8 Flash Fiction Collections to Dip and Dive Into
For all my talk about my love of flash fiction, I realised; I’ve yet to put together a book recommendations list of flash fiction collections!
And it’s definitely time to remedy that.
Emily tells me that the next Aniko Press Flash Fiction Competition is imminent, so to help you get ready and explore all the wicked and wild ways to write flash fiction, here are my picks of some of the best collections out there.
Blue Has No South by Alex Epstein
Translated from Hebrew, Epstein's flash fiction collection has me floating on air and is one I never fail to recommend when someone expresses an interest in the form. Epstein plays with reality and uses brevity to tie our concept of time, space and everything in between into petite tidy knots. With a keen understanding of human behaviour, these tiny vignettes are like tiny word puzzles, sentences slowly slotting together as you read. His words are magnetic, magical, lucid - everything I want in the shortest of short stories.
The Ice Cream Vendor's Song by Laura McHale Holland
Described as “arresting and original”, Holland’s collection is another opportunity to dive into the realm where a lot of flash fiction stories seem to situate, where everything is familiar and, simultaneously, completely strange. Holland adds a tilt-shift to everyday life as she explores magical objects, dissolving relationships, and the human condition. Haunting yet tender, it’s Holland’s exquisite prose - clear and surprising - that enraptured me with this me.
Sadvertising by Ennis Ćehić
While this one is a mix of flash fiction and longer short stories, it makes the list for being so superbly unique and showcases that it is possible to create an engaging collection that focuses on one very central theme. In Ćehić’s world, copywriters, art directors and advertising professionals are tormented artistic souls, ensnared by the need to pursue this career path for financial means and devoted to spending their time “on other people’s dreams.” All the while constantly yearning to return to their own creative pursuits. Mixing surreal with reality, this is a contemporary, hot take on the flash form.
Read our full review here.
Once: A Selection of Short Short Stories, Edited by Laura Keenan and Linda Martin
Full disclosure; I attended the flash fiction workshop program coordinated by Laura and Linda back when I lived in Perth, and both of these ladies are great champions of the form. This collection, their first publication, is a hugely varied selection of flash, micro and hybrid fiction. Thirty stories from emerging and established authors will have you laughing and crying in equal measure. I love what a testament it is to how playful and widely interpreted the concept of ‘flash’ really is.
One Hundred Apocalypses and Other Apocalypses by Lucy Corin
This is another one that’s split between longer fiction and a robust collection of micro and flash fiction. The first half of this book comprises three short stories before moving into One Hundred Apocalypses. Here, Corin displays dazzling literary restraint in her series of shorts, many only a few lines, that “illuminate moments of vexation and crisis, revelations and revolutions.” The idea of ‘apocalypse’ is widely interpreted, and each one is a fresh gulp of cold air before you move on to the next. HIGHLY recommended.
Ghostographs: An Album by Maria Romasco Moore
Fan of Carmen Maria Machado or Mariana Enríquez? This is the flash collection for you. An “eerie and incandescent” novella-in-flash (yes, that’s very much a thing), Ghostographs combines crystalline stories combine with vintage photographs to “illuminate the hidden terrain of childhood and the pain of growing up”. Serving up a haunted reality filled with equally haunted characters, Moore dabbles with the idea of dark secrets that form the undercurrent of the world they’ve created. Evocative and strange, with a healthy sprinkle of humour - get this one on your radar.
Animal Behaviour by Amanda McLeod
I loved Animal Behaviour when I read it earlier this year. From the imaginative use of animals in the title to the mirroring of human behaviour, McLeod demonstrates a firm grasp of what readers are looking for when reading flash fiction and an intelligent yet tender understanding of the human psyche. A little less surreal and a little more grounded in the everyday realities of human existence doesn’t make this one any less engrossing.
Read our full review here.
Flash Fiction Forward: 80 Very Short Stories, edited by James Thomas and Robert Shapard
Interested in the history and development of flash fiction across the decades? This collection offers some great insights into how flash fiction has evolved. Seeking to tackle the question: "How short can a story be and truly be a story?" Thomas and Shapard have attempted to find the best flashes from America in the twenty-first century. Including stories from some of the most memorable fiction writers of our time, these moving, funny and unforgettable stories prove that more often than not, less is more.
Elaine Mead is a freelance writer and book reviewer, currently residing in nipaluna (Hobart), Tasmania. She is passionate about the ways we can use literature to learn from our experiences to become more authentic versions of ourselves and obsessed with showing you photos of her Dachshund puppy. You can find her online under www.wordswithelaine.com.
