| Author |
Message |
    
sublime
| | Posted on Friday, February 03, 2006 - 06:55 pm: | |
Or what are some of the shortest short stories that have been published in any mag?
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sublime
| | Posted on Friday, February 03, 2006 - 07:58 pm: | |
WHAT I OWE TO RICK
by
Arthur Porges
from the september 2005, is that the shortest story in F&SF?
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Matt Hughes
| | Posted on Friday, February 03, 2006 - 08:03 pm: | |
Well, legend has it that the shortest sf story ever was "Knock," by Fredric Brown:
"The last man on earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door."
And then someone shortened "knock" to "lock."
Matt Hughes
Black Brillion now in paperback
The Gist Hunter & Other Stories now in stores
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Gordon Van Gelder
| | Posted on Friday, February 03, 2006 - 08:37 pm: | |
Fredric Brown's "Knock" came out the year before F&SF was launched, but I think we published some shorter gimmick stories (I know I've seen some with very long titles that lead up to one-word "stories").
I'm pretty sure the shortest story I've published was John Morressy's "A Life in the Day of Eb and Flo" in the July 2004 issue. |
Charlie Finlay
| | Posted on Saturday, February 04, 2006 - 06:13 am: | |
I like Hemingway's example of a six-word short story -- "For sale, baby shoes; never used." -- because it evokes emotion without going for a laugh, the usual effect sought by very short stories I've seen. |
sublime
| | Posted on Saturday, February 04, 2006 - 10:35 am: | |
Dang that six word story is REALLY short.
I'm gunna go get a fictionwise copy of the July 2004 issue. Thanke Gordon
What makes you decide to publish a story that short? And is it really a story if it is that short? |
Liz
| | Posted on Saturday, February 04, 2006 - 11:49 am: | |
And is it really a story if it is that short?
"A Life in the Day of Eb and Flo" had a beginning, middle, and end, so I'd say yes. |
Gordon Van Gelder
| | Posted on Saturday, February 04, 2006 - 12:13 pm: | |
What makes me decide to publish a story that short? The same thing that makes me decide to publish a 30,000 word novella like "Planet of Mystery": I like it, and I think the magazine's readers will like it. |
sublime
| | Posted on Saturday, February 04, 2006 - 05:01 pm: | |
I got the july 2004 mag, and read eb and flo, I liked it. I'm reading the rest of the issue.
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Lois Tilton
| | Posted on Sunday, February 05, 2006 - 08:07 am: | |
E Michael Blake once published a two-word story, excluding the title. I don't recall where. |
des
| | Posted on Sunday, February 05, 2006 - 11:52 am: | |
Nemonymous Two (2002) had a story with just a title (4'33") followed by four and a half blank pages. |
John Joseph Adams
| | Posted on Sunday, February 05, 2006 - 11:59 am: | |
How much does an author make selling a story that takes up four and a half pages but doesn't have any words? And what's the point of 4'33"? How is that title followed by blank pages a story? |
Charlie Finlay
| | Posted on Sunday, February 05, 2006 - 12:09 pm: | |
JJA, it's a riff off a John Cage piece. Cage was a modern composer who liked to push buttons and boundaries; in the piece titled _4'33"_, a pianist goes on stage and sits silent at the piano for exactly that amount of time. Obviously, the story doesn't work on its own without the context of knowing modern music. |
S. Hamm
| | Posted on Sunday, February 05, 2006 - 10:38 pm: | |
Dave Truesdale's head has just exploded. |
Mark H
| | Posted on Sunday, February 05, 2006 - 11:38 pm: | |
There is a short short by Dave Eggers called "There are some things he should keep to himself" (in his collection "How We Are Hungry"). It has 0 words. Six empty pages.
If this story counts as SF I cannot tell. |
Mark H
| | Posted on Sunday, February 05, 2006 - 11:40 pm: | |
Which makes it one and half pages longer than the Nemonymous story. |
des
| | Posted on Monday, February 06, 2006 - 12:48 am: | |
And the Nemonymous story came first!
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des
| | Posted on Monday, February 06, 2006 - 01:04 am: | |
And it's definitely SF - as it was intended as a companion story to three other stories in Nemonymous Two( 2002) - all SF - entitled 'The Vanishing Life and Films of Emmanuel Escobada', 'Mighty Fine Days' and 'Nothing' by various authors.
des |
sublime
| | Posted on Monday, February 06, 2006 - 08:10 pm: | |
I found another shorty by Arthur Porges, "Born Bad" in the jan 2005 issue. |
Ahmed A. Khan
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 07, 2006 - 07:36 am: | |
I have heard of a Forrest Ackerman story consisting of just one letter: F. I forget the title but it was something to do with a test report on humans.
Ahmed
http://ahmedakhan.journalspace.com
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sublime
| | Posted on Saturday, February 25, 2006 - 09:36 am: | |
Haha  |
Sir Rhosis
| | Posted on Friday, March 03, 2006 - 06:36 pm: | |
IIRC, the title of the Ackerman story was "Cosmic Report Card -- Earth."
Sir Rhosis |
sublime
| | Posted on Sunday, March 05, 2006 - 06:14 pm: | |
Ah cool thanks for telling us the title. I was gunna say "I'm gunna pickup a copy to read," but then I was like THE STORY ONLY HAS ONE LETTER! |
