Flash Fiction by Richard Reid
The category of flash fiction is somewhat arbitrary. Some say 250 words or less, some say 500. Mainly it is intended to have a sudden, or flash ending. As with all fiction, the rules are non-binding, so I differentiated between short stories and flash fiction merely are what I intended the story.
The contents of this compendium are part of meeting my objectives in writing. For the sake of readers, I've broken the stories into categories of light, medium and dark. The light category stories are mainly to amuse and entertain but are not completely without meaning, however tortured. The dark are mainly intended to challenge the thinking of the reader. The medium are somewhere in between. The author intended each story to have at least one theme, usually suggested by the title. Probably many more themes can be derived, since that is the way of fiction.
"Try, Try Again" was first published in the B.A.W.L. Point Pen in 2000. "Existential Glory" was first published in The Atrocity in 1998.