following the arc, this is a turning point.

https://open.substack.com/pub/betweencorners/p/a-blown-fuse?r=6v3six&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

#amwriting

#Fiction

#ShortStories

#SerialFiction

#LitFic

#IndieFiction