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Flash fiction has cut its teeth in cyberspace, where the quick bursts of
joy, heartbreak, and empathy the form supplies fit well with the Web's
rapid, condensed style of delivering content. Now that flash fiction is
increasingly making its way onto the pages of compilations and novels, fans
may wonder whether it can succeed in book-length volumes without revealing
limitations in its treatment of character and narrative. Michael Arnzen's
new collection of macabre sudden fiction hints at the broad possibilities of
flash fiction and suggests that the answer is, "Yes, it can."
Half of the stories that make up 100 Jolts are previously published, with works varying in length from a few tightly knit sentences to multiple pages. The individual pieces stand on their own, without prominent narrative threads or common characters to unite them.
Arnzen delights in his ghoulish subject matter, scaring readers into smiling in the spirit of the Evil Dead movies. "He was a goner," the story "Brain Candy" drolly observes. "So I shot him in the face and his head burst like a flesh piņata, spraying the zombie kiddies with its brain candy."
Writing stories short enough to fit on a postcard requires an economy with language that borders on vicious. When describing a stabbing, Arnzen writes, "She lunged at me with the pizza cutter, slashing the wafer-thin disk across my chest and press-rolling it so fast she must have cut at least six slices out of me."
The book is at its strongest when it trusts in the power of well-chosen words to construct a scene and establish a tone in a condensed space, as Arnzen does in the tale of death and survivors, "Turn of the Season."
"When I finally looked at the grass beneath my feet — a rectangular plot a different shade than the rest — I realized she was right. The sod really was thriving, sprouting green shoots among her freshly turned soil."
In a handful of weak spots, the writing loses some faith in the effectiveness of flash fiction, resorting to surprises to carry a story rather than trusting in characters and narrative. Such moments are rare, however, and do not noticeably tarnish the overall impression of this compilation.
Arnzen, who publishes a newsletter for writers as well as teaching courses at Seton Hill University, is a vocal advocate for flash fiction, and this work ultimately serves as a sort of proof of concept. It demonstrates the form's breadth and potency, even while revealing that it has yet to reach full maturity. He views the short form as ideal for his chosen genre. "[H]orror requires brevity," Arnzen writes in his introductory essay. "Horror is a thrill ride that's over before you expect [it] to be, yet none too soon. If you stay aboard the ride for too long, you become immune to the curves that toss you around in your car."
Excerpt from Michael Arnzen's 100 Jolts: Shockingly Short Stories:
TAKE OUT
She lunged at me with the pizza cutter, slashing the wafer-thin disk across my chest and press-rolling it so fast she must have cut at least six slices out of me. My nipples crimped below the blade like pepperoni, but I'm not round like a pie. Instead, my limbs fell off, spilling their contents like poorly stuffed crust. And she wasn't happy with my toppings. So she loaded me up with her own and tossed my shell into her oven. The garlic and peppers stung worse than my boiling sauce and melting meat. After the broil, I waned on her rack. She put me in a box, rather than in her mouth. She let me dribble and drain all greasy in cardboard. It was then that I realized she liked her men cold and leftover. I congealed and apologized, but that didn't stop her from delivering me to you.
— © 2004 Michael Arnzen
Publication Information:
100 Jolts: Shockingly Short Stories by Michael A. Arnzen
Cover Art by Matt Sesow
ISBN 0-9745031-2-6
156 pp., trade paperback & ebook
Release: April 2004
Price: $12.95
Published by:
Raw Dog Screaming Press
5103 72nd Place
Hyattsville, MD 20784
USA
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