Flash Fiction International: Very Short Stories from Around the World by James Thomas

Flash Fiction International: Very Short Stories from Around the World Reviews

• 
  Ahmad Sharabiani

  Flash Fiction: Very Short Stories, Russell Edson, Julia Alvarez, Dan O'Brien, James Thomas (Editor), Denise Thomas (Editor)
  
  How short can a story be and still truly be a story? This volume of seventy-two very short fictions, none much more than 750 words in length, demonstrates to our repeated satisfaction that less can be more, small can stand tall, and the diminutive can be dynamically and dramatically complete.
  
  تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز سی و یکم ماه جولای سال 2007میلادی
  
  عنوان: داستان های برق آسا 2 : دوازده داستان؛ نویسندگان: راسل ادسون، دن ابراین، جولیا آلوارز؛ گ‍ردآورن‍دگ‍ان‌: ج‍ی‍م‍ز ت‍وم‍اس‌، دن‍ی‍س‌ ت‍وم‍اس‌؛ و ت‍ام‌ ه‍ازوک‍ا؛ گزینش و مت‍رج‍م: پ‍ژم‍ان‌ طه‍ران‍ی‍ان‌؛ تهران، مان کتاب، 1385؛ در 76ص؛ شابک 9649676422؛ چاپ دوم 1386؛ موضوع: داستانهای کوتاه از نویسندگان امریکایی - سده 20م
  
  کتابهای «داستان‌های برق‌آسا» نام مجموعه داستان‌هایی به گردآوری «جیمز توماس»، «دنیس توماس»، «تام هازوکا» و ترجمه جناب «پژمان طهرانیان» است؛ داستان برق‌آسا (فلش فیکشن) اصطلاحی است، که گردآورندگان مجموعه‌ ای به همین نام، برای نوعی از داستان بسیار کوتاه، برگزیده‌ اند؛ داستانی که حجمش از دویست و پنجاه واژه، تا هفتصد و پنجاه واژه در نوسان است؛
  
  داستان‌های این مجموعه طی یک دوره‌ ی زمانی طولانی، و با روشی بیمانند برگزین شده‌ اند؛ به این ترتیب که در مرحله‌ ی نخست، صدها داستانِ چاپ‌ شده در نشریات، و کتاب‌های مختلف، در اختیار دانشجویان رشته‌ های ادبی، در سرتاسر آمریکا گذاشته شده، و از آن‌ها خواسته شده، تا با نمره‌ دادن به داستان‌ها، ارزیابی خود را اعلام کنند؛ داستان‌های چاپ‌ شده در این سنجش، بالاترین نمره‌ها را آورده‌ اند؛ در این مجموعه دوازده داستان کوتاه، از نویسندگان به فارسی برگردانده شده است؛ مشخصه‌ ی اصلی این داستان‌ها، پایانی ناباورانه برای خوانشگر است؛
  
  داستان‌هایی از: «جان آپدایک»، «جولیا آلوارز»، «ردکسلر»، «دایان ویلیامز»، «ویلیام هین»، «لری فرنچ»، «دن ابراین»، «کنت تامپسون»، «مری موریس»، «مری دیل‌ورث»، «راسل ادسون» و «استیون مولن» برگزیده شده است؛
  
  برای مثال، در داستان «برف» نوشته‌ ی «جولیا آلوار»، راوی کودکی است که از مناطق گرمسیر، به همراه خانواده‌ اش به امریکا مهاجرت کرده، در کلاس از معلم می‌شنود، که زمین در معرض خطر بمباران هسته‌ ای قرار دارد، که مانند پودرهایی بر زمین ریخته می‌شوند؛ راوی در یک صبح سرد، که در کلاس نشسته، از پنجره به بیرون نگاه می‌کند، و ناگهان فریاد برمی‌آورد: بمب، بمب، پس از آن معلم، به او یاد می‌دهد، که آنها دانه‌ های برف است؛ هر دانه با دیگری فرق می‌کند، مثل هر آدم که زیبا و بی‌همتاست
  
  تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 11/07/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی
• 
  Glenn Russell

  
  
  Iranian-American author Sholeh Wolpé, born 1962
  
  Flash Fiction International - Steller collection of 86 short-short stories, usually 1 or 2 or 3 pages long, from authors around the globe. Below are three of my very favorites.
  
  Note - Unfortunately, the separate reviews I posted for each of these three tales no longer appear on Goodreads. Thus my consolidating in this review.
  
  MY BROTHER AT THE CANADIAN BORDER by Sholeh Wolpé
  On their way to Canada in a red Mazda, my brother and his friend, Ph.D.s and little sense, stopped at the border and the guard leaned forward, asked: Where are you boys heading? My brother, Welcome to Canada poster in his eyes, replied: Mexico. The guard blinked, stepped back then forward, said: Sir, this is the Canadian border. My brother turned to his friend, grabbed the map from his hands, slammed it on his shaved head. You stupid idiot, he yelled, you've been holding the map upside down.
  
  In the interrogation room full of metal desks and chairs with wheels that squeaked and fluorescent light humming, bombarded with questions, and finally: Race? Stymied, my brother confessed: I really don't know, my parents never said, and the woman behind the desk widened her blue eyes to take in my brother's olive skin, hazel eyes, the blonde fur that covered his arms and legs. Disappearing behind a plastic partition, she returned with a dusty book, thick as War and Peace, said: This will tell us your race. Where was your father born? she asked, putting on her horn-rimmed glasses. Persia, he said. Do you mean I-ran?
  
  Iran, you ran, we all ran, he smiled. Where's your mother from? Voice cold as a gun. Russia, he replied. She put one finger on a word above a chart in the book, the other on a word at the bottom of the page, brought them together looking like a mad mathematician bent on solving the crimes of zero times zero divide by one. Her fingers stopped on a word. Declared: You are white.
  
  My brother stumbled back, a hand on his chest, eyes wide, mouth in an O as in O my God! All these years and I did not know. Then to the room, to the woman and the guards: I am white. I can go anywhere., Do anything. I can go to Canada and pretend it's Mexico. At last, I am white and you have no reason to keep me here.
  
  
  
  As I read and reread this short snapper by Mexican author Juan José Barrientos, I kept wondering what is the uniquely stylized labyrinth described here. Perhaps a rich country for illegal immigrants? Any other guesses?
  
  LABYRINTH by Juan José Barrientos
  Labyrinths are designed to make it difficult or impossible for those who venture into them to find the exit. But a very different building exists.
  
  Those who have entered it remember the usual corridors, turns, and staircases, but also the murmur of a party, of muted laughter, furtive comments, the tinkling of glasses or silverware, sometimes of panting of secret lovers, the burst of an orchestra or jazz combo or at least a melody interpreted by a solitary piano.
  
  Upon hearing them, they hurry to draw near, but the strange architecture, not devoid of traps and pitfalls, sends them down a chute like trespassers onto the street.
  
  From there they look back at the bright and inaccessible celebration, where it seems that everything is happening.
  
  
  Mexican author Juan José Barrientos, born 1944
  
  
  
  Women and men in the grip of insomnia know all too well the debilitation consequences of an absence of sleep. Some unfortunates will do anything to escape. But what if escape proves impossible? Reflect on this question as you read Virgilio Piñera's flashing flash fiction below.
  
  INSOMNIA by Virgilio Piñera
  The man goes to bed early but he cannot fall asleep. He turns and tosses. He twists the sheets. He lights a cigarette. He reads a bit. He puts out the light again. But he cannot sleep. At three in the morning he gets up. He calls on his friend next door and confides in him that he cannot sleep. He asks for advice. The friend suggests he take a walk and maybe he will tire himself out - then he should drink a cup of linden tea and turn out the light. He does all these things but he does not manage to fall asleep. Again he gets up. This time he goes to see the doctor. As usual the doctor talks a good deal but in the end the man still cannot manage to sleep. At six in the morning he loads a revolver and blows out his brains. The man is dead but still he is unable to sleep. insomnia is a very persistent thing.
  
  
  Master of the Craft - Cuban author Virgilio Piñera, 1912-1979
• 
  Sentimental Surrealist

  I will not be so presumptuous as to claim I understood how to rate a collection like this, and not just because I see all sorts of problems in my natural inclination to slap vaguely defined numerical ratings on works of art and call it a day, but also because how do you rate this damn thing? Quality of stories seems like bad practice to me - sure, there were stories I didn't like in here, but that's the nature of them and they were so quick I'd find something I did like around the corner. Maybe diversity of representation would be a better pick, and I have to say it's a little flawed in that sense; while it's great to get a ton of stories from Latin America (which, after all, has a literary tradition of microstories) and the Middle East (a region whose fiction I am still woefully ill-versed in), I could've seen for more African stories. Yet in a way, isn't this book exactly what those of us repulsed by the reactionary wave sweeping the world are fighting for? An international polyphony that pushes boundaries, stretches forms, allows questions to have more than the easy answer, and in many cases makes us reconsider what a story is? In this age of travel bans and alternative facts, here's the broader perspective quite a few of us have been missing.
• 
  Tara

  My book blurb: Like the most diligent of cultural anthropologists, the editors of Flash Fiction International have sifted through centuries of micro art to record and then exhibit to the rest of the world 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.
• 
  Helen McClory

  It's probably too hard to rate a diverse collection such as this, with stories from over eighty different people, plus snippets of flash fiction theory to finish - so what can I say? A hefty, healthy compendium, with lots of familiar names (and a tendency to lean more American than I'd expected). If I had a criticism, it's that the collection is rather more realist than experimental, and perhaps misses out on some more nimble works than it could have showcased. I did notice a bit of a repetition of theme - more than a handful of the stories were on the topic of adultery, a subject that I don't find particularly of interest. There were quite a few I really enjoyed, some that managed to span a whole lifetime in two pages, or combine two narratives in a single strand, or examined some cryptological species, or simply focused in on a moment of elevated humanity.
  
  A good addition to any course on flash fiction, definitely.
• 
  Santino Prinzi

  This is a fantastic and far-reaching collection of flash fiction featuring writers from all over the globe. As with any collection of stories or anthologies there's always that feeling of some stories being better than others, but all of these pack a punch and reward pondering. The flash theory section at the end is just as thought-provoking as the flashes themselves. An important flash fiction anthology.
• 
  Deborah Sheldon

  What a delight! However, flash fiction isn't for everybody. If you're the type of reader who needs concrete endings, the held-breath suspension of such delicate, ephemeral stories will only frustrate you. (I own other flash-fiction anthologies edited by James Thomas, and now I want to read them all again.)
• 
  Karie Luidens

  The author E.L. Doctorow once said that “Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader—not the fact that it is raining, but the feeling of being rained upon.” This came to mind as I flew through the 86 stories collected in Flash Fiction International, each by a different author and each only a few paragraphs long.
  
  “Really?” a friend asked when I explained the anthology’s concept. “Isn’t that too short to have characters and a plot and everything?”
  
  Maybe, but it’s long enough to really rain upon the reader. The sensations packed in microstories are remarkably vivid. And as far as characters and plot? You might be surprised how much meaning crams into a page or two when the writing is rich and the editing is sharp.
  
  If necessity is the mother of invention, strict word count limits are the mother of artful diction. As writer Choire Sicha observes in an interview for (ironically) Longform, “The best job I ever had was writing listings. You had to get them so tight and so small and so vivid it was like a writing workshop every week.”
  
  The storytellers selected for Flash have mastered their workshops. Each piece is utterly distinct; the best are startlingly intimate, thrusting us into unknown and often unnamed characters’ most intense moments within several lines.
  
  My personal favorite? “The Gospel of Guy No-Horse” by Natalie Diaz, whose opening line itself reads like a micro-microstory. “At the Injun That Could, a jalopy bar drooping and lopsided on the bank of the Colorado River—a once mighty red body now dammed and tamed blue—Guy No-Horse was glistening drunk and dancing fancy with two white gals—both yellow-haired tourists still in bikini tops, freckled skins blistered pink by the savage Mohave Desert sun.”
  
  Nuala Ní Chonchúir uses a more straight-forward hook in “The Egg Pyramid.” “There are things you can do when your husband sleeps with your sister.”
  
  On the other hand, some stories draw strength not from deep human drama but from stunning depictions of the mundane. James Norcliffe somehow wrings dark beauty from “Squeegee,” a one-paragraph narrative about mopping. On the next page, Qiu Xiaolong knocks us breathless with an episode told “From the Roaches’ Perspective.”
  
  I’d argue these microstories have more in common with poetry than with novels. Like poets, flash fiction writers must weigh the value of every word, slashing and rearranging to achieve a powerful effect in just a few lines. Their structures vary wildly, but many of these stories could be compared to the classic sonnet, which introduces an idea only to “turn” two-thirds in and spin the reader in an unexpected direction.
  
  Whether you’re a poetry fan or more of a mainstream book-reader, please, take a taste of flash fiction with this collection. After all, while many novels achieve a powerful effect, this book achieves 86.
• 
  Kate

  I love flash fiction and I love the concept of an anthology of authors from around the world, as then you get to sample so many authors. Speed dating with authors. What fell flat for me was the tone of the collection as a whole. A lot of these stories are dark and sad. They are also very rooted in present day troubles. All fine if you like that sort of thing, but I don't unfortunately. The only story that was more in the vein of what I like was Kirsty Logan's story 'The Light Eater', about a woman who eats light bulbs so that she can be a beacon to guide a loved one back to her. Again, quite sad, but beautifully sad, more my thing. Another that is tremendously sad is Shirani Rajapakse's 'Shattered' which is told from the POV of a victim of a suicide bombing. This is poetic and simple, moving, but yet is not melodramatic at all. If anything it is more matter of fact, this is just how life is here, which adds to the emotion. The stories in this just were not for me, but I didn't think any of them were bad. I liked the mini author bio's at the back, and if you are new to flash fiction there is a great introduction and some quotes from authors at the back about the skill and art involved in this type of fiction. Overall, not a bad book by any means, just not for me.
• 
  LAPL Reads

  The short story is different from a novel in length and in plot content. Flash fiction is a variation with very, very, very short stories. They are popular throughout the world and offer writers a creative chance to experiment, to compress and still express some type of story which can leave a reader room for speculation and even some puzzle solving. As with regular short stories, because they are short, these works can be read quickly, however they often require more than one repeat reading, and will elicit questions, speculation and probably more rereading. This particular book offers some of the best flash fiction by outstanding international writers.
  
  The following collections of short/flash fiction are by Lydia Davis, master writer of the genre who has compressed some of her stories to almost haiku-like spareness: Varieties of disturbance (2007) Can't and won't (2014); Almost no memory (1997); Break it down (1986).
  
  Reviewed by Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Central Library
• 
  Meghan

  What a beautiful collection! I read everything in here without skipping around, which is rare for me, and it was especially interesting to see the geographic trends in my favorite flash pieces. (Apparently I like flash from the UK, US and Argentina almost equally, with a dash of the Northern European. Who would've known!) This was the first collection of flash I've read, and as formal (or informal) introduction to the form, this book is a great read.
  
  Recommended to: writer who want to learn about craft, readers who want to widen their authors outside their home country, those who don't understand what flash is at all and want to see what all the fuss is about.
• 
  Beau North

  Proves you don't need to be florid or wordy to write an amazing piece of fiction. Sherman Alexie's 'Idolatry' was my particular favorite, thanks to the elegant knife twist at the end. Great collection that I will return to again & again.
• 
  Kathleen

  FLASH FICTION INTERNATIONAL ⭐️⭐️ I love flash fiction and have a hard time finding it at the library and bookstores. Unfortunately, this collection felt heavy on the shock value (sex, violence) and light on the craft. Flash writing is so intricate and full. Every word, every punctuation matters. Instead of rising to that challenge, it felt like the writers tried to grab the reader with messy, “surprising,” and (ultimately) redundant content.
• 
  Ray Zimmerman

  Flash fiction International
  Reviewed by Ray Zimmerman
  
  I usually compare the novel to a mammal, be it wild as a tiger or tame as a cow; the short story to a bird or a fish; the microstory to an insect (iridescent in the best cases). - Louisa Valenzuela
  
  Luisa Valenuzeula’s statement has a certain charm as she compares the very short fiction form, now known as flash fiction, to iridescent insects, but I prefer to liken them to gems, lustrous with beauty and hard as the truths they reveal. The editors of Flash Fiction International selected eighty-six of the best of the best stories in this form. The editors included stories from locations as diverse as The United States, Iraq, Bangladesh, Argentina and Zimbabwe.
  
  A review of all eighty-six stories is not possible, but a sampling serves to illustrate the diversity of voices in this collection drawn from world wide sources:
  
  In “The Waterfall,” Alberto Chimal of Mexico describes a ritual which combines christening and baptism, in which the drops of consecrated water are likened to the souls of the dead, each hoping that his (or her) name will be preserved, that their name will be the one given to the young child. Will the selected name be Guglielmo, Terencio, Jason, Emil, or some other
  
  In “Prisoner of War,” by Mune Fadhill of Iraq, a man returns home after eighteen years in an Iranian prison to see his now deceased wife’s likeness in the face of a grown daughter. He withdraws into his own world of repairing technology. He is changed and the world around him is changed.
  
  In “Eating Bone” by Shabian Nadiya of Bangladesh describes a wife threated with divorce after ten years of a childless marriage. She asserts herself in a surprising way. Meanwhile, Natalie Diaz of the United States portrays a legless veteran who takes to his wheelchair and cruises the dancefloor of “The Injun Who Could,” intoxicated female tourists.
  
  Although many of the stories are new works by contemporary writers, some very short classics have made their way into this collection. “The Young Widow,” by the Roman author Petronius joins “Appointment in Samarra” (W. Sommerset Maugham) and “An Imperial Message” (Franz Kaufka).
  
  These brief narratives range from one to three pages, and each is a complete story in itself. This collection is as bright as a star field on a dark winter night.
  
• 
  Marla

  We are speaking to Robbie Shapard for our book club teleconference. I am looking forward to it.
  
  3.5 stars. Interesting collection of VERY short stories gathered from around the world. Not a book to read cover to cover, but great for a few minutes here and there...waiting for children, standing in a check out line, reading a few pages before bed. I'd never read flash fiction before and it is different even than short stories. Some similar themes sprinkled throughout, but even if you don't understand a story, it's only a few pages long and the next one is fascinating.
  
  It's difficult to review a collection of flash fiction. They are VERY short stories from a couple of pages to a few pages long. They are not novels but just quick glimpses of a story. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I liked it more than I expected, because I'm not a reader of short stories. But I used to be in my youth. And I think if I was a writer, would I enjoy creating flash fiction.
  
  Some stories touched me, but some had me confused or even annoyed. But I was surprised that such a short story could affect me.
  
  I read an author (sorry, I don't remember who it was) say that he/she wrote short stories when they just had a chapter or two of a story and not a whole novel worth.
  
  The Flash Theory quotes at the end were interesting and enjoyable.
  
  With reservations:
  language, sexual situations, infidelity, morality issues
  
• 
  Jonathan Tennis

  Started slow and was worried this was another wasted attempt at finding a good collection of flash fiction. When it got good, it stayed good. Some of my favorites were as follows:
  Shattered
  Love
  Honor Killing
  Signs
  Idolatry
  Lost
  The Extravagant Behavior of the Naked Woman
  Night Drive
  The Light Eater
  Insomnia (best of the collection)
  Appointment in Samarra
  The Egg Pyramid
  My Brother at the Canadian Border
  When a Dollar was a Big Deal
  Reunion
  Farewell, I Love you & Goodbye
  From the Roaches’ Perspective
  Stories
• 
  Laurie

  I didn't finish this book. I'm not wild about the genre of flash fiction after all, which shouldn't surprise me since I'm not big on short stories either. Every once in a while there is a piece that really grabs me, but for the most part there is too short hand in conveying ideas and not enough character development in this genre.
• 
  Tracey

  Wonderful! Everyone should own this collection for when you only have time for a shot of beauty. It's perfect; you pick it up read a page and understand that beautiful, generous hearts create such wonder and you can carry on creating your own.
• 
  Ellen

  The micro story is in many ways superior to its brother the short story. I was quite pleased by many of these.
• 
  Jan Moens

  9/10
• 
  Michael

  Wide-ranging, enjoyable, often funny or moving, collection. Not as literary (stuffy) as some similar collections.
• 
  Valerie Doherty

  Flash fiction- love the form. This book included flash theory and sources at the end- very helpful resource.
• 
  mayhugh

  "Sahira hoped that, even if Saleh didn't recognize her, he'd at least recognize his old self."
  Prisoner of War, Muna Fadhil
• 
  Ben Arzate

  3.5 Stars
• 
  Gwen Jones

  I enjoyed this.Of course, there were some stories I like more than others . I t was good read for a book I bought for the wrong class. I reccommend this for anybody with wonderlust.
• 
  Theresa

  This is a very good compendium of a wide variety of imaginative flash fiction. The styles are hugely varying, but mostly it stretches the boundaries of one's imagination. Not everything in this book was to my taste (possibly not most), but I found inspiration in the great spectrum of offerings. If you're writing flash fiction or you like to read it - experimental and all - give this book a read!