FLASH FICTION
Introduction
By Neel V. Patel
Managing Editor
It’s easy for people—even artists—to forget
that art extends beyond visual work. One of the
oldest forms of art is storytelling—the weaving
of language, characters, themes, and imaginative
settings through a singular narrative. Science
fiction especially resonates with SciArt—both
worlds traffic in ideas built from the way science and technology have changed the lives of
humans thus far, and speculate on where those
changes will be taking us in the future.
For our June 2015 issue, SciArt in America decided to hold its first-ever Flash Fiction Contest. The only major rules were that stories
could be no more than 750 words, and must
have something to do with the theme of ‘ecology’, to be interpreted however the writer
wished. Dozens of amateur and professional
writes alike submitted their stories.
We narrowed the list down to the top ten,
and sent them off to our guest judge: New York
Times Bestselling novelist Jeff VanderMeer. No
stranger to ecology or science fiction, VanderMeer’s novels, including the Southern Reach
trilogy, have often dealt with the environment
and how we view animals, displaying a fascination with ‘soft tech’ originating with the natural
world. He has won three World Fantasy Awards
and been a finalist for the Hugo Award, Nebula
Award, and Philip K. Dick Award. He also has
written about fiction, ecology, and other subjects for the The New York Times, Los Angeles
Times, NPR.org, and The Atlantic.
SciArt in America June 2015
When it came to judging the contest, VanderMeer says: “The main challenge as a fiction
writer today is being original and imaginative
in describing and conveying interesting ideas
about ecology and the environment. It’s not
enough anymore to convey simplistic conservation messages. We need to find new ways of
thinking about the world and engage the reader
with new narrative strategies in conveying these
new ways of thinking. Part of that challenge is
doing so wh