Make Mercury Wobble

by Thomas Jay Rush

Matter has three properties: 1) it occupies space, 2) it has density, and 3) it has mass. This post is about mass.

Prior to Albert Einstein’s 1905 paper on the equivalence of mass and energy (E = Mc2), planetary scientists had a problem. Using the law of planetary motion and the equations for gravity they could predict the exact position of every planet far into the future—except one: Mercury. (more…)

Flash Is a Machine of Compression

Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared at Ethel Rohan’s blog “Straight From the Hip,” December 2009

In “Notes on Novel Structure” from Words Overflown By Stars: Creative Writing Instruction and Insight from the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA Program, Douglas Glover refers to the novel as “a machine of desire,” one in which “the writer generally tries to announce the desire, goal, or need of the primary character as quickly as possible.” The key, Glover believes, “is to make this desire concrete and simple.”
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Matter Press is now offering private flash fiction workshops and critiques of flash fiction collections here.

Upcoming:

03/23 • Kenneth Pobo
03/30 • Roberta Allen
04/06 • Avril Shakira Villar
04/13 • TBD
04/20 • TBD
04/27 • TBD
05/04 • TBD
05/11 • TBD
05/18 • TBD
05/25 • TBD
06/01 • TBD
06/08 • TBD
06/15 • TBD
06/22 • TBD
06/29 • TBD
07/06 • TBD
07/13 • TBD
07/20 • TBD
07/27 • TBD
08/03 • TBD
08/10 • TBD
08/17 • TBD
08/24 • TBD
08/31 • TBD
09/07 • TBD
09/14 • TBD
09/21 • TBD