by: Tiffanie Gabrielse

Twenty Stories
by Kristin Fouquet
Rank Stranger Press
$14.95

Where do I start in my effort to explain the importance of reading the short story? Practically as old as civilization, the popular mode of distraction can be consumed and satisfy instantly. I like to think of short stories, or flash fiction, as an indulgence akin to a Lemon Drop shot: Consume it in one quick, satisfying gulp.

The most famous flash-fiction writer to pull the rug completely out from under the reader’s feet is Ernest Hemmingway. His internally impacting work consisted of only six brilliantly placed words, “For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn.”

Think about that for a moment. What other divergent literary genre could haunt the heart so swiftly?

Despite being one of the most powerful forms of entertainment, literature professionals struggle to define precisely what a short story is and continue to argue about how it should be crafted. New Orleans native and popular upcoming flash-fiction writer Kristin Fouquet feels the crux of the issue remains on how the journey impacts the reader.

Author of the literary collection Twenty Stories, Fouquet’s prose secrete a certain spectacular and creative mood that makes reading short fiction so damn enjoyable. Having come to fruition. After Hurricane Katrina hit, Fouquet and her husband moved to North Carolina. With an urge to pen and depict a life worth living, Fouquet created a group of stories that could be described by a bevy of adjectives: thought-provoking, seductive, short, incisive and spicy.

“There’s something so thrilling about reading something so short that can take you away and bring you back in such a short space,” Fouquet says with certainty. “And that‘s so important. An artist can be anyone. If you chose it, if you’re inspired by it, if you do it well and bring something more to it, you’re an artist.”

Her voice, soft and unlike one who struggled against one of the worst disasters to hit our nation, exudes excitement as she discussed her passion as a wordsmith. “What makes flash-fiction great is, it can take 10 minutes to read, but then you find yourself thinking about it all day,” she explains. “In a novel you are spoon-fed the information. In a short story, there’s negative space for the readers to use their own imaginations. You can create what you will and can have your own interpretation of the piece. It makes it more interactive.”

Juxtaposed with her narrative is the attitude of her home town. Readers can practically obtain the faint taste of piquant and provocative aromas of Creole and Cajun food right off the page. Like sitting under the heat of southern Louisiana, eating deep-fried beignets and sipping a glass of wine, when reading “Twenty Stories,” a sinful and complex ideology ascends to the surface.

“Reading on my own has been my education,” Fouquet says. “I’ve never had a creative writing class. As a small child there was always this mystique and mystery for me about living in New Orleans. My influence sat on a high shelf in the living room. There must have been at least 10 of these little, red leather-bound books. I was told that they were a collection of short stories written by a Frenchman named ‘Guy de Maupassant.’ They had belonged to my mother’s grandfather, and they were strictly off-limits. Naturally, the books became an exotic desire of mine. They were the forbidden fruit, and the first time I touched one, my hand on the embossed leather, I shuddered in excitement. Eventually, I read whatever was available to me, even drug-store novels.”

Today, Fouquet has returned to her beloved city, and watches yet another catastrophe, as the oil spill rips portions of its history away. Historic landmarks like T&J Oysters, which have been in business for 134 years, now must close their doors to the locals that love them. However, Fouquet remains spirited and steadfast like the short-story genre itself. The next project on her list is a novella titled after two famous New Orleans streets, “Rampart and Toulouse.”

“We’re stubborn people,” she quipes. “Feeling the history of this place is not easily described. It’s true, it’s a gamble to live here; it can be very precarious. That’s why we hang on to our culture—we never know if we’ll lose it for good. We live for every moment. We see the world not as it is but through who we are. You get over the bad stuff and you move on. We are a decadent society and I love it.”

To order Twenty Stories visit her personal website,“http://kristin.fouquet.cc/”http://kristin.fouquet.cc/