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I Hear You're Rich
Diane Williams, “godmother of flash fiction” (The Paris Review), returns with 33 short, brilliant stories.
In Williams’ stories, life is newly alive and dangerous; whether she is writing about an affair, a request for money, an afternoon in a garden, or the simple act of carrying a cake from one room to the next, she offers us beautiful and unsettling new ways of seeing everyday life. In perfectly honed sentences, with a sly and occasionally wild wit, Williams shows us how any moment of any day can open onto disappointment, pleasure, and possibility.
In Williams’ stories, life is newly alive and dangerous; whether she is writing about an affair, a request for money, an afternoon in a garden, or the simple act of carrying a cake from one room to the next, she offers us beautiful and unsettling new ways of seeing everyday life. In perfectly honed sentences, with a sly and occasionally wild wit, Williams shows us how any moment of any day can open onto disappointment, pleasure, and possibility.
128 pages, Hardcover
Published August 1, 2023
45 people are currently reading
896 people want to read
About the author
Diane Williams
98 books151 followersDiane Williams is an American author, primarily of short stories. She lives in New York City and is the founder and editor of the literary annual NOON (est. 2000). She has published 8 books and taught at Bard College, Syracuse University and The Center for Fiction in New York City.
Her books have been reviewed in many publications, including the New York Times Book Review ("An operation worthy of a master spy, a double agent in the house of fiction") and The Los Angeles Times ("One of America's most exciting violators of habit is [Diane] Williams…the extremity that Williams depicts and the extremity of the depiction evoke something akin to the pity and fear that the great writers of antiquity considered central to literature. Her stories, by removing you from ordinary literary experience, place you more deeply in ordinary life. 'Isn't ordinary life strange?' they ask, and in so asking, they revivify and console”).
Jonathan Franzen describes her as "one of the true living heroes of the American avant-garde. Her fiction makes very familiar things very, very weird." Ben Marcus suggested that her "outrageous and ferociously strange stories test the limits of behavior, of manners, of language, and mark Diane Williams as a startlingly original writer worthy of our closest attention."
Her books have been reviewed in many publications, including the New York Times Book Review ("An operation worthy of a master spy, a double agent in the house of fiction") and The Los Angeles Times ("One of America's most exciting violators of habit is [Diane] Williams…the extremity that Williams depicts and the extremity of the depiction evoke something akin to the pity and fear that the great writers of antiquity considered central to literature. Her stories, by removing you from ordinary literary experience, place you more deeply in ordinary life. 'Isn't ordinary life strange?' they ask, and in so asking, they revivify and console”).
Jonathan Franzen describes her as "one of the true living heroes of the American avant-garde. Her fiction makes very familiar things very, very weird." Ben Marcus suggested that her "outrageous and ferociously strange stories test the limits of behavior, of manners, of language, and mark Diane Williams as a startlingly original writer worthy of our closest attention."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 99 reviews
December 16, 2024
Jonathan Franzen said ‘A true living hero of the American avant-garde’. This is exactly that. A new way (to me) something different, through still very palatable. Short vignettes; a kind of rambley random way of saying what has just popped into her head.
💫
“What a relief. Peace at last. I am highly
sexed.
Food was forever being served at the Mocks’ and when I woke, I could just grab for something to eat—as if the biscuits and breads were dangling from branches.”
💫
I think this writer is a force of her own. This was soulful, I think she’d be a quirky whimsical woman. I’d love to hear what other readers thought of this one.
I shelved my copy under the incorrect edition on Goodreads, meaning it became buried and here we are reviewing late. Thanks @scribepub for my copy, I’m always in awe of your diversity across every imaginable genre and format.
💫
“What a relief. Peace at last. I am highly
sexed.
Food was forever being served at the Mocks’ and when I woke, I could just grab for something to eat—as if the biscuits and breads were dangling from branches.”
💫
I think this writer is a force of her own. This was soulful, I think she’d be a quirky whimsical woman. I’d love to hear what other readers thought of this one.
I shelved my copy under the incorrect edition on Goodreads, meaning it became buried and here we are reviewing late. Thanks @scribepub for my copy, I’m always in awe of your diversity across every imaginable genre and format.
August 13, 2023
If you need a quick book to finish your reading goal, this is a short book that exists
March 16, 2023
Girl, no.
I realize that Diane Williams is seen as a master of form, and I like quirky, stylized writing. However, I feel like this collection was taking the piss a bit, so to speak. Stringing a few abstract, convoluted sentences together and calling them a "story" is a bit much, and Williams seemed so intent on being cryptic and post-modern that it lost me entirely. I get nuance, I can dig for deeper meaning and see the bigger picture, but this was a true struggle.
This was my first Williams collection (I have another on my TBR) and I want to say it'll be my last, but I'm hoping this is a singular case of self-indulgent drivel and not a return to form or anything.
I realize that Diane Williams is seen as a master of form, and I like quirky, stylized writing. However, I feel like this collection was taking the piss a bit, so to speak. Stringing a few abstract, convoluted sentences together and calling them a "story" is a bit much, and Williams seemed so intent on being cryptic and post-modern that it lost me entirely. I get nuance, I can dig for deeper meaning and see the bigger picture, but this was a true struggle.
This was my first Williams collection (I have another on my TBR) and I want to say it'll be my last, but I'm hoping this is a singular case of self-indulgent drivel and not a return to form or anything.
April 26, 2025
Sneeze-and-you-miss-it type of book. Let’s just say I sneezed.
I picked up the audiobook because I needed a book with a bird on the cover for a challenge. I thought it was short stories and then it turned out to be microfiction (aka: paragraphs/a bunch of sentences).
Quirky. Too short for me to have anything remote to an opinion about whether they’re good or bad, but I can certainly say none of them made any impression on me. Some of them started interesting but then the paragraph ended and it wasn’t wow-ing enough for me to have an “ooh” moment. Does this make sense? Lol anyways, bye.
I picked up the audiobook because I needed a book with a bird on the cover for a challenge. I thought it was short stories and then it turned out to be microfiction (aka: paragraphs/a bunch of sentences).
Quirky. Too short for me to have anything remote to an opinion about whether they’re good or bad, but I can certainly say none of them made any impression on me. Some of them started interesting but then the paragraph ended and it wasn’t wow-ing enough for me to have an “ooh” moment. Does this make sense? Lol anyways, bye.
June 16, 2024
This is like my notes app after I’ve taken an edible.
October 27, 2023
No one else could write these sentences, nor change direction this unpredictably.
I Hear You’re Rich
Diane Williams
‘I am afraid I’ve overdone it,’ Connie said, and she patted her belly, and from the street I heard a hammer that was hitting metal somewhere.
I was eating their fish and little cakes that had cheese in them, and vegetables that can stink up one’s breath after they are eaten – endives and radishes. And I was fortunate to know them – Constance and George Mock.
‘Can you give me some of your money? I hear you’re rich,’ I said because of the wine.
Connie said, ‘Rosie!’
‘Let’s call that a joke,’ George said. ‘That was a joke,’
I was mortified – also tearful because they had decided to leave town.
I am too old for this – but I am still unmistakably in need of parents, and the Mocks know this. They also know that their sad daughter Stephanie has always called me her best friend.
‘Can you get coffee for us, George?’ Connie said.
I could see Mr. Mock in the kitchen, stepping across their checkerboard floor, onto the black squares only, diagonally, so then I jumped up and I hopscotched in to help him.
–
The Mocks kindly took me along to their island house where Connie gifted me a charm – a carved limestone bird whose smile, I think, looks like a smirk.
‘I hope you will wear it,’ she said. ‘I hope you will love it.’
Arnold Turner, their neighbor, came by and he tugged at my arm and he said, ‘Did you mean her for me?’
‘Arnold, look what we did!’ George said, pointing toward their flowing grasses, the tropical flowers.
‘I prefer the woods!’ Mr. Turner said. ‘My daughter has the woods! My son has the sea! What do you have?’ he asked me. ‘I expect you have a career?’
‘Yes, I do,’ I answered.
He had no further questions. His lips were shut, hands clasped, but his chin is dimpled just like my brother’s is.
So Mr. Turner did not have to wait days before we were alone in the throes and he was sweating and puffing in my company.
What a relief. Peace at last. I am highly sexed.
Many persons in the past have also given me their all – Dylan, Andy, Chris, Matt, Connor and Bill Kawa, and Judd Friedenberg.
Food was forever being served at the Mocks and when I woke, I could just grab for something to eat – as if the biscuits and breads were dangling from branches.
My breakfast was ample enough to last the whole the day and then I’d head for their pool where the luncheon buffet was spread out at one end.
Yes, I swim. I think it is the closest thing to walking on air, although it is strenuous.
I lie down and I face the world there.
I Hear You’re Rich
Diane Williams
‘I am afraid I’ve overdone it,’ Connie said, and she patted her belly, and from the street I heard a hammer that was hitting metal somewhere.
I was eating their fish and little cakes that had cheese in them, and vegetables that can stink up one’s breath after they are eaten – endives and radishes. And I was fortunate to know them – Constance and George Mock.
‘Can you give me some of your money? I hear you’re rich,’ I said because of the wine.
Connie said, ‘Rosie!’
‘Let’s call that a joke,’ George said. ‘That was a joke,’
I was mortified – also tearful because they had decided to leave town.
I am too old for this – but I am still unmistakably in need of parents, and the Mocks know this. They also know that their sad daughter Stephanie has always called me her best friend.
‘Can you get coffee for us, George?’ Connie said.
I could see Mr. Mock in the kitchen, stepping across their checkerboard floor, onto the black squares only, diagonally, so then I jumped up and I hopscotched in to help him.
–
The Mocks kindly took me along to their island house where Connie gifted me a charm – a carved limestone bird whose smile, I think, looks like a smirk.
‘I hope you will wear it,’ she said. ‘I hope you will love it.’
Arnold Turner, their neighbor, came by and he tugged at my arm and he said, ‘Did you mean her for me?’
‘Arnold, look what we did!’ George said, pointing toward their flowing grasses, the tropical flowers.
‘I prefer the woods!’ Mr. Turner said. ‘My daughter has the woods! My son has the sea! What do you have?’ he asked me. ‘I expect you have a career?’
‘Yes, I do,’ I answered.
He had no further questions. His lips were shut, hands clasped, but his chin is dimpled just like my brother’s is.
So Mr. Turner did not have to wait days before we were alone in the throes and he was sweating and puffing in my company.
What a relief. Peace at last. I am highly sexed.
Many persons in the past have also given me their all – Dylan, Andy, Chris, Matt, Connor and Bill Kawa, and Judd Friedenberg.
Food was forever being served at the Mocks and when I woke, I could just grab for something to eat – as if the biscuits and breads were dangling from branches.
My breakfast was ample enough to last the whole the day and then I’d head for their pool where the luncheon buffet was spread out at one end.
Yes, I swim. I think it is the closest thing to walking on air, although it is strenuous.
I lie down and I face the world there.
January 1, 2024
I’m not exactly sure what say about this collection of micro fiction. While i’ve been reading quite a few story collections, i’ve never encountered flash fiction in large quantities like this. It’s hard to feel impacted given their short length, so there’s a lot of reading between the lines. I found this okay with the first half of the stories. I enjoyed the stories with simplistic scenes of daily life that amounted to something bigger, such as “Oriel?” and “Live a Little.” I also enjoyed the complicated relationship stories like “Tale of Passion” and “To What Beautiful End?”that looked at what love means for women. “A Slew of Attractions” also stood out to me because the narrator describes seeing her face in a painting, and I was gifted this collection because I look like the woman on its cover.
However, for each story I enjoyed, there were another four that didn’t work for me. All the stories have a meandering quality to them, and towards the second half I found it harder to want to follow along. Many of the stories felt like puzzles that I couldn’t care enough to solve. Much of the writing in this collection felt abstract and at times performative. Sometimes I liked this, but other times I found myself annoyed. I also wasn’t crazy about the consistent depiction of women as fragile, pretty objects. I get challenging norms by displaying them, but this felt like it was more reaffirming them. But who knows, I might consider picking these up again because of their length. Perhaps they get better upon multiple reads.
However, for each story I enjoyed, there were another four that didn’t work for me. All the stories have a meandering quality to them, and towards the second half I found it harder to want to follow along. Many of the stories felt like puzzles that I couldn’t care enough to solve. Much of the writing in this collection felt abstract and at times performative. Sometimes I liked this, but other times I found myself annoyed. I also wasn’t crazy about the consistent depiction of women as fragile, pretty objects. I get challenging norms by displaying them, but this felt like it was more reaffirming them. But who knows, I might consider picking these up again because of their length. Perhaps they get better upon multiple reads.
August 27, 2023
This is the third book I've read by Diane Williams and I consider myself a fan but while I liked this collection, I still felt a bit let down. I heavily associate her with flash or micro fiction but most of the stories in this book felt to long (most clocked in at 4 pages or so) and focused heavily on recurring motifs and themes of birds and affairs. I think I wanted shorter stories that gave bit more of a punch.
July 23, 2023
Well, I don't know if I'm just stupid, or these really are difficult to understand. Find out more through my #bookreview on my blog here. https://tcl-bookreviews.com/2023/07/2...
March 13, 2023
Please read my review here:
https://rogueliterarysociety.com/f/i-...
https://rogueliterarysociety.com/f/i-...
June 25, 2025
”I intend to be unreservedly triumphant in love- that sounds good- also undefeated in all other drastically risky aspects of my life."
You would think that this would be invigorating and scandalous as hell with a title like that. Sadly, it wasn’t. If this was life, I would drink the kool-aid.
You would think that this would be invigorating and scandalous as hell with a title like that. Sadly, it wasn’t. If this was life, I would drink the kool-aid.
March 23, 2023
Agh, omg, Soho Press, yall are too good to me. I was so thankful to open up this package from the ever-lovely Diane Williams and Soho Press to consume and digest it. This written prose and short story collection's humor and individuality stand out and are revolutionary in their stance. I Hear You're Rich is very well constructed and makes for a great palette cleanser, but also a real thinker for those who appreciate complex narratives within shorter time frames.
I Hear You're Rich is set to publish on August 8, 2023, and I can't wait for this big day!
I Hear You're Rich is set to publish on August 8, 2023, and I can't wait for this big day!
November 7, 2023
‘Readers who love the arresting phrase, the surprising word, will gravitate to Diane Williams’ – from an LA Times review.
These super short stories (mostly around two pages) are sprightly, playful, strange, slippery and a lot of fun. Her sentences are highly original, dynamic. I read a lot of them out loud. I sort of performed them to myself.
Mysterious, perplexing, consistently unpredictable, consistently fresh. I loved it. This was my third helping of Williams - I also loved her collections Vicky Swanky is a Beauty, and How High? – That High.
These super short stories (mostly around two pages) are sprightly, playful, strange, slippery and a lot of fun. Her sentences are highly original, dynamic. I read a lot of them out loud. I sort of performed them to myself.
Mysterious, perplexing, consistently unpredictable, consistently fresh. I loved it. This was my third helping of Williams - I also loved her collections Vicky Swanky is a Beauty, and How High? – That High.
September 3, 2023
Can’t believe the CHIRB has let me down like this.
I’ve never read any flash fiction before so this was all new to me. I liked some of these stories, but - I counted - only 12 out of 33, so about a third, and most of those in the first half of the book, which made the second a real slog to get through.
I will say this for Diane Williams, though: she sure knows how to write a last couple of haunting sentences to finish off her stories.
I’ve never read any flash fiction before so this was all new to me. I liked some of these stories, but - I counted - only 12 out of 33, so about a third, and most of those in the first half of the book, which made the second a real slog to get through.
I will say this for Diane Williams, though: she sure knows how to write a last couple of haunting sentences to finish off her stories.
December 18, 2023
These were very good, I don’t read a lot of short stories and as good as they were I wanted a little more. 3.5
July 28, 2024
This was my first true experience with reading Flash Fiction and I guess it was…ok?
I tend to struggle with things like this because immersion is so important to me in fiction, and almost by definition that’s difficult to achieve when the entire book is essentially composed of vignettes.
I think the entries in this needed to be more cohesive and more of a whole, so to speak, for this to be truly successful. As it was published it feels choppy and difficult to find much meaning in, and I think that a bit more consistency of theme and tying together of the individual micro fictions would have made this book a lot more successful.
Still, Williams writes compellingly, and this makes me curious about her work beyond this experimental piece.
*I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.*
I tend to struggle with things like this because immersion is so important to me in fiction, and almost by definition that’s difficult to achieve when the entire book is essentially composed of vignettes.
I think the entries in this needed to be more cohesive and more of a whole, so to speak, for this to be truly successful. As it was published it feels choppy and difficult to find much meaning in, and I think that a bit more consistency of theme and tying together of the individual micro fictions would have made this book a lot more successful.
Still, Williams writes compellingly, and this makes me curious about her work beyond this experimental piece.
*I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.*
May 4, 2024
First of all, I don’t know how anyone could call these “stories”. They’re scenes at best and one run on sentence of gibberish at worst.
The writing is stilted, bland and often weirdly repetitive and erotic. Not erotic in a good way. Erotic like you accidentally caught a glimpse of adulterous seniors across the way mid-coitus. The whole time I was reading this I was thinking why was this even published? What merit and use do these words have? In 100 pages there are 33 stories. No exaggeration.
There are names of people but no characters, because how could there be? It’s like constant set up with no pay off. Like someone is trying to tell you a bad joke but wanders off before dropping the punch line.
I truly am curious what any editor could see in this that made it worth publishing?! In the entire book there was a good line here or there but let’s be honest—one good line does not make a book!
Considering this had such a good cover I am not just disappointed but actually dumbfounded. Wtf did I just read? (Not in a good way.)
The writing is stilted, bland and often weirdly repetitive and erotic. Not erotic in a good way. Erotic like you accidentally caught a glimpse of adulterous seniors across the way mid-coitus. The whole time I was reading this I was thinking why was this even published? What merit and use do these words have? In 100 pages there are 33 stories. No exaggeration.
There are names of people but no characters, because how could there be? It’s like constant set up with no pay off. Like someone is trying to tell you a bad joke but wanders off before dropping the punch line.
I truly am curious what any editor could see in this that made it worth publishing?! In the entire book there was a good line here or there but let’s be honest—one good line does not make a book!
Considering this had such a good cover I am not just disappointed but actually dumbfounded. Wtf did I just read? (Not in a good way.)
December 1, 2023
Deceptively slim – there’s only 111 pages, but you have to read each story at least three times to even kinda get it, so tourists beware. No story is boring, most are rewarding. There are a handful of head-scratchers – must have read the title story and “A Slew of Attractions” 10 times, and still feel stupid – but the best ones, like “Fredella” and “Phoebe Moffat: The Early Years,” are magic. She’s a true original.
October 5, 2023
My first flash fiction and my first Diane Williams… overall enjoyed
November 2, 2023
The best thing about this book was the length; I just couldn’t find the point of 90% of the stories though.
November 10, 2023
quirked up queen of concision!! let her cook ad infinitum. Those sentences need all that white page to breathe
January 5, 2024
Snappy, and quick to read. Masterful flash fiction, though occasionally frustrated because I wanted more!
August 10, 2025
I don’t use the fan nearly enough in summertime when I need it. The relic has been in the dark and unremembered. I don’t use it. I never used it. Nobody ever used it. I wouldn’t think of using it. I bought it. I just found it. I went looking for it.
August 14, 2023
flash fiction
October 10, 2024
I had no clue wtf was going on in this book
August 19, 2025
I literally couldn’t tell you one thing that happened. This book really took the piss. Flash fiction? More like run on sentence that changes direction every three words.
October 30, 2023
I read this book in a single morning, there are only 2 of the short stories that i somewhat enjoyed; The Tune, because I love birds and feeling like they love me back, and Phoebe Moffat - The Early Years, because she reminded me of me in some ways and the relatability was comforting. Otherwise, I found most of the sentences to be disconcerting and the stories to be disconnected from themselves and from me.
September 22, 2025
The other day at work I was helping a customer look for a Dennis Cooper book that we couldn't find, and was probably stolen. We got to talking because I am also a Cooper fan, and I walked with him to the small press section to show him some like-minded authors that he may not know about.
He was a young man, probably anywhere in his twenties, and we said our names to each other. He explained to me that he loved Cooper because, though most people are drawn to him because of the shock value, he said "there is a lot of love in his books." I thought that was a surprising (but nice) way of reading those books. I probably fall into that "shock value" camp myself, though, for me, the shock does indeed hold something deeper in the primal brain–a naked glimpse into human hunger and survival.
I showed him a few books and told him a few funny personal anecdotes about authors I've met through the years. He was familiar with many of them. Thinking a little outside of the Dennis Cooper wheelhouse, I showed him the display of Diane Williams' literary journal, NOON, which is my favorite literary publication. As I flashed through some of the pages for him, I showed him the peculiar flash fictions, the cool art, the impeccable layout, and brilliant curation. I said something unguarded and unrehearsed that came to me in that moment. I told him that the work of Diane Williams and her once-a-year gift of NOON was comforting to me. Like comfort food, like a unique friend, like an inner language or an inside joke.
So this weekend I finished this collection that I've been slowly picking through since its 2023 release. And I felt refreshed and justified in my adoration for this American original (who will be 80 in January). I Hear You're Rich is an eccentric, unpredictable, and unapologetic collection of very short fictions that are also, at times, very very funny. The language feels like a heightened sort of gossip, like a poet recalling an embarrassing moment at a posh party. I've always loved how DW tosses in some blunt sexuality like a chef spicing up a dish, and there are wonderful flashes of that throughout these 120 pages as well.
I want to end this "review" by recalling a funny interaction I once had with Diane Williams (who I have also interviewed in the past as well–for New York Tyrant and The Believer). When she came to Powell's in 2019, I was chatting with her before her reading and I told her that I wanted to someday submit stories to NOON again (I'd been rejected a couple of times through the years) and she encouraged me to do so (I still haven't though). She said, "It's so hard to find good stories." It was a comment that caught me off guard, like, are you being real right now? But it made me realize that here was a woman, a reader, an editor, an individual!, who sees stories in a way that no one else does. I think she sees them as deeply personal and specific indentations of life. An uncomfortable comfort.
He was a young man, probably anywhere in his twenties, and we said our names to each other. He explained to me that he loved Cooper because, though most people are drawn to him because of the shock value, he said "there is a lot of love in his books." I thought that was a surprising (but nice) way of reading those books. I probably fall into that "shock value" camp myself, though, for me, the shock does indeed hold something deeper in the primal brain–a naked glimpse into human hunger and survival.
I showed him a few books and told him a few funny personal anecdotes about authors I've met through the years. He was familiar with many of them. Thinking a little outside of the Dennis Cooper wheelhouse, I showed him the display of Diane Williams' literary journal, NOON, which is my favorite literary publication. As I flashed through some of the pages for him, I showed him the peculiar flash fictions, the cool art, the impeccable layout, and brilliant curation. I said something unguarded and unrehearsed that came to me in that moment. I told him that the work of Diane Williams and her once-a-year gift of NOON was comforting to me. Like comfort food, like a unique friend, like an inner language or an inside joke.
So this weekend I finished this collection that I've been slowly picking through since its 2023 release. And I felt refreshed and justified in my adoration for this American original (who will be 80 in January). I Hear You're Rich is an eccentric, unpredictable, and unapologetic collection of very short fictions that are also, at times, very very funny. The language feels like a heightened sort of gossip, like a poet recalling an embarrassing moment at a posh party. I've always loved how DW tosses in some blunt sexuality like a chef spicing up a dish, and there are wonderful flashes of that throughout these 120 pages as well.
I want to end this "review" by recalling a funny interaction I once had with Diane Williams (who I have also interviewed in the past as well–for New York Tyrant and The Believer). When she came to Powell's in 2019, I was chatting with her before her reading and I told her that I wanted to someday submit stories to NOON again (I'd been rejected a couple of times through the years) and she encouraged me to do so (I still haven't though). She said, "It's so hard to find good stories." It was a comment that caught me off guard, like, are you being real right now? But it made me realize that here was a woman, a reader, an editor, an individual!, who sees stories in a way that no one else does. I think she sees them as deeply personal and specific indentations of life. An uncomfortable comfort.
June 14, 2023
My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Soho Press for an advanced copy of this collection of shorter than short stories.
Brevity is the soul of wit, and can make for some very good short stories. Diane Williams, writer, educator, mentor and magazine publisher, along with much more, is known as the godmother of flash fiction for her stories, and for her championing of the medium. Williams' magazine NOON, comes out yearly featuring works not only by the author, but by others both familiar and debuting. Quite a few of her stories are shorter than the previous sentence. I Hear You're Rich is a collection of thirty-four stories ranging from very short to a few pages.
The stories touch on love, hate, confusion, life, death, and much more confusion. Unlike earlier works these seem even more experimental, different in how they are presented and even more where the stories take the reader. If at all possible they could even be considered more minimalist. Sometimes the theme is clear, sometimes the story just ends. One of them we seem to join in the middle of. As in any collection there are a few that stand out, and some that can be glossed over. If there is a theme for the stories, I think it would be that to quote a British album title, modern life is rubbish. Some hit hard. Some land a glancing blow, one or two wiff it, but the swing and the effort is appreciated. Williams has a real gift for words, knowing what fits, what a reader should know, or what the reader can fill it. Like Count Basie its the words that Williams doesn't use that really make the story.
To write small is hard, I know from my own writing that a half full page looks like a lazy day spent working. However to get in, leave a mark and get out, that takes real skill. The book is only 128 pages, but I recommend not reading it all at once. In multitude the message and feelings can be lost, or the reader whelmed but what is on the page. Best to read one or maybe two or three on the weekend. Let them stay in the mind, and work out what one thinks. A collection of stories probably not for everyone, but that is true about many things. When one has said what is needed to be said what is left. Diane Williams knows this well.
Brevity is the soul of wit, and can make for some very good short stories. Diane Williams, writer, educator, mentor and magazine publisher, along with much more, is known as the godmother of flash fiction for her stories, and for her championing of the medium. Williams' magazine NOON, comes out yearly featuring works not only by the author, but by others both familiar and debuting. Quite a few of her stories are shorter than the previous sentence. I Hear You're Rich is a collection of thirty-four stories ranging from very short to a few pages.
The stories touch on love, hate, confusion, life, death, and much more confusion. Unlike earlier works these seem even more experimental, different in how they are presented and even more where the stories take the reader. If at all possible they could even be considered more minimalist. Sometimes the theme is clear, sometimes the story just ends. One of them we seem to join in the middle of. As in any collection there are a few that stand out, and some that can be glossed over. If there is a theme for the stories, I think it would be that to quote a British album title, modern life is rubbish. Some hit hard. Some land a glancing blow, one or two wiff it, but the swing and the effort is appreciated. Williams has a real gift for words, knowing what fits, what a reader should know, or what the reader can fill it. Like Count Basie its the words that Williams doesn't use that really make the story.
To write small is hard, I know from my own writing that a half full page looks like a lazy day spent working. However to get in, leave a mark and get out, that takes real skill. The book is only 128 pages, but I recommend not reading it all at once. In multitude the message and feelings can be lost, or the reader whelmed but what is on the page. Best to read one or maybe two or three on the weekend. Let them stay in the mind, and work out what one thinks. A collection of stories probably not for everyone, but that is true about many things. When one has said what is needed to be said what is left. Diane Williams knows this well.
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