A Small Fiction: An Illustrated Collection of Little Stories

By James Mark Miller

From the popular Twitter account @ASmallFiction, “simultaneously succinct and powerful. You’ll be thinking about these stories long after you read them.” (Matthew Inman,#1 New York Times bestselling author of How To Tell if Your Cat is Plotting to Kill You)

For fans of the popular Twitter account @ASmallFiction comes a little book with a lot of big stories and images; some funny, some scary, but always thought-provoking! From the humorous to the bleak, the dystopian to the dog-filled, there’s a story for every occasion, and an occasion for every story. With stories told in 140 characters or less, A Small Fiction delivers brilliant yet brief tales destined to stick with readers long after they turn the page. Through the genre lenses of science fiction, fantasy, contemporary fiction, folklore, and humor, each of these illustrated micro-fictions is a peephole that reveals a bigger world.

“James had created a beautiful world that's about to end. It's also haunted and populated by depressed robots and even more depressed people. It made me laugh, think and cry, and I think those are just about the nicest things a book can do. Also there are aliens, if you're into that sort of thing.” —Iain Thomas, author of I Wrote This For You

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Oct 6, 2020
• ISBN: 9781524866211

Book preview

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For Grandpa

Let’s have an adventure, she said.

We’re on one, he said.

What kind?

Every kind. But we only get one go.

Oh! Then let’s begin!

She kept going.

She didn’t know where or why. Only that she must.

Like a bubble surging upward, blindly, seeking the surface of the sea.

Describe destination, the time machine said.

Take me to a time when I can make a difference, she said.

A brief hum.

You are here.

Chasing a dream is a long trek through snow.

Numbing, slow.

Each step a decision not to sink down and sleep.

But somewhere ahead is the fire.

Every dog has his day.

As he rolled on the grass, tail wagging,

he knew this one was his.

And so was yesterday.

Tomorrow would be too.

The rain fell, stripping the world of pigment.

The colors ran and puddled.

They evaporated in the morning sun.

We woke to a blank canvas.

We wandered for years before we realized we’d forgotten the way back to the real world.

The simulated stars shone brighter than memories.

He wasn’t sure what to do at parties.

Everyone said he just needed to find a way to break the ice.

That sounded like an easy way to drown.

The other children laughed, making snow angels.

Not Tom.

He thrashed and chanted.

Below him, the Sleeper of R’lyeh took shape in the snow.

A massive shadow moved below the ice.

We teased it: skating close, then away again. We were only children.

There