New Sudden Fiction: Short-Short Stories from America and Beyond

I bought this book for a college creative writing class, but enjoyed reading the stories for their own sake as well.

This compilation is a great effort at both defining "sudden fiction" by example and at displaying the broad scope of the work that's out there, including pieces from all over the globe. The work, according to the editors, was collected over a set period in the early 00's from what has been getting published in journals and magazines around the world. In that regard, this collection truly succeeds in capturing what the current flavor/definition is for the short-short story (not to be confused with "flash fiction," which is even shorter) (and collected in a different companion book by the same publisher) (I also admittedly plan to read it eventually) and ensures that there won't be (m)any repeats in here from other anthologies you may have read.What is slightly disappointing about this collection is that the quality (for this reviewer) is a bit uneven. While all the stories are of rather similar lengths (3 to 5 pages for the most part), some simply go nowhere, reflecting on a moment or character in detail and arriving at very little in the way of stimulating conclusions. Others, such as Tobias Wolfe's or Sam Shepard's (two of the best in the bunch), nicely portray real conflicts, draw very real characters, and maintain forceful narratives throughout, with endings that satisfy.If you enjoy short fiction, this is certainly worth reading, then perhaps selling back if you find only a little that you like (I'll probably keep my copy, as I think I like the parts I like enough to want to read them again later on). If you're trying to get into what's going on in contemporary short(-short) fiction, there is no better place to start. Author bios in the back will give you other book titles and such as launching points for further reading as well.

This book is full of short-short stories, or what the editor calls "sudden fiction." Each piece is a little longer than flash fiction, but shorter than a typical short story. There is a lot of variety in topic, and some pieces would be considered literary fiction, while others are firmly genre stories. A great collection of stories that can each be read in 5 or 10 minutes!

The questions here don't fit the book, which is an excellent compendium of very short fictions ranging from funny to tragic, from surreal to real, with characters of every sort. Good collection of flash fictions. Quick shifts of perception. Many satisfying reads. I especially liked "The Minimalist" by Stacey Richter which takes the reader to the edge of minimalism’s logic and turns it inside out. Among other terrific writers, Ursula Hegi, Chuck Palahniuk, Elizabeth Berg, David Foster Wallace, Ian Frazier, Nadine Gordimer.

Eh. *shrugs*

This collection has a nice variety of different stories, mostly by well known writers. Nonetheless, as usual, there are some that I find truly appealing and some utterly boring. This is a very safe collection, nothing really edgy or exciting. Same old same old. Nice enough. Fun to read, but ordinary. Many opportunities were missed to include some new ideas, new writers, new directions.

Bought this for my 18 year old son for school. He said to me (with surprise in his voice), "The stories in this book are actually really interesting!" I read part of one - it was quite good. If an 18 year old boy likes it, that's quite a recommendation. Granted, my sons all like to read, when they're not plugged into a screen - but required reading is not usually considered all that fascinating by high school boys.

While I found most of the short shorts printed here to be good, I was somewhat disappointed by the extended length of most of the stories. Previous efforts by the same editors have been in the 1,000-word or less length. To expand to 2,000 words doesn't fit with me very well. Not a great crime, you understand, just disappointing.

If you like flash fiction, you'll like this book.