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Two-Fisted Tweets (2011)

by James Hutchings(Favorite Author)

3.1 of 5 Votes: 2

languge

English

genre

Humor

publisher

Smashwords

review 1: "Two-Fisted Tweets" by James Hutchings is VERY brief. If not for its brevity, I would have awarded it more stars, because there are some exceptional gems in here. Sadly, Hutchings put the very best one (in my opinion) as the first one in the book, so it was kind of downhill from there. Perhaps I should explain a bit more about what this book is. "Two-Fisted Tweets" are short pearls of wisdom (or, conversely, stupidity) that might have been found on the Social Networking site, Twitter. Each of these one-liners would fit within the character limit set by that network. Consequently, there is a lot of white space surrounding each gem, for the sole purpose of adding more pages to the book. All these one-liners could probably be made to fit on two facing pages, but that would gr... moreeatly detract from the desirability of the book. As I mentioned above, these are essentially "tweets" which may or may not actually have been found on Twitter. Regardless, they DO comply with the restrictions, so they COULD have been found there. Some of the tweets are critical of the federal government, which is a pleasure uniquely enjoyed in the USA, due to our Constitutionally guaranteed freedom of expression. Others are simple paraphrases of other common remarks, which may insult some while providing laughter to others. However, there are no sacred cows in this short book, so no topic is off limits.I already opined re: the "best" tweet, because it so absolutely coincides with the absurdity of the position taken by so many politicos engaged in a contemporary hotbed of discussion. Huh? You'll have to read it yourself, because I refuse to give away what I consider the best tweet, and I also refuse to give away my position on the topic. You will know immediately what I'm talking about once you read it. In spite of its brevity, "Two-Fisted Tweets" is a book many people should have. Reading it will bring you a measure of pleasure. Memorizing a few of the more relevant tweets will give you ammunition that will make you appear wise and all-knowing during your next "discussion" over a case of beer. I strongly recommend it. However, in an unusual move, I will also recommend to the author, James Hutchings, that he dig a little deeper; I'm certain he could come up with a lot more of these little tidbits of speculative wisdom for his next book! And I do hope there will be a "next book" of two-fisted tweets.
review 2: I hadn't heard of 'Flash Fiction' until Hutchings approached me to read Two Fisted Tweets. Curiosity, and that James is a fellow Australian, saw me accept his work even though I had no clear idea how to review it.A little bit of googling informs me that the style, with its limited word length, forces some of the traditional story elements: protagonist, conflict, obstacles or complications, and resolution, to remain unwritten, that is, hinted at or implied in the written storyline. A famous example of the style is Ernest Hemmingway "For sale: baby shoes, never worn." With Twitter's popularity, the idea has had a ressurgence and there are several websites (and twitter feeds) devoted to Twitter Fiction - a story told in 140 characters or less.So, based on my limited understanding of the goal of this type of fiction, Hutchings has created some interesting stories, though I think some work better than others. My favourite's included a malfuctioning time machine and Thomas the Tank Engine's inner monologue. One or two seem more like punchlines to a joke.I imagine its an incredible challenge to tell an original story in only a few words. To be successful, I also think the reader has to be willing to look for the subtleties and perhaps have a similar frame of reference to the author.Two-Fisted Tweets contains just 30 stories and so is an extremely short read. I am not sure Flash Fiction will be a reading interest of mine, but the challenge of writing it could be interesting. I'd like to thank James Hutchings for making me aware of this unique new form of fiction. Two-Fisted Tweets is available at Smashwords for download. less

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