To Cut A Long Story Short...

By Kiran.R

Brevity is the soul of wit. It is definitely the soul of these four and twenty pieces written as flash fiction, short story and a few that are prose-poems.

In most of these pieces the idea is to attempt a sketch, to flash an image, to evoke a qui

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ukiyoto Publishing
• Release date: Sep 29, 2022
• ISBN: 9789360494476

Book preview

To Cut a Long Story Short...

Kiran.R

Illustrated by Vaseem Sherief

Ukiyoto Publishing

All global publishing rights are held by

Ukiyoto Publishing

Published in 2022

Content Copyright © Kiran.R

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a retrieval system, in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

The moral rights of the author have been asserted.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated, without the publisher’s prior consent, in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published.

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Author’s Note

Dear Reader…

Thank you for opening this – my first – collection of stories.

By definition, the essence of flash fiction or ‘the very short story’ is in powerful brevity. The challenge therein is to create the effect of a story told, without the luxury of length, the comfort of a traditional start-finish-end or the generous use of characters, dialogue and literary devices.

As you read each piece, please remember that it is a small portion of an interesting flavor rather than an enormous and elaborate meal!

Hope you enjoy reading my work…

Kiran.R

This book is dedicated to my wonderful life partner and two extraordinary teachers of English.

Thank you, Mrs. Rugmini Sasidharan (Kendriya Vidyalaya, Kanjikode)

Thank you, Dr. Rama Krishnasayee (Hindustan University, Chennai)

Thank you, Ruchita Jani Kirankumar (Kiran’s heart, wherever he is!)

Contents

Torn

Gene(rali)talia

Seasonal Disorder

Darkness to light

Know your neighbors

Mid-career crisis

Where the shoe pinches

Death is simple

One of us

At that age

Decision

A flicker of light

Up up team blue!

A period in the future

Anticipation

Summoned by the principle

Royalty and nobility

Seeing and unseeing

Had I known…

Afternoon walk

Transit

Nursery rhyme on a couch

The bored room

Please sir, can I have some more?

About the Author

Torn

H

e had already seen me. Out of instinct I held my breath and froze all movements – an instinct born out of months of civil war. But I knew he had seen me before I disappeared under the bed. I could smell the outdoors in his boots. I could hear the commotion in the corridor. And I could feel the love in the room. He knew it was me…even the