Flash Fiction Forward: 80 Very Short Stories

Good selection of short, short fiction. Interesting variety of themes and style.

Although, suprisingly, none of these poems had a rhyme scheme, which made some of them a tad difficult to follow!

Don't get me wrong, I love a thick juicy novel as much as anyone, but there is something truly astonishing about the creative genius that can be put into 1-2 page stories. I am a huge huge fan of flash fiction and am personally shocked there aren't more anthologies like this out there. Maybe it won't replace the novel, or even the regular-length short story, but as society becomes more and more ADD I have a feeling FF is going to be here to stay.As far as this collection goes, there are definitely some amazing stories in here as well as a good number of duds. The good news is that the most time you'll waste reading a bad story is about 1-3 minutes. Unlike a bad novel, where you may be wasting 12+ hours of your life!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 StevensSo yeah, that's about 18/80 really good stories. Maybe that's only a 20%, but truthfully even the ones not mentioned weren't that bad, just less note-worthy. I only mention these because I found them to be truly spectacular. If you don't have time to read the whole book, you should at least check these out. Then read the others, they're good too.

The book as a whole was kind of a let down, I would say about half of the book was good and half of the stories didn't belong there. I haven't read Thomas and Shapard's first collection of flash fiction (maybe they took all the good ones for that book); not saying I could write any better, but in a collection of stories that are suppose to be the cream of the crop, this anthology isn't it (maybe there's not a lot of flash fiction out there to choose from, so pickin's are slim). But that's only half of the stories.The other half of the stories were fantastic: each compelling in their own way, where the author expertly told a story that could be imagined with ease. Some of my favorites were: "Baker's Helper", "Why You Shouldn't Have Gone In The First Place", "Words", "Parrot Talk", "The Wallet", and "What I Know Of Your Country".Overall the book is okay. I'd recommend buying it, just because it's always good to read as much as you can; but I'd save your money and buy a used version.

I give this 4 starts just because its for school, so I didn't buy this out of my own personal interest. I will say, however, that the stories are really good. I read one of them and was smacked in the face by how profound an effect it had. The stories are incredibly short, but they live this sense that something amazing has just been read. Theses authors know their stuff. If you're looking for a good short story that's maybe a page and a half per, then definitely pick this up.

Before reading this book, I had never heard of flash fiction. The book is full of the best flash fiction. My favorite one is about the prison cats. I am still trying to figure out what the symbolism means. If you like short stories, BUY this. If you are interested in short fiction, BUY this. If you have been reading flash or micro fiction online, BUY and LOVE this.

I bought this book about 2 months ago and have only made it through 12 stories. First of all, most of the stories make no sense. They are lifeless, dull and impenetrable. At the end of each story I found myself wondering what the purpose of the story was and why it was written. I love flash fiction. I think flash fiction is such a fun genre to read and it is also great fun to write, but this book gave no justice to the genre. To anyone just diving into the world of flash fiction, I would not recommend picking up this book. It will most likely leave a bad impression on you. I am disappointed in this book to say the least.

Excellent range and selections.

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.

I love short stories because you don't have to invest too much time in them and this is a sublime collection for anyone who "doesn't have time to read".

短いけれど、読み応えのある作品がいくつかあってオススメです。全作品を読みぬきたいのですが、いくつの作品は自分の力量不足で作品の”オチ”らしき部分を読み切れずにおります。The Old Truth in Costa Rica などは、面白い内容なのですが、あと少しのところで肝心の結末部分の盛り上りが理解できていません。情けないです。みなさんのお力をお借りしてでも読み通したいです。