Staccato used to be a print magazine but now it’s a forum—their founders call it that—where you can read some really terrific microfiction. Cami Park’s story “Glory” appeared there. But I’m not going to talk about “Glory.” Instead, I’m going to talk about Chad Simpson’s piece “Bardstown (ii)”, which appeared on July 26th, 2010.
I’m partial to Chad. We published his beautiful story “Tell Everyone I Said Hi” in Avery 1, and I’m smitten with his writing. On his blog, Chad mentions that “Bardstown (ii)” is one of a series of stories that take place in Bardstown, Kentucky. I’ve never been to Kentucky, but his tiny snapshot of it makes me wonder: why so much sadness?
“Bardstown (ii)” is all of two paragraphs. We’ve got hometown boys in loud trucks, tourists with fanny packs, and a lonely girl who watches them both. The girl leaves town at some point, and we see her now in Idaho. That’s it. That’s all. We don’t even see her leave (that happens between paragraphs). In fact, this girl doesn’t even have a name. So, why does her story stay with me?
From now on, we’ll be posting e-views: positive reviews of current online short stories. In those e-views, we editors will actually try to explain why certain stories stay with us. But that’s for later. For right now, just enjoy some flash fiction. Enjoy it, and look forward to our very own Flasher contest: on Halloween, we’ll start accepting your flash fiction contest entries. Details soon to come.