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4.5 

Short, Vigorous Roots

By Mark Budman & Susan O'Neill
Short, Vigorous Roots by Mark Budman & Susan O'Neill digital book - Fable

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Publisher Description

The line between imagination and reality blurs in these forty poignant pieces written by first- and second-generation immigrant authors.


This flash fiction anthology examines the experiences of being a transplant in a foreign land and looks critically at what it means to forsake tongues, traditions, and comforts in the hope of starting a new life in another world. These stories push readers to expand their understanding of the world beyond their own front doors.

The collection contains forty affecting works written by several multigenerational immigrant authors from countries around the world, including Bosnia-Herzegovina, Brazil, China, Cuba, England, Finland, Germany, Greece, India, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Mexico, Moldavia, Morocco, the Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, the United States, and Vietnam. Regardless of their origin, all share the experience of putting down roots in new soil and examining how adapting to new lives and lands impacts the characters’ understanding of themselves and their community. The stories are organized into four parts: "Past the Limits of the Familiar," "The Change is Slow," "Inheriting the Earth," and "Tired of Waiting for Home." At a thousand words or fewer, every vignette redefines resilience and the meaning of home.

Contributing Authors

  • Ellison Alcovendaz
  • Nancy Au
  • Genia Blum
  • Aida Bode
  • Raffi Boyadjian
  • Philip Charter
  • James Corpora
  • Walerian Domanski
  • Ingrid Jendrzejewski
  • Varya Kartishai
  • Masha Kisel
  • Ruth Knafo Setton
  • Nina Kossman
  • Rimma Kranet
  • Shaun Levin
  • Amit Majmudar
  • Maija Mäkinen
  • Sayantika Mandal
  • Erick Messias
  • A. Molotkov
  • Feliz Moreno
  • Kathy Nguyen
  • Alexandros Plasatis
  • Irina Popescu
  • Stuart Stromin
  • Edvin Subašić
  • Yong Takahashi
  • Alizah Teitelbaum
  • Lazar Trubman
  • Jose Varghese
  • Marina Villa
  • Yara Zghbeib

5 Reviews

4.5
“I read this book in a day and was completely in awe of the stories within it. This is a collection of short stories from various authors from all over the world, such as Cuba, Greece, Brazil, India, and more. The overall theme of the book discusses the feeling of setting down roots in a new place and all the awkwardness, difficulties, and excitement that comes with it. These stories are raw and powerful and shine light on the loss that comes with reinventing oneself in a strange new place. There is a perfect collection of diverse migrant voices for all of the stories featured. Highly recommend this book to any and all readers!”
“This is a more focused collection of flash fiction than You Have Time for This, which was also co-edited by Mark Budman. Each of the short works is an immigrant story and illuminates often intimate moments of each writer’s experience having picked up and moved to a strange new country. What this collection may lack in the sometimes magically disturbing imagery of the former collection, it makes up for by giving you a window into the immigrant experience. And not to say it is completely lacking in the fantastical; there is, after all, a tomato that turns out to be, well something else (I don’t want to give spoilers), and a man who claims to be able to dissolve. We are left wondering if he really did. But, overall, it is the personal moments of challenge, and sometimes pain, navigating the unusual newness, the uprooted feeling, the longing and uncertainty of home and what that means, that draw us in. There is the powerful sadness of hardship, silence, and denial in “Unexpected Sunday Meeting” by Lazar Trubman; the poetic dance of belonging in “Throwing Down Roots” by Amit Majmudar; and the personal, quiet need to understand, to be heard in “Chasing Gods” by Edvin Subašić. Those are just a few examples of why this short book of short reads is well worth your time.”
“This is a fascinating assemblage of flash fiction pieces from people who have moved from all over the world to places far from where they started. I enjoyed it very much.”

About Mark Budman

Mark Budmanis first generation immigrant to the US. He is an engineer by training but works as a medical interpreter. His fiction has appeared in Catapult, Witness, World Literature Today, and elsewhere. He is the author of the novel My Life at First Try, published by Counterpoint, and is the co-editor of anthologies published by Ooligan Press, Persea, Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press (China), and University of Chester (UK). Learn more at markbudman.com.

Susan O'Neill

Susan O'Neill is the author of two books: the fiction collection Don't Mean Nothing (Ballantine Books, UMass Press, and Serving House Books), and a slim volume of mostly humorous short essays, Calling New Delhi for Free (Peace Corps Writers Books). She co-edited Vestal Review, the oldest continuously-running journal for flash fiction, from its beginnings in 2000 until 2020, and has published stories and essays in a fair number of literary magazines, virtual and print. She was nominated for the Pushcart twice, in fiction and in nonfiction.

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