If you like your flash fiction on the gritty side - with a bit of horror thrown in - this collection by Milo James Fowler is a fair collection. Many of these stories are creepy, even a bit violent, others odd, and some downright bizarro. At least two of them are sample stories from Mr. Fowler's many and varied series, including Soul Smuggler (featuring the anti-hero Mercer) and Captain Quasar.

In this sense, flash fiction can introduce you to a writer's style and characters and can serve as a gateway drug to that author's other stories. Personally, I was hoping for a bit more thematic connection to this collection (which I found in the first half or so) but the oddly placed fantasy and Quasar's space opera send-up felt out of place. Still, if you're looking for variety and tasty morsels of stories to munch on during breaks at work, this collection might be for you. ( )