by John B. Haney

Flash Fiction is the current term of choice for the short-short story-a fast-paced, pared-down narrative parcel which can be read on short subway rides, often between stops. In this funny, heart-warming and sometimes eerie collection, you will encounter:

• An anonymous message of such diabolical power it turns any recipient into an emotional basket case.
• An eager young teacher who experiences the most catastrophic lesson-plan failure in human history.
• A suburban husband who gets the motor vehicle department to issue him a license plate that the New York Times won't print.
• A college professor who parlays a passing thought into a full-fledged new university.
• A resentful office worker who discovers just how wildly a symbolic act of revenge can boomerang.
• A truth teller whose last lesson in life is that nobody wants to learn the truth.
• The purveyor of a fantastic invention whose real purpose is not, nor cannot be stated.
• A conniving suburbanite who exploits crime-catching data technology to cover his crime.
• A bank ATM that brings human-machine interaction to a whole new level.
• A college president who devises the ultimate retrenchment plan.