So delighted to make this shortlist! Huge congratulations to all — can’t wait to read your stories 💙

‘You always said the secret of these walls was stone, but the secret of this sky is light, leaking from the same-old sun, your sun, our sun, my sun now…’ Wow. This is an absolute stunner. 👏 👏 Glad you’ve started rubbing again, Jan.

Excited to see my name on this Longlist with flashy friends new and old. Good luck for the next round, everyone 🍀 🤞

Thank you thank you @sudhab.bsky.social, @andrewporter01.bsky.social & the @wigleaf.bsky.social reading team for selecting my story for your Top 50 LL 🔔 🥳 🔔 And cheers to @mrbullbull.bsky.social for publishing it. mrbullbull.com/newbull/flas...

So made up to be on @wigleaf.bsky.social Top 50 LL for a story that made it into one of my absolute favourite flashy magazines @nffr.bsky.social Thank you to series editor @sudhab.bsky.social and team for all your hard work 🙏 🙏

This breathless paragraph is a total stunner. And what a wonderful start to the Write In 👏 👏 @pleomorphic2.bsky.social

Rage against the dying of the light!! Love this, @kateaxeford.bsky.social 🕺

‘A bull swaggers into the field opposite. ‘Phwaaorr’ says Elaine. Cheryl humps her for a bit and then makes a suggestion…’ An udderly fabulous flash by the Queen of Flashy Frivolity 👏 @sagreene1.bsky.social

Excited for the festival next month! If you are coming don’t forget to enter The Pokrass Prize, open to ALL attendees. Free. good odds! cash first prize plus books! Enter by midsummer’s Day June 21st — details In post www.flashfictionfestival.com/pokrass-priz...

Every bit as good as the title promises! Congratulations @kateaxeford.bsky.social 🍾

STOP THE BLOKES ✊

‘Some say there is no bad time for self-cleaning, but avoiding special occasions such as wedding anniversaries is recommended.’ I was so intrigued by the title, and @nomad-sw18.bsky.social doesn’t disappoint…! @natflashfictionday.bsky.social 🫧

‘At the baby orchard, the orchardist tells us that we came at a good time.’ This ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️ is cracking.

Liquid sunshine with a salt rim. Check out this perfect recipe by the always brilliant @jamesmontgomery.bsky.social

‘In Berlin, she sells her liver, her left kidney, her spleen. She buys a castle in Scotland and haunts it like an ancient queen’ Flash brilliance by @finnwritesstuff.bsky.social 👏 👏

‘As fourth graders, you taunting Bhavani-the-Bully who gave us horsey bites that stung for days.’ 👏 What a fabulous list flash from @pleomorphic2.bsky.social

‘..a boy whose parents are away, whose parents are visiting another child at college and have no idea there are kegs in their kitchen and bongs on their porch.’ This is a beauty by @emilyrinkema.bsky.social

‘In the photo, I’ve no idea I’m lounging on Mae West’s lips, leather-cracked and red, eyes framed photos of Dali’s soul, Paris and Perpignon. What a beautifully crafted flash by @rosaleenlynch.bsky.social

There is SO much hard work behind a day like this. Massive thanks to everyone who helped make it happen ❤️

‘…and he laughs louder than anyone I have ever known and he was born in Dallas and is big like a bear.’ This is a cracker by @bronwengriffiths.bsky.social

‘She reads about the transition between two hyperfine levels of the ground state of this atom.’ Fabulous writing by @fionamckay.bsky.social

And still 5.5hours left to go...

Check out this cracker by @stillsquirrel.bsky.social

Blimey. This is such lovely news and I can't say how much it means. Couldn't be happier to be sharing it too with the magnificent @jackmmorris.bsky.social

Not only is the one and only Mr @mattkendrick.bsky.social a most talented and generous teacher but his courses will change the way you think about words for ever. Tagging @kazbarwrites.bsky.social who should still be doing handstands after the launch of her brilliant anthology Cold Toast.

'The stage was unlit and populated only by four chairs that, to be honest, both I and mother would have been ashamed to have had in our kitchen.' Unsettling and closely observed. Another corker from @kerryhp.bsky.social

Aw. Great to re-read this absolute cracker by @kiklodge.bsky.social

'...keep praying the elevator doors will shield you will swallow you whole like the whale swallowed Jonah but no this blond cop’s coming at you and what good are Bible stories anyway' Wowzer. Such powerful writing by @nomad-sw18.bsky.social 👏👏👏

This one’s a beauty 🍹🌍🏨

What great winning stories! Congratulations everyone. ⬇️⬇️⬇️

"Yet these broken bones rage as the night minutes grind. I sweat through the pain, breath in city lights. I still hear your taunts." Love the brotherly tension in this story by @kateaxeford.bsky.social in @nffr.bsky.social. The truths are laid down w precision. newflashfiction.com/the-truths-b...

"The infinite kiss of the prairie skyline. From the top of that pumpjack, all possibilities shimmered ahead." Wow, this phenomenal piece of writing by @kateaxeford.bsky.social in @nffr.bsky.social 💙💙💙 newflashfiction.com/the-truths-b...

‘Their food smells like difference. Imagine what resistance can do, the candidate says, how it will erase problems before they cross our borders.’ Such a haunting and beautiful story by Gary Fincke 👏 newflashfiction.com/the-adoratio...

‘He’s all cheekbones and squint and giving Robert De Niro. A real Purple Caramel.’ Gritty, quirky but with the hint of a soft centre. More brilliance by @kazbarwrites.bsky.social newflashfiction.com/spiral-by-ka...

Totally made up to be in this lovely looking issue with flashy friends old and new. A big shout out and thanks to @finnwritesstuff.bsky.social for their fabulous reading too.

So ... this beauty by @kazbarwrites.bsky.social popped through my letterbox this week. What a cover - and what a collection! 👏 👏

Starter pack of some of my favourite #flashfiction writers. If I missed you, it's because it's 5:45 AM and my eyes are crossing scrolling through my list. go.bsky.app/9ZFnPpg

Congratulations to all the winners of our ‘haircut’ stories from the Oct 26t Festival Day judged by @scooterwriter.bsky.social Check out who they are & their stories here https:/www.flashfictionfestival.com/winners-great-flash-fiction-festival-day-october-2024/

With news of winter fuel payment cuts, UK #FuelPoverty charities need our help more than ever. £10 from every copy of the Fuel Flash anthology of prizewinning #flashfiction is donated to 4 fuel poverty charities - and it's a fantastic read! Details here, will post worldwide: www.fuelflash.net

‘My bloated, lost son says to dustbin his goal of university, that it will likely be full of deers with antenna antlers sent by the FBI.’ This is heartbreakingly brilliant. A searing piece by mental health ally and incredibly talented @pleomorphic2.bsky.social 👏 👏

ICYMI delighted to make my debut with @mrbullbull.bsky.social

That’s a nice Friday surprise to see I’ve made the longlist. Good luck for the next stage everyone!

On #ShortStorySunday #AmReading stories in @reckonreview.bsky.social @fracturedlit.bsky.social @ellipsiszine.bsky.social MonkeyBicycle by Hannah Olabosibe Eko; Sudha Subramanian @kateaxeford.bsky.social; Gary Fincke coffeeandpaneer.wordpress.com/2023/11/26/s...

Thanks to Helen for judging, to all our entrants who helped us raise £300 for The Trussell Trust, and to our sensational reading team @fionamckay.bsky.social @markstocker.bsky.social @markthomson.bsky.social and @marthawrites.bsky.social. We are honoured to know you. Thank you all for your support🩷

Lovely to see my title hanging on in there and there’s some cracking stories on the shortlist - so do get reading and voting ! 🗳️

Prompted by a couple of posts I saw yesterday, a thread about how it's really tough being a creative writing freelancer right now. Please read and share if you can. (1/13)

"But the numbness persists when you’re freed from that chair." This extraordinary piece of writing by @kateaxeford.bsky.social in @ellipsiszine.bsky.social 💙💙💙

"You’re thinking about what she said when you’re floored by a wall of disinfectant, and you wonder how cold a morgue must feel." Gritty #FlashFiction from @kateaxeford.bsky.social with so much hidden in the white space. Great exploration of internal thought.

How lovely. Just seen I’ve made the longlist this time 😊

Ok, this is a grim and gritty tale about heroin, loss and pulling teeth… but so glad it found it’s home in Ellipsis Zine.