Small Worlds is a collection of flash and microfiction that traverses continents and cultures in brief, resonant bursts of story. In twenty-five tales, Gail Vida Hamburg distills the breadth of human experience into compressed moments of clarity—love and loss, migration and memory, resilience and reinvention.

From Los Angeles to London, Chicago to Goa, the Australian Outback and beyond, Small Worlds captures the messy, often absurd architecture of human lives. From slow dances that never end to human–AI romances, and war stories that surprise and shock, these tales move fluidly between the intimate and the epic. Love becomes both balm and weapon. Loneliness births imaginary companions. Deviants justify cruelty with high-minded philosophy.

Yet, in every world, someone is searching— for connection, redemption, or simply a way out.