New Micro: Exceptionally Short Fiction
edited by James Thomas & Robert Scotellaro
Thanks to Brandon for giving me a new book to read: New Micro – Exceptionally Short Fiction,
edited by James Thomas and Robert Scotellaro.
The editors capture what they call, “the best of the best” of a relatively
new genre of writing – stories that are short! The concept is that the stories
bring you to a place of emotion, memory, or awakening in a “brief moment”
compared to the traditional novel. In
this day and age of “get my attention fast” or lose it, the genre makes a great
deal of sense. All of the stories in the
book are shorter than 300 words. The
ninety stories bring the reader to a point of recognition and then…the next
story begins. The stories in this book
focus on relationships, the meaning of death, misunderstandings, missed
opportunities, and silly anecdotes. One
thing I realized as I was reading (especially as a ‘speed reader’) is that one
must really be “all-in” or you will need to go back and re-read the story. While you may be able to zone out for a
moment in a novel and still catch up, the micro story doesn't quite work that way! Lesson learned: pay attention as it is really
a quick moment to enjoy. There are
certainly some styles I enjoyed more than others, but love the concept, and a
number of the stories were great. It
reminded me of attending the Moth events (https://themoth.org/). Thanks again, Brandon!
