Sudden Flash Youth: 65 Short-Short Stories

Here is a unique collection, stories of no more than 1,000 words that spotlight today's under-twenty generation, starkly illuminating the moments during coming-of-age when something big is irrevocably awakened, acted upon, changed. Each story features a young protagonist'”most are teenagers. They come from diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds and live in urban, suburban, and rural communities across North America. Subjects range widely: friendship, love, sex, pregnancy, death of parents, delinquent siblings, sexuality, racism, bullying, violence, sports, the arts, war, faith, integrity, homeschooling, babysitting, loneliness, cars, pets, volunteering, birthdays, and more. The authors are established (Richard Bausch, Sandra Cisneros, David Eggers) or emerging (Gayle Brandeis, Matt Krampitz, Kathleen O'Donnell). Whether action-packed or meditative, realistic or fantastical, these are stories that teens and college-age readers can relate to. For the rest of us, they are story bulletins of what it is like to be young today.