If you are having trouble staying focused these days, you’re not alone. Your concentration may not be what it was, so this is a good time for flash fiction, a genre of very, very, very short stories. They are popular throughout the world, and offer writers a creative chance to experiment and compress a plot into a few paragraphs, or even a few sentences. Don’t be fooled by thinking anyone can write this type of fiction. The flash stories can leave a reader lots of room for interpretation, speculation, and even some puzzle solving. You can read a flash once, very quickly, but the flash will pull you right back, for a second or third reading, demanding that you pay attention.
Flash Fiction Suggestions
![Book cover for Break It Down](https://lapl.org./sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/73d21e754ba59b6d3aed7ba59173c357.jpg?itok=KdG1JN3L)
![Book cover for Can't and Won't](https://lapl.org./sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/aa64183eb322f50bf9222f30d71f273b.jpg?itok=CYP1iS-h)
![Book cover for Fine, Fine, Fine, Fine, Fine: Stories](https://lapl.org./sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/40145326dc336680eda6b75752dcec33.jpg?itok=bxU0g2Ql)
![Book cover for Flash in the Attic: 33 Very Short Stories](https://lapl.org./sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/flash.jpg?itok=JLgY9GBw)
![Book cover for 40 Frightful Flash Fictions](https://lapl.org./sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/40fright.jpg?itok=HVvbMyxE)
![Book cover for Last Drink Bird Head: A Flash Fiction Anthology for Charity](https://lapl.org./sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/birdhead.jpg?itok=cQ2pZ1kN)
Last Drink Bird Head: A Flash Fiction Anthology for Charity
VanderMeer, Ann
![Book cover for Almost No Memory: Stories](https://lapl.org./sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/288bfcd955e548f36e4be6b1e54cb3f0.jpg?itok=LihWEoa1)
![Book cover for American Innovations](https://lapl.org./sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/d2bc6563a5200f4c687b3442a537a285.jpg?itok=AxxM65yh)
![Book cover for Leopoldina's Dream](https://lapl.org./sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/b5a593d6f90ad5e9f9814a2e2994a3ae.jpg?itok=7EUs86Yt)
![Book cover for Mixed Up](https://lapl.org./sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/85f1d2134ca131038fc051c884721bda.jpg?itok=IHUZ99nW)
![Book cover for New Micro: Exceptionally Short Fiction](https://lapl.org./sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/98c169fbc32e253260c54900c1f21f27.jpg?itok=nklXyWKA)
![Book cover for The Pearl Jacket and Other Stories: Flash Fiction From Contemporary China](https://lapl.org./sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/d227fadcca39900b9759a650221187f6.jpg?itok=bVUoYl18)
The Pearl Jacket and Other Stories: Flash Fiction From Contemporary China
![Book cover for Thus Were Their Faces: Stories](https://lapl.org./sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/61148b82176b09188193440e3148c81c.jpg?itok=rIDJ7LiW)
![Book cover for Varieties of Disturbance: Stories](https://lapl.org./sites/default/files/styles/staff_recommends_x97w/public/items/2020/d1f2e0005dfc850e36dfbd6fca039a8b.jpg?itok=oJgagUJr)