Micro Fiction: An Anthology of Fifty Really Short Stories

by Jerome Stern (Editor)

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.

Includes:

Poet's husband by M. Giles
Cough by Harry Humes
Daydream by R. Allen
Wrong channel by R. Fernandez
Harmony by J. Williams
20by20 by L. Brewer
Your fears are justified by R. DeMarinis
At the point by B. McCaddon
Halo by M. McFee
Mockingbird by L. Berry
Changing the channel by E.E. Miller
Wanting to fly by S. Dunning
Eclipsed by R. Shuster
New Year by P. Painter
Survivors by K. Addonizio
Anti-Cain by V. Suarez
Painted devils by F. Chappell
Honeycomb by N.R. Singer
Baby, baby, baby by F. Camoin
An old story by J. Kelman
Conception by T. Fleming
All this by J. Avallon
Stone belly girl by J. Granger Worry by R. Wallace
You can't see dogs on the radio by L. Wendling
True story of Mr. and Mrs. Wong by M. Chin
Flu by S. Dybek
The bridge by R. Edson
Kennedy in the barrio by J.O. Cofer
Grief by R. Carlson
Mount Olive by M.A. Love
Hurray for Hollywood by G. Garrett
This is how I remember it by Betsy Kemper
November by U. Hegi
Carpathia by J.L. Kercheval
Chickens by E. Magarrell
Mayor of the sister city speaks to the chamber of commerce in Klamath Falls, Oregon, on a night in December in 1976 by M. Martone
Confirmation names by M. Lippo
Hostess ; Housewife by A. Hempel
Land's end by A. Nelson
Last supper in the Cabinet Mountains by D. Bottoms
Strongman by W. White-Ring
Diverging paths and all that by M. O'Hara
A gentleman's C by P. Powell
Of exposure by J. Holman
Tea leaves by J. Burroway
We eat our peas for the souls in Purgatory by A. McPeters
Waiting by P. McNally
But what was her name? by D. Raffel
Guadalupe in the Promised Land by Sam Shepard
Morning news by J. Stern
Molibi by L. Hancock
Wallet by A. Woodman

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies, Flash Fiction, Literature, Read For School, Contemporary

141 pages, Paperback

First published August 17, 1996

About the author

Jerome Stern (1938 (?) - 1996) was the head of the Creative Writing program at Florida State University and taught writing workshops and classes on popular culture.

While at FSU he created the "World's Best Short Short Story Contest" and edited the book Micro Fiction: An Anthology of Fifty Really Short Stories. His other books include Making Shapely Fiction (1990), Florida Dreams (1993), and Radios: Short Takes on Life and Culture (1997). He wrote for the Tallahassee Democrat and his essays, which he called "Radios," were often heard on National Public Radio.

Reviews

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tired of losing his wallet to pickpockets, my father, at seventy, makes a phony one. He stuffs the phony wallet with expired coupons and losing Florida Lottery tickets and a fortune cookie fortune that reads, "Life is the same old story told over and over."

In a full-length mirror, he tries the wallet in the back pocket of his pants. It hangs out fat with desire. "All oyster," he says to me, "no pearl."

We drive to the mall where he says he lost the last one. I am the wheelman, left behind in the car, while my father cases a department store.

He is an old man trying to act feeble and childlike, and he overdoes it like stage makeup on a community-theater actor. He has even brought a walking stick for special effect. Packages of stretch socks clumsily slip from his fingers. He bends over farther than he has bent in years to retrieve them, allowing the false billfold to rise like a dark wish and be grappled by the passing shadow of a hand.

Then the unexpected happens. The thief is chased by an attentive salesclerk. Others join in. The thief subdued, the clerk holds up the retrieved item. "Your wallet, sir. Your wallet." As she begins opening it, searching for identification, my father runs toward an exit. The worthless articles float to the floor.

Now my father is in the car, shouting for me to drive away. There will be time enough for silence and rest. We are both stupid with smiles and he is shouting, "Drive fast, drive fast."

[Shovelmonkey1 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the idea of micro fiction. Part of me thinks it's a brilliant wheeze because I'm lazy and have a short attention span and therefore it would be something that I'd be prepared to try to write. I might actually finish a micro story before I got bored and sauntered off. On the flipside I also recognise that it's probably a lot harder to write micro fiction than it would initially appear. So, to that end I've decided to review this micro fiction using the technique of the nano review. All of my summations and synopses will be no more than ten words long. Let the nano nit-picking and inexplicable summaries begin.

The Poet's Husband by Molly Giles
Oversharing poet wife induces insomnia.

The Cough by Harry Hughes
Coal miners cough carries him off.

Daydream by Roberta Allen
Vegas Road trip not preferable to French fantasy.

Wrong Channel by Roberto Fernandez
Green card gets lost in translation.

Harmony by Joy Williams
Memories of youth borne on the back of a fly.

20/20 by Linda Brewer
Car share with short sighted lunatic is a bad idea.

Your Fears are Justified by Rick DeMarinis
Life is full of risk but you're not dead yet.

At the point by Beauvais McCaddon
Dog acclimatises to the new neighbourhood better than owners.

The Halo by Michael McFee
Versatile holy headgear proves difficult to dispatch.

Mockingbird by Laurie Berry
Love is forgiving, laziness is shocking, mockingbirds are irrelevant.

Changing the channel by E Ethelbert Miller
TV doesn't reflect life but it may deflect it.

Wanting to Fly by Stephen Dunning
Dreams of flight not thwarted by a drowned man.

Eclipsed by Robert Shuster
Unnatural dark of the sun brings illumination to the sun.

The New Year by Pamela Painter
Man fails to bring home bacon but still gets ham.

Anti Cain by Virgil Suarez
Will take a beating for a book deal.

Painted Devils by Fred Chappell
Love is a battle - make sure you're not firing blanks.

More to follow...

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this might be a nice book for inspiring me to write my own micro fiction, but after reading it I’m not sure it’s really for me. I’m all for minimalism in writing but nothing here left much emotional impact.

[Eärendilen · Rating 3 out of 5]

i mean.. its ok to be short but still have some depth you know.. 🥀

[Jazmin · Rating 3 out of 5]

standouts for me include: "the poet's husband," "mockingbird," "survivors," and "all this"

[Christie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Micro Fiction is a collection of short stories. Specifically it's a collection of stories that are 250 words or less. If at this point you're thinking, "There couldn't possibly be any story worth reading that could fit into only 250 words," then perhaps this collection isn't for you. If at this point, you're thinking, "Only 250 words, eh? You mean I don't have to read the first, second, and tenth book in the trilogy in order to get my story fix?," then look no further. This book was specifically designed to pack the maximum amount of punch into a short reading experience. It's perfect for filling in those gaps of time where you're waiting and have nothing to do: public transit, waiting for a meeting to start, etc.

And even if you aren't impressed enough to buy the book on that recommendation alone, it's not like it's hard to sample it in the book store. Three minutes, tops, and you've already tried out one of the several wonderful stories in here. While it's difficult to even summarize a story in less words than it takes to tell it, I'll mention some favorites of mine. Hostess by Amy Hempel is a brilliant vignette that can get a laugh and a quick reread every time. 20/20 by Linda Brewer is another favorite of mine, bundling up a quirky and wonderful story with some clever insight into humans and their powers of observations. Survivors by Kim Addonizio, however, is the single story that sticks with me the most. I think of it every time I glance at the spine of this book. Anyone who can tell that powerful of a story in that few words has my undying respect.

However, the same brevity that makes this book delightful also is a negative. I am never able to lose myself in the book for hours, nor am I able to get lost in a secondary world (ala Tolkien). This book will definitely stay on my bookcase, and meets and exceeds its goals, even if it isn't quite the epic that some other longer books are.

[Zoom · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick read of very short (250 word) stories by a variety of writers. Some were superb, others just left me baffled. I'm sure it isn't easy to tell a whole story in so few words.

They take so little time to read that you end up reading a lot of them in a sitting, and then you don't remember any of them.

[Sterling · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some stories were good, some were bad. I didn't take much of it with me.

[Michael P. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Good stories have a beginning, a middle, and an ending. Most stories in this collection of microscopic fiction are just endings, though some are just middles and others just beginnings. These stories are unsatisfying because while they reach the goal of being 250 or fewer words, they need more words to create a story that is truly engaging. There are perhaps a half-dozen stories that manage to have good micro beginnings, micro middles, and micro endings, but most of those are merely better than the other stories in this book. They are hardly the sort of thing that will be read by the next generation. The very last story by Allen Woodman, however, is a cunning delight.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I struggle with writing short stories (though, one could argue, that if I actually maintained some kind of almost daily writing practice I could feel more comfortable with the form). I have always found it so much easier (and wholly satisfying) to write short snapshots. I was therefore really excited when I found this collection of "really short stories" at a used book sale. I guess as with any collection of writing by a variety of writers, some of these stories were punches in the gut and some...weren't. I did, however, learn a lot here and am super down to experiment with this form.

[Maggie Maize · Rating 3 out of 5]

Only three of these shorts stunned me in a good way.

[Jimmy Clifford]

I enjoyed reading this book because it was a good quick read. It was full of many short stories. I recommend this book to someone who is interested in short facts and stories or someone who is looking for a short book. Some of the stories within this book were boring but others were exciting.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Micro-fiction has always signified the ability to distill understanding and emotion, and how we communicate those things, down to as little language as possible. It's an exercise many writers indulge in--stories under 500 words, and in this case 250 words (a single printed page)--but to see it taken seriously and done exceptionally well, as more than just an exercise, is eye-opening. This collection accounts for a number of exceptional short shorts, employing a variety of narrative strategies. The diversity and the quality are exemplary. I first read this collection seven years ago, and have unintentionally ended up rereading it almost every year since with a fresh impression and ideas each time. I'd recommend this anthology to most anyone, but even moreso to writers.

[Justin Ahlquist · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book because the book didn't consist of a story that drags on for 200 or more pages and the stories in it are thought provoking and suspenseful. My favorite short story within the novel was "Daydream" by Roberta Allen because again i relate directly to the plot of the story, and i love the idea of family bonding because not enough of it happens anymore. I reccomend this book to anyone who enjoys short stories that leave you thinking and almost always end on a cliff hanger where you want to read more.

[Cyndie Todd · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know if this book is still in print or not, but it's a great little book to keep around, either in a guest room, in the bathroom, or just handy for a quick story. The stories are extremely short - none taking up more than two pages of an undersized book - yet they really pack a lot of meaning "between the lines." High appeal for the 140 character writer.

[Corey Wozniak · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was okay.

Lots of crap stories that didn't make any sense. Others were genuinely amusing or even surprising. I'll be using this title in my HS writing workshop to teach fiction writing.

[Jan Priddy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stumbled upon this book at Powells in the 90s and developed a curriculum based on Stern's ±250 word stories. I always handed them out and read aloud "Flu" by Stuart Dybeck and "The True Story of Mr. and Mrs. Wong" by Marilyn Chin aloud as models. Marilyn's story includes an astonishing 13 characters, including the four daughter who "dropped out like purple plums." She was (is) the aunt of three of my students and I know how she reads her work. Those two are great stories. Many of them are and demonstrate to students just how smart readers can be, given tiny amounts of information.

It was homework each Wednesday for 8-10 weeks to bring in a story of 250 words ±25 words. Each one had a "magic" word that the class had brainstormed to include, and some other requirement—a specific POV, a paradox, dialogue. The stories were stacked on the story from the previous week and passed two people to the left. Eventually, everyone had a stack of stories by different people. They read each one and made a positive comment. Everyone had to be there or email in their story to me if they were absent. It was worth a hundred points and so long as they did it—they got and A. It was a favorite assignment. They earned the points with page layout, writing, following directions (they could correct errors), meeting the weekly deadline, and keeping track of others' work. There were even make-up assignments. It was hard not to earn the A.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a small book of small stories, each as big as a house or mountain, each a gift of starlight. Some stories ride on the surface, powerful as a champion surfer. Some carry a bottomless depth of the ages and require multiple reading. And some radiate across oceans, offering a much larger world that challenges us to understand.

This collection, put together by Jerome Sterns, just before his death, is chock full of brilliant short, shorts as written by 53 writers and masters of the craft. Of the 53 authors, 29 were, (at that time - 1996), teaching writing at various colleges around the U.S. They defy the erroneous and belittling assertion, "those who can, do; those who can't, teach."

I found this book to be a timeless cornerstone of micro fiction that I've gone back to again and again for inspiration. For those new to micro fiction, it's a perfect read with which to whet your appetite. You will be amazed at how good short, short fiction tells big stories.

[Zee Weasel · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent little collection and introduction to flash fiction. I contacted a friend since I seemed to be in a rut when it came to creative writing. Her simple suggestion to limit me to a short narrative rather than attempting to write a novel was all the freedom I had been looking for.

She also mailed me this little book. I quickly made my way through the 250-words-and-less stories. Some are like a piece of candy, a literary treat, some you have to chew more to get to the juicy bits. And some approach the quality of abstract art that, unless you 'click' with it, are scratching your head wondering what you are looking at. But that's okay; with every anthology, you will come across some stories that resonate more or less with you.

All in all, a great little book that demonstrates that you can snarl a reader in 250 words or less. I highly recommend it for anyone intimidated by the prospect of creative writing.

[Isaac]

Micro Fiction is not a volume stuffed with particularly interesting stories. Editor Jerome Stern explained the 250-word limit better than I ever could: "[i]t's a challenge, a problem in narrative." Most of the entries included in this anthology feel like experiments: attempts to solve a very, very tough puzzle. There are some interesting glorified-prose-poems and experiments in extreme compression here, but few memorable stories. I'll give all the contributors some credit, though. This is not easy. Reading Micro Fiction inspired me to give writing fiction within that tiny word limit a try, and it's a serious challenge.

The stories I liked enough to remember:
"20/20" (Linda Brewer)
"Mockingbird" (Laurie Berry)
"Worry" (Ron Wallace)
"The True Story of Mr. and Mrs. Wong" (Marilyn Chin)
"Kennedy in the Barrio" (Judith Ortiz Cofer)

[Emily D. · Rating 3 out of 5]

So I'm not really sure how I feel about "short short stories". To me, the traditional short story is the perfect length where you get an entire scene, well-developed, and that's it. Then your imagination fills in the rest and it's great. This collection of micro-fiction felt like glancing through a window into about 30 seconds worth of scene, then fast-walking to the next window, for 50 windows in 25 minutes. That's a lot of scenes and while it's interesting, you don't get much as far as information. It's just more of a general entertainment.
I mean, this is coming from me who probably doesn't "get" the subtle meanings or artistic nuances of each story but as a lay reader this wasn't super satisfying. I need more!

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of course in a book like this there's a wide range of stories--not all of them are going to hit. But if it's not a good one, it only takes like 30 seconds to read it anyway lol. Overall, I love the concept of this anthology and think it's very well curated. I read it over an extremely long time, because I feel like reading too many flash pieces in a row becomes unpleasant and they all start to blur. But definitely fun to have on your nightstand and dip into once in a while when you get that urge.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned about this book from a teacher on Twitter. The concept of flash fiction is not new to me, but I was eager to read more. This is a rather old book at this point, but there are still some solid stories in it. I found myself just reading a handful and putting the book down. I did not read it in one sitting, although that would have been easy to do.

Favorites:
Eclipsed
Survivors
Worry
Kennedy in the Barrio
Carpathia
Diverging Paths and All That
Waiting
Wallet

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read one story per day. I read them like you're supposed to read poetry. A few stories are duds. Most stories, though, are the best parts of poetry and the best parts of narrative. Some you'll have to work through, so some readers won't like it. Some narratives are obvious. But most of the microfiction pieces selected by Stern & company are nuanced and excellent, like G. Saunder's "Sticks":

https://www.unm.edu/~gmartin/535/Stic...

[Lyzette Wanzer · Rating 3 out of 5]

So I'll admit right off the bat that I'm not as big a fan of micro fiction as I am of flash/sudden fiction. I found this anthology to be okay. If you're a short-shorts fan, I do recommend reading it. But unlike the flash collections I've reviewed, none of the pieces in this book stood out to me in any special "wow" way. Having said that, you will find some popular authors' micro pieces in here, including Suart Dybek, Kim Addonizio, Michael Martone, Amy Hempel, and avid Bottoms.

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this class for a short story workshop. While I’m not sure I would have read this on my own, the book made me appreciate the skill that goes into writing extremely short stories (we’re talking 250 words per story). And while you can read it in a day, it’s the kind of book that’s worth reading slowly and then re-reading if you’re looking to pick up techniques to carry forward to your own writing.

[Anna Boice · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.7⭐️
Read a couple of these for my advanced fiction writing class so decided to pick up the whole collection. I love short stories, and this is definitely a cool, economical exploration of form. Surprisingly liked the winners the least.
Stand outs:
Wrong Channel
At the Point
Changing the Channel
Painted Devils
All This
Worry
Carpathia
Guadalupe in the Promised Land

[Tegan Mclane · Rating 4 out of 5]

A perfect little for stolen minutes to read! This collection of very, very short stories by talented writers runs the gamut in style, and is quite inspiring if you are person who values good writing. My favorite stories on first read are “Wallet,” which is laugh out loud funny; “Gentleman’s C,” which is poignant, “20/20” and “Flu,” both tender.

[Claire Fuller · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know whether it's just that Stern's taste is very different to mine, but very few of these stories worked for me. Many of them were very poetry based, with rather random sentences strung together. Although there was one - The New Year by Pamela Painter - about a man who goes on a road trip with a ham which made reading all the not-so-good ones worth it.

[Abigail Atienza · Rating 2 out of 5]

Is this a book of short stories or a book of poems? I think there's a blurry line between the two. Out of the 50 stories, 14 of them I enjoyed or engaged with. Most of them sound pretentious and lack depth.

Here's my top 5:

1. Carpathia
2. Your Fears Are Justified
3. The Halo
4. November
5. Changing The Channel