Twenty-one bite-sized stories
Just in Case
Imagine a world where the unexpected becomes the norm.
The dark, often revealing themes in this collection marry exquisitely with the precise flash fiction form, offering a full reading experience in few words. If you enjoy engaging, short reads with deliciously poetic prose, plenty of imagery, and context left to the imagination, you’re likely to love the concise gems found herein.
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Elegant, haunting, beautiful prose in short, short stories to savor and share. Imagine a world where shadows of enchantment instantly render ordinary experiences eerie, terrifying or sublime, and where the unexpected becomes the norm. The twenty-one micro stories in Laura McHale Holland’s Just in Case comprise such a place: a universe where a wife betrayed relishes her revenge; a couple chugging toward retirement takes a surprising U-turn; a much maligned character finally has his say; a cozy family scene chills the blood; a curious relative cannot leave a half-human baby alone. The short stories in this collection contain layers of meaning hidden in metaphor, revealed in raw emotion and arresting in their sudden intimacy. Magical, yet grounded this is flash fiction at its best by an author who know how to pack a gratifying punch and leave the reader hankering for more.
A story from Just In Case
"Drifting"
She is a rainbow fading as she loads the laundry. He is an old Chevy idling on the couch. He sees a brilliant arch of color turning as she reaches for the Tide. She turns toward him and sees a fast ride down a dirt road on a long-ago sunburned evening.
She shakes the detergent box and hears seashell and driftwood chimes. She pours the powder into the washer, closes the lid, turns the dial. The machine rumbles; the waterfall comes.
"What would you like for lunch?" she asks.
The coffee table is a creaking pier, the carpet a beach of turquoise sand. "I think I'd like ..."
He closes his eyes and becomes a boat drifting in a leather sea. She sits in the rocker facing him. She rocks. She rocks. She rocks and becomes the wind. She becomes the wind blowing him to shore. He opens his eyes.
"What would you like for lunch?" she asks.
Praise for Just In Case
From the first story in Just in Case to the last Laura McHale Holland explores the inner turmoil of the human condition in an unconventional way. This writer is a skilled storyteller who knows how to pull readers into her magical world where ordinary characters can be unpredictable and images can be misleading. … I haven’t got a clue how the author gets to these mysterious locales, but she has surprises in store for me when I get there and it’s always a fascinating ride.
— Barbara Toboni, author of Light the Way and The Bunny Poets
Magical yet grounded, Laura McHale Holland’s flash fiction packs a gratifying punch. Bigfoot as rescuer, a girl abandoning a newborn at a firehouse, a woman in competition with raccoons for her mother’s notice—these and other stories leave the reader satisfied yet hankering for more of Laura’s deft prose. Such clever morsels stay with you long after the few minutes it takes to read them.