Has Twitter influenced the way we read fiction? Perhaps. Kyle Peterson has launched a new matchbook literary magazine, published in a matchbook of course. The stories make Chekhov and Saki seem distinctly Tolstoyesque—300 characters or less. The matchbooks can be found for free at Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing and various bookstores and bars in the Bay Area.
It has yet to be seen if the business will expand beyond the Twitterati literati, especially those who smoke. Could new formats be genre based—Matchbook Mysteries? (“The butler did it with the candlestick in the Music Room to avenge his late sister who was wronged by Lord Abercrombie. The blood stain on the carpet in Lady Abercrombie’s room was intended to throw the police off his trail. The decisive clue was the typewritten note.”—268 characters) or better yet, perhaps Matchbook Poetry. After all, the format is conducive to haiku.
Read More at the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
