Index of Placebo Effects

Now available is our third title, Carol Guess’s Index of Placebo Effects, a collection of flash fiction. $6.95 + $3.00 shipping.

Carol Guess explains, “This tiny book is based on the index of my father’s co-edited anthology, The Science of the Placebo. I selected terms from the index of his book and used them to organize a fractured, fragmented narrative that was originally part of a longer manuscript titled Hand mit Ringen. While I was working on Doll Studies: Forensics, I winnowed part of that longer manuscript into the story of a vet returning from WWII. It appears in Doll Studies as “Departure Lounge.” Then I worried and revised and changed the remaining material, adding and subtracting, returning to the original narrative: the story of two women, a plane crash, and too many cameras. Guided at first by the NATO phonetic alphabet, I eventually used the index of my father’s book to structure their story, which became Index of Placebo Effects. As always, I miss my father, and wish I could share this process with him. I suppose the path to scientific discovery is not that different from the path to a story: hard work and happy accidents.”

Carol Guess is the author of ten books: Seeing Dell, Switch, Gaslight, Femme’s Dictionary, Love Is A Map I Must Not Set On Fire, Tinderbox Lawn, Homeschooling, Darling Endangered, My Father In Water, And Doll Studies: Forensics. She teaches creative writing and queer studies at Western Washington University, where she is Professor of English. you can email her at carolannguess (at) gmail (dot) com.

Or send a check for $10.00 ($7.00 + $3.00 shipping) to:
Matter Press
PO Box 704
Wynnewood, PA 19096

Matter Press is now offering private flash fiction workshops and critiques of flash fiction collections here.

Upcoming:

11/17 • Alison Colwell
11/24 • Lucy Zhang
12/01 • Salvatore Difalco
12/08 • Rowan Tate
12/15 • Isabelle Ness
12/22 • Catherine Bai
12/29 • Stephan Viau
01/05 • Allison Blevins
01/12 • Justin Ocelot
01/19 • Yejun Chun
01/26 • Mathieu Parsy
02/02 • TBD
02/09 • TBD
02/16 • TBD
02/23 • TBD