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Published on Leave a comment on Micro Fiction Competition and Food Anthology Announcements!

Good afternoon, flashers! 

We are now in our seventh year of National Flash Fiction Day! As always, both our micro fiction competition and annual anthology encourage hundreds of you to send us your best flashes, and this year was no different. Both competitions were incredibly fierce this year, but I can finally share with you all some news!

Micro Fiction Competition Shortlist

This year we had around 600 entries for our micro fiction competition, where we asked you to write a story of 100 words or fewer on any theme. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank our brilliant judges who had the rewarding but difficult task of whittling these 600 entries to a shortlist of just 24 stories: Angela Readman, Anne Patterson, Briana Snow, Ingrid Jendrzrjewski, Kevlin Henny, and Rob Walton. 

We'd also like to thank you all for submitting! 

Without further delay, here's this year's shortlisted authors and titles:

Alan Beard 1990
Rachael Dunlop A Nice Bit of Linoleum
Wes Lee Conch
Amanda O'Callaghan Death of a Friend
Lisa Ferranti Fifth Grade
Carmen Marcus First Date
Catherine Edmunds Forgetting, Remembering
Alison Woodhouse Home Fires
Victoria Richards I remember her in espadrilles
Gaynor Jones Ladybird, Ladybird
Elaine Dillon Louise
Jan Kaneen My Teenage Son Defining Words Just Before I challenge his use of Possessive Pronouns
Jeanette Davies Primigravida at the Day Centre
Charmaine Wilkerson Pull
David Cook Revenge, Via Handicrafts
Lucy Goldring School Run
Noa Sivan Sign Language
Clare O'Brien Suspension
Graham W. Henderson Ten Minute IQ Test
Fiona J. Mackintosh The Birth of the Baptist
Shirl Weir The Haves and the Have Nots
Jan Kaneen The Last Six Things I’ll Have Done by the Time You Wake up
Rebecca Field Things I Never Saw Again After You Dumped Me By Text Message
Anita Groveas White Lies

Congratulations to all of our shortlisted authors! The judges have already chosen the winning stories, and a further announcement will be made once all of the scores have been collated. The winning and highly commended flashes will be published on our website and in this year's flash fiction anthology.

NFFD Food-themed Flash Fiction Anthology

Again, this year our anthology editors have had hundreds of incredible flashes to read and choose from, making selecting 50 stories for the anthology extremely enjoyable, but equally tricky. 

Myself and this year's co-editor, Alison Powell, challenged you all to write flashes of 500 words or fewer responding to the theme of Food, and were so spoilt for choice! There were numerous delicacies for us to sink our teeth into, and so many different responses to the theme. We feel that this anthology is going to be something really special.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Alison for all of her hard work in helping me choose our top 50 stories. 

And so, here are our anthology authors and their flashes:

Philip Charter The Change
KM Elkes Late Blackberries
Nan Wigington Famous Last Meals
Nuala O'Connor Sponge
J. E. Kennedy An Offering
Frankie McMillan The Happy Eggs from Podomosky
Ingrid Jendrzrjewski On the Wabash
Jude Higgins The Ways of the Flesh
Alicia Bakewell Ripening
Joanna Campbell Gingerbread
Nadia Stone Yaya's Pips
Charlotte Wührer Shipwreck Feast
Diane Simmons A Picnic in the Park
Sylvia Petter Oysters
Judy Darley Cornish Gold
Sal Page A Fifteen Stone Woman, with a Six Stone Daughter Who Will Not Eat, Writes Shopping Lists
Christopher M Drew A Turn of the Tide
Sarah Evans The Word Eater
E. P. Chiew For the Love of a Bagel
Rachael Dunlop Border Line
Emily Devane The Apple Seekers
Anna Rymer Eight Weeks Old
Helen Rye Me ‘N’ Claudz Of A Friday Night Down The Chippy And The Oasis Bar
Emma Harding Say It with a Cake
Anne Summerfield Only Now Can I Think of All The Things I Should Have Said
Olga Wojtas Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
Sophie van Llewyn Hi, Dad, How've You Been?
Sharon Telfer Caramel Baby
Ioanna Mavrou Weekends in Waianae
Gay Degani Troy Mills
Jan Kaneen Sour
Sara Chansarkar Mango Pulp
Claire Polders A Tasting of European Chefs
Ros Woolner Make a Wish
Stephanie Hutton Nourishment
Jacqueline Saville It's Not Her
FJ Morris The Root of It
Damhnait Monaghan Habits
A. E. Weisgerber Knoxville
Poppy O'Neill The Creator is Disturbed at Her Vanity
Jennifer Harvey Thirteen
H Anthony Hildebrand Ewei
David Cook The Shock Of The New Breakfasts
Kymm Coveny Popcorn
Deborah Meltvedt Farmer's Market
Erica Plouffe Lazure The Italic
Laura Pearson Not Love, Not Carbohydrates
Gemma Govier Bass Drums and Trumpets for Tea
TM Upchurch Plum Skin
Abi Hynes How to Eat a Grape

Congratulations to all of our authors! The full line-up with stories from guest authors will be announced at a later date, as well as the title and cover reveal!

Thank you all, as always, for supporting National Flash Fiction Day! We can't wait to announce the winners of the micro competition and to serve up our food-themed flash anthology!


Meanwhile, if you're planning an event for National Flash Fiction Day on or around Saturday 16th June, please don't hesitate to email us at nationalflashfictionday@gmail.co.uk with all of the details, and we'll help shout out about it! 

Published on Leave a comment on Deadlines for this Year’s Micro-Competition and Food Anthology are Fast Approaching!

Submissions for National Flash Fiction Day 2018 are now open, but the deadlines are coming up fast! 

You have until Saturday 17th March 2018 to send us up to three micro fictions on any theme for our Micro fiction competition. That's less than a week left! These must be 100 words or fewer. More details about the micro competition are here: http://host2021.temp.domains/~nationo0/comp.html
Our 2018 anthology submissions are now open too, and we hope you're hungry! From now until Saturday 31st March 2018, you can send us up to three 500-word on this year's theme: Food! The anthology will be edited by award-winning writer, Alison Powell, and National Flash Fiction Day Co-Director, Santino Prinzi. Your stories must be 500 words or fewer. 

We're looking for stories inspired by and about whatever's on your plate. We're ready to salivate over your sentences, to savour the subtle flavours of your subtext, to devour your delicious dialogue. Sweet, sour, savoury, sharp, tangy, rich, or rotten. Serve us up some scrumptious tales and tantalising treats with tasty twists. Are we all becoming too healthy? Or is suet the main dish of the day? Has a friendship been ruined by raw chocolate? We're looking for full-fat, jam-packed flash fiction with an aftertaste we won't forget. Feel free to interpret the theme of "food" however you wish, but your flashes must fit the theme in some way. 
More details about the anthology are here: http://host2021.temp.domains/~nationo0/anth.html
We can't wait to read your flashes!

Published on Leave a comment on Happy National Flash-Fiction Day 2017!

Hello everyone,

Yes, it's here again. This is the sixth National Flash-Fiction Day (and they said it wouldn't last). 
As ever, there are a number of events happening all over the UK and beyond, details of which you can read on our website at http://host2021.temp.domains/~nationo0/events.html
Earlier in the year, we ran our micro-fiction competition, and you can read the winning stories at http://host2021.temp.domains/~nationo0/results.html
We also took submissions for our anthology, Sleep is a Beautiful Colour, which you can now buy online at Amazon in both paperback and kindle versions. The book also includes all the competition winners, as well as wonderful stories from some of the best flash-fictioneers in the world. 
The anthology will also be on sale at the launch, this evening, as part of the UK's first ever Flash-Fiction Literary Festival, in Bath. Details about that are online at https://bathflashfictionaward.com/2017/03/flash-fiction-festival-sat-24th-sun-25th-june-2017/
And, last but not even a little bit least, we are once again flooding the internet with flash-fiction with our FlashFlood. You can read the stories as they appear on our blog (http://flashfloodjournal.blogspot.co.uk) but also through our Facebook and Twitter feeds. And, don't worry, the stories will remain on the blog after tomorrow, along with over 1000 stories from previous issues.
Once again, it will be a massive day to celebrate the smallest prose fictions, and thanks must go to all who help organise the day, and all of you for your support in writing and reading and taking part in the day.
Special thanks to my co-Director Tino Prinzi, without whom the day wouldn't have happened. 
And that's enough of me. The Flood is now flooding, the day is unfolding before you. So go forth and Flash!

Calum Kerr
co-Director 

Published on Leave a comment on Cover Reveal!

Welcome to Sleep is a Beautiful Colour: National Flash Fiction Day 2017 Anthology, edited by Santino Prinzi and Meg Pokrass.

We are currently very busy proofreading the anthology, and the feedback from our proofreaders has been outstanding! They're all very excited about this anthology, as are we, and we hope you are too! We'll let you know when the anthology is available to purchase.

For the full line-up of authors and their flashes, see the list below:

Robert Scotellaro A Sky Full of Ghosts
Catherine Edmunds Molly and the Toe-rag
Simon Sylvester Soup Stone
Sandra Arnold The Quick and the Dead
Heather McQuillan Iridescence
James Coffey Close Encounters
Victoria Richards Aino Yehudi 
Kevlin Henney DIY
Sophia Holme Rehabilitation
Joy Manné Stabbed
Robert Lopez Into My Own Parade
Mary Lynn Reed The Thieves Are Coming. They Are Taking It All
Jonathan Taylor Not a Horror Story
Jenny Woodhouse Stepping Out
Steven Moss Gabriel
Peter Wortsman Bliss Street
Sharon Telfer Never Going to Fall for Modern Love
Marie Gethins Unseen
Bobbie Ann Mason The Girl in Purple
Conor Houghton The Great Forgotten Language
Rupert Dastur It All Ends
Tim Stevenson A Thousand Years
Miranda Kate Friends
Nuala Ní Chonchúir Bunnahabhain
Michael Loveday Let Them Know Me By My Teeth
Lex Williford Horsewhip
Sophie Rosenblum A Terrier’s Limits
Mark Connors
Gary Duncan		 Communication
Free Hugs
Steve Tuffin The Sun on the Dash
Diane Simmons Dancing Partners
Gary Powell Missing
Rachael Dunlop Teeter, Totter, Tattle-Tale
Gay Degani Anamnesis
Helen Rye Sleep Is A Beautiful Colour
Christopher M Drew The Fisher King
David O’Neill Tin Can Phones
Stuart Dybek Fog
David Steward Twenty-Five Seconds
Nod Ghosh Exactly the Way You Are
Matthew Thorpe-Coles It’s M.E., Not You
Megan Crosbie Big Responsibilities
Joanna Campbell Breathing
Danielle McLaughlin Let Robot Lawnmower Work. Enjoy Your Life!
Sophie van Llewyn The Skirt
Erica Plouffe Lazure On The Way Out
Pamela Painter Vacation Dog
Clare Polders Swing State
Paul Currion Happiness
Calum Kerr Who Came?
Zoe Murdock Living Alone with Derrida
Meg Pokrass Tenders
Anne Summerfield On the Track You Tasted Blue
Etgar Keret The Most
Judy Darley Fascinate
Angela Readman Legs in the Air, We Think about Spring
Anna Nazarova-Evans The Boy at a London Bus Stop Who Took 
My Photograph in the Summer of 1999
Santino Prinzi They Keep Calling My Ex-Husband Brave
Judi Walsh Carousel
Lindsay Fisher How Traveller Boys Love
Ingrid Jendrzejewski The Complete and Incomplete Works of Lydia Davis
Jason Jackson Ana and Jose-Ramon
Robert Shapard Weather Girl
KM Elkes The Way We Lie
Jane Dugdale Milk and Money
Claudia Smith Startled
Kirsty Cowan Mrs Livingstone’s Artist
Adam Trodd I Am My Own David Attenborough
Jude Higgins There’s No Such Thing as a Fish
2017 National Flash-Fiction Day Micro Competion Winners
Brianna Snow Fifth Grade
Stephanie Hutton Geology of a Girl
Sherry Morris As Liquid is Poured
Catherine Edmunds Brave
Sally Syson Mermaids
Kayla Pongrac Fireflies in the Backyard
Sacha Waldron Fawn
Jennifer Harvey Mango
Christina Taylor The In-Between Hour
Alison Wassell The Smoking Circle

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Published on 1 Comment on Anthology Title and Full Line-Up Announcement!

Assembly of the 2017 National Flash Fiction Day anthology is well underway. The theme for this year's anthology is Life As You Know It.

We're thrilled to announce that this year's anthology will be called Sleep Is A Beautiful Colour, taken from a brilliant and funny story by Helen Rye.

We've also managed to include a series of commissioned stories from a range of wonderful writers. We're sure you'll recognise some of these writers, and that you'll be as excited as we are about their appearance in this year's anthology! The full 'line-up' is below, with all the incredible stories you'll be able to read.

We will be launching Sleep Is A Beautiful Colour on National Flash Fiction Day (June 24th) at the UK's first Flash Fiction Festival taking place in Bath. If you are organising a flash fiction event for National Flash Fiction Day, please get in contact with us so we can promote your event!


Without further ado, welcome to life as we know it...

Sleep Is A Beautiful Colour

Robert Scotellaro A Sky Full of Ghosts
Catherine Edmunds Molly and the Toe-rag
Simon Sylvester Soup Stone
Sandra Arnold The Quick and the Dead
Heather McQuillan Iridescence
James Coffey Close Encounters
Victoria Richards Aino Yehudi 
Kevlin Henney DIY
Sophia Holme Rehabilitation
Joy Manné Stabbed
Robert Lopez Into My Own Parade
Mary Lynn Reed The Thieves Are Coming. They Are Taking It All
Jonathan Taylor Not a Horror Story
Jenny Woodhouse Stepping Out
Steven Moss Gabriel
Peter Wortsman Bliss Street
Sharon Telfer Never Going to Fall for Modern Love
Marie Gethins Unseen
Bobbie Ann Mason The Girl in Purple
Conor Houghton The Great Forgotten Language
Rupert Dastur It All Ends
Tim Stevenson A Thousand Years
Miranda Kate Friends
Nuala Ní Chonchúir Bunnahabhain
Michael Loveday Let Them Know Me By My Teeth
Lex Williford Horsewhip
Sophie Rosenblum A Terrier’s Limits
Mark Connors
Gary Duncan		 Communication
Free Hugs
Steve Tuffin The Sun on the Dash
Diane Simmons Dancing Partners
Gary Powell Missing
Rachael Dunlop Teeter, Totter, Tattle-Tale
Gay Degani Anamnesis
Helen Rye Sleep Is A Beautiful Colour
Christopher M Drew The Fisher King
David O’Neill Tin Can Phones
Stuart Dybek Fog
David Steward Twenty-Five Seconds
Nod Ghosh Exactly the Way You Are
Matthew Thorpe-Coles It’s M.E., Not You
Megan Crosbie Big Responsibilities
Joanna Campbell Breathing
Danielle McLaughlin Let Robot Lawnmower Work. Enjoy Your Life!
Sophie van Llewyn The Skirt
Erica Plouffe Lazure On The Way Out
Pamela Painter Vacation Dog
Clare Polders Swing State
Paul Currion Happiness
Calum Kerr Who Came?
Zoe Murdock Living Alone with Derrida
Meg Pokrass Tenders
Anne Summerfield On the Track You Tasted Blue
Etgar Keret The Most
Judy Darley Fascinate
Angela Readman Legs in the Air, We Think about Spring
Anna Nazarova-Evans The Boy at a London Bus Stop Who Took 
My Photograph in the Summer of 1999
Santino Prinzi They Keep Calling My Ex-Husband Brave
Judi Walsh Carousel
Lindsay Fisher How Traveller Boys Love
Ingrid Jendrzejewski The Complete and Incomplete Works of Lydia Davis
Jason Jackson Ana and Jose-Ramon
Robert Shapard Weather Girl
KM Elkes The Way We Lie
Jane Dugdale Milk and Money
Claudia Smith Startled
Kirsty Cowan Mrs Livingstone’s Artist
Adam Trodd I Am My Own David Attenborough
Jude Higgins There’s No Such Thing as a Fish
2017 National Flash-Fiction Day Micro Competion Winners
Brianna Snow Fifth Grade
Stephanie Hutton Geology of a Girl
Sherry Morris As Liquid is Poured
Catherine Edmunds Brave
Sally Syson Mermaids
Kayla Pongrac Fireflies in the Backyard
Sacha Waldron Fawn
Jennifer Harvey Mango
Christina Taylor The In-Between Hour
Alison Wassell The Smoking Circle

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Published on 1 Comment on 2017 National Flash Fiction Day Anthology!

Well, we've finally made it through to the other side, and now we are able to announce the stories which have made it into this year's National Flash-Fiction Day anthology.

We received over 500 stories, closer to 600 stories really (182,000 words, or thereabouts) and these are the 50 which made it in. So, if you were unsuccessful, please take comfort that it was a very difficult decision from a large field of excellent work. The ones that we picked are the stories we felt would make the most compelling compendium, and a great snapshot of current flash-fiction.

To those of you who made it in: Congratulations!

As well as the stories listed below, the anthology will include the 10 micro-fiction competition winners, plus a range of commissioned stories from some truly exceptional writers.

The anthology doesn't have a name yet, but we hope to announce it very soon, along with the full line-up. It will be on sale on National Flash-Fiction Day at the anthology launch at the UK's first ever literary festival devoted entirely to Flash Fiction, as well as online in paper and e-book formats. For more information about the Flash Fiction Festival, please visit their website: www.flashfictionfestival.com  Tickets are selling fast, so if you want to go you'll need to book soon.

Anyway, with no further waffle, here are the stories which will soon be printed up and bound for your edification.

Angela Readman Legs in the Air, We Think About Spring
Judy Darley Fascinate
Rachael Dunlop Teeter, Totter, Tattle-Tale
Adam Trodd I Am My Own David Attenborough
Anne Summerfield On the Track You Tasted Blue
Jane Dugdale Milk and Money
Helen Rye Sleep is a Beautiful Colour
Judi Walsh Carousel
Claire Polders Swing State
Lex Williford Horsewhip
Marie Gethins Unseen
Jonathan Taylor Not a Horror Story
Erica Plouffe Lazure On The Way Out
Catherine Edmunds Molly and the Toe-rag
Gary Powell Missing
James Coffey Close Encounters
Conor Houghton The Great Forgotten Language
Paul Currion Happiness
Kirsty Cowan Mrs Livingstone's Artist
David O'Neill Tin Can Phones
Nod Ghosh Exactly the Way You Are
Sophia Holme Rehabilitation
Jason Jackson Ana and Jose-Ramon
Mary Lynn Reed The Thieves Are Coming. They Are Taking it All.
Ingrid Jendrzejewski The Complete and Incomplete Works of Lydia Davis
Joy Manné Stabbed
Lindsay Fisher How Traveller Boys Love
Victoria Richards Aino Yehudi
Steven Moss Gabriel
Steve Tuffin The Sun on the Dash
Diane Simmons Dancing Partners
Christopher M Drew The Fisher King
Joanna Campbell Breathing
KM Elkes The Way We Lie
Sophie van Llewyn The Skirt
Jenny Woodhouse Stepping Out
Gary Duncan Free Hugs
Sharon Telfer Never going to fall for modern love
Matthew Thorpe-Coles It's M.E., Not You
Heather McQuillan Iridescence
David Steward Twenty-five Seconds
Miranda Kate Friends
Michael Loveday Let Them Know Me By My Teeth
Gay Degani Anamnesis
Megan Crosbie Big Responsibilities
Simon Sylvester Soup Stone
Rupert Dastur It All Ends
Sandra Arnold The Quick and the Dead
Anna Nazarova-Evans The Boy at a London Bus Stop Who Took My Photograph in the Summer of 1999
Zoe Murdock Living Alone With Derrida 

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Published on 1 Comment on NFFD 2017 Micro Fiction Competition Results!
Well, it feels as if it was only yesterday that we announced the longlist for our 100-word micro-fiction competition for 2017. And it was. But now, without having kept you waiting for too long, we're pleased to present the winners.

As I said in the last post, we had nearly 600 entries for this year's competition, and a word of thanks must again go to the judges – Anne Patterson, Kevlin Henney, Ingrid Jendrzejewski, Angela Readman, Tim Stevenson and Rob Walton – for all of their hard work in reading through entries and making the difficult decisions.

Thanks to everyone who entered, and remember, if you weren't successful this time, there will be plenty more chances for you to be involved with National Flash-Fiction Day. Just go to the website at http://host2021.temp.domains/~nationo0/ to find out more.

Below are a list of the top ten stories, and below that we have shared the stories so you can see for yourselves what great winners we have. Each story will also be published on the National Flash Fiction Day website and in our 2017 Anthology. Please join us in congratulating these fine writers!

First Place Winner: ‘Fifth Grade’ by Brianna Snow
Second Place Winner: ‘Geology of a Girl’ by Stephanie Hutton
Third Place Winner: ‘As Liquid is Poured’ by Sherry Morris
Highly Commended Stories:
‘Brave’ by Catherine Edmunds
‘Mermaids’ by Sally Syson
‘Fireflies in the Backyard’ by Kayla Pongrac
‘Fawn’ by Sacha Waldron
‘Mango’ by Jennifer Harvey
‘The In-Between Hour’ by Christina Taylor
‘The Smoking Circle’ by Alison Wassell
First Place Winner:
‘Fifth Grade’
by Brianna Snow
We learn that there are tubes inside of us with sleeping babies. One day, boys will wake them up. The babies will grow, open our bodies, and fall out. Until then, we’ll bleed—a baby’s death each month. Ms. Miller sits at her desk in the back of the room while the video plays. We turn to her to see if this is true. She’s holding her stomach with both hands. We look down and do the same.
Second Place Winner:
‘Geology of a Girl’
by Stephanie Hutton
Ella kept one pebble in her pocket and rubbed it down to sand, running the grains through her fingers. Stones sneaked in through holes in her shoes. Her legs turned to rock. She leant against the sisterhood of brick on the playground and watched girls skip together like lambs. A boulder weighed heavy in her stomach. She curled forwards by habit. Her head filled with the detritus of life.
A new girl started school in May with fire in her eyes. She whispered to Ella with aniseed breath ‘lava is liquid rock,’ then took her hand and ran.
Third Place Winner:
‘As Liquid is Poured’
by Sherry Morris
I visit far-flung friends who possess a dancing bear and a well-stocked vodka cabinet. We sit around the kitchen table in our coats, watching my breath form clouds. ‘At least the shot glasses are chilled,’ my friend says.  I’m grateful for their hospitality and anticipate the warmth that begins in my belly and spreads outward. We drink to our health, sing melancholy tunes about lavender fog and eat dark bread. I no longer feel the cold. I will stay here. I won’t be missed there. There, people are replaced like vodka bottles. The bear twirls on hind legs and claps.
Highly Commended Stories:
‘Brave’
by Catherine Edmunds
The man arrives in a car with dark windows. Father, who is brave, stands in the yard while the pigs squeal and run. The man pushes Father’s shoulder. The cockerel struts, the man raises his hand. Father shrinks.
I gather the others and we run down the stinking lane; I tell them Father’s play-acting, he’ll kill the man later. They like that. They’ve seen Father cut a squealer’s throat. I lead them away down to the mill race, into danger, but it’s just water, full of noise. Try to pick it up and it slips through your fingers.
‘Mermaids’
by Sally Syson
The mermaids are much uglier than anyone had anticipated, slimy-haired and scabby with barnacles. They haul themselves up onto the sea wall, stinking like a barrel of prawns, and lie flashing their tits at passers-by. They snatch at the ankles of the small boys who dare to pelt them with chips and cans. Their language is appalling.
On Friday nights, when the promenade glistens with broken glass and the splintered remains of cocktail charms —pretty plastic mermaids in pink and green and blue —they retreat to the shoreline and gather along the water’s edge, hissing in the dark.
‘Fireflies in the Backyard’
by Kayla Pongrac
In the summertime, when these little roving lanterns covet my backyard, slicing their way through the darkness one flight at a time, I step outside and I extend my tongue, snowflake-style, so that I can jar and lid them inside my stomach. How I want to glow, too—how I want to become both the illuminated and the illuminator. 
‘Fawn’
by Sacha Waldron
Taking the fawn had not been her initial intention. She was feeding it saltines from the palm of her hand, stroking his soft head. She liked the way his tongue felt on her skin. She was, she realised, running out of crackers and soon the deer would scamper off. Its run reminded her of a carousel – rising and falling.
She crouched down, opened her backpack and scattered some of the remaining crumbs inside. The fawn followed them. She zipped up her bag quickly. As she walked out of the park she could feel little hooves sticking awkwardly into her spine. 
‘Mango’
by Jennifer Harvey
Johnny tells me I’m sweeter than mango. He’s standing with his back against the wall, one foot up against the brickwork, like some fifties rebel.
            Yeah? You like exotic fruit, Johnny? If I had the guts, I’d say this. Walk on by all sassy, like I owned him. Meet his gaze and wait for a reply. 
            Your move, Johnny. 
            But he made his move already. Watched me sat in the canteen, licking mango juice from my fingers. 
            One finger, two fingers, three fingers, four. 
            Smiling, ‘cos he knew it was him I was thinking of.
‘The In-Between Hour’
by Christina Taylor
While you sleep I’ll kiss all the boys I shouldn’t kiss and wear dresses that scream ‘You’re not going out in that!’
            I’ll learn another language so I can talk about you behind your back. I’ll dye my hair blue then sneak out of the house to release the dogs. We’ll bark at the moon and set off car alarms. 
In that hour I’ll skinny dip in the river and count the goose bumps on my arms. I’ll fly round the sun and eat cake for breakfast. 
I’ll do all that but I’ll never say I love you.
‘The Smoking Circle’
by Alison Wassell
We lay in a circle on the field every afternoon, our heads together, school bags for pillows. She was the new girl, refusing to light up until we called her Goody Two Shoes. We stared at the clouds.
        ‘What would you do if you only had a week to live?’ someone asked. She answered first.
        ‘I’d write to everyone who’d hurt me. Tell them what I thought of them.’
        She was the one who developed a forty a day habit. The letter came sealed with a lipstick kiss. I suppose we all got one. I shredded mine without reading it. 

Published on Leave a comment on NFFD 2017 Micro Competition Longlist!
Hello Flash Writers!
Thank you all for your patience. Our annual competition attracts hundreds of entries from across the globe. This year we received nearly 600 entriesto our Micro-Fiction competition, which is mindboggling! We’d like to thank you all for entering and sending us such marvellous, tiny tales!
Ourspecial thanks go to our incredible judges: Anne Patterson, Kevlin Henney, Rob Walton, Angela Readman, Tim Stevenson, and Ingrid Jendrzejewski. They’ve done a terrific job reading through all of the competition entries. Compiling a longlist, and then selecting winners, was no easy task.
These are the stories which were voted most highly by a consensus of the judges, making them the best stories out of the entries we received. Congratulations to those listed below, and to those who didn't make it: thank you for taking part and supporting National Flash-Fiction Day. Competition was fierce and we hope you will try again, and possibly take part in the other NFFD activities.
And so, with no further ado, in alphabetical order by title, here are the 27 stories that made the longlist:
‘1961, a snapshot’ by Kelly Davis
‘A Dying Fire’ by Chris Milam
‘alphaomegalullabylament’ by Tony Curtis
‘As Liquid is Poured’ by Sherry Morris
‘Brave’ by Catherine Edmunds
‘Confession’ by Alison Wassell
‘Fawn’ by Sacha Waldron
‘Fifth Grade’ by Brianna Snow
‘Fireflies in the Backyard’ by Kayla Pongrac
‘Geology of a Girl’ by Stephanie Hutton
‘Grown-Up’ by Alex Recce Abbott
‘How to Play Piano’ by Sherri Turner
‘Keepsake’ by David Mohan
‘Mango’ by Jennifer Harvey
‘Mass Migration’ by Mark Budman
‘Mermaids’ by Sally Syson
‘Ministry of Quiet Enjoyment’ by Colin Watts
‘Peacocking’ by Mike Scott Thomson
‘Prince of Sidewalks’ by Chris Milam
‘Sisters’ by Debra Fertig
‘Still Counting’ by Sarah-Clare Conlon
‘The Barley and the Eggs’ by Simon Sylvester
‘The Bridge’ by Joanna Michalak
‘The In-Between Hour’ by Christina Taylor
‘The Smoking Circle’ by Alison Wassell
‘Tinderfood’ by Vince Love
‘When Two Grandfathers Meet’ by David Mohan

Congratulations again to all who made the longlist. We’re not going to make you wait long to find out who the winners are… Results will be published here tomorrow afternoon!

Published on Leave a comment on Happy National Flash-Fiction Day
Yes, it's finally here, after all that waiting, the 5th (can you believe it?) annual celebration of the small story-form we all know and love.

Now, I know that you, like me, might be a little worse for wear after the last couple of days, and 2016 has taken a toll on us all, but today is not a time to worry about that. It's a time for Flashing!

Things kicked off earlier in the week, with a workshop in Winchester, and today we have events running all over the UK.

  • In Oxford, Virginia Moffatt will be flash-writer in residence all day at the Albion Beatnik Bookstore.
  • In Manchester there is a workshop being hosted by Verbose in Fallowfield. 
  • In Cardiff there will be an Art and story event at the Chapter Arts Centre.
  • In Southampton there will be a flash workshop at the Art House.
  • And in Bristol there will be a workshop, a walk, and an evening of readings and the launch of our anthology.


Details of all these can be found at http://host2021.temp.domains/~nationo0/events.html

And that's not all, as that webpage will tell you, on Sunday, in Dublin, you can join in Big Smoke's Flash Dash, on Monday we have an evening of readings in Manchester, again hosted by Verbose, and on Tuesday, in Belfast, you can learn to write flash with Paul McVeigh!

As mentioned above, at the Bristol event we are also launching this year's anthology, A Box of Stars Beneath the Bed. But if you can't make it to Bristol, the book is available on Amazon in:
Paperback - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Box-Stars-Beneath-Bed-Flash-Fiction/dp/1534712682
and, Kindle - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Box-Stars-Beneath-Bed-Flash-Fiction-ebook/dp/B01H7QRZ2K
(change the .co.uk to your local ending for your country's version of the store).

And, if that wasn't enough, the Flash is currently Flooding from our online journal, and through our Facebook and Twitter feeds - a story every 10 minutes for the whole 24 hours.

But wherever you are, and whatever you're doing, a big thank you from me and the team for all your support for NFFD. We never expected to be here for our 5th, and it's all thanks to you.

So, Happy Day and Happy Flashing!

Calum Kerr
Director
National Flash-Fiction Day

Published on Leave a comment on Flash Walk – Bristol: LINE UP!

Interested in our Flash Walk in Bristol this Saturday? Want to know the line-up of stories? Sure you do!

·   The Harbour Festival by AA Abbott

·    Harbouring Friendship by Diane Tatlock

·    Johnny Pencloud by Juliet Hagan

·    Altitude by Judy Darley

·    On Pero’s Bridge by Holly Atkinson 

·    Your Name is Pero Jones by Ingrid Jendrzejewski 

·    Dolphins by Lucho Payne 

·   A Thousand Words by Gemma Govier

·    Will There Be Pirates? by Lynn Love 

·   Singing Out Loud by Mark Rutterford 


It's set to be a great event! For more information, follow this link here to the Facebook Event Page: Flash Walk.