June 12, 2023
A Summer Evening in Another World – Flash Fiction Stories
A Summer Evening in Another World is a collection of flash fiction stories I wrote in the span of two weeks some time ago. Flash fiction refers to stories that are shorter than short stories. Some stories might be as short as a single sentence, though on average, stories in A Summer Evening in Another World are about 500-600 words each.
In a way, with this collection I took much of what Tell Me, Mariner was about and overcharged it. Part metaphorical, part magical-realism, part Kafkaesque, the stories in this collection refer to experiencing, to society, to our individual (and collective!) place in the world.
What Flash Fiction Looks Feels Like?
As I’ve said before, short stories are not about what is there but what it feels like. Flash fiction doubles down, by throwing the reader into a sea of experiencing and forcing them to swim. Let’s see how (and I hope you’ll appreciate the hilarious meta– element here) by seeing one of the stories in the volume, “Writ in Water”:
And then, just like that, the man exhaled and decided there was nothing else to be done but allow himself to be carried by the water. Far away, on the horizon of the setting sun, the tall mast of a passing sailboat became blurry until it vanished.
That is the story in its entirety. An unsophisticated reader (though the point can elude even supposed professionals) might feel overwhelmed by the apparent emptiness of this story – it’s only with open-mindedness and affective consideration that they would begin to understand that this, too, is symbolically important. Such short explorations of affect allow me to do things I normally don’t with novels.
If you absolutely must have a blurb of some sort, this is the most you would get out of me:
A man receiving messages from his dead father…
Two lovers breaking into their neighbor’s apartment to discover a familiar secret…
A teenage girl dealing with the divorce of her parents and her traumatic past…
Summer scenes spread in space and time, lives both past and future. Like brushstrokes on the canvas of consciousness, they create worlds that are at the same time new and known, concrete and abstract, personal and collective. Nostalgic dreams and what-might-have-beens become bridges connecting memory and experience, reaching surreal realms where reality converges with imagination.
Where to Read
Most of my fiction is available as an immediate free download – simply visit the Fiction page on the main site. And remember, you can also just email me and ask for a free, no-strings-attached (e.g. review etc.) digital copy of any of my books.
Note: You can also read the title story, “A Summer Evening in Another World” here on the blog.