The Future Is Short: Science Fiction in a Flash

Jot Russell, Director of the Science Fiction Microstories Contest, presents "...but a sampling of stories that have been posted on the contest." These stories were selected as the best by vote of the writers who entered the contest. Each story is less than 725 words long, making it a quick read. Just the thing for a bathroom break, commute, or boring teleconference.There are fifty-seven stories. My twelve favorites are:- J. F. Williams' "The Daughter" is a coming of age story about leaving the next. Yet it is not a cliché.- Andrew Gurcak's "Collateral Damage" is written as a 2115 Wikipedia entry. It outlines the career of a medical genius who changed the world.- Thaddeus Howze's "Psychopomp" shows what a bad idea it is to try to fake your way through the Childhood Psychological Survey's test for the urge for dominance.- Jeremy Lichtman's "Apsis in Ephis with Samir" is about love, jealousy, and piano tuning.- Carrol Fix's "Time of the Phoenix" is about the 100-year life cycle of a tree-like alien race. They can't be strictly considered aliens since the story takes place on their planet. And they are deeply rooted in it.- Tom Tinney's "The Horde" takes place on an Earth stripped of resources by invading aliens. The remaining artifacts of civilization are rare and valuable.- Jot Russell's "The Earth is Dying" is just an okay story about the end of the world. It is listed as proof that old science fiction cliché endings never die.- Andy Lake's "Did Curiosity Kill the Cat?" might have been written by a pun-penning Isaac Asimov. And suppressed by his publisher.- Joanna Lamprey's "Back to Basics" is about locking people up together and expecting them not to go crazy.- Andrew Gurcak's "Escape" is about a musician who began singing in a poor village and climbed to global fame. There was nowhere left to go but out.- W. A. Fix's "Yood Must Find Itch" is about shipwrecked alien lovers who reach out to each other across a continent.- Joanna Lamprey's "The Recruiters" reveals that human beings have a reflexive behavior that unnerves and offends the other intelligent species in galactic society. What to do?There is a lot to like in this collection. The stories cover a range of science fiction topics, making the collection a good introduction to the genre for not-yet-fans. Having read several lower quality collections of flash fiction, I appreciate the work that must have gone into assembling a good one like this. I suspect it was the winning combination of good editing and a well-designed contest. Nicely done.

Science fiction has great appeal due to the imagined worlds, weird aliens, possible futures, time travel. Unlike a science fiction novel that's restricted to its plot, this collection of short stories delves into just about every genre of science fiction, and I found it really enjoyable. Wondering what each micro-story will be about, and how the images and characters unfold in a short space makes this a rewarding read.The stories are all well written and the majority have intriguing plots. The collection is divided into 9 themes, like ‘Time Slip’ with Jot Russell’s “Town Line Road” which will have you thinking about the fourth dimension. ‘Connecting’ introduces some interesting and imaginative aliens. I enjoyed “The end of the story” by Andy Lake with a disturbing possible future, and “Sentience” by Paula Friedman with ingenious cross species merging. The destructive aftermath in Tom Tinney’s “The Hoard” is a good example of the ‘Confrontations’ section, along with “Time of the Phoenix” by Carrol Fix; both create ominous aliens. In ‘Secrets’ I liked Alecra & Shanno by SM Kraftchak who creates alien sensuality and deception. Deep space travel is often a necessity in science fiction and there are some interesting concepts in ‘Wending.’ Point of view can often challenge our thinking, Tom Tinney plays with this in “Beta Test”. Perhaps my favorite is “Summer Bites” by JF Williams who very subtly raises the spectre of a Big Brother through a beautifully described scene of a family’s summer by a lake. Also in this section, called ‘Edges’, “Unnatural Gas” by Thaddeus Howze is an allusion to some current corporate behavior.The Future is Short is a great collection that should have something for everyone. I like being able to dip into a short read when time is limited, and this collection offers a quick reward. I’d like to see more anthologies like this.

57 micro-stories written by 31 authors, each story restricted to no more than 725 words - this anthology is considered the best of the submissions to a monthly Science Fiction Microstories Contest over a course of a couple of years. Since a 725 word story is barely a four page work, this anthology is a very quick read, comparable to enjoying a box of mixed chocolates. However, although most of the chocolates are delicious, some blends are less tasty. The stories in this collection cover a broad spectrum of sci-fi themes consisting of time travel paradoxes, otherworldly alien cultures, evolutionary metamorphoses, post-apocalyptic survival, humanoid creature interactions, technology conspiracies and interstellar exploration. Most of the stories are quite enjoyable in their creative ability to capture a moment of future culture, touch a sense of O'Henry-ism in its scientific irony or quickly re-define a legend in modern terms; however, a few tales suffer in trying to explain the mythos of an alien culture or short code a complex idea within the 725 word limitation. The selection also attempts to be fair politically by including stories with opposing partisan views from a tale that compares oil fracking corporate executives as demons of Satan's realm to a story of a tech plot against an Obama-style president who has undercut the Constitution to create a liberal-based tyranny. Still, it is an admirable collection.

This one is one of the better SF collections, because the stories aren't too obscure and too SF - a few are, most would be considered good stories in any genre.A bunch of authors picked their favourites and the result is an interesting collection of microstories. I like a few short story collections on my Kindle, to dip into when you have to wait unexpectedly, and this delivers.

My e-book version of The Future is Short: Science Fiction in a Flash arrived safely with no electronic problems. These short SF stories can be enjoyed a few at a time, or from cover to cover! I would recommend this book to any of your customers.