Glass Coin took some time out of their busy workings to share some deets. Yet another excellent publication here at the old Fictionaut spaceship, gov’nah.

Q (Nicolle Elizabeth): Jo what’s the Glass Coin group all about? Tell us everything.

JM Prescott: The Glass Coin is an online flash fiction, flash prose, poetry and spoken word zine. Every month we have a new split-them that explores two sides of an idea. Beginnings & Endings, Cup & Saucer, Heroes & Villains, just to name a few. Each Monday we post two pieces, poetry or flash, one for each side of the theme.

The Glass Coin Fictionaut Group is a place where Fictionaut writers can get a little inside look at the zine and some guaranteed feedback from an editor. Anything can be posted to The Glass Coin Group and will receive honest and constructive feedback. At times this has led to us inviting a writer to submit something to The Glass Coin and we have published writers this way.

Spoken word is involved somehow? Ooh how loud. I like loud. Why SW what’s the deal? Do you host spoken word readings anywhere? I miss Def Poetry Jam.

The louder the better! Some pieces just demand to be taken off the page (or screen) and performed in all their passion. We love spoken word at The Glass Coin. Not every piece is meant to be preformed but we hope writers will lend their voice to their words, or even branch into short film.

We had hosted a Poetry Slam at our launch in June. You can see the winning piece, “Alone by Truth” Is, in our back issues, as well of some highlights from the event on our Facebook page. August 30th I will debut Tea & Sympathy at the Glass Coin – my very first spoken word piece.

Someone should really publish an anthology of spoken word and slam handwritten notes to self from poets, that would be cool. Talk about the differences in spoken word vs. poetry straight up no olives here.

I got my start in visual arts, my co-editor at The Glass Coin, Sairah Saddal, started in debate competitions. So we both see the words leap off the page. Not taking anything away from the written word – we are both passionate about reading – but human beings respond differently to different media. A picture can say a thousand words, our covers and banners add something to each theme that the written word doesn’t achieve alone. In the same way, the human voice is something we respond to on a basic emotional level. Spoken word allows the author to lend her (or his) voice to the words and connect with the listener in a way they might not connect with a reader. Compound that with the visuals of the performance and you give the viewer a surround sound experience that might be missed if the words were just typeface on the screen.

This is where the internet shines. I love books, but paper can’t hold the power of a spoken word piece being preformed. And what a simple recording lacks it the freedom to post comments. The Glass Coin is the next best thing to the live Poetry Slam. We give opportunity to the author, the performance and the interaction. The next step is definitely to accomplish all this in book form. I’m a sci fi writer – you’ll forgive me for believing this will be possible soon.

Tell us about you. Be bold.

I’m not very good at bold, except when I write. I have been writing all my life, in fact, I learned to read by writing. I have reached a place in my life where I am lucky enough to write full time and, to sometimes, even get paid for it. To me words are in themselves pictures and beautiful.

Writing is like archaeology. When I write, I change history and the future and myself. I discover new truths through fiction – which is just a pretty word for lies strung together to make us face things we would rather deny.

Aside from The Glass Coin and my freelance work, I run a weekly writing dare on my blog. I’m usually reading half a dozen books and working on a half dozen stories at any given time.

In real life, I live with my husband and a cat named Monet in a flat overrun with books and too much dust. You can never have too many books. To that end, my chapbook, Leaf & Lizard, co-authored with Sairah Saddal, is available through The Glass Coin.

Nicolle Elizabeth checks in with Fictionaut Groups every Friday.


  1. Shelley

    Don’t like loud. It’s easy.

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