This weekend, Lydia Davis—crowned master of the very short story, not to mention a preeminent translator of classic French literature—turns 70. Davis didn’t invent flash fiction, but she is certainly its most famous—and perhaps its best—practitioner. Her work is always where I start when I get into a flash fiction reading jag, but of course, it’s not usually where I finish, else what kind of jag would it be? While flash is sort of out of fashion at the moment, I’ve been hearing rumors of a resurgence—The New Yorker has a flash fiction series going on this summer, for instance—so perhaps it’s time to remind ourselves what very short stories can do. For that reason, and in honor of Lydia Davis’s birthday, here are eleven very short stories that you must—and can, thanks to the magic of the internet—read at your earliest opportunity. NB: this list should by no means be taken to reflect the “best of all time,” merely “my own personal favorites,” and is only a taste of what’s out there—so do us all a favor and point us to your own beloved micro-fictions in the comments.