I don’t often read whole single author collections in one go. Actually I rarely finish them.  Minatures was an exception. I had a stressful job interview and had on a whim picked up Minatures by Scalzi as it was cheap and I had enjoyed his work in the past. I read most of the collection on the day of the interview, reading one story after another – keeping me laughing and smiling though the day up to the interview.

Title: Miniatures: The Very Short Fiction of John Scalzi
Author: John Scalzi
Genre: Short stories, science fiction

Minatures is a collection of very short stories – many of which are short enough to be flash fiction. All of them shorter than 2,300 words – all of them crazy science fiction stories. Most are reprint though there are a few new stories. I had however not read any of them before.

I read most of this on public transport and I have to say people must have thought I was a bit crazy as I was smiling from ear to ear and giggling more or less the whole time. I only skipped two stories – the rest had me.

The stories are short and almost all funny or at least silly. This is not the collection you pick up if you want something serious but it is the perfect pallet cleanser after a dark book or if you want something light up your day. I partially like the Star Trek and super hero pieces.

The stats

Author: Male, white, USA
Published: 2016 by Subterranean Press
Read: 12th to 16th January of 2017
Format: ebook