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Title: Micro Fiction: An Anthology of Really Short Stories by Jerome Stern ISBN: 0-393-31432-4 Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: 01 August, 1996 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.4 (5 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Maximus Minimus
Comment: There is something peculiarly strange and enticing about a 250 word or less short story, which is what Micro-Fiction is all about. Nietzsche said, "It is my ambition to say in ten sentences; what others say in a whole book." and this pocket-sized book quite nearly delivers on that idea. With the several great stories compiled here, amongst the run of the mill good ones and not so good, one obtains the euphoria of having read a novel but in several short minutes. That's the novelty as well as the sticking point that makes it worthwhile. Through a stilting of character build-up and plot formation the reader is treated to and surfeited with a story-line and climax without the usual bombast and self-serving rhetoric which encompasses many novels. I'm a great believer in the economy of words and saving the reader unnecessary heavy eye-work on tedious detail and this fits the bill.
Although some of the fictions are amorphic and seemingly without any structure, they seem to be the most enticing, at least to me. But the majority present a story-line, often novel, which are to the point and leave the reader with a stamped impression and miles of possibility for examining what led what to where and why and how. In the back cover synopsis the reader is asked to ponder, "How short can a Micro be,..." and then challenges them to find out, "Look up Amy Hempel's contribution(which there are two), and you'll see." And see you will:
Hostess
She swallowed Gore Vidal. Then she swallowed Donald Trump. She took a blue capsule and a gold spansule--a B-complex and an E--and put them on the tablecloth a few inches apart. She pointed the one at the other. "Martha Stewart," she said, "meet Oprah Winfrey."
She swallowed them both without water.
--Amy Hempel
Of the several series of minimalist fiction in print (Sudden Fiction, Flash Fiction, etc.) I found this volume the most satisfying as well as the one I came back to the most. In fact when I was done reading it through the first time I did several internet searches to see if I could uncover more similar works. Sadly, with the passing of the editor and brainchild behind the collection back in 1996, the sub-genre has seemingly been left behind. Let's hope there is a revival and a subsequent significant publication(s) to follow.
Rating: 5
Summary: Micro Fiction is Macro Fun
Comment: Micro fiction is a great collection of compositional muscle flexing. Some wonderful, some horrible, each one of the story-lets contained within this book is enjoyable to read, if only for the experiment. It is as though the collection of authors is trying to "even the score" with the Picture, by seeing how few words it really has to take to impart deep meaning. It may even encourage your own attempt at concise writing. This book is great fun, easy to put in your bag and short enough per segment that you don't mind people interrupting your concentration on a crowded train. Watch out, though: it's over quickly.
Rating: 4
Summary: Good introduction - mixed collection
Comment: Stern provides an introduction relating short-shorts and micro-shorts to teaching tales, fables, jokes and similar short tales with ancient roots both in literary and oral cultures. In doing so, he takes the short-short out of "current fads" and puts it into legitimate literature.
His collection is based on a limit originally of 250 words, raised to 300 - micros not just short-shorts. The collection gleaned from contests is a very mixed bag - some tales are memorable, some interesting and forgetable, a handful you wonder how they made the cut. These fall into the normal percentages that an anthology normally presents.
Memorable tales: The Poet's Husband by Mollie Giles - a wry look at listening to your spouse's confessional poetry. The Halo by Michael McFee - the difficulties (and solutions) to raising Jesus. Worry by Ron Wallace - observations on worry as a dominate family member. Painted Devils by Fred Chappell - a friendship in trench and safety.
A few of the tales strike be as character sketches not narratives; a few seem to have been squished and mangled into a contest form rather than allow the tale to dictate its form. But given all that, this is a pleasant introduction to the smallest of the small.
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Title: Flash Fiction: Very Short Stories by James Thomas, Denise Thomas, Tom Hazuka ISBN: 0393308839 Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: 01 July, 1992 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Sudden Fiction by Robert Shapard ISBN: 0879052651 Publisher: Gibbs Smith Publishers Pub. Date: 01 February, 1987 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Sudden Fiction (Continued): 60 New Short-Short Stories by Robert Shapard, James Thomas ISBN: 0393313425 Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: 01 June, 1996 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: The World's Shortest Stories: Murder, Love, Horror, Suspense, All This and Much More in the Most Amazing Short Stories Ever Written, Each One Just 55 Words Long by Steve Moss ISBN: 0762403004 Publisher: Running Press Book Publishers Pub. Date: 01 February, 1998 List Price(USD): $7.95 |
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Title: Sudden Fiction International: Sixty Short-Short Stories by Robert Shapard, James Thomas ISBN: 0393306135 Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: 01 November, 1989 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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