Bite-Sized Stories: A Multi-Genre Flash Fiction Anthology by George Donnelly
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I was turned onto this collection by one of the contributors, a fellow forum poster and author of a published novel (so one more than me!) This is a free collection and can be found at all major ebook sites. The idea behind it is simple–offer a bunch of very short (3-4 page) stories from a raft of authors to allow the reader to quickly sample their styles. The hope is the reader will enjoy at least some of what they read and seek out more work from the same authors.
It’s a good idea and, I think, a successful one. The stories cover a range of genres so there’s bound to be something to interest any reader (though romance and literary only have a single entry each) and each story is short enough that there is minimal investment. Even if a story outright stinks (and none in this collection do) it’s only a few minutes of reading before you move on.
At the same time it’s difficult to pull out highlights because a lot of the stories trade on twist endings, are more sketches than stories, or skip nuance because there’s only four freaking pages to say everything. And the horror section in particular is a bit disappointing in being so zombie-heavy. At least it’s not wall-to-wall vampires.
But there is a lot of entertaining stuff here and I will indeed be seeking out work by some of the authors.
The collection is free, it’s a quick read and it’s a handy introduction to a lot of indie authors worthy of your time. Recommended.
