Genre: Short Story Collection
Description:
“In Fast Fiction, you'll enter a cafe where the menu is loaded
with nothing but literary appetizers, designed to be quickly consumed and
easily digested. You'll meet people with secrets and others who wished they
knew how to keep them; characters looking to exact revenge and others getting
their just desserts when karma calls. Fans of the combo platter will see it all
here, from the dark to the darkly comical; the laugh-out-loud funny to the
thought-provoking; offering more twists and turns than a pretzel—more ups and
downs than a souffle. Designed to be picked up and perused at any time—Fast Fiction
is perfect for those impromptu moments while you're waiting in line or
otherwise find yourself with some extra time to kill--not long enough to get
deeply engaged in a novel but just right as a fun alternative. Even if you do
have time to put your feet up, get comfortable and grab a book, these 101-word
tales will keep you entertained, briefly encountering characters you will never
see again--if you're lucky.”
Author:
An “ex-cop” turned magazine writer and newspaper reporter, now working
as a private investigator as well as making movies and writing fiction, Scotty
Cornfield obviously has a wide range of talents and experience. Oops, forgot to
mention performing stand-up comedy as well.
For more, visit Mr Cornfield’s website.
Appraisal:
If you aren’t familiar with flash fiction contests or how they work,
do an internet search for Indies Unlimited, and you’ll find one approach. In
their weekly contest a photograph is shown as a “prompt” and contestants are
expected to write an extremely short story (no more than 250 words) as their
entry to the weekly contest.
Scotty Cornfield who wrote this book participates in a contest that is
apparently sponsored by the Monterey County Weekly newspaper in Monterey
County, California. They give a “prompt” of a few words, sometimes as few as one.
Contestants are expected to tell a complete story inspired by that short
prompt. But their expected word count is more difficult and extremely precise.
The story must be exactly 101 words. No more, no less. Exactly 101 words. I
tend to ramble. I’m just barely getting started at 101 words. I’m way past that
in this review already. To write a 101 word story, making the tale entertaining
and well written is an admirable skill for sure.
Here we have around 100 of these stories with a title, 101 words of
story, and then (just in case we’re curious) the prompt used as the story’s
inspiration. They tend to be fun and while reading the 90-something words prior,
what you expect is rarely what you get when the ending comes. No doubt with as
much variety as these stories have there will be some that you’ll love and some
that you won’t like as well, but with only 101 words to finish, you’ll be eager
for another one after reading the good ones and won’t feel like you wasted a
bunch of time on those that you didn’t. A fun, quick read.
Buy now
from: Amazon US Amazon UK
FYI:
Some adult language.
Format/Typo
Issues:
No significant issues.
Rating: ****
Four Stars
Reviewed
by: BigAl
Approximate word count: 10-15,000 words
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