Twenty-Three Snapshots of San Francisco

In Twenty-Three Snapshots of San Francisco, Seth Lindberg utilizes metafiction in order to allow the reader to become part of the story. This technique is especially powerful at the end of this story because the address to the reader acts as a warning.  The story closes with the narrator instructing the reader to remember every moment because life is fleeting and can never be reversed, the narrator says “ Take a good look around you, then back at me. Try to remember every little detail, no matter how unimportant. Freeze this split second in time” (91). The story describes a zombie apocalypse, but on a different level the story is much more about a real world flaw. Humans do not enjoy the simple moments in life, most individuals are too busy to stand back and take in a moment. The narrator is warning the reader that life is short and memories are the only things that will define a life, and thus it is imperative that memories are made of the present before it is too late.