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Flash Fiction Online for January 2012 has stories by Jennifer Linnea, Tom Crosshill, Patrick Dey, and a classic reprint from Anton Chekhov.

Flash Fiction Online is a website with very short stories, updated every month. These are reviews for their January 2012 issue, the first one under the new editorship of Suzanne Vincent.

"Sea Ink" by Jennifer Linnea is told from the point of view if Althea who lives in a world where sacrifices must be made to the Little God of the finned fishes so that they will allow safe passage of a ship. A boy she befriended was sacrificed and she wants to find a way to bring him back. This was a pretty good little fantasy tale.

Tom Crosshill's "To Fly a Pig in the Dorseny Sky" takes places in a world where pigs DO fly and take part in aerial battles. There seems to be a war on and we get to see a battle. I think a world as strange as this is not particularly suited for the brevity of flash fiction.

In Patrick Dey's "AI Robot", a police robot equips itself with Asimov's Three Laws and names itself Marvin-42 in tribute to Douglas Adams. Since the robot has free will, it fortunately finds other laws. A pretty clever story.

The Classic Flash story is "Bliss" by Anton Chekhov. Dimitri Kuldaroff runs into his house in a sate of excitement. He is famous all over Russia. Why? Well that's what makes this story so amusing.

They promise a new issue in February, but the Flash Fiction Online January issue will still be available when you read this. Look for it as a back issue or read February’s. Check them out and make a donation at www.flashfictiononline.com.