Thank you netgalley and the publisher for this ARC

I'm not a huge short story reader, but these are "shorts" and are generally even shorter than "short stories". They are generally 2 pages MAX, usually shorter. There's some good content in here..it's not all for me but I appreciate the effort made and the fact that this exists

This anthology was truly unlike anything I’ve ever read. This was my first-time reading flash fiction, and I was really impressed. It’s incredible how much creativity these authors can fit into less than 500 words.

I liked how these stories combined this classical feel with a more modern approach, I think the illustrations complemented that perfectly.

Like any anthology there were stories that I really like, others not so much. Overall, however I really enjoyed my time reading this anthology, and going a little bit outside my comfort zone.

This anthology features very short snippet like stories. The stories are kind of pulpy, and a lot of them seemed to end with a "Whizz-Bang!" twist that seemed added to make the story suddenly exciting. Overall, not my favorite collection of stories. I would have probably enjoyed some of them if they'd had more to them, but that's my fault for not understanding how short these would be. Still, I think really short sci-fi stories can pack a punch. I just didn't get that here. It's been a few weeks since I finished it, and I can't remember any of the stories.

This anthology of flash science fiction provides several amuse-bouche for those craving a quick diversion from present reality. Great for a quick read, this anthology provides stories that can be read in five minutes or less. Perfect for those. with a short attention span or too many interruptions in life for a good sit-down. This smorgasbord of science fiction shorts will give you your fix and help you find new authors to follow. Several of the authors include a link to their site in the 1-3 line bio at the end of each tale.

In April of 2020, just after the outbreak of the corona pandemic, author J.A. Taylor started the website Sci-Fi Shorts (https://scifishorts.pub/) as an escape from the real world. Through flash fiction he wanted to offer a short distraction to people with SF-stories of maximum 500 words.
The beginning wasn't easy as there were no (wellknown) writers, no stories and no followers.
However, this project gained fame and within the first year over 240 stories were published and over 1.000 followers were attracted on social media. With 2.000 monthly views on average there's now a small but reliable fan base.

A similar website was started under the name Fantasy Shorts (https://fantasyshorts.pub/) for fantasy flash fiction.

These two websites became a meeting place for fiction writers to grow their writing skills and eventually another website was created overarching both genres: SFS Writers Collective (https://www.sfswriters.com/).
The latter spawned SFS Publishing which now published an anthology of some of the many stories in print. Authors J.A. Taylor and Rod Castor worked together to edit this publication and select 60 science-fiction stories for this anthology. An overview of the stories and their writers can be found in my Goodreads-review.

***

The idea behind this anthology really appealed to me, as short stories (and flash fiction in particular) are a great way to discover new voices and to relax a few minutes.

With 60 stories I assumed to get to know a lot of different authors. But it turned out that the selection wasn't as varied as one might figure.
The table of content at the beginning of the anthology only mentions the titles, but leaves out the names of the authors. They're mentioned under every title though. Taking a closer look at them, it's striking how often some authors appear in the list compared to others. Several of them wrote 3 stories. Sadly enough their stories weren't always the strongest ones of this anthology in my opinion (but I know there's no accounting for taste).

There were interesting stories, but most of them missed a good twist and just fizzled out leaving the reader with an unsatisfied feeling. Some people might say that this is due to the small word count, but that's no excuse imho. There are plenty of examples of shorter fiction that left a lasting impression even though I read them months or years ago.

The layout was nicely done.
Every story was preceded by a retro picture and followed by a very short bio of the author.

Overall I'd give this book 2,5*.
But even though the stories often lacked a bit of punch, they offered a nice break in between other reads and thus I'm rounding this rating up to 3*.


*Thanks to NetGalley and SFS Publishing for providing a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars

There were some awesome gems in this collection of flash fiction. Each story is less than 150 words, but that is just enough to pack a punch and set up a thought-provoking conundrum or explore an aspect of the human (... and sometimes alien or robot...) experience. Many of these stories have the perfect amount of emotion or plot twist to keep you wanting more. This was quite a quick read because of that.

I also really enjoyed the art headers at the beginning of each story. They gave just enough detail to intrigue me and hint at the content without spoiling anything. Overall this was a solid collection with a mostly positive set of stories.

I've been so preoccupied by Fantasy and YA lately that I've neglected Sci-Fi entirely. Some may argue that there are elements of Sci-Fi in Horror and vice versa, and I'm one of those who thinks so. The idea that there's a whole different world other than Earth that humans can inhabit (and inevitably destroy) is straight-up horrifying.

The 60 Sci-Fi stories within this anthology are bite-sized (less than 500 words!), and that's a good thing. Short and concise is sometimes the way to go when it comes to fictional tales, and a few in this book really pack a punch!

Unfortunately, the ones about space (most of them) didn't really appeal to me.

Sci-fi shorts is a collection of stories that are 500 words or less. It’s a neat concept and it works well, introducing us to some great authors.

The majority of stories feel like snippets, tasters, and snapshots. It’s a platter of hors-d’oeuvres to whet the appetite and salivate the imagination. Variety is the biggest strength of this collection. Ideas take forms that range from plot-heavy time travel to character-rich body-horror.

Most of these shorts included a twist, which is impressive to say there are so few words on show. Some managed to reach depths that left my heart beating. And a couple of standouts stayed with me long after I finished reading, which was an unexpected treat.

As with all short fiction, the desire to read more is always lingering. To make up for this, a biography of every author is included with their stories so you can investigate what more they have to offer. I found this helpful, and I’ll definitely be keeping a lookout for some of the authors featuring here to see what else they release in future.

Another excellent part of this book is the accompanying artwork. I loved how the illustrations gave a classic, golden-age feel to each story.

Reading this collection is like peering at a jewellery counter. There’s a great variety and range to catch the eye. Each story is a gem, but some shine more than others. If you’re happy browsing, you’ll love this anthology.

A Sci-Fi Shorts Anthology

[Blurb goes here]

Reading this anthology made me realize I'm not a fan of flash fiction. Leaving that aside, this book is not that different from other genre compendiums. It has good stories, the ones you wish where longer, and bad ones...the ones you'll appreciate for being short enough that you don't waste a lot of time reading them. There are some great writers giving voice to great stories, not all of them well known. Sadly, inside these pages, that's not usually the case, as there are some truly bad ones, and they outweigh in number, the entertaining ones. If there's anything to say about this anthology is that (for me, that is) it was interesting enough to keep me going.

Thank you for the free copy!

The prose is uninspiring, but the concepts within are intriguing.
The point is a collection of compelling short story under 500 words, but I feel like a lot of them would be more interesting in a longer format, if only slightly.
Fortunately they only take a minute or so to read each, and the whole book was barely an hour's long endeavor.

To parts unknown, to wonder, to fear, to love, and to adventure. A great collection of fantastical science fiction to scratch any nerdy readers' itch.

For a long time I couldnt't get into short stories at all. Is also very rare for me to read sci-fi so I was a bit terrified of starting this book but also extremely curious.
This is an anthology of 60 flash sci-fi shorts. It has a lot of variety but overall I enjoyed most of them to some degree, with some of them being worth highlighting. I would definitely like to read more of the genre and more from the writers in here. I think I will look at 500 word flash shorts with more excitement from now on.

There are 60 short stories in this book, some are quite good, others their end surprised me, and some I didn’t really care for them, but its normal in such a big collection, my favourites where, “the mermaid hunter (this one was funny in a really gruesome way”, “time objects” (funny irony), “mission 54: the silent station” ( this one made me laugh out loud), “ the way up, the way down” (this one was a sad love story), “lawbreakers” (law physic’s and time travel what could possibly go wrong), “a time travel paradox” (terrifying tale of time travel) and “alone no more” (this one I wish the author could continue telling the story of what the main character would find).

I actually liked the stories in the book, even some that I am not mentioning here, and almost all, had a definitive ending feel to them, my main complain would be about the colour used to write in the pictures, its way too dark, for me to be able to read the story title and author and in some I couldn’t make the author name, I had to put the kindle brightness in the max and even then I couldn’t read properly… that really brings the evaluation down, In other hand, I did like the classic feel of the drawings that were utilized. That’s the reason for the 3.5 stars that were converted in 4 stars…

Thank you netgalley for the opportunity and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This is the first time that I'm reading flash fiction and at first the limitation to 500 words per shortstory felt very extreme to me. I was surprised at what can be done in such a short time. I think that especially the sci-fi genre is perfect for flash fiction. We can imagine something that resembles our own world but has something more, for example a new scientific discovery. The themes are just so well executed in this collection. For example, I still think about a certain scientists who wanted to warp through a wall, but his atoms got stuck. This collection is also perfect to read at night on your kindle when you are in that limbo state of falling asleep. Just one more chapter? No, just one more flash short please.

I started my mornings with a couple of stories instead of the news and to be honest, it was still pretty depressing if you start thinking too much about all of the AI you rely on daily. Nevertheless, I had a great laugh too, and enjoyed the collection overall.

I would suggest this to sci-fi fans in a hurry.

A fun anthology of sixty flash science fiction stories. “Flash” in terms of brevity and as in terms of their Flash Gordon-style images that accompany each story. The retro images complement the golden age themes of man versus robots, aliens, and even himself. Highly recommended reading for times when you have a moment to read … and maybe some time to ponder.

Thanks NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for a review.

What a great collection of flash fiction! Some stories were truly standout, and all were super quick to read. Some favourites of mine were Drones of the State, The Mermaid Hunter, and Sample number One. There were many really great stories, some with better writing than others. I pretty much devoured this content as it was so entertaining. I would rate these stories between 2 to 5 stars, so my 4 star rating reflects this

A Sci-Fi Shorts Anthology, edited by J.A. Taylor and Rod Castor, collects sixty science-fiction stories with just one parameter: each story must be 500 words or less. The bite-sized nature of the stories works in the collection’s favor. Readers can speed through the anthology because each story gets to the punch quickly. It’s satisfying and exciting to absorb so many ideas and worlds in such a short time. Flash fiction like this serves as a relaxing break in between novels. Every story is prefaced with a retro comic-book illustration that coheres all the disparate stories together.

Unfortunately, the collection hasn’t undergone a rigorous editing process. It appears that any story submitted was accepted. Many were written by the same writers—so that instead of sixty unique writers, you get more like thirty. And they skew heavily male. The result is that what could have been a diverse selection ends up feeling somewhat old-fashioned and stale. A story limited to 500 words should propel the reader toward an ending with a twist or revelation, but many simply fizzle out and end blandly. Perhaps these shortcomings derive from this project being a new endeavor. Volume 2, which I haven’t yet read, was recently released, and I hope subsequent volumes are more future-forward and varied.

Some of the standouts for me were Josh Petersen’s “Acid Rain,” Bradley J Nordell’s “That Place Between the Stars,” Patrick Metzger’s “Mission Accomplished,” and Bill Adler’s “Lawbreakers.”

I must admit this small short stories (60 of them and no longer than 500 words each) was a surprise hit with me the majority interesting, some funny some surprising and a few didn't do it for me; but overall a good little collection from a diverse range of writers. I would call each story the equivalent of haiku for poetry, short sharp and no fluff.

Wow, I loved all these wonderful, adventurous and brilliant short stories of space, time and just some really brilliant and scary sci Fi. It is a wonderful collection and I absolutely love the illustrations that pepper this digital copy, massive thumbs up. Each and every story is gem, there are so many brilliant ones I cannot decide which is my favourite, so I will say all of them.