"in the debris field" (Ad Hoc Fiction, 2018)

The best 3 novellas-in-flash from 111 competition entries. They're the first I've read of this genre.

"In the Debris Field" by Luke Whisnant

Episodes (4 already published as flash) through the life of a male. My favourite pieces were "Kiss" and ""Later You Find Out ...". Some long titles.

"Latter Day Saints" by Jack Remiel Cottrell

Interviews with saints. Do they have any wisdom to impart? I liked most of them. I'd have liked more over-arching development of the interviewer. "All that is gold" and "Playing to lose" appealed to me most.

"A Slow Boat to Finland" by Victoria Melekian

Little Molly died, running into the road to chase a balloon while her father Steve was beside her. Her organs are offered for transplant. Mother Kat has sister Allison to console her. Her demented mother thinks Molly is still alive. Kat talks to Molly at her grave. 7 months later they meet parents of an organ recipient. Kat hears Molly's heart beating. Kat hasn't gone back to work. Steve thinks that's a bad idea. They have counselling. Kat ignores the advice and continues secretly meeting Claire (the mother) and her daughter Olivia (4) each week - "thinking about Molly's heart inside this little girl named Olivia calms her down. She likes knowing it's there. Like finding a lucky penny and carrying it in your pocket all day". One chapter is Claire's first-person PoV.

There are some standard sections, topped off with imagery that doesn't always save the section - e.g. "Steve feels like he's seeing her through the wrong end of the binoculars, she's close yet he can't reach her". Steve thinks it's too early to think about having another child. Claire's husband phones Steve, saying that Kat is visiting unannounced. Kat visits her mother, taking Olivia, pretending she's Molly. Rather than return Olivia, Kat gets her an ice-cream and they sit in the car. Police are involved. There's a misunderstanding and Steve is held at gunpoint. Claire's very understanding. At the end, months later, Kat consoles a pair at a meeting and feels better.

Of the 3, this is much the most moving and the one most like a novel. I suppose that explains why the parts are least like flash. "Soggy Goldfish" and "Send a Lifeboat" don't do enough. "Dear Claire" is a letter from Kat, never sent. I don't know how it helps the NiF - much of it repeats earlier info. And is Allison needed?

Other reviews

• AnnaLee Barclay ("In the Debris Field": These small, quiet tragedies that mark everyday human life are navigated by Dennis, a sensitive boy whose nonlinear memories thread together seemingly random instances that come together as a whole portrait of the pains that quietly mark us throughout our lives, particularly adolescence. ... "Latter Day Saints": This highly unique novella asks us to dig into our own perceptions of the world and how it operates as we struggle with our own personal journeys. ... ""A Slow Boat to Finland": Melekian’s prose is strong and blunt, yet there is a dreamy lyricism to it that carries Kat through the sort of brain-fog that comes after trauma)
• Judy Darling