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Flash Fiction Forward: 80 Very Short Stories
After publication of the first Flash Fiction anthology over a decade ago, “flash” became part of the creative writing lexicon for readers, writers, students, and teachers. In this follow-up collection, the editors once again tackle the question: “How short can a story be and truly be a story?” Determined to find the best flashes from America in the twenty-first century, James Thomas and Robert Shapard searched everywhere for stories that were not merely good but memorable. Moving, and certainly unforgettable, this collection includes stories from the best and most popular fiction writers of our time, including Ron Carlson, Robert Coover, Steve Almond, Amy Hempel, A. M. Homes, Grace Paley, and Paul Theroux. In addition, Rick Moody properly defines armoire, Lydia Davis delves into a world of cats, and Dave Eggers explores narrow escapes. Over and over, these stories prove that often less is more.
237 pages, Paperback
First published August 17, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 155 reviews
September 14, 2019
I enjoy a thick novel as much as anyone, but there's nothing quite like fleshy, well-rounded fiction crammed into 1-2 pages. Like a message in a bottle or a severe note scrawled upon a Post-It, well-written flash fiction has the ability to boggle the mind, inspire, or sadden just like lengthy fiction. No, I don't think it will replace the novel, or even normal-sized short stories, but as our attention spans contine to shrink I can see flash fiction becoming increasingly popular.
As far as this collection goes, there are some amazing stories as well as a large number of duds. I'm not surprised. It's hard to write FF well. Nearly impossible. The good news is that the most time you'll spend reading a bad story is about 1-3 minutes. Unlike slogging through a bad novel, where 12+ hours of your life could be wasted!
These are the stories that stuck out to me as exceedingly excellent in one way or another:
-Sashimi Cashmere, Carolyn Forde
-Sleeping, Katharine Weber
-The Voices in My Head, Jack Handey
-Why You Shouldn't Have Gone in the First Place, Samantha Schoech
-Bullhead, Leigh Allison Wilson
-Accident, Dave Eggers
-Words, John A. McCaffrey
-The Black City, Leonardo Alishan
-That Could Have Been You, Jim Heynen
-How to End Up, Jennifer A. Howard
-The Orange, Benjamin Rosenbaum
-21, Jim Crace
-To Reduce Your Liklihood of Murder, Ander Monson
-Crazy Glue, Etgar Keret
-Pledge Drive, Patricia Marx
-The Handbag, Michael Augustin
-Parrot Talk, Kit Coyne Irwin
-The Death of the Short Story, J. David Stevens
So yeah, that's about 18/80 really good stories. Calculates out to 20%, but only a few of the ones not mentioned were truly horrendous. I only include this list because I found them to be truly spectacular. If you don't have time to read the whole book, or are interested in writing your own flash fiction, you should at least check these out. Then, if you have time, go ahead and read the whole collection. You won't be disappointed!
As far as this collection goes, there are some amazing stories as well as a large number of duds. I'm not surprised. It's hard to write FF well. Nearly impossible. The good news is that the most time you'll spend reading a bad story is about 1-3 minutes. Unlike slogging through a bad novel, where 12+ hours of your life could be wasted!
These are the stories that stuck out to me as exceedingly excellent in one way or another:
-Sashimi Cashmere, Carolyn Forde
-Sleeping, Katharine Weber
-The Voices in My Head, Jack Handey
-Why You Shouldn't Have Gone in the First Place, Samantha Schoech
-Bullhead, Leigh Allison Wilson
-Accident, Dave Eggers
-Words, John A. McCaffrey
-The Black City, Leonardo Alishan
-That Could Have Been You, Jim Heynen
-How to End Up, Jennifer A. Howard
-The Orange, Benjamin Rosenbaum
-21, Jim Crace
-To Reduce Your Liklihood of Murder, Ander Monson
-Crazy Glue, Etgar Keret
-Pledge Drive, Patricia Marx
-The Handbag, Michael Augustin
-Parrot Talk, Kit Coyne Irwin
-The Death of the Short Story, J. David Stevens
So yeah, that's about 18/80 really good stories. Calculates out to 20%, but only a few of the ones not mentioned were truly horrendous. I only include this list because I found them to be truly spectacular. If you don't have time to read the whole book, or are interested in writing your own flash fiction, you should at least check these out. Then, if you have time, go ahead and read the whole collection. You won't be disappointed!
April 12, 2017
This was such a fun read! I wasn't aware that flash fiction/short-short fiction was a thing, so when my creative writing teacher put this in our hands and we began discussing it for class, I fell in love! All of the stories are 4 pages or less, which I thought gave it a lot of potential to be very fascinating. It made the book go by quickly, but each story (or, most of them) still packed its own distinct punch. It's hard to rate this as a whole because I would give some stories a million stars but others maybe only 3, so I think 4 is an overall representation meaning that I enjoyed probably about 75% of these stories.
My favorite out of this collection are:
-Stories by John Edgar Wideman (read here: http://www.conjunctions.com/archives/...)
-Baker's Helper by Cynthia Anderon ***AMAZING (read here: http://cbanderson.net/bakers-helper/)
-Sleeping by Katharine Weber (read here: http://www.vestalreview.net/sleeping.htm)
-Currents by Hannah Bottomy (read here: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by...)
-The Great Open Mouth Anti-Sadness by Ron Carlson (read here:
-Things You Should Know by A.M. Homes
-Rose by John Biguenet
-The Voices in my Head by Jack Handey (read here: http://thejazzy.tripod.com/voices.html)
-Bullhead by Leigh Allison Wilson
-The Wallet by Andrew McCuaig (read here: http://brookwood.edu/sites/brookwood....)
-How To End Up by Jennifer A. Howard
-The Doctor by Ann Hood
-Crazy Glue by Etgar Keret (read here: http://www.pulp.net/fiction/stories/0...)
-The Paperboy by Sherrie Flick
-Test by G.A. Ingersoll (read here: https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&am...)
-Diagnostic Drift by Michael Martone (read here: http://www.webdelsol.com/Other_Voices...)
This is definitely a great place to start with flash fiction if you've never heard of it and want to try some! I thought it was a lot of fun and this had a balance of humorous and meaningful pieces.
My favorite out of this collection are:
-Stories by John Edgar Wideman (read here: http://www.conjunctions.com/archives/...)
-Baker's Helper by Cynthia Anderon ***AMAZING (read here: http://cbanderson.net/bakers-helper/)
-Sleeping by Katharine Weber (read here: http://www.vestalreview.net/sleeping.htm)
-Currents by Hannah Bottomy (read here: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by...)
-The Great Open Mouth Anti-Sadness by Ron Carlson (read here:
-Things You Should Know by A.M. Homes
-Rose by John Biguenet
-The Voices in my Head by Jack Handey (read here: http://thejazzy.tripod.com/voices.html)
-Bullhead by Leigh Allison Wilson
-The Wallet by Andrew McCuaig (read here: http://brookwood.edu/sites/brookwood....)
-How To End Up by Jennifer A. Howard
-The Doctor by Ann Hood
-Crazy Glue by Etgar Keret (read here: http://www.pulp.net/fiction/stories/0...)
-The Paperboy by Sherrie Flick
-Test by G.A. Ingersoll (read here: https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&am...)
-Diagnostic Drift by Michael Martone (read here: http://www.webdelsol.com/Other_Voices...)
This is definitely a great place to start with flash fiction if you've never heard of it and want to try some! I thought it was a lot of fun and this had a balance of humorous and meaningful pieces.
August 16, 2016
I've been binge-reading a lot of flash fiction lately, which is a pretty easy and wonderful thing to do anytime and anywhere. Riding the MTR, waiting for mom to finish her errands at the bank, sitting on the toilet ... you name it.
As the title of the anthology suggests, the stories in Flash Fiction Forward are each over in a flash, and the authors only have so many pages that they can use to surprise or move us.
Sometimes, the stories end too soon and expectations are not met. Most times, however, the pieces in this collection show me the magic of short form.
Many of the writers use the brevity of their stories to experiment with style: "Currents" is told backwards, "To Reduce Your Likelihood of Murder" is a list of of orders ("Do not go outside. Do not go outside, on dates, or to the store..."), "Test" is a four-part 'exam' that makes you rethink your life (with Extra Credit, "Fully explain the ways in which you are wrong").
A lot of the stories also use their endings to effectively reverse the impressions that we formed at the beginning, meaning that our initial assumptions still linger in our heads by the time a story is over (after all, each one is so short) and make us wonder about what on earth just happened. In "Accident," a car accident that could have gone terribly wrong turns into an opportunity for the protagonist to potentially make new friends and come to terms with his loneliness; in "The Handbag," a crime devolves into an unusual and low-key romance story. In "The Good Life," a woman who seemingly has it all going for her turns out to be stuck in a rather dark place.
Due to their brevity, the stories also have the space to capture single symbols very wholesomely and memorably. In "Parrot Talk," our protagonist - like the parrot she talks about - has also "adapted to a hostile environment" and flourishes in it. In "Toasters," the image of two slices of bread popping out simultaneously (plus the heat/suspense/force that comes with it) echoes the double domestic fights happening in the story.
Short and daring, some stories also just simply throw you something bizarre and let you absorb it for a spell. "My Date with Neanderthal Woman" transfixes you from start to finish in all its brilliant strangeness and unconventionality, the ending of "Crazy Glue" feels like a dream, and "The Orange" is about a fruit that ruled the world (until it was eaten).
The last piece in the collection is called "Death of the Short Story," but the imagination and gusto of the stories in this anthology prove that the short-short story is more alive than ever. Even the ending of that last piece, which reveals how everyone started making up "lies about the Story," demonstrates the immortality of fiction. As writers and readers, we are indeed always waiting for "a sliver of light" to "break loose from the oblong, suspended momentarily like a musical note on fire before streaking recklessly into the surrounding night," inspiring our writing and illuminating our lives with a literal flash of fiction.
As the title of the anthology suggests, the stories in Flash Fiction Forward are each over in a flash, and the authors only have so many pages that they can use to surprise or move us.
Sometimes, the stories end too soon and expectations are not met. Most times, however, the pieces in this collection show me the magic of short form.
Many of the writers use the brevity of their stories to experiment with style: "Currents" is told backwards, "To Reduce Your Likelihood of Murder" is a list of of orders ("Do not go outside. Do not go outside, on dates, or to the store..."), "Test" is a four-part 'exam' that makes you rethink your life (with Extra Credit, "Fully explain the ways in which you are wrong").
A lot of the stories also use their endings to effectively reverse the impressions that we formed at the beginning, meaning that our initial assumptions still linger in our heads by the time a story is over (after all, each one is so short) and make us wonder about what on earth just happened. In "Accident," a car accident that could have gone terribly wrong turns into an opportunity for the protagonist to potentially make new friends and come to terms with his loneliness; in "The Handbag," a crime devolves into an unusual and low-key romance story. In "The Good Life," a woman who seemingly has it all going for her turns out to be stuck in a rather dark place.
Due to their brevity, the stories also have the space to capture single symbols very wholesomely and memorably. In "Parrot Talk," our protagonist - like the parrot she talks about - has also "adapted to a hostile environment" and flourishes in it. In "Toasters," the image of two slices of bread popping out simultaneously (plus the heat/suspense/force that comes with it) echoes the double domestic fights happening in the story.
Short and daring, some stories also just simply throw you something bizarre and let you absorb it for a spell. "My Date with Neanderthal Woman" transfixes you from start to finish in all its brilliant strangeness and unconventionality, the ending of "Crazy Glue" feels like a dream, and "The Orange" is about a fruit that ruled the world (until it was eaten).
The last piece in the collection is called "Death of the Short Story," but the imagination and gusto of the stories in this anthology prove that the short-short story is more alive than ever. Even the ending of that last piece, which reveals how everyone started making up "lies about the Story," demonstrates the immortality of fiction. As writers and readers, we are indeed always waiting for "a sliver of light" to "break loose from the oblong, suspended momentarily like a musical note on fire before streaking recklessly into the surrounding night," inspiring our writing and illuminating our lives with a literal flash of fiction.
June 9, 2012
So this was my first time reading flash fiction -- short short stories no longer than 2 pages each -- and I really enjoyed it. I made a list of the stories in this anthology that really struck me. Then the list kept getting longer and longer and wound up being about half of the book, so I had to condense it to just the very very best. I've found a few new authors I need to stalk and read more of. I would definitely recommend reading this if you like modern stories, literary stories, weird stories, somewhat funny stories. I was pleased with the collection.
A list of my noted favorites:
Before the Bath by Ismail Kadare (translated from the Albanian by Peter Constantine)
Sleeping by Katharine Weber
1951 by Richard Bausch
The Voices in My Head by Jack Handey
Reviving Pater by John Goulet
My Date with Neanderthal Woman by David Galef
The Orange by Benjamin Rosenbaum
To Reduce Your Likelihood of Murder by Ander Monson
What Were the White Things? by Amy Hempel
Test by G.A. Ingersoll
00:02:36:58 by Bayard Godsave
Mr. Nikos Nikou by Ersi Sotiropoulos (translated from the Greek by Stratis Haviaras)
Toasters by Pamela Painter
Oh, and this line from the story The Black City by Leonardo Alishan:
"every day that she spends with you is spent in sorrow for the day and in despair for tomorrow; thus, I, her yesterday, grow happier and more radiant in her memory. How wrong you are, on the other side, to think the past cannot be changed."
A list of my noted favorites:
Before the Bath by Ismail Kadare (translated from the Albanian by Peter Constantine)
Sleeping by Katharine Weber
1951 by Richard Bausch
The Voices in My Head by Jack Handey
Reviving Pater by John Goulet
My Date with Neanderthal Woman by David Galef
The Orange by Benjamin Rosenbaum
To Reduce Your Likelihood of Murder by Ander Monson
What Were the White Things? by Amy Hempel
Test by G.A. Ingersoll
00:02:36:58 by Bayard Godsave
Mr. Nikos Nikou by Ersi Sotiropoulos (translated from the Greek by Stratis Haviaras)
Toasters by Pamela Painter
Oh, and this line from the story The Black City by Leonardo Alishan:
"every day that she spends with you is spent in sorrow for the day and in despair for tomorrow; thus, I, her yesterday, grow happier and more radiant in her memory. How wrong you are, on the other side, to think the past cannot be changed."
October 5, 2018
به خاطر دیدی که بهم هدیه داد...
که انگار دنیا پر است از صفحه صفحه هایی که هر کدام می توانند از یک رمان بلند کنده شده باشند.... این که لازم نیست برای همه ی صفحه ها دنبال کتابش بگردی ... این که می شود به چشم داستان کوتاه نگاهشان کرد و رهگذر تر بود... این که گره نخوری به داستانها ...بگذری ... مثل باد...
که انگار دنیا پر است از صفحه صفحه هایی که هر کدام می توانند از یک رمان بلند کنده شده باشند.... این که لازم نیست برای همه ی صفحه ها دنبال کتابش بگردی ... این که می شود به چشم داستان کوتاه نگاهشان کرد و رهگذر تر بود... این که گره نخوری به داستانها ...بگذری ... مثل باد...
August 7, 2008
I have mixed feelings about the short-short (or flash fiction, of micro-fiction, or whatever it is we want to call it these days). On the one hand, it's a powerful form, as close to the compression and deceptive complexity of poetry as fiction can get (my friend Beth Ann Fennelly, who is one of my favorite poets, insists there is no difference between the short-short and the prose poem, and I can't find any good reason to disagree with her). But because the short-short is so, well, short, writers deceive themselves into thinking it's an easy genre, and to be honest, most of what I read turns out to be silly at best: they're often sketches in the guise of a story, or scenes that belong in a longer story, or poems having an identity crisis. Sometimes they're not anything at all--a writing exercise gone bad, or just foolishness made out of words. And, to be fair, some of the stories in this book are like that, inglorious examples of all of the above. (Why, for instance, did the editors insist on including humor bits from the New Yorker's "Shouts and Murmurs" section? I'm as big a fan of Jack Handey as any New Yorker reader can be, but really, is this genuine fiction?)
But some of these stories are surprisingly effective, even when they start out reading like disasters. John Edgar Wideman's "Stories," for example, reads for all the world like a list of story ideas generated by a writing exercise, but if you stick with it, it provides a surprising and almost poetic turn at the end that keeps me rereading the piece again and again. Tom Hazuka's "I Didn't Do That" is a haunting, disturbing little piece, barely a page long but heavy on the mind. Kit Coyne Irwin's "Parrot Talk" and Eva Marie Ginsburg's "The Kettle" ought to read like silly puns or cute cocktail-party jokes, but they bring such human emotion and clever wordplay into these tiny stories that I read each of them out loud to my wife, just for the excuse to read them a second time.
I could go on, because while some of these stories are disappointing, the bulk of them are delightful, and a surprising number are true gems, tiny but radiant examples of what Italo Calvino calls the quality of "quickness" at work in only the best literature. It's not a perfect book, but it's certainly worth reading and, if you're a writer, worth keeping on your bookshelf.
But some of these stories are surprisingly effective, even when they start out reading like disasters. John Edgar Wideman's "Stories," for example, reads for all the world like a list of story ideas generated by a writing exercise, but if you stick with it, it provides a surprising and almost poetic turn at the end that keeps me rereading the piece again and again. Tom Hazuka's "I Didn't Do That" is a haunting, disturbing little piece, barely a page long but heavy on the mind. Kit Coyne Irwin's "Parrot Talk" and Eva Marie Ginsburg's "The Kettle" ought to read like silly puns or cute cocktail-party jokes, but they bring such human emotion and clever wordplay into these tiny stories that I read each of them out loud to my wife, just for the excuse to read them a second time.
I could go on, because while some of these stories are disappointing, the bulk of them are delightful, and a surprising number are true gems, tiny but radiant examples of what Italo Calvino calls the quality of "quickness" at work in only the best literature. It's not a perfect book, but it's certainly worth reading and, if you're a writer, worth keeping on your bookshelf.
December 26, 2012
With 80 short-short stories by 80 different authors, you can argue that there is something here for everyone, provided that whoever happens to open the book is interested in flash fiction in the first place. Having recently tried to write a story in 1000 or fewer words, I have a new appreciation for what many of these writers were able to accomplish in two or three pages. As is often the case with collections, some stories didn't appeal to me, but more were good: entertaining and imaginative, tightly written fiction in neat little packages.
I especially liked these stories:
"Stories" by John Edgar Wideman
"Baker's Helper" by Cynthia Anderson
"Sleeping" by Katharine Weber
"Currents" by Hannah Bottomy
"Things You Should Know" by A.M. Homes
"Words" by John A. McCaffrey
"That Could Have Been You" by Jim Heynen
"How To End Up" by Jennifer A. Howard
"To Reduce Your Likelihood of Murder" by Ander Monson
"Pledge Drive" by Patricia Marx
"Drawer" by Rick Moody
"Toasters" by Pamela Painter
"The Death of the Short Story" by j. David Stevens
I highly recommend watching Chris Bauer read "Drawer" by Rick Moody.
I especially liked these stories:
"Stories" by John Edgar Wideman
"Baker's Helper" by Cynthia Anderson
"Sleeping" by Katharine Weber
"Currents" by Hannah Bottomy
"Things You Should Know" by A.M. Homes
"Words" by John A. McCaffrey
"That Could Have Been You" by Jim Heynen
"How To End Up" by Jennifer A. Howard
"To Reduce Your Likelihood of Murder" by Ander Monson
"Pledge Drive" by Patricia Marx
"Drawer" by Rick Moody
"Toasters" by Pamela Painter
"The Death of the Short Story" by j. David Stevens
I highly recommend watching Chris Bauer read "Drawer" by Rick Moody.
May 24, 2007
A lot of good stuff, a lot of okay stuff. Raises a lot of questions in my mind about the gimmicky nature of flash and makes me nervous, but overall I still love the genre.
My favorite stories from this collection are: "Stories" by John Edgar Wideman, "Sleeping" by Katharine Weber, "Currents" by Hannah Bottomy, "Consuming the View" by Luigi Malerba, "Things You Should Know" by A.M. Homes, "Blind Fish" by Melanie Rae Thon, "Why You Shouldn't Have Gone in the First Place" by Samantha Schoech, "All Girl Band" by Utahna Faith, "Words," by John A. McCaffrey, "21" by Jim Crace, "To Reduce Your Likelihood of Murder" by Ander Monson, "Oliver's Evolution" by John Updike, "Crazy Glue" by Edgar Keret, "Pledge Drive" by Patricia Marx, and "Test" by G.A. Ingersoll.
Yes, I had 15 favorites. But that's out of 80 stories.
My favorite stories from this collection are: "Stories" by John Edgar Wideman, "Sleeping" by Katharine Weber, "Currents" by Hannah Bottomy, "Consuming the View" by Luigi Malerba, "Things You Should Know" by A.M. Homes, "Blind Fish" by Melanie Rae Thon, "Why You Shouldn't Have Gone in the First Place" by Samantha Schoech, "All Girl Band" by Utahna Faith, "Words," by John A. McCaffrey, "21" by Jim Crace, "To Reduce Your Likelihood of Murder" by Ander Monson, "Oliver's Evolution" by John Updike, "Crazy Glue" by Edgar Keret, "Pledge Drive" by Patricia Marx, and "Test" by G.A. Ingersoll.
Yes, I had 15 favorites. But that's out of 80 stories.
January 6, 2016
As with any collection of short stories, whether by a single author or anthology, there will be selections that often range widely and will appeal to different people, but overall I thought this group enjoyable and entertaining, often clever and humorous, with an occasional spot of melancholy. They often made you think. I marveled. And the best part is if you got caught up in one that didn't really catch your interest, you just had to turn a page. Some of the authors are somewhat well known to me, but I was rewarded with a couple of names I plan to pursue. A worthwhile read that I recommend. in fact, I just passed it along to a friend.
October 30, 2024
The literary equivalent of scrolling through TikTok, Flash Fiction Forward: 80 Very Short Stories induces a whiplash effect I needn't belabor for modern social media users, though I will add that experiencing it in written form feels more deliberately disconcerting. A few selections per day was an adequate reading strategy to avoid being overwhelmed; even then it's almost impossible for a story to meet the criteria, set by the editors in the introduction, that "flash fiction should be memorable." Who can remember the last eight stories they read? Well this book presents 80.
Still, there were gems:
"Level" by Keith Scribner
"Words" by John A. McCaffrey
"Parrot Talk" by Kit Coyne Irwin
"Birth" by Robert Earle
Still, there were gems:
"Level" by Keith Scribner
"Words" by John A. McCaffrey
"Parrot Talk" by Kit Coyne Irwin
"Birth" by Robert Earle
March 21, 2020
1 Sentence Summary: A collection of flash fiction stories.
My Thoughts: It's always a mixed bag with anthologies like this. Some of the stories I loved, and others I hated. My two favorites were "Reviving Pater" by John Goulet and "The Handbag" by Michael Augustin.
Recommend to: People who enjoy flash fiction.
My Thoughts: It's always a mixed bag with anthologies like this. Some of the stories I loved, and others I hated. My two favorites were "Reviving Pater" by John Goulet and "The Handbag" by Michael Augustin.
Recommend to: People who enjoy flash fiction.
March 22, 2024
I’ve been reading this book off and on for a year, using it to fill the little gaps after I finish a book or when I feel like I need a change of pace. Every story is less than 5 pages which means if you don’t like it, it won’t be long until the next one comes along. I like anthologies of short stories and this one had a lot of good ones from a lot of different writers. I really liked it.
February 12, 2021
A good selection of short stories. You're bound to find at least a couple you really like. All are really short but pack a punch
September 2, 2022
5 stars - 4 for the stories (there were some excellent ones and some I did not enjoy so this is the average) but an extra star for the idea of flash fiction!
April 19, 2018
*3.5 stars*
I had to read this for class and I thought it was really cool just because I've never read this many stories this short before. There were some that were REAL weird but here are my top 5 favorites in the 80 stories! (In no particular order)
1. Currents by Hannah Bottomy
2. The Wallet by Andrew McCuaig
3. To Reduce Your Likelihood of Murder by Ander Monson
4. Oliver's Evolution by John Updike
5. Test by G. A. Ingersoll
I really liked about 10 more or so (maybe a little less). It was a very quick read, luckily! If you're a busy person looking for just a tiny bit to read before bed, these type of stories are for you.
I had to read this for class and I thought it was really cool just because I've never read this many stories this short before. There were some that were REAL weird but here are my top 5 favorites in the 80 stories! (In no particular order)
1. Currents by Hannah Bottomy
2. The Wallet by Andrew McCuaig
3. To Reduce Your Likelihood of Murder by Ander Monson
4. Oliver's Evolution by John Updike
5. Test by G. A. Ingersoll
I really liked about 10 more or so (maybe a little less). It was a very quick read, luckily! If you're a busy person looking for just a tiny bit to read before bed, these type of stories are for you.
May 29, 2024
Thought provoking!
March 9, 2017
I found this quite a mixed bag and couldn't always see 'the point' but the one that has stuck in my mind more than any other is 'WORDS' by John A. McCaffrey. One or two others made me think, particularly 'The Black City' by Leonardo Alishan and I laughed out loud reading 'My date with Neanderthal Woman' by David Galef.
May 9, 2012
Some real gems in here, mixed in with some rather forgettable stories, too. Reading eighty takes on flash fiction is interesting in a lot of different ways, and sort of confirmed my suspicion that, when done right, flash achieves something longer form simply can't. But, a lot of the rest of the time, flash ends up being a gimmick more than anything else. [Like the several stories included here that are, for all intents and purposes, punchline stories.] Stories that I just loved:
"Baker's Helper"- Cynthia Anderson
"Rumors of Myself"- Steve Almond
"Sleeping"- Katharine Weber
"1951"- Richard Bausch
"Things You Should Know"- A.M. Homes
"Rose"- John Biguenet
"Level"- Keith Scribner
"Bullhead"- Leigh Allison Wilson
"Justice—A Beginning"- Grace Paley
"What Were the White Things?"- Amy Hempel
"Parrot Talk"- Kit Coyne Irwin
"I Didn't Do That"- Tom Hazuka
"Crazy Glue"- Etgar Keret
"Baker's Helper"- Cynthia Anderson
"Rumors of Myself"- Steve Almond
"Sleeping"- Katharine Weber
"1951"- Richard Bausch
"Things You Should Know"- A.M. Homes
"Rose"- John Biguenet
"Level"- Keith Scribner
"Bullhead"- Leigh Allison Wilson
"Justice—A Beginning"- Grace Paley
"What Were the White Things?"- Amy Hempel
"Parrot Talk"- Kit Coyne Irwin
"I Didn't Do That"- Tom Hazuka
"Crazy Glue"- Etgar Keret
April 12, 2016
Enjoyable collection of short stories. Nicest part about this collection is that even if you as the reader don't enjoy a particular author, the story will be over in only a few pages.
A few of my favorites were: Sushi Cashmere (Carolyn Forde); Mandela Was Late (Peter Mehlman); Currents (Hannah Bottomy); Bullet (Kim Church); The Peterson Fire (Barry Gifford); That Could Have Been You (Jim Heynen); The Wallet (Andrew McCuaig); How to End Up (Jennifer A. Howard); Test (G.A. Ingersoll); Diagnostic Drift (Michael Martone); The Death of the Short Story (J. David Stevens).
It took me over a month to finish this collection because I was reading and writing. What I liked most about these short stories is that you can pick this book up and read something for a few minutes and then put it down again. A fun in-between book or when you don't have time to tackle a novel.
A few of my favorites were: Sushi Cashmere (Carolyn Forde); Mandela Was Late (Peter Mehlman); Currents (Hannah Bottomy); Bullet (Kim Church); The Peterson Fire (Barry Gifford); That Could Have Been You (Jim Heynen); The Wallet (Andrew McCuaig); How to End Up (Jennifer A. Howard); Test (G.A. Ingersoll); Diagnostic Drift (Michael Martone); The Death of the Short Story (J. David Stevens).
It took me over a month to finish this collection because I was reading and writing. What I liked most about these short stories is that you can pick this book up and read something for a few minutes and then put it down again. A fun in-between book or when you don't have time to tackle a novel.
August 2, 2022
This is apparently a decade-later than the first anthology. I still struggle to embrace this style of “story,” but on occasion, some of these offerings were shockingly eloquent and memorable, like “Accident” by Dave Eggers and “What I Know of Your Country” by John Leary (which broke my heart a little bit).
Maybe a scant 50% of these flashes were as the editors describe: “memorable, and move the reader emotionally or intellectually” — some quite a bit more so than others. And maybe my intellect doesn’t tower quite high enough to wrap my grey matter around the other less-notable 51% … but the slight majority only left me overtly cold, confused, or outright puzzled as to why they qualified for publication here or in their previous instantiations. I’ll keep trying them genre. Maybe a themed selection would be more to my palate.
Maybe a scant 50% of these flashes were as the editors describe: “memorable, and move the reader emotionally or intellectually” — some quite a bit more so than others. And maybe my intellect doesn’t tower quite high enough to wrap my grey matter around the other less-notable 51% … but the slight majority only left me overtly cold, confused, or outright puzzled as to why they qualified for publication here or in their previous instantiations. I’ll keep trying them genre. Maybe a themed selection would be more to my palate.
April 7, 2014
This may just be a collection of flash fiction but damn is this book as thought provoking as some of the best novels out there. The collection of stories rests in a wide range of topics, genres and insanity. Some stories will make you laugh, some will make you question life and others will make you wonder what the hell you just read.
I was assigned this book for a college class and was amazed at how amazing it is. Excellent read!
I was assigned this book for a college class and was amazed at how amazing it is. Excellent read!
January 11, 2018
This is the first time I've consciously read Flash Fiction and I liked it very much. These very short and pithy stories, generally 750 words or less, are perfect literary adaptations for an increasingly busy and short-attentioned world. I can easily see keeping a book of flash fiction in my car or purse to pull out and read during moments of lull. I am also interested in experimenting with the writing style myself.
July 3, 2012
Anthologies are always hit and miss (or "almost hit"). Which makes this one especially great because the stories are short, they have to be supercharged to hit their mark (the intro says it all, and the first story is rad). Enjoyable!
July 2, 2020
Excellent flash fiction anthology that holds up. Many excellent pieces by well-known authors and those less-known.
February 28, 2021
3.5 stars.
Short stories, as a genre, tend to be dismal and sombre. I often find myself wishing I'd picked up something cheerful instead. But I read on anyway, because when a short story works, it's a splendid thing! Like blanching vegetables: a good short story is a quick hot dip, followed by a fresh ice bath. A brief experience to heighten the color, texture, and taste of the veg, or the reader's thoughts.
Blanching is not boiling. So a short story that drags on for 20, 30, 50 pages... it's too much work for me, especially when the mood is gloomy (I'm looking at you, The Best American Short Stories 2004). Such a book makes me want to drown myself in a tepid tub (fret not: my bathroom has a shower only). Flash Fiction Forward does it right. The stories are actually short, just 1-4 pages each, just enough to get the gist of the situation, feel the emotions, think about the thing for a bit, and go back to my day.
I read this book one story at a time: while brushing my teeth, waiting in a parking lot, or while waiting for the dryer to finish. The format is perfect: quick stories in a compact little book. With just a bit more brightness, this would have been 5 stars. The editors get credit for assembling a nice mix of topics, which for the most part were well written. But the overall tone is still depressing, and I would have wished for a bit less of that. A good gut punch is memorable, but a bunch in a row is just tedious. Life is not all sad, folks!
Gems:
* Jumper Down by Don Shea
* The Voices in My Head by Jack Handey
* To Reduce Your Likelihood of Murder by Ander Monson
* Three Soldiers by Bruce Holland Rogers (reminiscent of Wolfgang Borchert)
Waste of Time:
* The Cats in the Prison Recreation Hall by Lydia Davis
* Bill by Dan Kaplan
* Mr. Nikos Nikou by Ersi Sotiropoulos
* The Death of the Short Story by J. David Stevens
Most Memorable Opening Sentence:
"An orange ruled the world." (The Orange by Benjamin Rosenbaum). Oh boy.
Short stories, as a genre, tend to be dismal and sombre. I often find myself wishing I'd picked up something cheerful instead. But I read on anyway, because when a short story works, it's a splendid thing! Like blanching vegetables: a good short story is a quick hot dip, followed by a fresh ice bath. A brief experience to heighten the color, texture, and taste of the veg, or the reader's thoughts.
Blanching is not boiling. So a short story that drags on for 20, 30, 50 pages... it's too much work for me, especially when the mood is gloomy (I'm looking at you, The Best American Short Stories 2004). Such a book makes me want to drown myself in a tepid tub (fret not: my bathroom has a shower only). Flash Fiction Forward does it right. The stories are actually short, just 1-4 pages each, just enough to get the gist of the situation, feel the emotions, think about the thing for a bit, and go back to my day.
I read this book one story at a time: while brushing my teeth, waiting in a parking lot, or while waiting for the dryer to finish. The format is perfect: quick stories in a compact little book. With just a bit more brightness, this would have been 5 stars. The editors get credit for assembling a nice mix of topics, which for the most part were well written. But the overall tone is still depressing, and I would have wished for a bit less of that. A good gut punch is memorable, but a bunch in a row is just tedious. Life is not all sad, folks!
Gems:
* Jumper Down by Don Shea
* The Voices in My Head by Jack Handey
* To Reduce Your Likelihood of Murder by Ander Monson
* Three Soldiers by Bruce Holland Rogers (reminiscent of Wolfgang Borchert)
Waste of Time:
* The Cats in the Prison Recreation Hall by Lydia Davis
* Bill by Dan Kaplan
* Mr. Nikos Nikou by Ersi Sotiropoulos
* The Death of the Short Story by J. David Stevens
Most Memorable Opening Sentence:
"An orange ruled the world." (The Orange by Benjamin Rosenbaum). Oh boy.
April 24, 2024
I’ve read a lot of flash fiction in the last three years, partly due to writing a lot of flash and thus needing to make a study of what makes a story under 750 words work. I found this anthology of 80 flash pieces in a Little Free Library and thought it would be interesting to see what short fiction outside of the SFF genre looked like.
And, to be frank, I was somewhat disappointed, although not surprised. Like their longer counterparts, these stories tended to rely too much on vibe or feeling rather than satisfy any requirement of characterization and plot. The editors talk about this somewhat in the introduction, wherein they compare a flash piece more to poetry than a short story because every word matters and the reader can’t skip any. I agree, but it’s the words selected by the author (and agreed upon by the editor) where we disagree. Every word needs to move the story forward; too many words in these stories simply pile on the vibe.
Out of the 80 stories, I liked about 15-20, including the first out of the gate, Don Shea’s “Jumper Down,” the title referencing the term paramedics use to describe if the building/bridge jumper is “Up” (and hasn’t jumped yet) or “Down” (and likely out). Peter Mehlman’s “Mandela Was Late” is a strange conceptual piece pondering what if Nelson Mandela had had a parole officer. Typically, I liked the more outre and surrealistic stories, like Ray Gonzalez’ “The Jalapeno Contest” or stories that played with form, like “Currents” by Hannah Bottomy which tells the story backwards. But all the stories are short (duh), so the nice thing is you don’t have to commit too much to any one before it’s done and you move on to the next, which meets today’s readers’ low attention spans.
And, to be frank, I was somewhat disappointed, although not surprised. Like their longer counterparts, these stories tended to rely too much on vibe or feeling rather than satisfy any requirement of characterization and plot. The editors talk about this somewhat in the introduction, wherein they compare a flash piece more to poetry than a short story because every word matters and the reader can’t skip any. I agree, but it’s the words selected by the author (and agreed upon by the editor) where we disagree. Every word needs to move the story forward; too many words in these stories simply pile on the vibe.
Out of the 80 stories, I liked about 15-20, including the first out of the gate, Don Shea’s “Jumper Down,” the title referencing the term paramedics use to describe if the building/bridge jumper is “Up” (and hasn’t jumped yet) or “Down” (and likely out). Peter Mehlman’s “Mandela Was Late” is a strange conceptual piece pondering what if Nelson Mandela had had a parole officer. Typically, I liked the more outre and surrealistic stories, like Ray Gonzalez’ “The Jalapeno Contest” or stories that played with form, like “Currents” by Hannah Bottomy which tells the story backwards. But all the stories are short (duh), so the nice thing is you don’t have to commit too much to any one before it’s done and you move on to the next, which meets today’s readers’ low attention spans.
Currently reading
October 9, 2022The book flash fiction forward isn't just one particular story but rather a verity of random short stories all put into one book. Every story is usually one to two pages in length and they are all unique. All the story so far have been pretty interesting. It could be something very simple that the story is about or a big idea that the story bestows upon the reader. So far I've read about 180 pages, so about 180 short stories, and so far there has been very few that have been boring. Me personally, I have a hard time finding books I like because of how easily bored I get reading a particular book, I think this book in a particular goes against that because there is always a new story to be read on the next one or two pages. My reading habits vary but I find my self reading particular books at school rather than at home, every so often I'll read at home, but like I said I get bored easily, so when I'm at school I find reading as an incentive instead of doing something boring. I would recommend this book to anybody that likes short story books. I can understand someone liking longer more impactful stories but I feel as if this novel in particular is short and sweet and could keep anybody entertained. The novel itself is about 230 pages, so it wouldn't take too long to finish if someone is looking for a short book to read. I think anybody could be entertained by this book and I would highly recommend it. You may be not on the same boat as me and not get as bored easily but I think this books has a lot of great stories and ideas that really are worth a read.
Currently reading
September 30, 2022I have just finished reading this book yesterday. Throughout the past several DEAR sessions, I have been reading the rest of this book. I have come across a few other notable short stories besides the one that I did the essay on a little while ago, like "That Could Have Been You," "The Orange," and "Crazy Glue." "That Could Have Been You was an enticing story about the dangers some face at a high risk that it is purely up to chance and how people deal with this risk. "The Orange" was a unique story about an orange of all things ruling the world and how the world reacts to that. "Crazy Glue" was a fever dream of a story, imagining the picture of everything glued on and a person glued to the ceiling. My reading in class has been quite effective. I go through about 15 to 20 pages per DEAR session in class and around 5-10 pages per DEAR session at home. So far, I have gone through a lot, and my reading habits seem healthy. I would recommend this book to my classmates if they haven't read it already. It's like TikTok's or Instagram posts but in reading form. You don't have to spend that much time to know the characters of each story. You can also easily switch gears every 5 minutes to prevent overall boredom from reading the less enticing parts of longer pieces of literature. Reading this feels less like a wall of text, a wall of information with no end. 1 page is one thing, and another page is another thing, and I really like that.
Read
September 30, 2022This book is a very large collection of short stories. Some are fun. Some are meaningful. Some are sad. It is a very well rounded collection with most stories being of higher quality.
The book has been better for my reading habits because it encouraged me to sit down for just a few minutes and read a story or two, rather then take thirty minutes on an entire chapter in something more dense. It kept the book fresh and the stories good for the most part. In class when I could read several more during DEAR time I found it very interesting and a little exciting.
I recomend this book not just because we were reading it in class but because I think it is pretty enjoyable. It is good for a busy person to only read a couple chapters a day. Some stories are also quite meaningful and some of it thought provoking. Some of the entertainment from my book stemmed from what I was trying to make of the stories. These stories are impactful or funny and you just can't ask more out of a book with that.
The book has been better for my reading habits because it encouraged me to sit down for just a few minutes and read a story or two, rather then take thirty minutes on an entire chapter in something more dense. It kept the book fresh and the stories good for the most part. In class when I could read several more during DEAR time I found it very interesting and a little exciting.
I recomend this book not just because we were reading it in class but because I think it is pretty enjoyable. It is good for a busy person to only read a couple chapters a day. Some stories are also quite meaningful and some of it thought provoking. Some of the entertainment from my book stemmed from what I was trying to make of the stories. These stories are impactful or funny and you just can't ask more out of a book with that.
April 28, 2019
هر داستان یک واقعیت و یک دروغ است. مادرم داستانی دارد دربارهٔ عشق زندگیاش. داستانی ساده است اما همیشه وقتی تعریفش میکند میزند زیر گریه و چنان مستقیم به پسِ پشتِ من نگاه میکند که انگار من وجود خارجی ندارم. در جزئیات داستان چیزی هست که مرا وامیدارد فکر کنم غمی در دنیا هست که تا صور اسرافیل ادامه دارد.
داستانش اینطوری شروع میشود: در دههٔ چهل، وقتی مادرم، دختر نوجوانی بود از تنسی، عاشق پسر همسایه شد. همان سال دولت تصمیم گرفته بود که سدهایی درسراسر ایالت بسازد. گویا چند طوفان شدید بارانزا آمده و رفته بودند، دریاچههای طبیعی تازه، منظرهٔ ناکسویل تا ممفیس را به هم زده بودند. یک دریاچه درست افتاده بود روی زادگاه مادرم و مردم خانههایشان را از دست داده بودند، کارشان را از دست داده بودند، گورستانهایشان، مزرعههایشان، و بعضی دلشان را. شبی قبل از آنکه دولت همه را از زادگاه مادرم تخلیه کند، او و عشق زندگیاش، آن پسر، در تختخواب مادرم عشقبازی کرده بودند. پدر و مادرش به مجلسی رفته بودند برای دعا، گمان میکنم دعا برای زمین خشک، مثل نوح.
داستانش اینطوری شروع میشود: در دههٔ چهل، وقتی مادرم، دختر نوجوانی بود از تنسی، عاشق پسر همسایه شد. همان سال دولت تصمیم گرفته بود که سدهایی درسراسر ایالت بسازد. گویا چند طوفان شدید بارانزا آمده و رفته بودند، دریاچههای طبیعی تازه، منظرهٔ ناکسویل تا ممفیس را به هم زده بودند. یک دریاچه درست افتاده بود روی زادگاه مادرم و مردم خانههایشان را از دست داده بودند، کارشان را از دست داده بودند، گورستانهایشان، مزرعههایشان، و بعضی دلشان را. شبی قبل از آنکه دولت همه را از زادگاه مادرم تخلیه کند، او و عشق زندگیاش، آن پسر، در تختخواب مادرم عشقبازی کرده بودند. پدر و مادرش به مجلسی رفته بودند برای دعا، گمان میکنم دعا برای زمین خشک، مثل نوح.
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