“Bird Wing” is a collection of flash fiction works by Dreena Collins. Reading one of Collins’ stories is something akin to splitting the atom. On the outside, they are small, round, and harmless. But once opened, they explode with power, impact, and precision. As a reader, I often found myself sitting in the epicentre, the eye of the storm, marvelling at what had just happened. As flash infers, this happens which such a dizzying speed. The temptation is to go back, again and again, like a child rifling through a bag of dangerous sweets. What will the next one taste like?
I have tried to write flash fiction, or I should say good flash fiction, and it is difficult. When you read the finished product of a virtuoso, and Collins undoubtedly is, you are reminded of a swan. On the surface, Collins seems to glide elegantly over the prose but, I can assure you, each word has been chosen from a cast of many, agonisingly placed, swapped out, and replaced, worried about and cared for.
This meticulous pursuit of perfection is what you are receiving when you read the extraordinary “Bird Wing.”
If a novelist paints on a large canvas (though I know Collins is working on a novel!), then here Collins is working with the same exactitude as the wonderful Willard Wigan, purveyor of the micro-sculpture. Willard creates his sculptures with a single grain of rice, or a scrap of nylon and mounts them into the eye of a needle, or some other unfathomable place of ludicrous smallness. Each stroke of Wigan’s blade is carried out beneath a microscope, between breaths and heartbeats, lest the natural rhythms of his body disturb. I imagine Dreena, should she read this, would draw a level of recognition from these tiny, super-human efforts.
I thoroughly recommend “Bird Wing” to any reader. The book is particularly suitable for those who like to dip in and out, but beware! The resonance of the stories will stay with you for days.
Collins is also the author of the short story collections “The Blue Hour” and “The Day I Nearly Drowned.”
Find links to purchase “Bird Wing,” “The Blue Hour” and “The Day I Nearly Drowned” in the shop.
Read my review of “The Day I Nearly Drowned” here.
Simon Gary is the author of the comic novel “Gone to the Dogs” and its brand new prequel, “Thryke: The Man That Nobody Knew.”