Bruce Holland Rogers writes short stories. I’m not talking novella here, nor even a few pages. Think shorter. He cranks out three works of flash fiction per month, firing them directly into the email inboxes of his subscribers. If you’re not familiar with flash fiction, here’s what Wikipedia has to say on the subject:

Flash fiction is fiction characterized by its extreme brevity, as measured by its length in words. While there is no universally accepted exact word limit, generally a short story is considered to constitute flash fiction if it is less than 1,000–2,000 words long, and most flash-fiction pieces are between 250 and 1,000 words long. (By contrast, “traditional” short stories range from 2,000 words to upwards of 20,000, and are mainly between 3,000 and 10,000 words long; they are distinguished from longer forms, such as the novel and novella, primarily by the intent that they be read in a single sitting.)

Bruce’s concept is simplicity itself. For a ridiculously low price, you subscribe to have three stories per month emailed to the recipient of your choice for a year. His topics range widely; sometimes he’ll run with a series for several months, other times he’ll write three unique and unrelated stories. He specializes in fables, and stories are almost always served with a side of insightful humor. Other than the promise of three per month, there’s no set schedule for when the stories will appear. I have a pact with myself that whenever a new one arrives, I stop whatever I’m doing and read it. Not only is it a welcome break in the middle of the day, but sometimes it triggers a rush of creativity that send me to the keyboard as well.

His service may not be unique, but I hadn’t heard of it before I received a gift subscription as a thank-you for attending a writing workshop. Since then, I’ve subscribed a bunch of my friends and family. It’s a great gift for the readers in your life. For more information, visit his site at http://www.shortshortshort.com.