Flash Fiction Online #32, May 2016

“Sparrows” by Gary Emmette Chandler

Reviewed by Kevin P Hallett

The thirty-second issue of Flash Fiction Online contains three original stories and one reprint (not reviewed).

“Sparrows” by Gary Emmette Chandler

This is a science fiction/fantasy story set in a future where they have developed a wing suite, offering greater mobility and flexibility than today’s ‘gliding bricks’. It tells the story of Jacob, following in the wings of his brother David. A brother who was a master flyer, killed in a down-to-earth car accident.

A well-structured story that pulls in the reader from the first paragraph. An easy short read.

“Now Watch as Belinda Unmakes the World” by Lynette Mejia

Mejia’s literary story describes a mother waiting beside the bed of her terminally ill daughter. Facing the biggest pain a mother can endure, she spends her time quietly unpicking some embroidery. The world outside the hospital window begins to adjust itself to the changing image in the cloth.

This is one of those short stories you pick-up and read and it’s over too quickly. It seems to slip past you leaving you happy that you read it.

“Nothing Less Rare, Nor Precious” by Evan Dicken

This is a fantasy story of a mother who has lost the sparrows that lived in her chest when her baby was born. At first, it leaves her feeling empty and ambivalent about life; in time she comes to accept the loss.

The story craft was good enough to make it an easy read. But the author could have based the plot on any animal living in any part of the body. It lacked the pull of realism and left this reader wondering why the author wrote the story.