What do you think?
Rate this book
Fast Fiction: 101 Stories 101 Words Each
In FAST FICTION, you'll enter a cafe where the menu is loaded with nothing but literary appetizers, designed to be quickly consumed and easily digested. You'll meet people with secrets and others who wished they knew how to keep them; characters looking to exact revenge and others getting their just desserts when karma calls. Fans of the combo platter will see it all here, from the dark to the darkly comical; the laugh-out-loud funny to the thought-provoking; offering more twists and turns than a pretzel―more ups and downs than a souffle. Designed to be picked up and perused at any time-- FAST FICTION is perfect for those impromptu moments while you're waiting in line or otherwise find yourself with some extra time to kill--not long enough to get deeply engaged in a novel but just right as a fun alternative. Even if you do have time to put your feet up, get comfortable and grab a book, these 101-word tales will keep you entertained, briefly encountering characters you will never see again--if you're lucky.
ebook
Published September 29, 2022
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 2, 2023
I received a copy of Fast Fiction in exchange for an honest review. Read the full review at https://rosieamber.wordpress.com/
The title of Scotty Cornfield’s first collection, Fast Fiction: 101 Stories, 101 Words Each, really says it all. This is a collection of 101 microfictions, each purportedly exactly 101 words long (even I’m not diligent enough to check all of them, but Cornfield says they are and he seems like an honest lad), and all traversing the vast sea of topics that can be covered in that small span of letters and lines.
For those of us who appreciate brevity, and the ability to grind in to the absolute yolk of a story, a scene, a moment in time, flash fiction is an artform worth celebrating. And Cornfield does celebrate it, with stories of joy and heartbreak and mystery, stories of random happenstance and brutal miscalculation, with all that is and can be weird and wonderful in writing.
I must admit, as an editor, that there are places where I wonder if Cornfield is a little too confined by his 101-word edict. Places where the story would be served by cutting a phrase here, a line there, and thus become a 95-word story, and just the little bit tighter for it, but that is nitpicking at its finest. Overall, Cornfield’s work is sound, punchy, and fun in all the ways you want flash fiction to be. Look for particular standouts “I’m a Good Neighbor”, “He Made Work a Four-Letter Word”, and “Lessons from a Grim Reaper” for some of this reviewer’s particular favorites.
The title of Scotty Cornfield’s first collection, Fast Fiction: 101 Stories, 101 Words Each, really says it all. This is a collection of 101 microfictions, each purportedly exactly 101 words long (even I’m not diligent enough to check all of them, but Cornfield says they are and he seems like an honest lad), and all traversing the vast sea of topics that can be covered in that small span of letters and lines.
For those of us who appreciate brevity, and the ability to grind in to the absolute yolk of a story, a scene, a moment in time, flash fiction is an artform worth celebrating. And Cornfield does celebrate it, with stories of joy and heartbreak and mystery, stories of random happenstance and brutal miscalculation, with all that is and can be weird and wonderful in writing.
I must admit, as an editor, that there are places where I wonder if Cornfield is a little too confined by his 101-word edict. Places where the story would be served by cutting a phrase here, a line there, and thus become a 95-word story, and just the little bit tighter for it, but that is nitpicking at its finest. Overall, Cornfield’s work is sound, punchy, and fun in all the ways you want flash fiction to be. Look for particular standouts “I’m a Good Neighbor”, “He Made Work a Four-Letter Word”, and “Lessons from a Grim Reaper” for some of this reviewer’s particular favorites.
September 30, 2022
I’m the first to rate and review this book. I’ll try to be kind.
There is actually a skill to telling story succinctly. I’ve tried it with various parameters from 50 words to micro-fiction to flash fiction and it isn’t as easy as it seems.
The author of this collection seems to have a knack for being able to tell a more or less complete story in 101 words and that’s fairly impressive. Whether he succeeds in telling good stories of 101 words will largely depend on a reader.
This reader wasn’t overly impressed and found some repetitiveness and some outright silliness, but it was a very quick read and mildly diverting too.
More of a one trick pony sort of thing than a book about a pony, if that makes sense. Not much meat (textually), but kind of neat (conceptually). Does that make sense? A gimmick book.
Either way, it was fine. Perfect for reading on the go, on the toilet, or people with attention deficits. Occasionally cute. Thanks Netgalley.
There is actually a skill to telling story succinctly. I’ve tried it with various parameters from 50 words to micro-fiction to flash fiction and it isn’t as easy as it seems.
The author of this collection seems to have a knack for being able to tell a more or less complete story in 101 words and that’s fairly impressive. Whether he succeeds in telling good stories of 101 words will largely depend on a reader.
This reader wasn’t overly impressed and found some repetitiveness and some outright silliness, but it was a very quick read and mildly diverting too.
More of a one trick pony sort of thing than a book about a pony, if that makes sense. Not much meat (textually), but kind of neat (conceptually). Does that make sense? A gimmick book.
Either way, it was fine. Perfect for reading on the go, on the toilet, or people with attention deficits. Occasionally cute. Thanks Netgalley.
February 7, 2023
A TOTALLY Unbiased Review 🙃🙃🙃🙃
Was this the best book I’ve ever read? Before I answer that one, let me ask another question. Was this the best book I’ve ever written? That one’s easy. Absolutely. It was also my first foray into the world of prose writing, but since the title includes the hint “Volume One,” I’ve publicly committed that there will be more.
In the world of fiction, where a lot of great books with substantially longer stories are told, mine is a bit of an anomaly, since each tale is exactly 101 words—just like this review. Don’t believe me? Count ‘em. I’ll wait.
Was this the best book I’ve ever read? Before I answer that one, let me ask another question. Was this the best book I’ve ever written? That one’s easy. Absolutely. It was also my first foray into the world of prose writing, but since the title includes the hint “Volume One,” I’ve publicly committed that there will be more.
In the world of fiction, where a lot of great books with substantially longer stories are told, mine is a bit of an anomaly, since each tale is exactly 101 words—just like this review. Don’t believe me? Count ‘em. I’ll wait.
January 5, 2023
A fun, first time kind of read for me.
Each story is 100 words or perhaps less in some cases. Quick enough to read ANYWHERE. And such intriguing stories too, makes the mind wander and ponder a bit.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book.
Each story is 100 words or perhaps less in some cases. Quick enough to read ANYWHERE. And such intriguing stories too, makes the mind wander and ponder a bit.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book.
December 25, 2022
This was a quick and entertaining read. Very short stories and great fun to get into. Highly recommended
April 26, 2023
Some good stories in this volume and a few that were OK. Overall I enjoyed the experience of reading this collection.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews