The Future Is Short: Science Fiction in a Flash

Here is flash science fiction at its finest—swift to read but long remembered. 57 amazing speculative fiction capsules that transport you into thrilling worlds of imagination and ideas, suggesting that everything is possible—aliens, time travel, other worlds, and the mysteries of Earth—in breathtakingly fresh combinations. This is the perfect book companion for a quick break or a relaxing afternoon.

The Future Is Short: Science Fiction in a Flash presents 57 micro stories by talented authors. Relish each story in tiny bites of speculative fiction entertainment and adventure, catching glimpses of miniature worlds of the future in breathtakingly fresh flights of science fiction imaginings.

As you step across the border of reality and escape into this fascinating collection of 725-word stories, you are instantly immersed in the dazzling visions of 31 talented science fiction authors—ranging from writers with published books and many publication credits, to others new to the writing world. In this sparkling collection, you will wander into realms where imagination rules and time is conquered.

Discover tales of alien love and hate, inspiration, and revenge. Visit time’s ghosts on Mars and wonder, with aliens, at human lifestyles, reproduction, and actions. Explore a universe of heaven and hell redefined—where the wonders and horrors of science thrill and amuse.

Paula Friedman, Jot Russell, and Carrol Fix bring together stories by an international group of authors who share their stories in the LinkedIn group, “Science Fiction readers, writers, collectors, and artists.”

Jot Russell, creator/director of the Science Fiction Microstories Contest and executive director of this contest’s anthology, says, “From themes of green or blue, future or past, animal or mineral or alien, a catalyst is formed that sets creativity in motion. By the random nature of synapse, a story forms from thin air, like magic. Bounds that Einstein placed upon light itself cannot hold back a thought. For, imagination is beyond the bars of time and space. Within the mind, and with fewer words than those needed to paint a picture, a full science fiction work is derived in micro-scale.”

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION by Jot Russell

TIME-SLIP
1. Town Line Road by Jot Russell

BEING
2. Rebirth by Carrol Fix
3. Here Be Dragons by J.J. Alleson
4. There Is a Silent Secret in the Woods of Ar-Cortiex by Paula Friedman
5. The Daughter by J.F. Williams
6. Collateral Damage by Andrew Gurcak
7. Snap and Crackle by Ami L. Hart
8. The Exo Dust by JD Mitchell
9. Psychopomp by Thaddeus Howze
10. Sighting by Marianne G. Petrino
11. Lucy by Helmuth Kump
12. The Life of Joi-ne by J.R. O’Neil

CONNECTING
13. The End of the Story by Andy Lake
14. Apsis in Ephis with Samir by Jeremy Lichtman
15. Unwanted Gift by Ami L. Hart
16. Sentience by Paula Friedman
17. Everyman Dies, But Not Everyman Lives by Mike Boggia
18. The Sound of Time by S.M. Kraftchak
19. Escape from Amoluz by Helmuth Kump
20. Connections by Amos Parker

EDGES
21. Summer Bites by J.F. Williams
22. Boyhood’s End by Andy McKell
23. Sting by Marianne G. Petrino
24. Moments to Remember by W.A. Fix
25. Becoming Again by J.J. Alleson
26. Unnatural Gas by Thaddeus Howze

CONFRONTATIONS
27. Time of the Phoenix by Carrol Fix
28. Meek Survive by Richard Bunning
29. The Horde by Tom Tinney
30. The Earth Is Dying by Jot Russell
31. Arrival by Karl J. Morgan
32. So, There by Allen Quintana

SECRETS
33. The Question by D C Mills
34. Alecre and Shanno by S.M. Kraftchak
35. The Bold and Parenthetic—Dr. Emma Dash by Gene Hilgreen
36. Arctic Freeze by Kalifer Deil
37. The Duplicate Goodbye by Jon Ricson
38. Hank and Rosa by Nōnen Títi

WENDING
39. Did Curiosity Kill the Cat? by Andy Lake
40. Back to Basics by Joanna Lamprey
41. Escape by Andrew Gurcak
42. New Chinatown by JD Mitchell
43. Under the Slaveways by Jon Ricson
44. Martian Horde by Lars Carlson
45. The Ghosts of Gale by Allen Quintana
46. Unnatural Harmonics by Karl J. Morgan
47. Fox, Cat, Fireworks by Jeremy Lichtman
48. Ordmak by Kalifer Deil
49. Conservation by Andy McKell

PERCEPTIONS
50. Yood Must Find Itch by W.A. Fix
51. The Recruiters by Joanna Lamprey
52. Reprisal Lucre by Lars Carlson
53. Beta Test by Tom Tinney
54. The 2000 Parade by Richard Bunning
55. What’s Past Is Past by Sam Bellotto Jr.
56. Contact of the Unfortunate Kind by Mike Boggia

RESOLUTION
57. Ownership by Amos Parker

AFTERWORD by Paula Friedman

The Future Is Short

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