Rating: Summary: Gems. Review: A life of education hasn't hurt me none: you can read a short story in a single setting. Moss's whole anthology meets that criterion; collected gems of succinct fiction. Can't beat the dawning terror of "Bedtime Story" or the wrenching sadness of "Like Ships" and "Lost" even at Mitchneresque length. Wonderful cure for writer's block.
Rating: Summary: Murder... Love... Horror... Suspense... Review: All this and much more in the most amazing short stories ever written. Imagine O Henry's tales if he'd only had the back of a business card to write upon..."The perfect gift for those who claim to be too busy to read. For the rest of us, these stories are like literary canapes... Irresistible." -- Sue Grafton Reader Frank Muller has garnered praise as one of the most talented narrators of audiobooks today. Author Stephen King said, "[When Frank reads] the blind will see, the lame will walk, and the deaf will hear." Reader Suzanne Toren was the recipient of the Narrator of the Year Award for her recordings of talking books for the Library of Congress and of the TORGI Award from the Canadian National Institute for the Blind. Reader Kathy Garver is best known for her role as "Cissy" on the CBS prime-time hit, "Family Affair," one of the most enduring television shows of the 1960s.
Rating: Summary: Boring. Review: Almost all the stories end with a twist. After reading about fifty of these, it starts becoming boring and excessive.
Rating: Summary: Intermittently amusing light read Review: Can you write a short story in only 55 words? Sure. Making it a GOOD ultra-short story is the challenge. And "The World's Shortest Stories" is an amusing light read, with many so-so stories, some duds, and some little hidden gems that might make you smile.
The majority of the stories are made up mostly of dialogue, with a twist (like piranhas or bigamy) at the end. Each one takes about ten seconds maximum to read. There's love (a werewolf has a tendency to kill his girlfriends on the full moon), murder (a sex kitten turns out to be a hit woman), terrible puns ("Abra-cadaver!") and sex ("Brenda promised the horizontal hokey-pokey if he wore a chicken suit and spoke French").
Some of the short stories feel unfinished, as if the author had a good idea but couldn't follow it through. And others are downright dour, rarely managing to get any sort of emotion from the reader; an exception was "It Was a Year Ago," a gut-wrencher about drunk driving. But more often it's maudlin, emotionless vignettes like "Photographer's Regrets."
But perhaps two-thirds of the humorous stories manage to evoke a smile or little laugh, like "Harry's Love," about a man's adoration for his curvacious, golden, sensuous... trumpet. And a few of them give twists that will get a grin out of you, like "Dragon Tale," about a peculiar tattoo. Not to mention the vampire support meeting.
"The World's Shortest Stories" has quite a few duds sprinkled through the hits, but it's still an amusing -- and very short -- book of even shorter stories.
Rating: Summary: Small short story masterpieces. Review: Each selection is a jewel- proving that a few words can speak reams about love, hate, jealousy and humor. A must for any budding writer.
Rating: Summary: Things that make you go, "Hmmmm" Review: I am amazed at how truly entertaining these stories can be in such a short space of time. The tricky endings on some came as such a surprise, that I found myself rewinding the tape to listen to them again. A clever writing style that shows that less is often more. Funny, creepy, romantic. Very well done.
Rating: Summary: Clever and often hilarious Review: I found myself laughing out loud at many of these clever stories. Not every story is equally good, but those which are good, are really, really good.
Rating: Summary: An excellent class exercise Review: I have used this book as an example of concise but riveting writing skills for my communications lectures. Student held their own competition using this format. Their work was exhibited in the hallways and caused much excitement on campus. This exercise led to excellent year end exam results. I recommend it as class material.
Rating: Summary: An excellent class exercise Review: I have used this book as an example of concise but riveting writing skills for my communications lectures. Student held their own competition using this format. Their work was exhibited in the hallways and caused much excitement on campus. This exercise led to excellent year end exam results. I recommend it as class material.
Rating: Summary: Best Short Story Book Ever!!!!! Review: I loved this book. Even though each story is only 55 words long they have a twist. A good read. I think other teens will love it. I'm buying my own copy.
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