"Barely Casting a Shadow" (Reflex Fiction, 2018)

161 Flash stories, all long-listed for the first four rounds of their competition. Few knock-outs. Many lesser pleasures.

There are examples of several ways that the writers have coped with the challenging word limit

• Scale down evenly - "Best Friends" reads as if a few scattered phrases have been picked from a longer piece
• Enrich the language - "Baptism of Fire" has "I trace my thumb over the coiled helix etched into the lighter’s smooth surface, flick open the lid, and strike the spark wheel. The sulphurous scent of butane spreads mottled wings through the air and flutters against my eyelashes."
• Use allusions to make the words do double the work - "Coffee and Kafka" has allusions to Kafka
• Focus on the punchline - I like "No Mirrors". By the time it arrives, the final sentence isn't a such surprise. The build-up's good though.
• Telegramese - "Permanent Jewellery" - Ten minutes later, “Office”. Door closes. Customer visit. Terry should have said. Nothing personal. It never is."
• Focus on one moment - "The Photographer" recounts, almost in real time, a scene.

"Jesuses, Marys and Julian" manages to fit a lot in. Not sure I understand it all. I like "Mornings", "Replenished" and "No time for stories". I don't get what "Neptune", "Morris Greene", "blood in the water" and "Bones" are trying to do. I can see why "Jimmy Choo Shoes" might win a prize - not my type of plot though. "The English Teacher" and "Another Minute, Another Hour, Another Day" are short, and seem slight to me.

"Avocado" included the only typo I noticed - "He either spends his days either looking out, or looking in." "Hope on a loop" might have punctuation issues - “Don’t worry,” I say, he’s a cat. “He knows where home is"