The Predatory Animal Ball is Jennifer Fliss's debut collection of flash fiction (extremely short stories) about people left in the wake of predators. These stories will expand your idea of how the word "predator" is defined in sharp, clever, and wonderfully absurd ways. (If you like magical realism or fabulism, you'll love this book!) Some of the stories are full of dark humor, some are heartwrenching, and some are downright horrifying. I enjoyed the variety in style among these stories, and how they're all united by a common theme: predators are everywhere. Flash fiction has to say a lot in such a ridiculously brief amount of time. Fliss makes every single phrase an active participant in the story, whether it's…

Wendy J. Fox's collection of interconnected short stories, What If We Were Somewhere Else, follows the employees of a nondescript office through their relationships, layoffs, and changes in life circumstances. Some of the stories are in first person, others are in third person, but each has their own personality and voice, so it's not too hard to keep track of who's who. You get each character's perspective at least twice throughout the book, and the characters pop up in each other's stories as well. I found Melissa's story most compelling, hearing about the commune she'd grown up in, what it was like to leave and eventually return home, and the impact of these choices on her life. I was also…

Dominican-American author Brenda Peynado's short story collection, The Rock Eaters, is perfect for readers who enjoy magical realism, fabulism, speculative fiction, and social commentary. The collection begins with the shocking "Thoughts and Prayers," a story about the fruitless ways adults react to school shootings that have become all too common. This story is a provocative way to start off a book, and sets the stage for Peynado's no-holds-barred approach to satire. You can read an excerpt on Literary Hub. "The Touches" felt like Wool meets The Matrix meets a plague. It was published on Tor.com November 2019, where you can still read it, and boy did this hit hard now that we're all experiencing a pandemic. This story was so…