We are absolutely thrilled to be able to share the 50 stories we have selected for this year's National Flash Fiction Day anthology.
This year's theme was Doors, and we'd like to thank everyone who submitted their stories for myself and Joanna to read. We had 371 to choose from, and you did not make it easy for us.
We'd like to thank you all for taking the time to create such stunning and varied work. I would also like to personally thank Joanna Campbell, who has been so wonderful and insightful while helping me select these stories, and to everyone who donated free entries to the anthology and micro competition to help support those facing financial difficulties or those from marginalised backgrounds.
We encountered all kinds of doors, physical and metaphorical, and you took us places with this theme that we never thought we'd go. The stories we selected resonated with each of us for different reasons, and we can't wait to be able to share these stories with you all when the anthology is published.
Accompanying these 50 stories will be a handful of stories from special guest authors, as well our winning and highly commended micros from our Micro Fiction contest. We'll soon reveal these guest authors, as well as the title of the anthology and our cover art designed by our artist in residence, Jeanette Sheppard!
Now, without further delay...
Congratulations to our anthology authors and their fabulous flashes!
| Eilise Norris | A Person-Shaped Exit |
| Anne Summerfield | Advent |
| John Wheway | All Her Weight |
| Paul Thompson | All our dresses are white |
| Joy Manné | And we pass through, and we pass through, and we pass through |
| Karen Jones | Arabesque |
| Jenny Adamthwaite | Beacons of the Bay |
| Rebecca Field | Behind Closed Doors (first line: Behind Your Front Door) |
| Nancy Ludmerer | Complicity |
| Rachael Dunlop | Dancing with The Doors |
| Agnieszka Studzinska | Doors (first line: Superstitious of Kissing in a Doorway) |
| Jude Higgins | Every Good Story Deserves a Car Chase |
| Gita Smith | Falling Man |
| Rupert Dastur | Fire Escape |
| Cathy Lennon | For Display Purposes Only |
| Richard Holt | Grand Complication |
| Fiona Lincoln | How to see The Starry Night |
| Ruth Skrine | I Found God in the barn |
| Anika Carpenter | Less than a Mile from Home |
| Gabby Turner | Letting the Cold Out |
| Gary Duncan | Like Father, Like Son |
| Emma Neale | Listen |
| Lucy Goldring | Listening from the Outside |
| Stephanie Hutton | Listening to the Library |
| Lynn Mundell | Little Temblors |
| Sarah Davy | Maybe Next Time |
| Emily Devane | Mum Tastes of Disappointment |
| Patricia Bidar | Neighbors |
| Alison Powell | Not her child, not mine |
| Elizabeth Lovatt | Observations from the Tube Looking Out onto Baker Street Platform |
| Anna Giangiordano | Peach Blossom Season |
| Alison Woodhouse | Press to Play |
| Amelia Kyazze | Rush Hour |
| Sarah Salway | Safekeeping |
| Sal Page | She Opened the Door in Her Dressing Gown |
| Jane Roberts | Sottotitoli |
| Mike Scott Thomson | The Advent of Us |
| Marie Day | The Catch |
| Caroline Greene | The Cupboard Door c. 1985 |
| Vivien Jones | The Doorbell Rings |
| Michael Loveday | The History of the Child and the Door |
| Jenny Woodhouse | The Intercity 125 from Weymouth |
| Robert Scotellaro | The Pencil |
| James Northern | The Sentinel |
| Debbie Taggio | Tomorrow Will Always Find You |
| Patricia Knight | Turn Right |
| Joanne Derrick | Unlocking the Heart |
| Nuala O'Connor | Venus Moon |
| Nod Ghosh | We Fly at Night |
| Helen Rye | You Don’t Have To Be An All-Knowing God Of The Roman Pantheon To Work Here (And It Doesn’t Really Help) |
Our anthology is scheduled to be published in June in time for National Flash Fiction Day and this year's Flash Fiction Festival! We'll be in contact with the selected authors about the next stages some time this week.
Why not come along to our launch event? This year, the launch is in Coventry! More details about the launch can be found on our Events page.