Flash Fiction Online #107, August 2022

“Moon Eater & Housekeeping” by Adam Piñon Kerkman

“No One Sleeps on an Empty Stomach” by Lucy Zhang

“Instructions for Bottling Tornadoes: Please Read Before You Leave” by Marie Croke

“Scarlet Fever” by Stefanie Freele (reprint, not reviewed)

Reviewed by Kevin P Hallett

The August issue of Flash Fiction Online has three first publication stories and one previously published story.

“Moon Eater & Housekeeping” by Adam Piñon Kerkman

Kerkman’s flash fantasy portrays a mother calling on the sea serpent Bakunawa to help her son locked in a Saudi Arabian jail half a world away. Everywhere she feels the injustice of the modern world and the cries to the old gods for help. How much longer before these gods rise up to take back their rightful places?

This story portrays the injustices felt by the poor, but its speculative elements are primarily superficial.

“No One Sleeps on an Empty Stomach” by Lucy Zhang

This flash fantasy describes two sisters who mourn their aunt, killed by a random bullet in the ghetto. Their mother is the opposite of the aunt, who was outgoing and adventurous. The two sisters similarly fall into two camps, one demure like the mother, the other rebellious like the aunt. For one month each year, the ancestral ghosts visit. But only one sister tries to entice the dead aunt’s ghost.

Though the story’s speculative elements were light, the story gave an intriguing insight into a family recovering from a tragedy.

“Instructions for Bottling Tornadoes: Please Read Before You Leave” by Marie Croke

This flash fantasy presents six instructions for capturing a tornado in a bottle. Each piece of advice is tied to the memory of a child born and growing up.

The tornado was more of an allegory for a child’s development into adulthood, and the speculative elements were light.

You can follow Kevin P Hallett’s writing on www.kevinphallett.com. There are links there to join his mailing list for a weekly newsletter on the release of his upcoming novel in September.