Flash Fiction Online #48, September 2017

“The Last Man on Earth Crawls Backs to Life – A Mini-Novel Sequel” by John Guzlowski

Reviewed by Chuck Rothman

Flash Fiction Online serves up three new stories (and one reprint) in their September issue.

“The Last Man on Earth Crawls Backs to Life – A Mini-Novel Sequel” by John Guzlowski is a series of musings by the title character, who, in a series of vignettes, looks at what’s left of the world around him. It’s a mood piece and the mood is one of melancholy and sadness.

“Listen and You’ll Hear Us Speak” centers on the concept of “Voice Stealers.” The protagonist was the victim of these, and plays the violin in bars, waiting. A.T. Greenblat manages to tell a very clever revenge story that packs a lot into its short length.

“And All Our Bones Were Dust” by Steven Fischer starts out with a man who is having visions of fire, as though everything around him is being hit by an atomic bomb. His confides in his partner, a woman he cares for, and they go on the run, trying to find safety. The story is something I don’t usually like, but it somehow manages to work.

Chuck Rothman’s novels Staroamer’s Fate and Syron’s Fate are available from Fantastic Books.