Tidbits: One-Page Stories

by Suzy Woltmann (Editor, Introduction), Christina Ladd (Contributor), Belle Perkins (Contributor)

Tidbits: One-Page Stories is a microfiction anthology that gives a glimpse into a world of perspectives on a single topic. The inaugural issue is on the theme of wishes. Stories range from somber to silly; grand societal wishes to personal satisfactions; wishful thinking to wish fulfillment; real life to the fantastical; the ordinary to the extreme; having wishes of one's own to fulfilling other people’s wishes; and the banal to the dangerous.

ebook

First published October 19, 2019

Reviews

[Kalin]

Surprisingly diverse; I thought there'd be more repetition in sixty takes on the same topic.

Here're my favorites:

~ Sam Muller's "The Anti-wish" made me chuckle with its reversal of fairy godmothers' blessings and curses. A favorite passage (which makes the evil fairy question her entire purpose here):

For a royal lady expected to do nothing more arduous than sew uselessly, eat daintily, dance industriously and gossip discreetly, a brain wasn’t just a superfluity. It was an impediment to her progress in life.

~ Another delightfully inverted (perverted?) fairy godmother stumbles into Audrey Blue's "Kingdom's Most Wanted." Yet in the end, she leaves in a far more assured manner (a blaze of glory?):

“Thank you so much!” Cinderella threw her arms around the fairy godmother.
 
“Hands off! I don’t do that.” The fairy godmother pried the girl’s arms off her. “I did this for you, now you have to do a little something for me on the way to the ball.”

“Anything!” No price was too small for one night of happiness.

….

The fairy godmother dove into the carriage with a sack in each hand. Gold poured from her handbag. “Drive kid!”
 
“When I said anything, this wasn’t what I had in mind.” Cinderella cracked her whip. The mouse took off down the road. The fairy godmother shot her wand at the knights behind them. They tumbled to the ground.
 
“That was some sleep spell,” Cinderella called back.
 
“Keep telling yourself that. We’ve got a ball to crash and the law to avoid.”

~ Rachel L. Carazo's "Stolen Wishes" contains an important reminder about the scope of our dreams.

~ Eliza Master's "Chekov's Unicorn" made me guffaw when I figured out what it's really about. Give it a try:

On a display case were different releases of Dostoyevsky. Anna ran her finger over a hard spine, while imagining his time in Omsk. He had spent four years inside prison walls. There, the voices of stories erected. He had penetrated into the darkest recesses of Anna’s being. She flushed. But she had spent too much time communing with him. She needed something else.
 
Outside snow was collecting. The city was bathed in a white glow.
 
There were lots of TolsToys in the shop. Sometimes he kept her awake all night. Somewhere between happiness and suffering. Anna missed that, but no.

Hint: double entendres.

~ Henry Gasko's "Eternal Happiness" won me on two counts: its tongue-in-cheek tone:

They stood speechless as smoke poured out. Slowly the form of a classical genie appeared: pantaloons, pointy shoes, a silly hat. The works.
 
“Shit!” said Jason.
 
“Your wish, O Master.”
 
“Seriously?”
 
“Seriously,” said the genie.
 
“I … I don’t know,” stammered Jason, wondering where Sally had gotten the weed they’d smoked.
 
"Come on," said the genie.

And the epiphany about the link between happiness and stoicism.

~ Angela Teagardner's "The Color of Sunshine" was wonderfully uplifting. That final sentence felt like a beam of light on my own face.

~ Veronika Mikec's "You Wish" was, on the other hand, wonderfully chilly. Its final sentence felt like a fist shooting out at the powers that be.

~ Keith Frady's "We'd All Cast Nets" charmed me with its imagery. Consider:

He sang as he walked down the cliff’s makeshift stairs to the salt-worn pier at the base, a soft, whiskey bass rolling from the sea foam tumble of his beard. He sat at the pier’s edge, feet dangling. The sun yawned, one last burst of orange and red, then made room for the night and her stars.

~ I know I'm partial to horses, yet ... isn't the silver mare in Kathryn Wilmotte's "Beggars Would Ride" the most magical creature in the whole anthology? Man, what a wish! ;)

[Reading Through the Lists · Rating 3 out of 5]

*Disclaimer: I have a piece in this collection-- "Beggars Would Ride"*

That being said....

Favorites:
'The Snow Maiden in Four Season'--Christina Ladd
'Happy Endings'--Belle Perkins
'Wish Granter'--Sara Chohan
'Pesticide'--Tom Barlow
'Summer Grief'--Abigail Swanson
'The Ritual'--Charlie Noble
'Share a Wish Well'--Charlotte Allen
'Three'--Sophia Metcalf