Microfiction has a new brand name: Ficlets. “A ficlet,” according to the new and beautifully designed Ficlets website, “is a short story that enables you to collaborate with the world.”
Ficlets is part of the AOL’s AIM network (since when has AIM had its own network? Does nobody tell me anything?), and you can sign in with your AIM screen name to pen a short-short story to which other users can then add sequels or prequels, in addition to regular ol’ comments. The lentgh of a ficlet is capped at 1,024 characters, which looks to be just under a couple hundred words.

Ficlets.com is curated by John Scalzi, who writes of the site at his own blog, Whatever:

This site will fly depending on the quality of the contributors, which is why I hope that you folks who come here, who I know are damn creative, will come over to Ficlets to play, and will add your own ficlets as well as post quality sequels and prequels to the ficlets that are already there. I also hope you’ll tell folks about it; the more folks we have contributing to and playing in the site, the better it will be.

So get on over there and lend a talented hand, already.