Quickfic Anthology 1: Shorter-Short Speculative Fiction

Quickfic Anthology #1

by Liam Hogan, Gregg Chamberlain, Christine Clukey Reece

Quickfic Anthology 1 from DigitalFictionPub.com

44 speculative fiction shorter-short stories in horror, fantasy, and science fiction. Top fiction authors present stories that grab you in 3,499 words or less. A delicious box of literary chocolate for your reading enjoyment.

261 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 1, 2016

Reviews

[Deborah Sheldon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderfully eclectic mix of stories. Dark fantasy, horror, sci-fi: this anthology has it all. Great fun!

[Andrew Brooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Over 40 very short stories that are a mix of Horror, Fantasy and SF, for 99¢, I had hoped for just a couple readable stories...
But found all but a couple above average, and more than a couple greats!
Well above average for an anthology!

[Heather Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a big lover of anthologies as it gives a great way to introduce me to new authors and short stories are perfect to read when I need a break to rest and recharge.

First up is a horror story. The tone was set quickly and effectively and while not terrifying was an enjoyable read. A good sci-fi story is next that I shared with my SO because the theme was right up his alley. Another horror tale is next with an amusing bent. The next sci-fi story did a great job at making me feel the character's aggravation. The next story was an exploration of evil I didn't care of, but one of the great things about anthologies is that it's not necessary to love every tale. There's also a couple of funny fantasy stories, a time travel sci-fi tale (my SO's favorite kind) and many others - this book is jam-packed with very short stories.

I particularly liked The Zombie Limbo Master, Pop-ups and Cold Comfort. Gateway Blood was fun while Harvest of Night Seeds and Paper Craft were satisfying and I'm going to look for more works by the authors. Actually, my list of authors to read more of definitely grew while reading this anthology. I hope Diversion Program gets developed into a longer story as I think it'd do it more justice. A few read like good attempts at writing exercises given in a course and some others are tiny little amusing jewels that were eagerly awaiting the author to let them out. I'm definitely glad I read this book and recommend it. It'd be a good brief break when you're tired or stumped and just need a little moment to get going again.

There's horror, sci-fi and fantasy in here all jumbled together so it's fun to see what comes next. Each story identifies as one of the categories, so if you're not a fan you can easily skip ahead. I only noticed the occasional mistake like a verb tense shift. Very few stories felt forced, stiff or awkward as the majority were pretty well-written. The ones I didn't care for were the ones that tried too hard to make a point or be clever. There was only one story included I'd previously read. I also want to mention I received above and beyond terrific customer service when I had a problem. I received this at a free or discounted rate in exchange for my honest review.

[Autumn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took me awhile to wade through this enjoyable tome of short stories, but I restricted myself to reading one or two stories at a time. There were great ones, good ones, okay ones, and a couple that I didn't care for, but it was well worth a read and had I purchased instead of received a copy from NetGalley, I would not have been disappointed. I see that there are other similarly themed anthologies by Digital Fiction and I will most likely check them out.

[Hebah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I typically expect a short story collection to have hits and misses to it, but for me, this was mostly misses. There were a few fun gems in it like Brian Trent's "Sparg," a cute, sad sci fi story of a lonely alien who misses his people or Dan Campbell's "Where Sea and Sky Kiss," a folktale-inspired fantasy story with a love story at its heart. But a good many other stories felt like rough drafts at best, little more than concepts wrapped in awkward, amateurish prose. As a collection, the tales were unified only relative length and falling under the speculative fiction umbrella, which aren't necessarily enough to form a cohesive whole.

I received a copy of this free for review courtesy of Netgalley; this is an honest appraisal of the work. Truthfully, I'd give it more like 2.5 stars if I could because I did genuinely enjoy a few of the stories, but it was a lot of reading effort to get to them.

[Eddie D. Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's some nice work in this collection! Warning don't read the horror stories before bed or you'll be looking for a night light. I list the stand outs:

EJ Shumak - Bunny Rabbit
Liam Hogan - Scarecrow
Gary Cuba - Oogie Tucker's Mission
Gregg Chamberlain - Jimmy Smith has a Dinosaur
Dead Guy Walking - Brian K. Lowe

There were more, but these stories come to mind as I write this review.

[Autumn · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was okay. That about sums the anthology to a.tea. It could have been better, but it could have been worse. I am not unhappy I read it, you probably won't be either.

[David Richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love these compilations. All of these stories really are short. Look forward to reading more.