Miniatures

Legend has it that Ernest Hemingway bet his fellow writers at the Algonquin Round Table that he could write a complete short story in six words. The other writers ponied up ten bucks each, and Papa claimed the pot with possibly the saddest six words ever written: “For sale: baby shoes. Never worn.”

In this collection, Mario Milosevic offers 41 of his own very short stories. By turns funny, fantastic, witty, fabulous, and poignant, none are as brief as six words, but they all pack a punch and are guaranteed to intrigue, amuse, and move.

MARIO MILOSEVIC’S STORIES have appeared in Asimov’s SF, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Space and Time, Interzone, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Pulphouse, Bewere the Night, Heroes and Heretics, and many other anthologies and magazines. His poetry has appeared in dozens of magazines and in the anthology Poets Against the War. He has published three collections of poetry: Animal Life, Fantasy Life, and Love Life. NPR dramatized “When I Was,” one of his most popular poems. His novels include Claypot Dreamstance, The Last Giant, Terrastina and Mazolli, and The Coma Monologues. Mario started writing when he was a young teenager. He submitted his first story to a magazine when he was fourteen years old. He didn’t sell that one, but he hasn’t stopped writing or submitting since. Mario has a particular fondness for short stories, considering them the ideal storytelling medium: short enough to read in one comfortable sitting, but long enough to convey the richness of life. Mario was born in Italy, grew up in Canada, and now lives with his wife, writer Kim Antieau, in the Pacific Northwest of the United States where he has a day job at Green Snake Publishing and where he writes at night, on the weekends, and sometimes in his sleep. Learn more about Mario and his writing at mariowrites.com.