Flash Fiction America: 73 Very Short Stories by James Thomas

Flash Fiction America: 73 Very Short Stories Reviews

• 
  Alan

  Rec. by: MCL
  Rec. for: People whose attention spans need some attention
  
  
  Flash Fiction America comes laden with a Foreword, a Preface, and an Introduction. Maybe this was intended to provide ballast, to weigh down these 73 very short short stories, all (or almost all) under 1,000 words. To justify. But—brevity does not equal insignificance. The stories enfolded within these covers, however brief, need no external justification for their existence.
  
  I was tempted to try to read these stories as fragments, or chapters from a longer tale—but despite a certain elusive similarity of tone (don't ask me to describe it!), these stories are very different in every other way, and I ended up approaching and appreciating each as an individual effort.
  
  You may have heard the common comment about the weather—"just wait awhile and it'll change"—and this is true of
  Flash Fiction America as well. If you do not really like one, don't worry: it'll be over soon, and you can go on to the next entry with a clear conscience.
  
  Myself, I did like (or at the very least respect) every one of these stories. There are no clunkers here. The authors' names in
  Flash Fiction America were new to me, too, although I did recognize
  Luis Alberto Urrea (from my wife's reading, though, not mine).
  
  I've even written several such short-shorts
  myself, a few flash fictions, mostly following an even stricter format—the 100-word story, sometimes also called a "drabble." I've found writing to such a constraint both interesting and fulfilling.
  
  *
  
  I'm not even going to try to review every single story, this time... but I do have some comments and callouts on a few that stood out to me, for one reason or another:
  
  "I'm on the Side of the Wildebeest," by
  Amy Stuber (p.57) is badass, and about climate change to boot.
  
  The most majestic title in the book came on p.98, with
  Gwen E. Kirby's story "Shit Cassandra Saw That She Didn't Tell the Trojans Because at That Point Fuck Them Anyway." The story itself is pretty good too.
  
  Sometimes I felt like Madge's friend in "Gray" (by
  Bergita Bugarija, p.118)—staring at the canvas and angrily, aggressively, not getting it.
  
  One of the most powerful stories in this anthology was "Dear Nnamdi" (p.147)—in which
  Tyrese L. Coleman personifies her anger at being seen as a type rather than a person.
  
  I think one of the more representative passages in
  Flash Fiction America comes from "Varieties of Disturbance," by
  Lydia Davis:
  

  My mother hurt my brother's feelings while protecting certain particular feelings of my father's by claiming certain other feelings of her own, and while it was hard for me to deny my father's particular feelings, which are well known to me, it was also hard for me not to think there was not a way to do things differently so that my brother's offer of help would not be declined and he would not be hurt.
  —p.186

  If that sentence speaks to you too, then
  Flash Fiction America is definitely a book you'll want to read.
  
  I also adored this much shorter sentence:

  Sometimes I touch my wrists to remember the pulse.
  —"High on the Divide," by
  Chauna Craig, p.189

  
  
  And I will admit that "Theo & Annie," by
  Randall Brown (p.205), made me weep... but then, tears come more easily to me, these days.
  
  *
  
  The Afterword (more ballast!) asserts that the term "flash fiction"

  was occasioned by a freak winter lightning storm in Ohio, over three decades ago.
  —p.257

  I am not at all sure that's really flash fiction's origin story, although I do recall that short-short stories were originally just called by that name, and I do remember the newer term coming into vogue during my own lifetime.
  
  Maybe it really happened just the way
  James Thomas says. Or (heh) maybe it was in reaction to the fashion trend from the 1970s (the "What Were We Thinking?" decade), when short-shorts were just a provocative style of apparel.
  
  In short, though—and all jokes aside—
  Flash Fiction America delivers.
• 
  Tessa

  I loved this anthology...and not JUST because I'm in it! It was a pleasure to see writers whose work I've come to know and love in other forms showing off their talents in the short-short story, as well as encountering so many authors new to me. A great diversity of styles and approaches are on display here. There's a story that reimagines the disappearance of Amelia Earhart (Aubrey Hirsch), a story told in the form of mathematical word problems (Amber Sparks), a story told exclusively through summarized dialogue between a woman who's had an affair and her annoyingly indifferent husband (Randa Jarrar), a one-sentence meditation on doggy DNA tests and multiracial identity (Jasmine Sawers), a story told from the POV of Cassandra of Troy that's so brilliant my head basically explodes every time I read it (Gwen E. Kirby)...Funny, tender, bold, scary, inventive, fantastic—many executing spectacular last-minute twists that will have you wanting to reread immediately. If you love flash fiction or want to learn more about the kind of narrative experiments that can be pulled off in 1,000 words or less, this collection is a must-have!
• 
  Riley Wolfram

  a solid collection. took me a while to get through. a fun challenge would be reading a flash fiction piece a day—almost felt like there were too many because there’s so much to unpack in each one!
  
  edit: the book could have benefitted from some organization i think. a little bit more organizing of stories around common themes, genres, etc. i think that’s why i got fatigued — because i didn’t know how to split up the reading of the stories.
• 
  Pj Gaumond

  A very interesting collection of very short stories. Some were really good, some were very twisted, and a few just had me shaking my head. I would read another book of this sort of very short story though.
• 
  Valentine

  What a feast! These voice-driven stories are a delight to lose oneself in, if only for a few pages. A dizzing array of stories, there is something for everyone; especially for those who are new to the power of flash fiction.
• 
  Margaret Mechinus

  Read 10 out of 73 stories. Not for me.
• 
  Louella Lester

  Excellent collection of flash fiction!
  
• 
  Caro (Bookaria)

  A collection of short stories, I loved some, others not as much. Overall, enjoyed reading them.
• 
  amy ♥

  4/1/2023
  i briefly read one entry in this while hurriedly writing a last minute application at a local bookstore a while ago and fell in love. this is a need to read!!
• 
  Jack

  Some of these were fantastic and some not-so-much, but that’s the beauty of a format where the stories are only a couple pages long.
• 
  Christa Van

  Something for everyone...and if you don't like the one you are reading just turn the page. I LOVE flash fiction.
• 
  Till Raether

  3.5
  We're just normal short stories. Just innocent short stories.
• 
  Jenny Thompson

  Like any collection: some of these pieces were great, and some were just not for me.