Short Short Stories by Dave Eggers

About two years ago, Dave Eggers started writing miniature stories (less than 400 words) for Guardian Weekend magazine. The results are interesting little stories that start like this one, "And Built Like A Little Bodybuilder":

Brent and Karen - I hope you get this message soon. I know you're enjoying your dinner and I'm supposed to be babysitting Milo, and the last thing I'd want to do is to dim the glow of your rare night out. But I feel like I have to make note of a few things, while they're happening. At the moment, I'm sitting on the couch, and your toddler has one foot on my stomach and the other on my left clavicle; he's apparently trying to get at the fish tank above me. Is it painful? Let's put aside my pain for a moment. . . .

Eggers explains that his inspiration for bite-sized stories came from writer Lydia Davis:

So about two years ago I started jotting down notes for short short stories, most of them taking their cue from some small moment that I watched or thought about - usually something that wouldn't or couldn't find its way into a novel, and which didn't warrant a longer story. The results are very different from Davis's - hers are brilliant acts of philosophical origami, while mine are little moments in the lives of abnormal people.