The November issue of Wired Magazine (I'm behind in my reading) had an article entitled "Very Short Stories" which I just got to tonight. Here's the intro:
We'll be brief: Hemingway once wrote a story in just six words ("For sale: baby shoes, never worn.") and is said to have called it his best work. So we asked sci-fi, fantasy, and horror writers from the realms of books, TV, movies, and games to take a shot themselves.
Here are some of my favorites.
- "Epitaph: Foolish humans, never escaped Earth." -Vernor Vinge
- "Lie detector eyeglasses perfected: Civilization collapses." -Richard Powers
- "TIME MACHINE REACHES FUTURE!!! ...nobody there..." -Harry Harrison
- "Gown removed carelessly. Head less so." -Joss Whedon
- "We kissed. She melted. Mop, please." -James Patrick Kelly
- "Machine. Unexpectedly, I'd invented a time" -Alan Moore
- "Automobile warranty expires. So does engine." -Stan Lee
- "Longed for him. Got him. Shit." -Margaret Atwood
- "It cost too much staying human." -Bruce Sterling
- "Cellar? Gate to, uh... hell, actually." -Ronald D. Moore
- "It's behind you! Hurry before it" -Rockne S. O'Bannon
- "The baby's blood type? Human, mostly." -Orson Scott Card
- "Rained, rained, rained, and never stopped." -Howard Waldrop
- "Failed SAT. Lost Scholarship. Invented Rocket" -William Shatner