The stories in RIFT explore the gamut of human connection and conflict, where emotions run deep beneath the surface. Divided into four sections: Fault, Breach, Tremor, and Cataclysm, writers Fish and Vaughan thread together their tales of strange encounters, mishaps, accidents, and disrepair. The world of RIFT is riven, tumultuous, and haunting. In here, danger lurks and the fallible human heart lay exposed and vulnerable. Fish and Vaughan leave their readers spellbound, mystified, and eager for the next story.

    Fifty-five acclaimed and emerging writers—including Emma Bolden, Ron Carlson, Kelly Cherry, Stuart Dybek, Blake Kimzey, Roland Leach, Bobbie Ann Mason, Diane Williams, and Hiromi Kawakami—have made the debut of The Best Small Fictions 2015 something significant, something worthwhile, and something necessary. Featuring spotlights on Pleiades journal and Michael Martone, this international volume—with Pulitzer Prize–winning author Robert Olen Butler serving as guest editor and award-winning editor Tara L. Masih as series editor—is a celebration of the diversity and quality captured in fiction forms fewer than 1,000 words. ................................................."Whatever one calls them—flash fictions, microfictions, short shorts—the number of outlets where such pieces are published continue to grow along with the interest of readers and writers in the form. The time is right for a Best of the Year anthology."—Stuart Dybek, author of The Coast of Chicago and Ecstatic Cahoots"These small fictions are small only in length, not in impact. Their minuteness provides a different lens upon life—one that illuminates the telling yet elusive moments that bigger stories often overlook. A different slant on the truth emerges not in spite of their length, but because of it. Short shorts often seem like the quiet stepchild in the fiction family—overshadowed by vociferous novels, not quite dressed in the right attire as conventional short stories. A series celebrating these tiny gems is long overdue."—Grant Faulkner, cofounder of 100 Word Story, author of Fissures"The loud and long message of the seemingly quiet and the definitely short is in ample supply in The Best Small Fictions 2015. From a mother’s fury over misspelled words in Dee Cohen’s ‘By Heart’, to a father’s disintegration in David Mellerick Lynch’s ‘Lunar Deep’, there is pathos, depth, and welcome language-fireworks in these small gems. Chekhov would be proud of how briefly these writers manage to speak on lengthy subjects."—Nuala Ní Chonchúir, author of Miss Emily"The Best Small Fictions 2015 is essential reading for anyone who enjoys not just small fiction, but fiction in general. Don't miss it!"—Robert Swartwood, editor of Hint Fiction:An Anthology of Stories in 25 Words or Fewer

    A young Shane Hinton catalogs his dead pets. A father-to-be Shane Hinton combats roving pythons in the suburbs. Yet another Shane Hinton throws a barbecue for all the Shane Hintons he's met on the Internet and fears his wife might leave him for one.Hinton, a father of three, inserts himself into these fictions as a way of confronting personal anxieties. ''It's cliché to say that one thinks of writing as therapy,'' he says, ''but I think these stories represent an exorcism of intrusive thoughts.''In ''Intersection,'' a father struggles to protect his frightened family from cars that keep crashing into their home, while in ''Driving School'' he's imagined as a vehicular menace. ''Fumes'' portrays a father crippled by a rabid dog, bedridden and unable to play catch with his son or help his wife pay the ever-growing medical bills.A sharp commentary on the mundanity and absurdity of modern life, Hinton's stories explore the horrors of death, abandonment and insurance agents with spare prose and deadpan humor. The world of Pinkies is a terrifying and hilarious introduction to an unflinching new voice.

    The collected stories run the gamut from first love to heartbreak, revenge to forgiveness, redemption to murder. They, like the thirteen authors who contributed them, are widely varied, but they each demonstrate the same truth:A lot can happen in a single night.With stories from:Jenny Adams Perinovic Gabriella CrivilareCristina R. Guarino Antonius M. HogebrandtNeil Kettles Sarah Kettles Valerie LawsonAdriana Marachlian Kyrie McCauley L.S. MooneySusan Nystoriak Kate Sheeran Swed R.B. Stewart

    A step by step guide with prompts on how to write a successful fiction or nonfiction flash story.

    She is the author of Coffee House Lies: 100 Cups of Flash Fiction. www.carlyberg.com

    As solitary and enticing as the abandoned big-box megastores of the chapbook’s title story, these dark and magical stories echo with loneliness and the strangeness of human experience. Forrest’s young characters test their own limits and yearn for what's just beyond reach. They orbit each other, searching for connection and silently passing by. With its dreamlike images and realities that twist and swerve, this collection offers a glimpse beneath the arc of becoming.

    They’ve been known to burrow themselves into a reader’s imagination and are capable of warping dreams into twisted, unspeakable nightmares.Just a little…Unique – These aren’t your standard horror stories. Don’t think this collection will include tales of haunted mansions, or blood sucking vampires. Expect one-of-a-kind takes on every gothic ghoul and hideous monster you read about in this book.Just a little…Frightening – Prepare yourself for some of the most chilling flash fiction ever penned. The mad genius, Vincent V. Cava, has done it again with the latest entry in his creepy catalogue. Do yourself a favor and leave the lights on when you read it.Just A Little…Terrible

    "They astonish and intoxicate."--Bruce Smith "It's Martone doing his job: ear to wind and ground, picking up the weird, the epic, the comic, the poignant: all the ghosts."--Marianne Boruch

    100 Authors. Under 1,000 words. No Holds Barred. This book started with a call for authors worldwide and ended with a collection of short-but-stirring pieces of fiction from all genres and every corner of the human literary imagination. Spend a minute each in one hundred minds, with tales running from noir detective, to holiday heartwarmer, to serial killer thrill, to flights of fantasy and erotica. "Baby Shoes" gets its name from what's arguably the most famed piece of flash fiction ever penned, and follows that tradition to celebrate great writing in one of its most efficient forms. Featured authors: Joe R. Lansdale, Linda Needham and Walter Jon Williams Senior authors: April Aasheim, April J. Moore, Dan Repperger, Dani J. Caile, Danika Dinsmore, Eddy Webb, Jack B. Rochester, Jason Brick, William Hertling Contributing authors: A.A. Blakey, Adam Thomas Gottfried, Amanda Whitbeck, Amy Beth Outland, Arlan Andrews Sr., Bam Leslie, Barry Koplen, Bert Edens, C.A. Verstraete, C.M. Crockford, Caitlin Park, Carrie Uffindell, Charles Loomis, Christian Fink Jensen, Christina Dudley, Cody May, Crystal Yoner, Cynthia Lang, Dan Marshall, David M. Covenant, David Mundt, Debby Dodds, Derek Knutsen, E.A. Roper, E.L. Johnson, Erika Gimbel, Erika Rybczyk, Ethan Noone, Gerri Leen, Greg Henry, Gregg Edwards Townsley, Ian Christy, Jane Nagler, Jeb Brack, Jenny Cokeley, Jess Kapp, Jim Pahz, John Deal, John James, Julie M. Rodriguez, Karen B. Call, Katherine Valdez, Kathryn Cowan Shepherd, Kyle Owens, Larry Oldham, Laura Scott, Lawrence W. Paz, Lisa Nordin, M. Earl Smith, M.D. Pitman, M.S. Lambert, Macy Mixdorf, Maggie Grinnell, Maria Clark, Mark R. O'Neill, Mark Rusin, Marquita West, Maya Silver, Mindy Windholz, Miranda Carter, Monroe Truss, N.L. Bowley, Nancy Townsley, Nathan Hystad, Nick Briggs, Own Palmioti, Pat Marum, Patrick Garratt, Peter Boadry, Phil Cummings, Rhonnie Fordham, Robert Eversmann, Ron Chaterjee, Rose LeMort, S.M. Chandler, Sandra Valmana, Scott Crowder, Seth Bradley, Sharon Rezac Andersen, Shelley Widhalm, Thomas Palestrini, Tiaan Lubbe, Trinity N. Herr, Tyler Denning, Vinnie Penn, Wes Choc, Zephyra Burt

    Every night he searches for a new set. Last night he met Nancy. She's sweet, attractive, and kind. But what he loves most are her beautiful teeth...

    He is the author of seven literary chapbooks and several books for children. His story "Fun House" is included in the anthology Flash Fiction International by W.W. Norton. A collection of his flash fiction, Measuring the Distance, was published by Blue Light Press (2012). He was the recipient of Zone 3's Rainmaker Award in Poetry. With Dale Wisely, he co-edits the journal, One Sentence Poems. Raised in Manhattan, he currently lives with his wife in San Francisco.