You should read this
Curated stories from around the web
There are pages upon pages upon pages of flash fiction out there, scattered across more websites, journals and magazines than anyone could hope to get through. This is my best effort at a curated selection. Each story here is one I've enjoyed, with a line on why, and every link takes you to the place it was first published so the writer gets the visit.
No stories match those filters yet.
"Good morning, Dave," the coffeemaker called out brightly.
571 wordsImprovement Pending
Satisfying story showing humans haven't lost all agency to the machines just yet!
A mother tucks two children into their shared bed and tells them to be gwai, not just for mama but for the gods who are always watching.
984 words下楼 – Next Floor
A Kowloon-based story about how crime doesn't pay. I think the man is meant to be guilt personified. But maybe I've got that wrong. You tell me.
Air's too thin here
1,105 wordsThe Lobby
The exasperated musings of a hotel receptionist, delivered in an experimental format. Some good chuckles in there.
A month after our twenty-fifth anniversary, Jane looked at me across the breakfast table.
379 wordsSilent Witnesses
Zesty humour throughout keeps this sad story from becoming maudlin.
Chandler was anxious: deck-handing on an illegal crab boat seemed about as sensible as flavored electrical fencing.
498 wordsJust a Spoonful of Tolstoy Helps the Pelican Go Down
Wonderful imagery and writing. I was hooked until the end, which, incidentally, was also very good. If this author got a publishing deal I'd certainly be buying a book of his.
My wife had told me to rest.
494 wordsThe Disarming Carpenter
It would be a horror if it wasn't so fun to read. Compact and mischievous story that finishes before the inevitable.
You will find it in his pocket when you gather up his jeans and socks from the bedroom floor to add to the load of laundry.
172 wordsThe Stink
The final sentence in this 173-word yarn hits like a sledgehammer.
Most terribly cold it was; it snowed, and was nearly quite dark, and evening--the last evening of the year.
Old master 1,000 wordsThe Little Match Girl
I cannot, for the life of me, tell if this has a sad or happy ending. It's like the Mona Lisa in that respect. Not by a contemporary writer like some of the stories here but by an old master.
Eight-year-old Josh stares in the mirror.
597 wordsReflections in Suburbia
Life seen through the eyes of each member of a family as they brush their teeth in the bathroom, one after the other.
Eomma says it is time for bed.
406 wordsEomma, where are we going?
A mother and son attempt a break-out from North Korea. Do they make it?
At the end of the first week at my new job, Tina from Sales makes me go to a lunchtime baby shower with her.
885 wordsThe Worst-Case Scenario
This story goes from funny to tragic by way of an office baby-shower game.