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Month: June 2014

Published on Leave a comment on Happy National Flash-Fiction Day 2014!
Hooray!

It seems to have been on its way for a long time, but the day is finally here.


So Happy National Flash-Fiction Day everyone!

I shan't keep you for long, but just to round up all the things you need to be aware of.

First, we have the events which are running today. Details of those are on the website and on the blog. I shall be in Bristol doing the FREE workshop and the FREE reading, along with loads of other talented writers, so do come along and say 'hi!'. Or, if it's too far away, consider one of the other events.

And if they are all too far, but you want to get involved, then we have launched a Write-In which will be taking place all day. A team of editors are standing by, and a selection of prompts are there to get you started. All that is over at https://thewrite-in.blogspot.com/ so why not pop over and write a quick one!

We are also promoting a range of eBooks, some free, some ridiculously cheap, including both the previous NFFD anthologies and the new one. All the details of that are also on the blog. 

Paper copies of the new anthology will be on sale at the Bristol events, or you can order one now from Amazon. It is, as ever, a fantastic read. 

And we are, of course, streaming stories out into the world all day, with FlashFlood. So do pop over, read some, and leave the writers some nice comments. 

And, at this point, before I sign off, I need to say a few words of thanks:

First, and most importantly, thanks to my wife, Kath. She had put up with me working long days on NFFD, and being either spaced out or grumpy. And she stepped in as a FlashFlood editor too. So, thanks, love!

Thanks to the judges of our Micro-Fiction competition - Cathy Bryant, Jon Pinnock, Carys Bray, Angela Readman, Kevlin Henney and Tim Stevenson. 

Extra thanks to Tim for rebuilding our website and putting up with me being stroppy, and to Angela for helping to edit the anthology and pull together another amazing selection of stories. And thanks also to Amy Mackelden for sterling work marshaling the stories, preparing manuscripts, keeping track of everything, and even co-editing the anthology. Every despot needs an Amy.

And finally, thanks to all of you. Without the readers and the writers, National Flash-Fiction Day would just be me, in a room, typing to myself. So, I thank you, and my sanity thanks you. 

Now, that's all. Get on with you, you crazy kids, haven;t you got stories to write, or read, or share?


Have a great day.
Calum

Published on Leave a comment on Special Offer eBooks for National Flash-Fiction Day 21st June 2014

Yes, you read that correctly. Not only are we bringing you a host of lovely words and events, but we're bringing you genuine Special Offers!

So, below, please find a list of ebooks, mostly on Kindle, but some not, which will be FREE, DISCOUNTED, or just generally LOW PRICED, all day on 21st June 2014, available all around the world!

Just one thing. The writers of all of these books would appreciate it if, after you read (and hopefully enjoy) their books, you could write them a review either on Amazon or on your own blog. That way other people can enjoy their stories too. Thank  you!

(Please note - timings for Kindle promotions are based on the time in San Francisco, or LA, or one of those West Coast places. So they don't tend to start until about 8am in the UK (and often start late, too!) So check that the price is what you expect before you click the 'Buy' button. Also, this post is coming out early - this is books which will be on offer tomorrow UK time.

Also, please note that all links are to the UK Amazon. If you are elsewhere, simply change the .co.uk in the link to .com, or whatever, and it will take you straight to the right page.)

FREE BOOKS:

Jawbreakers - the 2012 NFFD Anthology
Scraps - the 2013 NFFD Anthology

The Funerals at Christmas by Dixon Barker
Thresholds by David Hartley
75x75 = Flash Fraction by Helena Mallett 
Enough by Valerie O'Riordan
31 by Calum Kerr
Apocalypse by Calum Kerr
The Audacious Adventuress by Calum Kerr
The Grandmaster by Calum Kerr
Lunch Hour by Calum Kerr
Mr & Mrs Flash by Kath Kerr and Calum Kerr

Also:
"Long Stories Short" by Marc Nash (Kindle only)
Marc Nash's third collection of flash fiction (stories of 1000 words or less) sees the master craftsman wrangle language like no other and make daring leaps of narrative style in this 32 story collection. Themes include Royal Wedding street parties, neon cowboys, dating apps, Hollywood directors, angels, assassins, glass eyes, arthritic stand up comedians, Geishas, Warrior-Poets, marionettes, Crime Scene Reconstruction actors, paintballing and waking up; images and metaphors for our modern age. The whole gamut of human emotions, relationships and idiosyncrasies is on show in this collection and all genres are playfully subverted.
e-mail sewell.d@googlemail.com for a Mobi kindle compatible version to be emailed back to you.
Offer closes June 22nd 23.00pm BST

DISCOUNTED & LOW PRICE BOOKS:

Eating My Words - the 2014 NFFD Anthology (New release) 98p

Time by Calum Kerr (New release) 98p
Rapture and what comes after by Virginia Moffatt (New release) 98p
28 Far Cries by Marc Nash (New release) 98p
The Book of Small Changes by Tim Stevenson 98p
The World in a Flash by Calum Kerr (Non-Fiction) 98p

This post is a work in progress. So if you book is going to be free or under £1 tomorrow, send the link to nationalflashfictionday@gmail.com.

Published on Leave a comment on Saturday is the Day!

Dear all,

Just a quick catch up, while there are a few spare minutes here at NFFD Towers, to bring you up to date.
First, it's National Flash-Fiction Day on Saturday (in case you had forgotten). Various events are taking place, and details of them can be found at http://nationalflashfictionday.co.uk/events.html.
On the day, we are encouraging people at the events to tweet about them, using the hashtag #nffdlive. I know Bristol and Oxford are already taking part, but if you are at any event for the day, please feel free to use it.
In addition, we will be streaming a veritable flood of flashes through our online journal at http://flashfloodjournal.blogspot.co.uk/ and through ourFacebook and Twitter feeds. Stories will start appearing at midnight and run all day, but don't worry, they'll stay up afterwards so you can read them at your leisure. If you would like to submit to FlashFlood, submissions are open until midnight on Thursday (BST) and all the details can be found on the blog.
We are also planning a worldwide writing event for the day, so stay tuned for more on that.
Our anthology, Eating My Words, is now available in Kindle and paperback formats should you want to treat yourself, and it would be really good if you could spread the word about those too.
Other books, including our previous two anthologies, will be available for FREE download on the Day, and an email will come out about that with links to all the various books. If you have a flash-fiction collection on Kindle, and would like to promote it for free on the Day, let us know the link and we'll add you to the list.
Anything else you want to tell us, you know where we are.
I'll be in touch again, on the day (if not before) but if I don't see you, have a wonderful Flash-Fiction Day!
All best
Calum

--

Calum Kerr
Director, National Flash-Fiction Day
(You bulletin was originally sent as an email to our mailing list. If you would like to be added, please email us at nationalflashfictionday@gmail.com and we'll put you on the list for future mailings.)

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Published on 2 Comments on Bulletin 06/06/14

Hello all,

Well, we are just two weeks away from the big day and it's all been happening.
We have now finalised our list for the 2014 anthology. The title will be Eating My Words and it will feature the following stories/writers:
‘The Well’ by A. Joseph Black
‘Taste’ by Adam Wolstenholme
‘Nicotine’ by Amanda Mason
‘Old Friend Dinner’ by Amy Mackelden
‘A Sense of Balance’ by Andrew Jenkinson
‘Tasty’ by Andy Cashmore
‘Sun Synchronous Satellites’ by Andy Lavender
‘Hey, Why Not Be a Daughter?’ by Angela Readman
‘The Sensation of Pain’ by Angi Holden
‘One Rat for Every Person’ by Becky Tipper
‘Random’ by Calum Kerr
‘The Five Senses’ by Caroline Worsley
‘Tomorrow We Will Return’ by Cassandra Parkin
‘A Sticky End’ by Cath Barton
‘Friday Roses’ by Cath Bore
‘Show’ by Cathy Bryant
‘Handle With Care’ by Cathy Lennon
‘Hosting’ by Christopher Allsop
‘Spaghetti and Meat Balls’ by Colin Watts
‘Coming Clean’ by Davina Jones
‘Please Remain Silent for the Benefit of Other Library Users (In Hushed Tones)’ by Debbie Young
‘Launch Pad’ by Diane Simmons
‘Hotdogs’ by Dixon Barker
‘A Sense of Entitlement’ by E.L Norry
‘The Busker’ by Eabha Rose
‘5D’ by Ed Broom
‘The Water is Clear’ by Emmaleene Leahy
‘Skewed Perspective’ by Helen Knotts
‘All the Rage’ by Ian Shine
‘Bread’ by Ingrid Jendrzejewski
‘Dress Sense’ by James Coates
‘Angus Hears Things’ by Jane Roberts
‘Parched’ by Jeanette Sheppard
‘Where Memories Live’ by Jennifer Harvey
‘Postcard to My Best Friend from a Non-Londoner, One ‘Dull… of Soul’’ by Jenny Holden
‘Lear Bus’ by John F King
‘The Sixth Generation’ by Jon Pinnock
‘Cherished’ by Kay Beer
‘On Taking Measures to Eliminate Fair Play’ by Kevlin Henney
‘Strangers’ by L. D. Lapinski
‘A Visitor from the Past’ by Lawrence David Coss
‘Eating My Words’ by Marie Gethins
‘Half-Life’ by Michael Marshall Smith
‘Eye of the Beholder’ by Miranda Roszkowski
‘Fear’ by Moira Conway
‘Chekov's Gun’ by Nigel McLoughlin
‘I Am No Good at Video Games’ by Nik Perring
‘Cider and Simnel’ by Nuala Ní Chonchúir
‘Seven Breaths’ by Pam Plumb
‘To Test the Senses of Worms’ by Pauline Masurel
‘The Sundial’ by Rhys Barter
‘The Working Man's Struggle’ by Richard Holt
‘Bottle of Silence’ by Sal Page
‘What We Do In Our Sleep’ by Santino Prinzi
‘A Shanty for Sawdust and Cotton’ by Sarah Hilary
‘Masha's Burning Memory’ by Selina SIAK Chin Yoke (surname is SIAK)
‘The Notes Play On’ by Shirley Golden
‘What I'll Do to Be In Love With You’ by Simon Sylvester
‘The Law of Attraction in Action’ by Sonya Oldwin
‘The Bedroom Tax’ by Susan Howe
‘The Visitors From Out of Town’ by Tim Stevenson
‘Vinegar’ by Tracey Upchurch
Plus, of course, the winners of the micro-fiction competition:
‘Never Let Me Go’ by Cathy Lennon
‘Night-time Knitting’ by Roz Mascall
‘If Kissed by a Dragon Fish’ by Tania Hershman
‘Dare’ by Simon Sylvester
‘The Star Falling’ by Morgan Downie
‘Sintra’ by Parineeta Singh
‘The Sponge Diver’ by Danielle McLaughlin
‘Peppermint’ by Jennifer Harvey
‘The Invisible Girl’ by Karl A Russell
‘4am’ by Angi Holden
 It was, as ever, a really tough job choosing the stories, and our thanks go out to all of you who submitted. If you didn't make it, chances are it's not because it wasn't good enough, but because we could only fit 50 stories and so we had to make some hard decisions. Best of luck to you all in placing your stories elsewhere, and congratulations to those who made it!
In other news, we have had a slew of events come in which we need to tell you about. They are all listed on our site at http://nationalflashfictionday.co.uk/events.html, but here are the highlights so far:
June 14th 2014 - Bournemouth
Quick as a Flash Slam! 2014
June 14th 2014 - Abergavenny
Write and Read Event
Writing live at 2.30 and 3.30. Write for 15 minutes, then read your work. Free admission. 
June 21st 2014 - Bristol
Bristol Flash 2014 - National Flash-Fiction Day Workshop - Daytime
and Bristol Flash 2014 - National Flash-Fiction Day Readings - Evening
June 21st 2014 - ONLINE
Fish Facebook Flash 2014 - National Flash-Fiction Day Competition
June 21st 2014 - Dublin, Ireland
FLASH FURY 2014 - National Flash-Fiction Day Readings and Competition
June 21st 2014 - Oxford
The Albion Beatnik 2014 national Flash-Fiction Day Reading Event
June 23rd 2014 (closing date) - Online
Twisted Tales Competition
July 8th 2014 - Manchester
Flashtag Writers Short Short Story Slam
If you have an event we haven't listed, or want to set something up quickly - a competition or pop-up journal or something - then please make sure you let us know, and we'll tell the world. 
There will, of course, be other goodies. We're going to be running FlashFlood again, so look out for that. We want to see if we can get the full 144 stories!
Also, on the day, we'd like flash-fiction writers who have Kindle editions to consider offering their books for free. Our older anthologies will be available (as will a selection of my own books!). So, if you would like to join in, send us a link to your book and we'll make sure the world knows about it.
And, if there's anything else you think of, just drop us a line.
As we get closer to the day it would be great if you could spread the word about all these activities, as well as our Facebook page and ourTwitter feed, and please do get involved in one of the events to make this another fantastic day!
Right, that's it for now. So go and sign up for something, set something up, send us an event, send us a book link for our Kindle offer, or whatever flashy thing you fancy, and I'll be back in touch when we have more news on anything.
It's getting quite exciting now, isn't it?!
All the best
Calum
Calum Kerr
Director, National Flash-Fiction Day
(If you would like to receive these bulletins directly, please send an email asking to be added to the list to nationalflashfictionday@gmail.com.)