50 words to tell a story

You think that’s not enough? I am sure you’re going to think differently about that when you have read those “Mini-Sagas”. Each of them is a real piece of art; sometimes surprising, sometimes breathtaking, and always unique. I am really happy of that discovery :-)

Hard Times

No-one met Lizzie’s train.Too old to carry her cases, she found a porter within the hour. A sullen cabbie left her trembling on the guesthouse steps. Fish fingers and sleeplessness burnt peeling walls and sharp springs on her mind. „Holidays were such fun when We were Queen,“ she murmured. - Michael Nixon (p. 71)

Education Act

The boy raised his head. „Sir,“ he asked, „was God alive before or after the big bang?“ „Don’t be stupid,“ his physics master replied, „there is no God.“ „Ah,“ said the boy, „was he killed in the explosion?“ There was no response. The teacher continued teaching: the boy stopped learning . - Malcolm Philips (p. 79)

 

A Woman’s Intuition Is Always Right

He was always working late or away for days. Signs of an affair. She had done a car maintenance course, his suggestion. She knew how to „fix“ the brakes. He leaves next morning. Noon, flowers arrive, card reads: „Surprise, surprise, darling. Dream House finished.“ 1 o’clock News, fatal car crash. - Mrs Maureen Mason (p. 135)

All taken from: Mini-Sagas; An Anthology of Fifty-Word Short Storys, Philipp Reclam jun. Stuttgart

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Ähnliches findet sich auf den Seiten der Ultrakurzgeschichten, mit dem Unterschied, dass die Geschichten beispielsweise auch 100, 200, 365 Wörter (um nur einige Kategorien zu nennen) haben dürfen. Genaueres dort ;-) und das Schöne: jeder darf mitmachen!