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Postcards From Impossible Worlds: The Collected Shortest Story
Postcards From Impossible Worlds collects 88 strange, surprising and harrowing micro-stories from The Shortest Story, a photo-fiction project from award-winning author Peter Chiykowski. Each page reads like a postcard sent from a life you never lived or a world that never existed. On one page, the human race wakes up to discover the oceans have vanished. On the next, the Statue of Liberty comes to life and rampages down the coast to Washington. Anything is possible in The Shortest Story.
The volume also contains 13 stories narrated by Cecil Baldwin (voice of Welcome to Night Vale) and guest stories from Robert Shearman, Helen Marshall, Shawn Coss, Sandra Kasturi, James Mark Miller, Sonya Ballantyne, and Jordan Shiveley.
The volume also contains 13 stories narrated by Cecil Baldwin (voice of Welcome to Night Vale) and guest stories from Robert Shearman, Helen Marshall, Shawn Coss, Sandra Kasturi, James Mark Miller, Sonya Ballantyne, and Jordan Shiveley.
192 pages, Paperback
First published September 18, 2018
About the author
Peter Chiykowski
21 books25 followersPeter Chiykowski is an award-winning writer, editor and cartoonist. His webcomic series Rock, Paper, Cynic won him the Aurora Award for Best Graphic Novel in 2014 and 2018. His first collection of comics, The HMS Bad Idea, debuted as a #1 new graphic novel anthology on the Amazon international bestseller list and is now available wherever silly books are sold.
His work as a humorist and author of short fiction and poetry has appeared or made mention in Entertainment Weekly, Newsweek, MTV.com, Huffington Post, Buzzfeed, The Globe and Mail, The New Quarterly, Asimov’s Science Fiction, Best Canadian Poetry and Best Canadian Speculative Writing, and he has spoken about writing and publishing at conventions, conferences and classrooms coast to coast.
He is the creator of The Shortest Story microfiction project and The Story Engine Deck of story prompts.
His new book of microfiction The House of Untold Stories is now available from Andrews-McMeel Publishing.
His work as a humorist and author of short fiction and poetry has appeared or made mention in Entertainment Weekly, Newsweek, MTV.com, Huffington Post, Buzzfeed, The Globe and Mail, The New Quarterly, Asimov’s Science Fiction, Best Canadian Poetry and Best Canadian Speculative Writing, and he has spoken about writing and publishing at conventions, conferences and classrooms coast to coast.
He is the creator of The Shortest Story microfiction project and The Story Engine Deck of story prompts.
His new book of microfiction The House of Untold Stories is now available from Andrews-McMeel Publishing.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
May 4, 2020
In short: Wow.
March 27, 2021
I really enjoyed it! Some profound stories, some lighter stories. It's still amazing how much story can be told in so few words.
November 28, 2018
What are postcards from impossible worlds? Simply put, they are stories that fit on a piece of paper the size of a postcard, with a picture as background to enhance the story. That description, however, only an aesthetic of the thing.
The soul of The Postcards is in telling a story of the fantastic in a few simple lines, yes, but in such a way that it will stab straight at the core of what it is to be human, and askew. They are both terrifying and reassuring, funny and cynical, cautionary and post-apocalyptic. In another sense, they are short, sharp jabs to the emotions, each and every one of them, and they run the gamut.
Chiykowski is a master of the genre he has created. Having written one every other day for the past two years for his online fans, he has collected eighty-eight of these stories in a single volume, which he succesfully funded through Kickstarter within the first forty-eight hours.
There are even guest stories by the likes of Helen Marshall, Sandra Kasturi, Robert Shearman, Shawn Coss, James Mark Miller, Sonya Ballantyne and Jordan Shiveley. As well, thirteen of the stories within can be found online, narrated by Cecil Baldwin, he of Welcome to Nightvale fame.
Just to give you one example, this is the story Mirror Universe:
I found a portal to a
Universe where everything
Is backwards.
Televisions watch us.
Banks rob people.
Cops kill the innocent.
Wait, why am I
Telling you?
You live there.
Postcards from Impossible Worlds are a great way to spend thirty seconds reading and half an hour thinking. It also makes a great coffee table read. It is possible to read more at shorteststory.com. I invite you to do so.
The soul of The Postcards is in telling a story of the fantastic in a few simple lines, yes, but in such a way that it will stab straight at the core of what it is to be human, and askew. They are both terrifying and reassuring, funny and cynical, cautionary and post-apocalyptic. In another sense, they are short, sharp jabs to the emotions, each and every one of them, and they run the gamut.
Chiykowski is a master of the genre he has created. Having written one every other day for the past two years for his online fans, he has collected eighty-eight of these stories in a single volume, which he succesfully funded through Kickstarter within the first forty-eight hours.
There are even guest stories by the likes of Helen Marshall, Sandra Kasturi, Robert Shearman, Shawn Coss, James Mark Miller, Sonya Ballantyne and Jordan Shiveley. As well, thirteen of the stories within can be found online, narrated by Cecil Baldwin, he of Welcome to Nightvale fame.
Just to give you one example, this is the story Mirror Universe:
I found a portal to a
Universe where everything
Is backwards.
Televisions watch us.
Banks rob people.
Cops kill the innocent.
Wait, why am I
Telling you?
You live there.
Postcards from Impossible Worlds are a great way to spend thirty seconds reading and half an hour thinking. It also makes a great coffee table read. It is possible to read more at shorteststory.com. I invite you to do so.
September 10, 2019
As I write this review, I technically haven't finished the book. I'm about 3/4 through and savoring it so thoroughly, loving it so deeply, that I feel the need to review it now.
This books is incredible. Page after page I'm left laughing, thinking, gasping, and wowed by how much can be conveyed in so small a space. The stories are clever, touching, haunting, funny, and many hold a mirror to the reality we face every day.
Even though I still have at least 20 pages to go, this book is already one of my absolute favourites and I want to share it with everyone I know. It will forever have a prominent place in my home. I'm taking my time with this book because each story deserves thought and gives me pause. Many inspire immediate rereading and I also look forward to randomly reading a page here or there for years to come.
This books is incredible. Page after page I'm left laughing, thinking, gasping, and wowed by how much can be conveyed in so small a space. The stories are clever, touching, haunting, funny, and many hold a mirror to the reality we face every day.
Even though I still have at least 20 pages to go, this book is already one of my absolute favourites and I want to share it with everyone I know. It will forever have a prominent place in my home. I'm taking my time with this book because each story deserves thought and gives me pause. Many inspire immediate rereading and I also look forward to randomly reading a page here or there for years to come.
November 17, 2018
Possibly my favorite book ever acquired through a Kickstarter. It's a collection of stories short enough to fit on a postcard (occasionally with very small print, but mostly not), with the idea being that these are postcards other versions of you have sent yourself from alternate realities. That conceit works on many, though not all. I estimate that I genuinely liked maybe 80% of these, and was indifferent to or mildly disliked perhaps 5%, with the other 15% hitting my "meh, it's okay" bar.
While this could be read in an afternoon, I enjoyed it more by savoring, by reading one at a time and pausing for a while before reading the next. Genres vary from SF to fantasy to weird to horror. Most are poignant. Some are funny. Some are both.
Highly recommended.
While this could be read in an afternoon, I enjoyed it more by savoring, by reading one at a time and pausing for a while before reading the next. Genres vary from SF to fantasy to weird to horror. Most are poignant. Some are funny. Some are both.
Highly recommended.
October 17, 2018
I stumbled upon the Shortest Story website through Tumblr just in time to buy the collected stories. I'm amazed by people who succeed in writing flash fiction, and this book collects so many good ones in one lovely book. It's hard to describe how I feel reading the book. It's like stumbling into a warped, doomed world that's perfectly ok with being doomed, full of sweet dogs, ghosts, humans who are monsters, and monsters who are very human. There's a dash of philosophy, a liberal splash of political opinion, and a slathering of sneaky humor. It's a quick, fun read. Go read it. I'm sure there will be at least one story that resonates with you way more than it should.
October 14, 2018
Fall 2018:
A delightful romp in tiny short storied from other worlds and other universes. I truly delighted in kickstartering this, in listening to Cecil read them, in all the pictures and in all the words. I hope there end up being more of these made. I would own and read all of them.
A delightful romp in tiny short storied from other worlds and other universes. I truly delighted in kickstartering this, in listening to Cecil read them, in all the pictures and in all the words. I hope there end up being more of these made. I would own and read all of them.
December 20, 2018
Beautiful, profound, horrible, and hilarious, Chiykowski has mastered the genre of microfiction.
January 2, 2022
Strange, horrifying at time and sarcastic comedy...the actual concept of macro-stories is fascinating and "packs in alot."
March 26, 2025
This is one of my favorite books. It’s not a story but many of them and some are profound, some are silly, and some will creep you the hell out. It’s very short and every page is a new kind of magic.
January 14, 2020
Every time I thought I had a favorite story, I would read another that was even better. Quirky and chilling, in the most delightful combination.
December 3, 2024
While some of these micro short stories felt a bit cheesy, there were some that I really enjoyed. An interesting genre for sure!
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews