Synopses & Reviews
What is a flash fiction called in other countries? In Latin America it is a , in Denmark , in Bulgaria . These short shorts, usually no more than 750 words, range from linear narratives to the more unusual: stories based on mathematical forms, a paragraph-length novel, a scientific report on volcanic fireflies that proliferate in nightclubs. Flash has always--and everywhere--been a form of experiment, of possibility. A new entry in the lauded Flash and Sudden Fiction anthologies, this collection includes 86 of the most beautiful, provocative, and moving narratives by authors from six continents, including best-selling writer Etgar Keret, Zimbabwean writer Petina Gappah, Korean screenwriter Kim Young-ha, Nobel Prize winner Czeslaw Milosz, and Argentinian "Queen of the Microstory" Ana María Shua, among many others. These brilliantly chosen stories challenge readers to widen their vision and celebrate both the local and the universal.
Review
"These sometimes brilliant, often cunning, always intriguing very short stories fit the moment, the Internet, the world we live in now. A stunning flock of lovely and compelling pieces by wonderful writers from all over the world...it's a remarkable and remarkably readable collection." Frederick Barthelme, editor of New World Writing
Review
"Here's a cure for our supposedly lagging attention spans, very very short stories from around the globe, by well-known writers (Sherman Alexie, Ana María Shua, Ron Carlson, Yasunari Kawabata, Etgar Keret) and a raft of lesser knowns. A brilliant demonstration that less can be more and that readers can find entire worlds in a page or two." Alan Cheuse, author of Prayers for the Living
Review
"One of the most striking things this collection shows is how flash fiction can allow what has been suppressed to find a voice...to introduce readers to voices they may never have heard, and show that this penetrating form has found a niche nearly everywhere." The Economist (UK)
Review
"Like the most diligent of cultural anthropologists, the editors of have sifted through centuries of micro art to record and then exhibit these enduring small stories, common in their humanity but culturally distinct in their presentations. This anthology is a gift to the literary community, an important contribution to the understanding of the flash species in all its variegated forms." Tara L. Masih, editor of The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction
Review
"Hemingway notes: 'If a writer of prose knows enough of what he is writing about he may omit things he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them." That is certainly a good yardstick by which to gauge the quality of the writing here: the best stories are the ones that manage to conjure up whole worlds in just a couple pages." Roger Cox
Review
"These bursts of illumination, some less than a page long--evoking shock, wonder, laughter, all with a tantalizing sense of completion--establish flash fiction on a global scale. An incomparable set of stories, this book is a new landmark anthology for the very short story form." The Scotsman (Edinburgh)
Review
"It takes a big map of the world, a pushpin stuck in place for each short short story, to appreciate the dazzling scope of " Jane Ciabattari, BBC book columnist
Review
"In our demanding world, practical time for reading is limited, not so the time for imagining. If you care to read along, you may do so at random, responding to serendipity--always rewarding--or you may flow with these anthologists' brilliant organization, which offers you a kaleidoscopic universe in evolution, revealing both the visible and the invisible, the macro hidden in the micro." Pamela Painter, author of Wouldn't You Like to Know?
Synopsis
What is a flash fiction called in other countries? In Latin America it is a micro, in Denmark kortprosa, in Bulgaria mikro razkaz. These short shorts, usually no more than 750 words, range from linear narratives to the more unusual: stories based on mathematical forms, a paragraph-length novel, a scientific report on volcanic fireflies that proliferate in nightclubs. Flash has always--and everywhere--been a form of experiment, of possibility. A new entry in the lauded Flash and Sudden Fiction anthologies, this collection includes 86 of the most beautiful, provocative, and moving narratives by authors from six continents, including best-selling writer Etgar Keret, Zimbabwean writer Petina Gappah, Korean screenwriter Kim Young-ha, Nobel Prize winner Czeslaw Milosz, and Argentinian "Queen of the Microstory" Ana Mar a Shua, among many others. These brilliantly chosen stories challenge readers to widen their vision and celebrate both the local and the universal.
Synopsis
A dazzling new anthology of the very best very short fiction from around the world.
About the Author
James Thomas has received two NEA grants and a Stegner Fellowship; he lives in Xenia, Ohio.Robert Shapard directed the University of Hawaii MFA program and now lives in Austin, Texas.Christopher Merrill directs the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa.