Micro Fiction: An Anthology of Fifty Really Short Stories [Paperback]

Jerome Stern (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 17, 1996

The World's Best Short-Short Fictions in a Big, Little Book that you could probably carry in your Pocket.

Ten years ago, Jerome Stern, director of the writing program at Florida State, initiated the World's Best Short Short Story Contest. Stories were to be about 250 words long; first prize was a check and a crate of oranges.

Two to three thousand stories began to show up annually in Tallahassee, and National Public Radio regularly broadcast the winner. But, more important, the Micro form turned out to be contagious; stories of this "lack of length" now dot the literary magazines. The time seemed right, then, for this anthology, presenting a decade of contest winners and selected finalists. In addition, Stern commissioned Micros, persuading a roster of writers to accept the challenge of completing a story in one page.

Jesse Lee Kercheval has a new spin on the sinking of the Titanic; Virgil Suarez sets his sights on the notorious Singapore caning; George Garrett conjures up a wondrous screen treatment pitch; and Antonya Nelson invites us into an eerie landscape. Verve and nerve and astonishing variety are here, with some wild denouements.

How short can a Micro be, you wonder. Look up Amy Hempel's contribution, and you'll see.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jerome Stern, a professor of English and popular culture, is the author of an acclaimed book on writing, Making Shapely Fiction. His incisive monologues are regularly heard on National Public Radio.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; First Edition edition (August 17, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9780393314328
• ISBN-13: 978-0393314328
• ASIN: 0393314324
• Product Dimensions: 4.6 x 0.4 x 6.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #278,095 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Maximus Minimus May 16, 2004

By Boz Hubris

Format:Paperback

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.

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Good introduction - mixed collection October 17, 2000

By M. J. Smith VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

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.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Micro Fiction: An Anthology of Really Short Stories September 24, 2005

By A.L.L. Publications

Format:Paperback

I love very short stories, but found Micro Fiction a disappointment. Most of the stories were too abstract for me; stories not having a clear story line and some seeming to ramble on without much intent nor a conclusion.

The editor must have found stories like these of interest to place so many together in one book.

Other very short story book selections I've enjoyed are:

1) "The World's Shortest Stories of Love and Death: Passion, Betrayal, Suspicion, Revenge, All This and More in a New Collection of Amazing Short Stories-Each One Just 55 Words Long" edited by Steve Moss;

2) a second 55-word story book edited by Steve Moss;

3)"Flash Fiction: Very Short Stories" longer than the Micro Fictions selections, but less abstract

4) Many of the Barnes and Noble short story book selections.