I can't say whether these are the best, as best is such a subjective term, only that these are the flash fictions that stuck with me, that made me feel unsettled deep in the pit of my stomach, that made me understand my own embarrassment, that made me wonder when the sun might swallow our tiny blue planet and turn everything to ash. In other words, these are the ones that thrilled me.

These pieces of flash are at times lyrical, poetic, punchy, terrifying, funny, bring into sharp focus the smallest of moments and expand the visible horizon to encompass a universe of ideas and emotions and worlds, and they are always compelling. These flash fictions epitomize for me the plasticity and power of a short short story, and I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

Manuel Gonzales is the author of the novel The Regional Office is Under Attack! and the acclaimed story collection The Miniature Wife, winner of the American Academy of Arts and Letters Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction and the John Gardner Fiction Book Award. He teaches writing at the University of Kentucky


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