microchondria: forty-two short stories collected by the Harvard Book Store. (Harvard Book Store http://www.harvard.com) $10. Review by Doug Holder

(Paige M. Gutenborg)

microchondria: forty-two short stories collected by the Harvard Book Store. (Harvard Book Store http://www.harvard.com) $10.

Review by Doug Holder

Marc Goldfinger,( the poetry editor of Spare Change News), at a recent meeting of Somerville’s Bagel Bards handed me a small anthology of short stories he was included in titled: “microchondria…” This is a collection of forty-two short stories collected by the Harvard Book Store in Cambridge, Mass. According to the introduction to the book, on Feb. 1, 2010 a call was sent out by the book store that stated they would publish a book of original short stories. There was a deadline of Feb. 17, 2010.They got a slew of submissions from around the world. They edited the book and had it printed on March 1, 2010 from their newfangled in store, print-on-demand book machine “ Paige M. Gutenborg.”

The stories in this collection are very short, flash fiction; I presume. Marc Goldfinger’s story is a winner, titled: “Are you My Girl or What?” It is a litmus test of love that comes in the form of a cup of java thrown in a love object’s face.

Jennifer Carol Cook’s story “Falling” uses the backdrop of a snowy day as the setting for the dying embers of a love affair. In this passage the girl knows the dye-has-been-cast:

“ Her fingers grew numb around the half-formed snowball. She looked up again to a screeching sky. The black birds were falling and falling. They looked as though they were dying.”

There are a lot of solid, short reads in this book for your back pocket.

Recommended.