The World's Shortest Stories

by Steve Moss

This is a quintessential short story book for r everyone who thinks they don't have any time to read. Each story is less than 55 words long - ideal for the beach, bus , train, anywhere.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies, Literature, Humor, Adult Fiction, Young Adult

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Fateme Beygi · Rating 4 out of 5]

داستان های پنجاه و پنج کلمه ای مجموعه داستانکی است که توسط استیو ماس گردآوری شده و در ایران با ترجمه گیتا گرکانی توسط نشر کاروان در شش نوبت از سال ۸۳ تا ۸۶ به چاپ رسیده.
این مجموعه شامل نود و هشت داستان مینیمال یا داستانک است که از طریق مسابقه ای که استیو ماس با عنوان ذکر شده برگزار کرد، جمع آوری شدند. نویسندگان داستانک ها را قشرهای مختلف جامعه تشکیل می دهند و همین باعث شده که جهان بینی و خلاقیت یک به یک آنها بیشتر به چشم بیاید.
نویسندگان سعی کرده اند که برشی کوتاه و هنرمندانه از وقایع ثبت کنند. نکته قابل توجه در تمامی داستانک های این مجموعه این است که اکثرشان بسیار ساختارمند نوشته شده اند؛ در صورتی که شاید نویسندگانش هیچ آشنایی با ساختمان داستان مینیمال نداشته اند. آنها فقط سعی کرده اند که با محدودیت کلماتی که دارند، لحظه کوتاه روایت کننده ای را بنویسند و خاصیت ثبت لحظه وقوع یک حادثه را در بطن نوشته هایشان منتقل کنند. این عامل منجر شده که اکثر داستانک هایشان بی مقدمه و با شروعی گیرا آغاز شوند، تا نقطه اوج پیش بروند و به پایانی غافلگیرانه- نه منحصرا پایانی سنتی- برسند. جالب تر اینکه این داستانک ها در عین ایجاز، بیانگر مباحث و دغدغه های انسانی جهان شمولی مثل نکوهش جنگ و خیانت، حفظ تعهد، عقوبت گناهان و … هستند. همچنین در ژانرهای مختلفی از کارآگاهی گرفته تا عاشقانه یا علمی- تخیلی نیز جای می گیرند و حتی برخی از آنها ضد داستان (داستان انعکاسی) اند.
تمام این ویژگی ها در کنار هم باعث شده که این مجموعه داستانک در جایگاهی بالاتر از دیگر نمونه های این چنینی قرار بگیرد.


منتشر شده در سایت گزارش هنر:
http://gozareshehonar.ir/%D9%86%DA%AF...

[Christy · Rating 4 out of 5]

So many of these short stories made me stop and think when they "ended" - In other words, they didn't really end on the written page! I found sometimes I was lost in thought about where the story went after the author's words ceased. I was horrified by some of them too. Good thing I have a night light ;)

[Negar Safari · Rating 4 out of 5]

"یک داستان تا چه اندازه ای میتواند کوتاه باشد و باز هم یک داستان محسوب شود؟ -مقدمه نویسنده"
نویسنده برای یافتن پاسخ این سوال بحث برانگیز، مسابقه ی داستان های ۵۵ کلمه ای را برگزار میکند و از میان آثار ارسالی بهترین ها را گلچین میکند که حاصل میشود این کتاب.
بیش از ۱۰۰ داستان ۵۵ کلمه ای.
تقریبا نقطه اشتراک همه داستان ها پایان غیر منتظره شان هست که اصلا همین ویژگی کنار گذاشتن کتاب و نرفتن سراغ ۵۵ کلمه بعدی را سخت میکند.
ترجمه خوبه و خب چون کتاب دو زبانه است نهایتا اگه منظور داستان را از ترجمه نفهمیدیم به صفحه مقابلش یه سرکی می کشیم.

[Pooya Kiani · Rating 1 out of 5]

یک کتاب بسیار مزخرف. حیف از نشر قطره که همچین چیزایی چاپ کنه. توی این کتاب نه «داستان» معنا داشت، نه «کوتاه»، نه «مینیمالیسم» با هر بدی و خوبیش اصلا دیده می‌شد. مجموعه‌ای بود هشلفت از طرح‌واره‌های نیمه پرداخته شده برای غافلگیری. سهم زیادی از تقصیر به گردن مجلات یبس و بی‌سواد آمریکایی و دامن زدن به شیوه‌های یعنی فرمالیستی، بدون هیچ درکی از فرمالیسم و ساختار داستانی‌یه. خیلی بد بود، خیلی بد، خیلی بد. دلم می‌خواد چشمامو بشورم.

[Dick Reynolds · Rating 4 out of 5]

All short stories in this book are contest winners. The main rule of the contest was each submission had to be fifty-five words or less and tell a story. The ones selected for publication cover a wide range of themes including murder, love, terror and suspense. Above all, these stories are entertaining, cleverly written and full of surprises, typically at the end. Many times I read a story twice or even three times to appreciate the scope and nuances offered in such a meager serving of words.
A story called “Into the Night” features the mandated fifty-five words with each pair of words separated by a comma. We have nouns, verbs and adjectives all strung together like a shopping list but it works fine. Another story titled “Werling” is also fifty-five words, each one starting with the letter W, and tells both a hilarious and sad tale of romantic failure.
In one sense, this book is like a bag of potato chips; you can’t just read one. But on the other hand, I found that I didn’t want to read more than a half dozen at one sitting. I found myself wanting something longer, more detailed and ultimately more satisfying.

[Ben Denison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Listened to audiobook. Checked out from online library,

A brilliant collection of really short stories of 55 words max. Some funny. Some clever. Some weird, but really good, interesting stories.

[Arash Moharrami · Rating 3 out of 5]

قبلا در فراخوان داستان 15 کلمه «ادبیات اقلیت» شرکت کرده بودم که باعث شد بیشتر به ارزش نوشتن هر کلمه فکر کنم. بعد از اون تجربه حالا فکر می‌کنم چه کارایی میشه با 55 کلمه انجام داد! اگر شمام امتحان کنین می‌بینید چقدر کار سختیه و هرچه کوتاهتر میشه تعداد داستانهای خوب هم کمتر میشه. خیلی از داستانهای این مجموعه، جالبن ولی فکر می‌کنم نهایتش 3-4 تا از داستانها واقعا خوندنی و به‌یادموندنی هستن.
* من نسخه صوتی دوزبانه کتاب رو تو اپ «نوار» گوش کردم که کیفیت خوبی داشت واقعا

[Eman · Rating 5 out of 5]

فقط یکی از داستان ها را بخوانید، بعد سعی کنید کتاب را ببندید و از خواندن بقیه ی داستان ها صرفنظر کنید

این نوشته ی پشت جلد کتاب داستان های 55 کلمه ایست که یکی از معدود اظهارنظرهایی است که بنظرم حقیقت دارد

هرکدام از داستان ها با توجه به محدودیت در کلمات،از عناصر داستانی چیزی کم ندارند و برخی واقعا درخشان هستند

یکی از داستان ها:

مرگ در بعد از ظهر

« لویی ، از پشت آن درخت بیرون بیا تا بتوانم مغزت را داغان کنم.»
« جرات نداری ماشه را بکشی .»
« دل و جرات من خیلی بیشتر از مغز توست .»
« تونی ، تو عوض مغز ، بادام زمینی داری ، بنگ .»
« ... این هم یکی دیگر !»
بنگ !
« ... و یکی دیگر !»
بنگ !
« لوئیس ، تونی ، شام !»
« آمدیم ، مامان .»

( پرسیلا منتلینگگ)

[Eric Montag · Rating 5 out of 5]

Think you could write a satisfying short story in 55 words or less? Each story in this book is exactly that. The book was a very quick read, and difficult to put down. The majority of the stories are also illustrated with clever little drawings.

[A Yawner · Rating 3 out of 5]

ترجمه امرایی رو خوندم.
بعضی داستان ها جذاب و قلقلک کننده و بعضی سطحی و دم‌دستی

[Farnaz · Rating 1 out of 5]

مرد موقع برگشتن به اتاق خواب گفت: « مواظب باش عزیزم، اسلحه پر است.»
زن که به پشتی تخت تکیه داده بود گفت: «این را برای زنت گرفته‌ای؟»
«نه، خیلی خطرناک است. می‌خواهم یک حرفه‌‌ای استخدام کنم.»
: من چطورم؟»
مرد پوزخندی زد: « بامزه است، اما کدام احمقی برای آدم کشتن یک زن استخدام می‌کند ؟ »
زن لب‌هایش را مرطوب کرد، لوله اسلحه را به طرف مرد گرفت
: «زن تو.»
____________________________________________
:«سلیا، همه‌اش تقصیر توست. سرانجام جسد متورم مرا در استخر پیدا می‌کنی. بدرود. اومبرتو»
او یادداشت در مشت و تلوتلوخوران بیرون دوید، مرا دید، شناور با چهره‌ای درون آب، چون مگسی غول پیکر که در ژله غرق شده باشد.
وقتی برای نجات من خود را به آب انداخت و به یاد آورد بلد نیست شنا کند، من از آب بیرون آمدم.
محکوم شماره ۳۳۸۴۱۲

[Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

هم فکر به چنین مجموعه ای کاری بکر است و هم انتخاب آن برای ترجمه، و هم ترجمه ی خوب اسدالله امرائی، در مجموع کتاب را با تعداد زیادی قصه های بسیار کوتاه، خواندنی و جذاب کرده است.
ضمن آن که به علاقمندان به نویسندگی فکر و ایده ی نوشتن هم می دهد. و این که چطور می شود در مورد ساده ترین مسایل هم مطلبی به این کوتاهی و در عین حال جالب و خواندنی نوشت.

[Mary Guerra · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite is still the very first story in the book. To say this book was a fast read is using too many words!

[Carah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was enjoyable for the most part. It got me inspired to try writing my own 55 word story. It’s honestly a fun switch up for people that like poetry. The first story happened to be my favorite:

“Careful honey, it’s loaded,” he said re-entering the bedroom.
Her back rested against the headboard.
“This for your wife?”
“No. Too chancy. I’m hiring a professional.”
“How about me?”
He smirked. “Cute. But who’d be dumb enough to hire a lady hit man?”
She wet her lips, sighting along the barrel.
“Your wife.”

[Brittany Hayes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. The stories were like potato chips- you couldn't stop with just one. You keep going without realizing how much you've eaten/read. My ELL students have LOVED these stories and hunting for meaning tucked between the lines of fifty-five words.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an amazing book! You'd think that reading a short story of less than 55 words would be easy. Nope. Not at all. It's worth the time to read them slowly and get the hidden meaning in most of them.

[Christina Bagni · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rating collections is hard, but I chose 2/5 because of all these stories, less than ten really wowed me. Most were eyeroll-worthy, more “joke” than “story.” And by joke I don’t mean just dumb—I mean, literally, some are “a man walks into a bar” level writing. And yes, they’re usually with a punchline, either humorous or shock-value horror/plot twist/gay panic. Yes really. There’s so much gay panic, lol.

Way, way, WAY too many of these stories end with “surprise, they’re gay!” Or, “surprise, this character is trans!” Not only is it wildly outdated, it’s not even novel. Literally at one point 3 out of 4 stories in a row ended with “and then turns out she was a man!” It made this collection hard to finish. But then again, it was published in the 90s, when, apparently, “she was a man the whole time” was as common a trope as “and it was all a dream.”

Barf.

This seems to be an early foray into flash fiction, so for that it deserves kudos. The rare few gems are good, but not worth having to trudge through the transphobia, homophobia, and weird shock value plot twists. Pass, and find some better flash fiction.

[Philip Gordon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book and this book changed my life. It is not in the typical way that a book will change the person you are. This book did not make me a better person or make me recycle more. This book made me realize that reading should be fun and this served as my rebound book. What I mean by his is right before this I was attempting to read "The Stand" by Stephen King and this book was taking a while for me to make significant progress so I abandoned it. I was very discouraged so when I saw this book was short and had good reviews I picked it up and tore through it. Let's just say I thoroughly enjoyed it. There were four sections: love, horror,murder and suspense. The best part was each story was only 55 words. My favorite section was murder because each story kept me on my toes and even in 55 words had a significant twist that was intense. I recommend this book to anybody looking for a quick read that is also very good.

[Luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun idea: write a short story using 55 words. Could be fun to do with kids in a classroom.

This collection is full of just such stories. Some were good. Some weren't. The thing I enjoyed about it was that the whole book can be read by a good reader in about an hour (even though the book is just over 200 pages) and people (students) who hate reading, or claim they don't have time, or say that reading is boring can pick this up and read a whole story in a minute or two. It could be a useful tool in a classroom. As for the quality of the writing, ehhh...not great, but if the goal is just to get some reading done, this will work just fine.

[Laurie Sand · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fun collection! I was really struck by the similarities between this form of micro-fiction and haiku poetry: setting the scene followed by a "twist" that suddenly changes the meaning of all that came before, the use of implication and allusion to allow the reader to build the meaning of the story themselves, a riddle-like use of double meanings, even the use of certain seasonal tropes (e.g. the autumn moon) to convey setting and mood. A really fun, low-investment read I would recommend to literally anyone.

[Mehdi khani · Rating 5 out of 5]

روشنایی چراغ های خیابان خوشامد گوییِ گرم سرمای شبانه ای بود که داشت از راه می رسید
انحنای نیمکت پارک با ستون فقرات خسته اش آشنا بود
پتوی پشمی سالویشن آرمی،دور شانه هایش پیچیده شده و آرام بخش بود.و یک جفت کفشی که امروز در میان زباله ها پیدا کرده بود کاملا" اندازه اش بودند
فکر کرد خدایا،زندگی چقدر خوب است
اندرو-یی.هانت

[Lia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once I started to read this book, I was inspired to write stories in the same format. Only 55 words.
And it was sooo damn difficult. Salute to the writers whose story were published in this book. They can tell a lot of things by only a little words.

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

since each story is only 55 words, sometimes some of the meaning gets lost in the first reading. I ended up reading most of the storie two times each to fully understand them.
It's a cute concept.
Some stories were very powerful.

[Mostafa Valipour · Rating 4 out of 5]

اینکه یه داستان حتماً باید یه تعداد کلمه‌ی خاص داشته باشه خیلی چیزِ محدود کننده‌ایه...اما با این حال باز توی کتاب داستانهایی رو میشه پیدا کرد که آخرش بگی "دمِ نویسندش گرم!"
داستانهایی که تو این کتاب هستن هرکدوم از یه نویسنده هستن)ـ)

[Soheil · Rating 3 out of 5]

ترجمه ی گیتا گرکانی مثل همیشه خوب بود و چیزی که باعث شد داستان هایی که اکثرا برای فرهنگی که ما باهاش بیگانه هستیم نوشته شده قابل فهم تر بشه نقش مترجم بوده

[Tyler Webb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though each story was only one page, each was even more dramatic or ironic than the last. Great for someone who wants to read but only has a limited reading time.

[franka · Rating 2 out of 5]

i only liked a few of them, most of them were cliches and superficial

[Dawna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like any compilation of short stories, this collection of Fifty-Five Fiction (stories told in 55 words or less), has some pieces that are much more successful than others. But, as a genre, I find Fifty-Fife Fiction fascinating. I’m generally drawn to writing with poetic, meandering prose. Every once in a while it’s enlightening and refreshing to strip storytelling down to the economy of what can be done with the absolute bare minimum.

*****

BEDTIME STORY

"Careful, honey, it's loaded," he said, re-entering the bedroom.

Her back rested against the headboard.

"This for your wife?"

"No. Too chancy. I'm hiring a professional."

"How about me?"

He smirked. "Cute. But who'd be dumb enough to hire a lady hit man?"

She wet her lips, sighting along the barrel.

"Your wife."

—JEFFREY WHITMORE

[David Lumpkin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting approach at writing. The results cross the entire gamut of of possible ratings. Some stories did not approach good writing and others were very satisfying leaving me laughing out loud. The most interesting part of this book is not so much the stories themselves but how different authors were able to express themselves in exactly 55 words, building and satisfying a plot. It would be a good read for the would be writer to see this done. As the author indicated the technique has been used in teaching writing. It certainly would help a writer to be more succinct.

If you read it for the technique, you will likely get a few chuckles out of it. It is a very quick read.

[Robert Bussie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can 55 words tell a funny, sad, thriller, or thought provoking story. If done correctly, yes!

A large majority of these stories are excellent. It has even inspired me to start writing my own stories in 55 words. It is very high praise when written, visual, or performing arts can encourage and inspire me to create my own art work.

Here is my first story:

Uncertainty

"Here we go again. We do this dance every time. I stare at you with painful doubt; you stare back at me with hope and endless possibilities. Together we have created love and hate; laughter and sadness; lust and revulsion; inspiration and despair.
With a sigh I picked up my pencil and started to draw."

-Robert Bussie