“a softening in the earth like something exhaling from below…” This is too fucking good

My first read of the day and it's a beautiful one

In memory of John Brantingham, one of his stories in @fictivedream.bsky.social. Such a light that has gone out in the world. I'm so lucky I got to meet him, if only online, if only for a few hours. #FlashInTheFeed fictivedream.com/2025/04/04/t...

This takes an unexpected turn and sparks a whole heap of joy!

Stories by @kiklodge.bsky.social always make my day, this one no exception, and it’s only quarter to eight.

"“Careful you don’t get a reputation for being a b-i-t-c-h,” spells out Maggie." This new #fiction from DIHP alum @nomad-sw18.bsky.social is so perfect it's painful in the very best way | www.doesithavepockets.com/fiction/cole... Art @anchalastudio.bsky.social

@maireadwrites.bsky.social “It’ll take them the rest of the day, so we leave them to it and head to the hospital, to sit at my mother’s bedside and watch her sleep.” gooseberry-pie.com/when-my-moth...

‘His Tuesday breakfast is a soft-boiled egg opened with a swift beheading’ - the unsettling atmosphere, the almost imperceptible build to an understanding of quiet devastation - magnificent.

Very proud that my story about deep cleaners is out in Gooseberry Pie today 😁 gooseberry-pie.com/issue-37/

Wonderful stories - what a treat to read them - congratulations all.

Many congratulations to our winners! 5 brilliant stories selected by @kazbarwrites.bsky.social 1st Adam Brannigan, 2nd @emilyrinkema.bsky.social 3rd @debdanthewriter.bsky.social Highly commended @dawnsteffler.bsky.social All stories published bathflashfictionaward.com

www.bathflashfictionaward.com/2025/10/high... Congratulations @dawnsteffler.bsky.social!

Congratulations Debra A Daniel! www.bathflashfictionaward.com/2025/10/octo...

Congratulations Emily Rinkema! www.bathflashfictionaward.com/2025/10/2nd-...

Congratulations Adam Brannigan! www.bathflashfictionaward.com/2025/10/1st-...

I'm running an online workshop: 'Creating Flash Collections: Getting Your Work Out There' for WestWord on 22 Nov 📚 www.tickettailor.com/events/westw...

The time of Spook and Ghoul is ever closer - a good time therefore to creep yourself out with a bumper read of short fictions full of darkliness. Available for less than ten English poundlets, it opens with Wigleaf longlisted piece - A Whisper of Before. mybook.to/SickInkColle...

"When my wife looks out the window of our house & sobs while the rain beats down, it’s because she says our baby doesn’t recognize her anymore, because she’s an alien now, a glowing oval-headed monstrosity tucked into a maternity dress." @timfrankquill.bsky.social mrbullbull.com/newbull/flas...

Chuffty Badge for me! Congratulations to all nominees and thank you so much @trashcatlit.bsky.social xxx

Read this! Read this this this! Superb!

So excited to be part of this stellar collection and WHAT A BARGAIN! Snap it up, dear readers.

@kiklodge.bsky.social Another banger!

@jennystalter.bsky.social “and I don’t tell her I know why all I got for my birthday was pants from the church drive so small they pinched tight around the middle because her bottles and cigarettes cost us her whole paycheck.” gooseberry-pie.com/superpower/

"Act 1. Anton Chekhov beak-raps the glass roof of Dad’s passion project / our house and shits on it. “We should never have adopted that seagull,” says Helena, my stepmother. Was there ever a more intriguing opening?? Fizzing with wonderful, is this. Congratulations @francesgapper.bsky.social

We're opening subs for the 2025 New Flash Fiction Prize on 15 Sept! Read what judge Graham Faulkner wants: "Capturing the decisive moment with arresting detail. Writing to the questions, not the answers. The ability to create a mood, an intimacy, a connection." newflashfiction.com/get-ready-fo...

My first published flash under my new name - thank you @trashcatlit.bsky.social - very proud to be a repeat offender x

Loved this inventive, funny flash from @pj-mccarthy.bsky.social

"In our Gothic Revival suburban semi, Alice and I read large-print smut to one another over breakfast. After that, as the light dims, it’s cocktail hour." A gleeful and glorious flash - much needed in these dark times; from @jupiterjonz.bsky.social trashcatlit.com/daylight-sav...

Can't wait to sit down with a cup of tea and a biscuit to read these, and look! One of mine's in there amongst such good company; climb in and see what you can find...

Glorious!

The Writing as Resistance Festival starts today with a FREE creative writing workshop. Join us for Writing Through The Apocalypse where we're going to explore why stories are important, how can we get deeper into our own writing practice to find deeper...

Our account has been suspended on Threads! Please can you share this far and wide! :)

The tension in this! Brilliant.

I love this competition - roll up your writing sleeves!

Proud to have my story "Bullets" in the fantastic @mrbullbull.bsky.social Content warning for all the things you'd expect from a story w that title. But nonetheless, a story that needs to be told. Thanks to the EIC @thedrevlow.bsky.social for believing in this story & "When my dead cousin visits"

Looking forward to being in this bin, with these fabulous writers x

Irish novelist Sebastian Barry, born 1955. "I do believe writing for a writer is as natural as birdsong to a robin [and] you can ferry back a lost heart and soul in the small boat of a novel or a play...True lives can nest in the actual syntax of language." #booksky #writingcommunity #authors

I'm on the look out for flash that involves some kind of animal transformation (or flash in which an animal is used in an unusual way) - grateful for any links you may have xxx

I didn’t manage to share this at weekend but I did manage to love it

Congratulations to the Winners of our Charity Flash Competition, judged by @judehwriter2.bsky.social. Commiserations to our shortlisters whose stories weren't picked (they were all FAB!) and thanks to all who entered thepropellingpencil.com/spring-2025-...

Strange and beautifully poignant.

Wow! Goosebumps!

Congrats on another fantastic edition and to all your authors this edition @trashcatlit.bsky.social - such a great read - banging stories all round!

Looking forward to reading this and you should too.

I had the absolute PLEASURE of sneaking a pre-read of this collection and there really is no one else like Kathryn. It’s a stunner. And that cover?🙌 AND it’s out on my birthday?! So excited for this to be in the world. Huge congrats lovely @kazbarwrites.bsky.social - you should be so proud ❤️

‘I sat in a row of girls wearing borrowed clothes, and I could see the back of Maeve’s head, bent low on the pale stem of her neck’ - compelling writing, and such an ending!

Oh, oh, oh - this is a beaut from @sagreene1.bsky.social -read it and weep. I read it and wept.

"If Girl A (Carol) brings her friend Girl B (Fiona) to Turner’s party, what is the probability, to the nearest fumble, that you will snog neither of them? Show your workings." Love this story by @chriscottom.bsky.social - won the 2024 #WestWord Hermit Crab Prize westword.substack.com/p/life-olevel

Just 6 days until the deadline for our 29th Award on Sun Feb 2nd. £1460 in prizes. Results out by 2nd Feb. Judge @sfreligh.bsky.social Anthology. Thanks everyone who has entered so far! Bathflashfictionaward.com/enter

Thrilled to be on the Longlist for the V.S. Pritchett Short Story Prize @rsliterature.bsky.social ❤️ This story started out in @smokelong.bsky.social Fitness - thanks to Elisabeth Ingram Wallace❤️ And thanks to @nivenaudrey.bsky.social for feedback on the penultimate draft ❤️