You Have Time for This: Contemporary American Short-Short Stories

This collection of flash fiction--bare bone stories no more than five hundred words each--includes a wide variety of stories that, despite their brevity, have a complete beginning, middle, and end. The stories include (among others): the thoughts of two people who meet in an airplane; an unappreciative husband's karma catching up with him; a divorced couple dining out at a Chinese restaurant; and a mentally unhinged and jealous victim of unrequited love. Oh, yes, there's a bizarre science fiction story involving characters who are experiencing a disturbing metamorphosis...but I recommend that you take the time to read the book yourself.

If you have always wondered what exactly literary fiction is, read this book. "You have Time for This" was a pleasure to read. The book fits into pocket or purse and goes anywhere. Mark Budman and Tom Hazuka have chosen the best stories from some of the best writers they know. These stories are Flash Fiction, very, very short, and take only moments to read, assuring "You Have time for This." River Bones: A Mystery Novel River Bones: A Mystery Novel The Ka The Tropics: Child of a Storm-Caught in a Rip-Hurricane Secret

A writer friend of mine recommended "You Have Time For This", explaining that it was an anthology or short-short fiction. I was very dubious. Well, I bought it anyway, and found, to my complete surprise, a series of stories that are quite compelling. This was, for me, an entirely new and exciting literary experience. The stories, by dint of their brevity, make for very compelling pieces. One is, in a way,mesmerized by what is often a surrealist effect created by the shortening of time and space.I read it from cover to cover, without once taking a break--which is unusual for me.

The experience of reading flash stories is qualitatively different from reading a novel. It's necessary to be a more active participant in the story telling - and that's what I find so captivating. Rather than sit back and be a passive observer of the author's fully-presented vision, we are only allowed a thin slice. A tantalizing peek through a partly open door. If the author is skillful, the peek is enough to let you tease out the story. If you have the least voyeuristic tendency, you should read this book. It's filled with sly glimpses into the lives of others - and don't be fooled by their briefness. You'll be mulling over the characters long after the story is finished. You do have time for this. In fact it's better if you don't have a lot of time. The pleasure is extended and the stories are there for you whenever you have a minute to read.

"You Have Time for This" is a vibrant and engaging collection of fifty-three short-short stories, demonstrating how stunning, varied, and satisfying stories 500 words or less can be. These are not fragments of imagined longer works, but eminently realized fictions rife with telling details, nuanced characters and resonant themes and situations. The flash fiction form has been expanding in popularity the last couple of decades and drawing the talents of many fine writers to the challenge of this compelling genre. Mark Budman and Tom Hazuka have gathered together a diverse and outstanding selection of these literary gems in "You Have Time for This"--and you will.