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The Best Small Fictions 2018
Fiction. Poetry. THE BEST SMALL FICTIONS is the first contemporary anthology solely devoted to honoring the best short hybrid fiction published in a calendar year. The series, which began in 2015, has featured an international group of both seasoned and emerging authors who work in flash, micro fiction, prose poetry, haibun, and other hybrid forms. Tara L. Masih founded this annual series and now serves as consulting editor. For our 2018 edition, we welcomed Sherrie Flick as series editor and Pushcart Prize winning author Aimee Bender as guest editor. This latest edition includes 53 works by writers such as Lydia Davis, Rumaan Alam, Diane Williams, Kathy Fish, Matt Bell, Aleksandar Hemon, Maxim Loskutoff, Michael Parker, Meg Pokrass, Deb Olin Unferth, and Desiree Cooper. Past guest editors have included Pulitzer Prize-winning author Robert Olen Butler (2015), PEN/Malamud Award winner and O. Henry Prize winner Stuart Dybek (2016), Rea Award and PEN/Malamud Award winner Amy Hempel (2017).
152 pages, Paperback
Published September 4, 2018
About the author
Aimee Bender
82 books2,341 followers Aimee Bender is the author of the novel An Invisible Sign of My Own and of the collections The Girl in the Flammable Skirt and Willful Creatures. Her work has been widely anthologized and has been translated into ten languages. She lives in Los Angeles.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 25, 2018
One of the best anthologies of short short fiction I've seen. I use this book for teaching. I'm very proud to be a part of it. Many thanks to Sherrie Flick, Aimee Bender, and all the roving editors who put this volume together.
February 26, 2020
Read for a literature class on Miniatures, but I've always been interested in flash fiction anthologies.
~ ~ ~
"Collective Nouns for Humans in the Wild" by Kathy Fish | 5* | Genre-bending poem, searing with righteous anger about the state of this dangerous & dying world, with eerily gorgeous imagery
"Wolves" by Bud Smith | 5* | Bite-sized but filling fable about human belonging through the lens of habitat loss
"Oh, Darling I'm in the Garden" by Diane Williams | 3*
"Sixth Wonder" by Kevin Moffett | 4*
"The Way of the Woods" by Audra Kerr Brown | 4*
"The Buried Man" by Genevieve Plunkett | 4*
"I Will Use This Story to Tell Another Story" by Ashley Hutson | 3* | Breathtaking title and experimental format, but a tired commentary on the "train problem" cliche, thus a predictable ending
"You Are Not Like Other Children" by Angela Mitchell | 3* | Successful use of second-person, but could do a better job of either directly referencing or distancing itself from the anti-Semitic origins of the lizard-people premise it experiments with
"Happy Little Trees" by Steven Dunn | 4*
"B Movie" by W. Todd Kaneko | 4*
"Last Inspection of Mount Vernon by George Washington, Gentleman Farmer" by Karen Craigo | 5* | Dazzling prose; my personal favorite line is 'I will torque myself to this land like a woodscrew to a board.'
"It Falls" by Melissa Goode | 4* | Beautifully fractured examination on mental illness, but a lackluster ending in my opinion
"Aleppo Was Passing By" by Sithuraj Ponraj | 4* | Colorful yet indigestible vignette on the darkest side of humanity: genocide
"Smithereens" by Aleksandr Hemon | 4* | Heartfelt, heartbreaking piece about destruction both external & internal; however, in need of trimming
"Filthy, Polluted" by Raul Palma | 4*
"Knowledge" by Cristoph Keller | 4*
"The Collector" by Lauren S. Marcus | 5* | Haunting yet homely character study about hoarding disorder, navigated with angst and empathy in unison
"Weird Pig" by Robert Long Foreman | 5* | Somehow tear-inducing and side-splitting all at once; like George Orwell's Animal Farm for the millennium
"The Exact Coordinates of Eleanor" by Kathleen Jones | 3* | Interesting sci-fi sketch, tackling feminism and addiction, but would do better as a longer work -- one I would definitely read!
"37 Seconds" by Deb Olin Unferth | 5* |
"Deep Eddy" by Michael Parker | 5* | A lake becomes a character, and a terrifying one, in this work about the hidden sensitivity of insensitive teenagers
"How to Be a Man" by Michael Parker | 4*
"Uncouple" by Jan Stinchcomb | 4*
"Surf Jesus" by Giovanna Varela | 5*
"Clean Girls" by Ruth LeFaive | 4*
"She Is a Battleground" by Nancy Au | 4*
"Ex-Utero" by Jessica Walker | 4*
"House Call" by Melissa Lozada-Olivia | 5* | Never read anything like it, and I expect I never will again; both stylistically and thematically fresh
"Acts of Love" by Justin Herrmann | 5* | Alcohol, shoplifting, and Edgar Allen Poe combine to create a portrait of a relationship between a broken man and an unsatisfied woman; whether that relationship is mutually beneficial or parasitical is up to delicious interpretation
"Ring of Salt" by Monet Patrice Thomas | 5* | An occult description of sex, as well as the disappearance (of boundaries, of friendship, of self-esteem) that moaning incantations often result in
"Minuet" by Rumaan Alam | 5* | An elegant rumination about sensitivity and intimacy between men, in inelegant prose
"Because You are Dead" by Denise Tolan | 4*
"Lowry Hill" by Allegra Hyde | 4* | Rule-breaking; a bit wordy for small fiction, but the style reflects the themes of art and indulgence
"A Man and a Man" by Alex McElroy | 5* | An artistic interpretation on the "walk into a bar" cliche that, unlike "I Will Use This Story...", ends on a surprising note
"Tying the Boats" by Amanda O'Callaghan | 4*
"Triptych" by Eric Blyx | 5* | A twisted hero's journey, centering on the helpless Protagonist; because of its cyclical format, propels itself beyond the limited confines of small fiction into a Whitman-esque multitude
"Crickets" by Quinn Madison | 4*
"What We See" by Denise Howard Long | 5* | Supernatural mosaic on how parents beget children beget stress begets mania; unapologetically controversial, but still progressive with (what I see as) an implicit pro-choice motif
"Barista" by Meg Pokrass | 4* | Lovely, bordering on prose-poetic, but the abstraction and confusing format failed to enhance the work after so many rereads
"Armadillo" by Hala Alyan | 4* | A disparate landscape of a turbulent family with an invisible armadillo; however, some of the meaning is lost by basing the plot around memories
"A Gothic Tale" by Karen Donovan | 5* | Definitely not a conventional tale, but that makes it so much better: a unique take on the Romantic, representing the opposite extreme, to illuminate that perhaps we ought to stop fetishizing such a dismal era; but she does so with such aesthetic flourish that I still can't help but pine!
"Get Down, Stay Down" by Maxin Loskutoff | 5* | A first-person narrative from the point of view of a troubled high school athlete, who longs to solve all of his problems with the violence he was taught to endure and equally inflict; not usually this twink's cup of tea, but obviously it still struck me
"Dead Man's Things" by Reginald Gibbons | 4* | Bewitching, but a bit aimless; perhaps that's the point (so on second thought, after a second reading, bordering-on-5*)
"The Truth About Alaskan Rivers" by Lori Sambol Brody | 5* | Haunting, contemplative story about the allure of guns for troubled children
"The Visitor" by Lydia Davis | 4* | Sensitive account of a noble profession: the caretakers of the elderly
"In Dugave" by Kaj Tanaka | 4* | Cerebral piece about a city in Croatia, vaguely referencing myth, describing the double vision of drunkenness or perhaps held-back tears, carrying the consciences of both the living and the dead
"The Night is Where It Throws You" by Kaj Tanaka | 4*
"The Good Hours" by Desiree Cooper | 4* | Expertly attunes the domestic comfort of garage sales with melancholy; as much as I share the ennui that the narrator feels about materialism and agree on the uncanny of secondhand possessions (and, admittedly, love thrifting) this piece borders on melodramatic
"Sweater" by Kate Keleher | 4* | Same points as "The Good Hours" (both positive and negative) but through the lens of a middle-aged narrator at a middle-aged friend's house party; definitely different enough stylistically and thematically to warrant both stories, though
"Magic Arrow" by Chance Dibben | 4*
"The Architect's Gambit" by Matt Bell | 4*
"Postpatrum" by Mary-Jane Holmes | 3* | My vote for weakest of the stories, only because the other motherhood stories ("What We See" & "Ex Utero") I enjoyed much more; but I can't put this below 3 stars, since I appreciate the Irish dialect (which, I admit, might contribute to my lack of understanding) and loved the father character
"Shit Cassandra Saw That She Didn't Tell the Trojans Because at that Point Fuck Them Anyway" by Gwen E. Kirby | 5* | This one is self-explanatory, and anything else me writing out the title would spoil it
~ ~ ~
"Collective Nouns for Humans in the Wild" by Kathy Fish | 5* | Genre-bending poem, searing with righteous anger about the state of this dangerous & dying world, with eerily gorgeous imagery
"Wolves" by Bud Smith | 5* | Bite-sized but filling fable about human belonging through the lens of habitat loss
"Oh, Darling I'm in the Garden" by Diane Williams | 3*
"Sixth Wonder" by Kevin Moffett | 4*
"The Way of the Woods" by Audra Kerr Brown | 4*
"The Buried Man" by Genevieve Plunkett | 4*
"I Will Use This Story to Tell Another Story" by Ashley Hutson | 3* | Breathtaking title and experimental format, but a tired commentary on the "train problem" cliche, thus a predictable ending
"You Are Not Like Other Children" by Angela Mitchell | 3* | Successful use of second-person, but could do a better job of either directly referencing or distancing itself from the anti-Semitic origins of the lizard-people premise it experiments with
"Happy Little Trees" by Steven Dunn | 4*
"B Movie" by W. Todd Kaneko | 4*
"Last Inspection of Mount Vernon by George Washington, Gentleman Farmer" by Karen Craigo | 5* | Dazzling prose; my personal favorite line is 'I will torque myself to this land like a woodscrew to a board.'
"It Falls" by Melissa Goode | 4* | Beautifully fractured examination on mental illness, but a lackluster ending in my opinion
"Aleppo Was Passing By" by Sithuraj Ponraj | 4* | Colorful yet indigestible vignette on the darkest side of humanity: genocide
"Smithereens" by Aleksandr Hemon | 4* | Heartfelt, heartbreaking piece about destruction both external & internal; however, in need of trimming
"Filthy, Polluted" by Raul Palma | 4*
"Knowledge" by Cristoph Keller | 4*
"The Collector" by Lauren S. Marcus | 5* | Haunting yet homely character study about hoarding disorder, navigated with angst and empathy in unison
"Weird Pig" by Robert Long Foreman | 5* | Somehow tear-inducing and side-splitting all at once; like George Orwell's Animal Farm for the millennium
"The Exact Coordinates of Eleanor" by Kathleen Jones | 3* | Interesting sci-fi sketch, tackling feminism and addiction, but would do better as a longer work -- one I would definitely read!
"37 Seconds" by Deb Olin Unferth | 5* |
"Deep Eddy" by Michael Parker | 5* | A lake becomes a character, and a terrifying one, in this work about the hidden sensitivity of insensitive teenagers
"How to Be a Man" by Michael Parker | 4*
"Uncouple" by Jan Stinchcomb | 4*
"Surf Jesus" by Giovanna Varela | 5*
"Clean Girls" by Ruth LeFaive | 4*
"She Is a Battleground" by Nancy Au | 4*
"Ex-Utero" by Jessica Walker | 4*
"House Call" by Melissa Lozada-Olivia | 5* | Never read anything like it, and I expect I never will again; both stylistically and thematically fresh
"Acts of Love" by Justin Herrmann | 5* | Alcohol, shoplifting, and Edgar Allen Poe combine to create a portrait of a relationship between a broken man and an unsatisfied woman; whether that relationship is mutually beneficial or parasitical is up to delicious interpretation
"Ring of Salt" by Monet Patrice Thomas | 5* | An occult description of sex, as well as the disappearance (of boundaries, of friendship, of self-esteem) that moaning incantations often result in
"Minuet" by Rumaan Alam | 5* | An elegant rumination about sensitivity and intimacy between men, in inelegant prose
"Because You are Dead" by Denise Tolan | 4*
"Lowry Hill" by Allegra Hyde | 4* | Rule-breaking; a bit wordy for small fiction, but the style reflects the themes of art and indulgence
"A Man and a Man" by Alex McElroy | 5* | An artistic interpretation on the "walk into a bar" cliche that, unlike "I Will Use This Story...", ends on a surprising note
"Tying the Boats" by Amanda O'Callaghan | 4*
"Triptych" by Eric Blyx | 5* | A twisted hero's journey, centering on the helpless Protagonist; because of its cyclical format, propels itself beyond the limited confines of small fiction into a Whitman-esque multitude
"Crickets" by Quinn Madison | 4*
"What We See" by Denise Howard Long | 5* | Supernatural mosaic on how parents beget children beget stress begets mania; unapologetically controversial, but still progressive with (what I see as) an implicit pro-choice motif
"Barista" by Meg Pokrass | 4* | Lovely, bordering on prose-poetic, but the abstraction and confusing format failed to enhance the work after so many rereads
"Armadillo" by Hala Alyan | 4* | A disparate landscape of a turbulent family with an invisible armadillo; however, some of the meaning is lost by basing the plot around memories
"A Gothic Tale" by Karen Donovan | 5* | Definitely not a conventional tale, but that makes it so much better: a unique take on the Romantic, representing the opposite extreme, to illuminate that perhaps we ought to stop fetishizing such a dismal era; but she does so with such aesthetic flourish that I still can't help but pine!
"Get Down, Stay Down" by Maxin Loskutoff | 5* | A first-person narrative from the point of view of a troubled high school athlete, who longs to solve all of his problems with the violence he was taught to endure and equally inflict; not usually this twink's cup of tea, but obviously it still struck me
"Dead Man's Things" by Reginald Gibbons | 4* | Bewitching, but a bit aimless; perhaps that's the point (so on second thought, after a second reading, bordering-on-5*)
"The Truth About Alaskan Rivers" by Lori Sambol Brody | 5* | Haunting, contemplative story about the allure of guns for troubled children
"The Visitor" by Lydia Davis | 4* | Sensitive account of a noble profession: the caretakers of the elderly
"In Dugave" by Kaj Tanaka | 4* | Cerebral piece about a city in Croatia, vaguely referencing myth, describing the double vision of drunkenness or perhaps held-back tears, carrying the consciences of both the living and the dead
"The Night is Where It Throws You" by Kaj Tanaka | 4*
"The Good Hours" by Desiree Cooper | 4* | Expertly attunes the domestic comfort of garage sales with melancholy; as much as I share the ennui that the narrator feels about materialism and agree on the uncanny of secondhand possessions (and, admittedly, love thrifting) this piece borders on melodramatic
"Sweater" by Kate Keleher | 4* | Same points as "The Good Hours" (both positive and negative) but through the lens of a middle-aged narrator at a middle-aged friend's house party; definitely different enough stylistically and thematically to warrant both stories, though
"Magic Arrow" by Chance Dibben | 4*
"The Architect's Gambit" by Matt Bell | 4*
"Postpatrum" by Mary-Jane Holmes | 3* | My vote for weakest of the stories, only because the other motherhood stories ("What We See" & "Ex Utero") I enjoyed much more; but I can't put this below 3 stars, since I appreciate the Irish dialect (which, I admit, might contribute to my lack of understanding) and loved the father character
"Shit Cassandra Saw That She Didn't Tell the Trojans Because at that Point Fuck Them Anyway" by Gwen E. Kirby | 5* | This one is self-explanatory, and anything else me writing out the title would spoil it
July 1, 2019
My star ratings for each story (in the order in which they appear and based solely on my own opinions) below:
Kathy Fish "Collective Nouns for Humans in the Wild" *****
Bud Smith "Wolves" **1/2
Diane Williams "Oh, Darling I'm in the Garden" *
Kevin Moffett "Sixth Wonder" ***
Audra Kerr Brown "The Way of the Woods" ****
Genevieve Plunkett "The Buried Man" ****
Ashley Hutson "I Will Use This Story to Tell Another Story" ***
Angela Mitchell "You Are Not Like Other Children" ***
Steven Dunn "Happy Little Trees" **
W. Todd Kaneko "B Movie" ****
Karen Craigo "Last Inspection of Mount Vernon by George Washington, Gentleman Farmer" ***
Melissa Goode "It Falls" ***
Sithuraj Phnraj "Aleppo Was Passing By" ****
Aleksandar Hemon "Smithereens" **
Raul Palma "Filthy, Polluted" ****
Christoph Keller "Knowledge" ***
Lauren S. Marcus "The Collector" ****
Robert Long Foreman "Weird Pig" ***
Kathleen Jones "The Exact Coordinates of Eleanor" ***
Deb Olin Unferth "37 Seconds" *****
Michael Parker "Deep Eddy" ***
Michael Parker "How to Be a Man" ***
Jan Stinchcomb "Uncouple" ***
Giovanna Varela "Surf Jesus" ***
Ruth LaFaive "Clean Girls" ****
Nancy Au "She is a Battleground" ****
Jessica Walker "Ex-Utero" ****
Melissa Lozada-Olivia "House Call" ****
Justin Herrmann "Acts of Love" ****
Monet Patrice Thomas "Ring of Salt" ****
Rumaan Alam "Minuet" ****
Denise Tolan "Because You are Dead" ****
Allegra Hyde "Lowry Hill" *
Alex McElroy "A Man and a Man" **
Amanda O'Callaghan "Trying the Boats" ***
Eric Blix "Triptych" **
Quinn Madison "Crickets" ***
Denise Howard Long "What We See" ****
Meg Pokrass "Barista" ****
Hala Alyan "Armadillo" ****
Karen Donovan "A Gothic Tale" *****
Maxim Loskutoff "Get Down, Stay Down" ****
Reginald Givvons "Dead Man's Things" ***
Lori Sambol Brody "The Truth About Alaskan Rivers" ****
Lydia Davis "The Visitor" ****
Kaj Tanaka "In Dugave" **
Kaj Tanaka "The Night Is Where It Throws You" ****
Desiree Cooper "The Good Hours" ****
Kate Keleher "Sweater" ****
Chance Dibben "Magic Arrow" ****
Matt Bell "The Architect's Gambit" ****
Mary-Jane Holmes "Postpartum" ****
Gwen E. Kirby "Shit Cassandra Saw That She Didn't Tell the Trojans Because at that Point Fuck Them Anyway" *****
Kathy Fish "Collective Nouns for Humans in the Wild" *****
Bud Smith "Wolves" **1/2
Diane Williams "Oh, Darling I'm in the Garden" *
Kevin Moffett "Sixth Wonder" ***
Audra Kerr Brown "The Way of the Woods" ****
Genevieve Plunkett "The Buried Man" ****
Ashley Hutson "I Will Use This Story to Tell Another Story" ***
Angela Mitchell "You Are Not Like Other Children" ***
Steven Dunn "Happy Little Trees" **
W. Todd Kaneko "B Movie" ****
Karen Craigo "Last Inspection of Mount Vernon by George Washington, Gentleman Farmer" ***
Melissa Goode "It Falls" ***
Sithuraj Phnraj "Aleppo Was Passing By" ****
Aleksandar Hemon "Smithereens" **
Raul Palma "Filthy, Polluted" ****
Christoph Keller "Knowledge" ***
Lauren S. Marcus "The Collector" ****
Robert Long Foreman "Weird Pig" ***
Kathleen Jones "The Exact Coordinates of Eleanor" ***
Deb Olin Unferth "37 Seconds" *****
Michael Parker "Deep Eddy" ***
Michael Parker "How to Be a Man" ***
Jan Stinchcomb "Uncouple" ***
Giovanna Varela "Surf Jesus" ***
Ruth LaFaive "Clean Girls" ****
Nancy Au "She is a Battleground" ****
Jessica Walker "Ex-Utero" ****
Melissa Lozada-Olivia "House Call" ****
Justin Herrmann "Acts of Love" ****
Monet Patrice Thomas "Ring of Salt" ****
Rumaan Alam "Minuet" ****
Denise Tolan "Because You are Dead" ****
Allegra Hyde "Lowry Hill" *
Alex McElroy "A Man and a Man" **
Amanda O'Callaghan "Trying the Boats" ***
Eric Blix "Triptych" **
Quinn Madison "Crickets" ***
Denise Howard Long "What We See" ****
Meg Pokrass "Barista" ****
Hala Alyan "Armadillo" ****
Karen Donovan "A Gothic Tale" *****
Maxim Loskutoff "Get Down, Stay Down" ****
Reginald Givvons "Dead Man's Things" ***
Lori Sambol Brody "The Truth About Alaskan Rivers" ****
Lydia Davis "The Visitor" ****
Kaj Tanaka "In Dugave" **
Kaj Tanaka "The Night Is Where It Throws You" ****
Desiree Cooper "The Good Hours" ****
Kate Keleher "Sweater" ****
Chance Dibben "Magic Arrow" ****
Matt Bell "The Architect's Gambit" ****
Mary-Jane Holmes "Postpartum" ****
Gwen E. Kirby "Shit Cassandra Saw That She Didn't Tell the Trojans Because at that Point Fuck Them Anyway" *****
August 2, 2020
If you look at my review of the 2017 version of this anthology, The Best Small Fictions 2017 you will see the five stars and glowing praise there. And if you look on my bookshelf you'll find years 2017-2019 of this series, despite the change in editors. (Though, I will miss Sherrie Flick; she brought such elegance to the project.) I am a fan of this project and series for sure.
But still, this issue, The Best Small Fictions 2018 was not composed in a way that was as dropjaw stunning, as technically perfect as what I found in the 2017 issue. But the work inside still moved me and made we wonder how to achieve the effects I was reading.
For my fellow writers, you will still find many amazing examples of flash fiction that you can model in your practice to learn new techniques. There's brilliance in here, like Monet Patrice Thomas's "Ring of Salt," Giovanna Varela's "Surf Jesus," or Lauren S. Marcus's "The Collector," and many others. You'll find no shortage of amazing flash fiction in this anthology.
In general, writers of flash seeking good examples of the form and readers of short fiction will both enjoy The Best Small Fictions 2018.
Stay safe, my fellow bookish people! Don't forget your masks or your hands; stay bookish, stay resilient!
But still, this issue, The Best Small Fictions 2018 was not composed in a way that was as dropjaw stunning, as technically perfect as what I found in the 2017 issue. But the work inside still moved me and made we wonder how to achieve the effects I was reading.
For my fellow writers, you will still find many amazing examples of flash fiction that you can model in your practice to learn new techniques. There's brilliance in here, like Monet Patrice Thomas's "Ring of Salt," Giovanna Varela's "Surf Jesus," or Lauren S. Marcus's "The Collector," and many others. You'll find no shortage of amazing flash fiction in this anthology.
In general, writers of flash seeking good examples of the form and readers of short fiction will both enjoy The Best Small Fictions 2018.
Stay safe, my fellow bookish people! Don't forget your masks or your hands; stay bookish, stay resilient!
Read
January 9, 2020"Sixth Wonder," "The Exact Coordinates of Eleanor," "Uncouple," "Clean Girls," "What We See," "In Dugave," and "Shit Cassandra Saw That She Didn't Tell the Trojans Because at that Point Fuck Them Anyway" were my favorites-an impressive collection of biting flash.
March 1, 2019
Some really amazing stories, some I felt were just ok. Overall a great selection with some thought provoking pieces.
April 4, 2022
I've enjoyed this collection way more than I've enjoyed the first one I've read from the series, the one from 2017. Wolves, by Bud Smith, is one of my favorite stories from the book.
July 8, 2023
Some excellent pieces in here. Bender knows what she's doing.
Read
February 1, 2019Fiction B5619 2018
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