Forward: 21st Century Flash Fiction

by Megan Giddings (Editor), George Abraham, Reem Abu-Baker

Forward: 21st Century Flash Fiction is a print anthology of flash fiction and craft essays by writers of color.


Featuring stories by George Abraham, Reem Abu-Baker, María Isabel Álvarez, Patriz Biliran, Anna Cabe, Tyrese Coleman, Desiree Cooper, Erica Frederick, Amina Gautier, Christopher Gonzalez, Marlin M. Jenkins, Ruth Joffre, Yalie Kamara, Gene Kwak, Thirii Myo Kyaw Myint, Monterica Sade Neil, Dennis Norris II, Kristine Ong Muslim, Alvin Park, Madhvi Ramani, SJ Sindu, Maggie Su, Eshani Surya, Ursula Villarreal-Moura, Yun Wei, and C. Pam Zhang; essays by Allison Noelle Conner, Marcos Gonsalez, W. Todd Kaneko, and Alicita Rodriguez; plus an editors’ roundtable with Tara Campbell, Leland Cheuk, Tyrese Coleman, and Bix Gabriel!

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, Anthologies

174 pages, Paperback

First published March 28, 2019

Reviews

[Vonetta · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you read no other collections/anthologies of flash fiction, let this be it. So much masterful writing here. This should be used as a textbook for how to write flash, period.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent anthology edited by Megan Giddings of some of the best flash fiction writers working today. "They Reminisce Over You" by Tyrese Coleman is a story I admire and teach. Also especially loved Ruth Joffre's "A Girl Turns to Stone" and Maggie Su's "Circumnavigation."

This volume also includes essays on the flash fiction form, such as W. Todd Kaneko's "Planets in Miniature: On Kandor and Compression in Flash Fiction. "

You don't want to miss the Editors' Roundtable at the back of the book featuring a discussion amongst editors Leland Cheuk, Tyrese Coleman, Bix Gabriel, and Tara Campbell.

I highly recommend this volume of flash fiction not only for readers, but for creative writing teachers at all levels as well.

[L.N. Holmes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was a reader for this and grateful to be one. Megan Giddings created something truly special with this anthology. The writers who submitted work are immensely talented. Some of my favorite flashes of all time are included in this collection. Please pick up this book and read it.

[Ari Robin McKenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderfully curated collection of flash fiction by people of color. The fact that these flash tales are written by people of color matters because our country's racist history dictates that trauma will disproportionally impact those on the flip side of privilege, and flash fiction's dense, 'from concentrate' requirement entails that these stories will sit almost as a spring compressed.

And the compressed spring is perhaps an apt metaphor for oppression. It alludes mechanically to how people feel when narrowly defined, dehumanized, rushed and unable to feel themselves fully unfurl; yet the potential energy in a coiled spring is profound...

Like poetry, flash fiction has the ability--in just a split second--to send a reader hurtling into a new world. This collection does that with startling rapidity, and for me, Tyrese Colemen (@tylechalleco) does it best in "They Reminisce Over You."

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disclaimer: My story is part of this anthology!

An excellent anthology of writing from writers of various racial and ethnic backgrounds, foregrounding BIPoC in a way you don't necessarily see within mainstream flash. It's also a testament to what's possible within the flash form from realistic to fabulist to experimental to traditional.

[Kelsie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great mix of forms, structure, and styles. Each story was a fresh delight.

Both my reader brain and writer brain loved it.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good one to buy. It's a collection of flash fiction by a diverse collection of authors. It's that diversity that I craved, and it delivered. Lots for authors of all sorts to think about, and I appreciated the essays at the end. Going to handing this one on to friends to read. It's a small press book that I bought directly from the website. I've been trying to do that more and more. It's been an eye-opening experience to start to read the work that major publishing houses won't take on. Our thinking is shaped by our reading experiences, just as much as our lived ones. I want my thinking to be outside the capitalistic box.

[John David Boggs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent anthology edited by Megan Giddings of some of the best flash fiction writers working today. "They Reminisce Over You" by Tyrese Coleman is a story I admire and teach. Also especially loved Ruth Joffre's "A Girl Turns to Stone" and Maggie Su's "Circumnavigation."

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I managed to forget I preordered this. What a lovely surprise in my mail! So many wonderful pieces of flash fiction. Glad I picked this one up.

[William Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fantastic collection of flash fiction meant to inspire not only the reader, but writers who wish to learn more about the genre. I especially appreciated the essays and discussion at the end about where the form comes from and may be going.