Flash Fiction Online #58, July 2018

“-Good” by Sunyi Dean

Reviewed by Kevin P Hallett

The July issue of FFO has three first publication stories, split between SF and fantasy.

“-Good” by Sunyi Dean

This flash SF introduces a wife whose husband has dominated her since the beginning of their relationship. Now the husband faces terminal cancer, and he needs her to carry to term his clone that’s infused with his memories. But why should she help the misogynist?

A well-crafted but ultimately predictable snippet of a story.

“Untimely Frost, Unlikely Bloom” by Hayley Stone

A cursed princess roams the forest in this flash fantasy. Her briefest touch dooms a person to die a painful disease-ridden death. Cursed in her mother’s womb, her birth led to her own mother’s untimely death. Will the same happen to her own children?

This was an exciting tale that felt disjointed at first, but then delivered an unexpected punch at the end.

“Gathering” by Jonathan Louis Duckworth

Paige watches as the birds gather odd pieces of wiring and circuitry to make a massive pile of junk in this flash fantasy. Paige enjoys painting, but in the past her drawings have come to life. As the pile of junk grows, Paige sketches not what she sees, but what she would like to see from all this circuitry. And she can imagine some dangerous things.

This was an intriguing fantasy with a bizarre twist in its tail.