Very overwhelmed & honoured to have been picked for this by the @smokelong.bsky.social community. There are SO MANY within the writing world who inspire others every single day, so I'm sure this must have come down to about 0.001% of a vote. The fact that I now get to pass my good fortune onto...

The Village with All of the Flash Writers@heyflashvillage.bsky.social · last wk.

Matt Kendrick is the winner of The Villager Challenge 2026 for his inspiring commitment to the flash community. The prize ($200) will be passed along to two more people. Matt has already chosen two people to receive a free place in one of his workshops. smokelong-quarterly.mn.co/posts/105247...

Do read this beautiful winner by Kate. Love how the prose projects such beautiful cinematic images onto the page.

Kate Axeford@kateaxeford.bsky.social · 2w ago

Thanks so much to Judge Emma Phillips @words-outwest.bsky.social for choosing my story. I am made up ! Thanks too to Ian Rushton for all his hard work making this fabulous competition happen 👏

Congratulations Alison. So good.

Alison Wassell@alisonwassell.bsky.social · 2w ago

So happy to have been shortlisted in this lovely competition.

Send stuff to Trash Cat Lit if you seek an editor who'll champion you long after she publishes you!

Trash Cat Lit@trashcatlit.bsky.social · 2w ago

Just over 10 days until our Prompted Stories challenge commences 🦝 Here's what the phenomenal Gill O'Halloran @quickasaflash.bsky.social did with her three prompts in our first prompted issue 💜 Fabulously titled, darkly humorous and unexpected, read here: trashcatlit.com/get-thee-bes...

This is breathtakingly beautiful writing.

New Flash Fiction Review (subs closed)@nffr.bsky.social · 2mo ago

The weight of memory weaves through this story by @abbywilliams.bsky.social - a tough subject, handled beautifully. "the curled question mark of dark hair, soft as butter, light as a butterfly wing." newflashfiction.com/sometimes-it...

Congratulations to all the longlisters!

bathflashaward.bsky.social@bathflashaward.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Congratulations to the 50 longlisted authors from our June round. Now with judge @ajwoodhouse.bsky.social Final results end of June. Best wishes to all.

Jaime Gill's 'Obedience' is emotionally precise, and quietly explosive. Do read it.

Jaime Gill@jaimegill.bsky.social · 2mo ago

My historical story Obedience is out in Masters Review, my attempt to capture the climate of fear, oppression & brutality in New York’s gay bars before the Stonewall uprising. I love Jack, my MC, I’m proud of the story and very grateful to MR for giving it a home mastersreview.com/new-voices-o...

Vibrant lyrical flash by @rosaleenlynch.bsky.social

Rosaleen Lynch@rosaleenlynch.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Thanks to the @natflashfictionday.bsky.social team for including 'The Five Stages of Ecological Grief' 🙏 Loving reading all the brilliant flashes from so many writers I admire! 🥰

"We’ve heard that some people go baby picking every year—tradition—but neither Meredith nor I can imagine that." Love this strange micro by Jessica.

Jessica Klimesh@jekwriter.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Happy National Flash Fiction Day!! Here's my piece in the FlashFlood!! @natflashfictionday.bsky.social flashfloodjournal.blogspot.com/2026/06/just...

What a beautiful, quietly powerful flash!

Jude Higgins@judehwriter2.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Thanks @natflashfictionday.bsky.social for posting my story yesterday. It’s such an honour to be in the Flood!

I love Ian's quietly beautiful poem 'Lastly.'

Ian Johnson@youcanandyouwill.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Really honoured to feature in Moonflake Press' treasured anthology with a wee poem I'm quite chuffed with. Lots of heartfelt, sparkly stuff within. moonflakepress.com/treasured

Thrilled to win this competition. Blown away by the stunning performance of Danielle Farrow in reading my story at @cymerafestival.co.uk Huge thanks to Noel and Pippa and of course the judges.

Shoreline of Infinity@shoreinf.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Here are the winning writers and the longlist for the Cymera Festival/ Shoreline of Infinity Scottish SFF&H short story competition. www.shorelineofinfinity.com/cymera-festi...

'real boys are rough and tumble, they thump and dump, you want her, you take her,' Do go read this wonderfully inventive flash by Cole.

Cole Beauchamp 🏳️‍🌈 📖@nomad-sw18.bsky.social · 2mo ago

What happens when Pinoccio meets toxic masculinity? New flash out with WestWord - great to be in this issue with Stephanie Percival, Richard Garcka & Bonnie Meekums. Special thanks to Amanda Saint for believing in this story @retreatwest.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/westword...

It really is a privilege to log in each morning and see the submissions that have been sent in overnight. I'm constantly amazed by the quality and creativity of every single one. As always, whittling these down to longlists is going to be HARD!

The Welkin Press@welkinpress.bsky.social · 2mo ago

I may have jumped the gun a little bit, but what are guns for if not for jumping... Anyway, entries are now OPEN for the Welkin Genre Prize 2026!!! Micros up to 100 words Free to enter Send UP TO TWO micros across FIVE categories Deadline 30th June www.mattkendrick.co.uk/welkin-press...

Thank you Claudia! Everyone, Claudia Monpere's debut collection 'The Periodic Family' is due out in October. She's one of the best flash writers I know. #FlashFiction

Claudia Monpere@claudiamonpere.bsky.social · 2mo ago

"Under stones, sunk in silt, the locket she lost after she lost him." Stunning , heartbreaking haibun by @quickasaflash.bsky.social trashcatlit.com/naming-game/

Thanks Emma!

Emma Phillips@words-outwest.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Read this if you remember travelling pre internet, when the world was your oyster, there was no social media and your folks had no clue about your antics. Actually, just read it.

Thank you so much for reading Zoe!

Zoe Davis@meanerharker.bsky.social · 2mo ago

What an amazing piece today from @quickasaflash.bsky.social up on Bottle Rocket - seriously go check this one out, it's incredible. www.bottlerocketlitmag.com/the-work/fla...

Thank you for reading Suzanne!

Suzanne (writing as S A Greene)@sagreene1.bsky.social · 2mo ago

...'Liv has the dark one; I got the blonde, the one with dead nits’ eggs in his hair. ' Love, love the attitude in this trippy, fabulously-titled story from @quickasaflash.bsky.social 🦩

Thank you!

Ian Johnson@youcanandyouwill.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Brilliance and brevity from @quickasaflash.bsky.social - do not regret rien not reading...

Thanks @wilsonkoewing.bsky.social for publishing this one. www.bottlerocketlitmag.com/the-work/fla...

flamingos in fedoras by gill o’halloran — Bottle Rocket

Strasbourg 5 am. A heron’s heavy row across a blue July sky, over green gravel lakes beside the motorway. We’re sixteen. Hungover French drizzles from our English tongues as we waste away with the was...

bottlerocketlitmag.com

Just a few days left to help preserve our wildlife AND grab yourself a great anthology at a steal of a price.

Trash Cat Lit@trashcatlit.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Hey, you, our gorgeous 27-story print anthology is at a bargainous prices for May. Help the wildlife of Britain and get a copy here: mybook.to/WhatComesToL... 🦌🦡🦊🦉🦋 work by @bronwengriffiths.bsky.social @terryholland.bsky.social @clareobrien.bsky.social @quickasaflash.bsky.social and more

One of our lovely Trash Family have started their own lit mag. Pam's an excellent writer and will be a cracking editor. Get on it to be part of the inaugural issue 🌻

Pam Avoledo@pamavoledo.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Long drives have inspired me to create over the years. With Silver Canyon Review, my literary journal, I hope to see the stories from the missed turns and the backroads. Submissions are open now. silvercanyonreview.com

Great to see @kathyfish.bsky.social writing about poetic forms in flash. Thanks @mattkendrick.bsky.social for the workshop this one began in, and for suggesting it to Kathy, and of course @trashcatlit.bsky.social for publishing it.

Matt Kendrick@mattkendrick.bsky.social · 3mo ago

This one from @quickasaflash.bsky.social makes great use of anadiplosis and it's a haibun: trashcatlit.com/naming-game/

'I love the use of the badger costume and tutu as these permissive vehicles for upending expected gender behavior... and am such a fan of the overtness of the voice'. Thank you @aniking.bsky.social for choosing my @smokelong.bsky.social story www.smokelong.com/stories/full...

Full-On Badger - SmokeLong Quarterly

Reading Festival 2010, a wet August bank holiday and the mud’s on special offer. We don’t care, we’re lost in never-never land—you in a tutu, me in badger costume. You love the thrill of lacy frills a...

smokelong.com

Matt Kendrick@mattkendrick.bsky.social · 3mo ago

This month's #Mondettes picked by @aniking.bsky.social is on the theme of "embracing the animal as a way to bring out the human." ⚡Ten wonderful flash fictions 🔍Ten splashes of analysis 🪴Ten fantastic prompts to get you writing mondettes.substack.com/p/may-2026

This is such fun, and the language punches.

Sumitra Singam@pleomorphic2.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Lads, I have a piece I love dearly out at Bottle Rocket today. Give it a read if you were ever a horny teenager and you’d like to know how teenagers were horny in a Malaysian girls’ school: www.bottlerocketlitmag.com/the-work/seq...

www.fullhouseliterary.com/issue-1-2026.... Thanks @jprelph.bsky.social for introducing me to this lit mag. Was mesmerized by Jordyn Damato's unsettling flash.

Sister Sister by Jordyn Damato — Full House Literary

fullhouseliterary.com

Lovely to see my flash popping up for Women’s Fiction Wednesday over at Micromance Magazine💕 Give my version of a love story for the ages a read of you have a few minutes. Don’t worry, it’s not zombies… micromancemagazine.substack.com/p/a-love-that-…

"Welkin Me Up" Sorry your afternoon is rubbish health-wise Matt. Sending good wishes.

The Welkin Press@welkinpress.bsky.social · 3mo ago

I'm having a rubbish health afternoon, so to make it better, let's do a little prize draw. Who'd like to come to this workshop for free? To get your name in the hat, simply quote post saying "Welkin Me Up" by 9pm BST THIS EVENING!! (if you're already signed up, you can pass your spot to a friend!)

This is an incredible and terrifying story that had me racing through to the end.

Dawn Tasaka Steffler@dawnsteffler.bsky.social · 3mo ago

New story out in Cutleaf! Collaborating with the INIMITABLE @emilyrinkema.bsky.social on this story about being stranded in O'Hare while the world ends was a dream come true! Little Easter eggs throughout, btw, if you know either of us! 😜 We're so proud of this story, hope you'll give it a read!

Thank you Marcella!

Marcella #creativity #nature@marcellacreates.bsky.social · 3mo ago

A short story for travel #photographers, who will of course not see themselves in it. #ClimateChange #capitalism #WhatGoesAroundComesAround