Flash Fiction Chronicles

by Gay Degani

Every year, Flash Fiction Chronicles has honored May as Short Story Month by asking readers to supply their favorite short story links.  We have asked for 100 links to excellent online stories in the past.  This year I’m hoping we can reach 150!  This sets all of us up with many many great pieces to read during the course of 2013-2014.  This is a loose, fun endeavor.  No prizes and not too many rules.

Got to this page on FFC, or this Facebook group page for further instructions and to submit your list of stories.

Onward to 150 story links!

If you haven’t already, be sure to read the String-of-10 first place story, After the Tsunami by Linda Simoni-Wastila.

by Jim Harrington

Stephen Ramey‘s story, “Jump,” won the 2013 String-of-10 FIVE Patricia McFarland Memorial Prize for the story that best incorporated this year’s theme. The contest challenge was to use four out of ten prompt words in a 250 or fewer word story. Those words were: EVENING-QUARRY-ACCENT-ROSE-TEAR-MINUTE-GRAVE-CLOSE-ENTRANCE-BOW. An aphorism was provided for inspiration, but not necessarily to be used in the story. Here is the one for this contest: “I want to put a ding in the universe.” -Steve Job

 To find our more about the contest, go to the String-of-10 FIVE Guidelines. (http://www.everydayfiction.com/flashfictionblog/string-of-10-five-starts-feb-3/)

Now for:

 Jump

 fiction by Stephen V. Ramey

 Eric was the boldest of us, the brother who grew a beard, and taunted teachers to suspend him in the minute before the period bell. I was with him when he got his tattoo, a rose pushing from a grave, petals changing into fingers as they tore from the bloom. “It’s symbolic,” he said. “You wouldn’t understand.” Scabs marked his inner arm.

I thought of bee stings, the pustules that would follow. “Symbolic” was a word I had learned in school, how one picture might mean something else. A heart for love, a skull for death, a spiral for our DNA. I tried to speak, but the buzzing needle drowned me.

That evening he drove us to the limestone quarry. Cheryl made sandwiches, and we settled on the hood to watch the sunset. While shadow filled the excavation we talked about Mom and Dad, how they had lost track of who we were. How maybe we should re-introduce ourselves.

“Fuck that,” Eric said. “I want to make my own dent, don’t you?” He tossed his crust aside, hopped down, and ran full speed over the quarry’s edge. For a moment he hung there, legs pumping, and then he fell. I held my breath, waiting for the splat that would mean he had hit one of the imperfect blocks left to rot in green water.

A splash. My breath came free.

A year later Eric left us for the city, limestone buildings stacked up to the sky, and thorned with needles.

 _________________

 Interview with Stephen V. Ramey

by Jim Harrington

 Flash Fiction Chronicles: I like the way you set up this reader’s expectations with your description of Eric in the first sentence. I knew he was going to do something “different.” How important do you feel beginnings are to a story? Do yours go through many rewrites?

Stephen Ramey: Thanks, Jim. I take great pride in beginnings, and I think they’re crucial to drawing a reader into the story. The shorter the story, the more important they are. My typical process is to try out several opening lines/paragraphs before I actually launch into the story. I have to find something that interests me personally before I can really go on. Once I do find a beginning, I can trust the process. I often have no idea where the story will go, but the seeds of that ending are almost always planted when I commit to an opening. It’s at that point that I understand on some level that I’m undertaking a worthwhile journey.

FFC: Did you choose the prompt words prior to beginning the story, or did they evolve as part of the process?

SR: A little bit of both, actually. Several words evoked a setting for me. With that established in the back of my mind, I found a character who interested me, and then concentrated on creating story action and tension. I allowed the prompt words to guide some aspects of this process (e.g. the rose tattoo, which ended up being rather important), but was much more interested in creating a gripping scene than incorporating the actual words.

FFC: Your story won the Patricia McFarland Memorial Award for best use of the aphorism. Did you know how Eric was going to leave his mark before you began writing?

SR: I had absolutely no idea. As the story developed, I saw that it was obviously about family dynamics, and I hit upon the idea of family dysfunction described in terms of a formal relationship, how they “had lost track of who we were. How maybe we should re-introduce ourselves.” That intrigued me, but it also stalled me out. Where to go from there? Fortunately, Eric is ADD. He had no use for that thinking, and thrust himself into the narrative in a pretty unforgettable way. It was at that point that everything came together. I went back to add the drug thread as a way to tie the pieces together and provide more tension to release in the resolution. Once Eric started running toward that cliff, I saw that he was forcing me back on topic. He was reminding me of the prompt text. I guess I owe him a drink or a lap dance or something.

FFC: Do you enter contests often?

SR: Maybe one or two a year.

FFC: Do you find yourself drawn to particular themes or genre?

SR: I like to think I’m drawn to Science Fiction and Fantasy, but that’s not entirely accurate. What I’m drawn to, it seems, is the dark, quirky places in our human soul. I like Science Fiction because I care about our future, and Fantasy because I long to foster good and vanquish evil. In the end, though, it seems I’m always more interested in character than idea, how we dress our desires in Burqas, simple to outward appearance, but many-layered within.

FFC: Writing a 250 word story isn’t easy. What advice do you have for writers regarding short-shorts?

SR: Write lots of them. Cast out the ugly ones that merely squeal for attention. Keep the ones that give you that Mona Lisa smile.

FFC: What can we expect to read next from Stephen Ramey? What are you working on currently?

 SR:  I’m glad you asked. My first collection of (very) short fiction, Glass Animals, has just been published by Pure Slush books, and is garnering positive comments from the folks who have found and read it. If your readers would like to number among these enlightened few, please send them to http://pureslush.webs.com/store.htm#899065535. I’m writing a serial novel at JukePop Serials, a steampunkish tale of class tensions and masonic alchemy entitled The Golden Heart of the World (http://www.jukepopserials.com/home/read/259). I’m also working on the next Triangulation anthology, and the big honking fantasy novel I wrote with my wife over a ten year span is being marketed by our agent. And, of course, I’ll be writing weekly at Show Me Your Lits (http://www.showmeyourlits.com) and co-moderating the popular Write 1 Sub 1 site (http://www.write1sub1.com). Stop by and set a while, y’hear?

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/author/stephenramey

_______________________________________

Jim Harrington began writing fiction in 2007 and has agonized over the form ever since. His stories have appeared in Every Day Fiction, Liquid Imagination, Ink Sweat and Tears, Near to the Knuckle, Flashes in the Dark, and others.  He serves as the Interim Managing Editor for Flash Fiction Chronicles (http://www.everydayfiction.com/flashfictionblog/).   Jim’s Six Questions For . . . blog (http://sixquestionsfor.blogspot.com/) provides editors and publishers a place to “tell it like it is.”  You can read more of his stories at http://jpharrington.blogspot.com.

Robert Vaughan was the second-place winner in FFC’s 2013 String of 10 Contest, with his story “A Gauze, A Medical Dressing, A Scrim”.  The challenge was to use four of the ten prompt words in a 250 or fewer word story.  The word choices were: EVENING – QUARRY – ACCENT – ROSE – TEAR – MINUTE –GRAVE – CLOSE – ENTRANCE – BOW.  An aphorism was provided for inspiration, but not necessarily to be used in the story.  This contest offered, “I want to put a ding in the universe” – Steve Job.

 To find out more about the contest, go to the String-of-10 FIVE Guidelines.  (http://www.everydayfiction.com/flashfictionblog/string-of-10-five-starts-feb-3/)

Here is Robert Vaughan’s award-winning story…

 A Gauze, A Medical Dressing, A Scrim

 Gauze

When they converted the basement into his room, Billy was too young to know any differently. He just wanted his own space, didn’t want to share it with his five older siblings anymore. Then when he was around ten, he stopped eating dinner with the rest of the family. His mother placed his dinner plate on the top stair every evening. In exchange he only communicated by minute notes he’d send or receive by pulley-pails through the laundry drop.

A Medical Dressing

One time when Ethyl, the family dachshund, accidentally ventured downstairs, she was never seen again. Same for one sister, Darla, who thought she’d left a sweater atop the laundry machine. Disappeared. Eventually Billy was indistinguishable from any basement dweller, resembling the spider realm. Webs. Gossamer silver. Tears. Detecting vibrations, lurking toward eventual prey.

The family nearly forgot he existed.

A Scrim

Then one day while folding laundry, his mother noticed a note and she decided to read it aloud to the rest of the children at dinner that night: Here is your stormy day, the one with pressing clouds and chilling breeze. Here is your way you fall in step, synchronize laughs and moderate beliefs, acclimatize moods and medications. Here, then your last vestige of blue sky and fortitude. A mélange of mercurial designations. Bastion of sailboats emptying out horizons.

They all craned their necks toward the basement entrance.

Robert Vaughan leads writing roundtables at Redbird- Redoak Writing. His prose and poetry can be found in numerous journals.  His short fiction, “10,000 Dollar Pyramid” was a finalist in the Micro-Fiction Awards 2012.  ”Ten Notes to the Guy Studying Jujitsu” was a finalist in the Gertrude Stein Award for Fiction 2013.  He is senior flash fiction editor at JMWW, and Lost in Thought magazines.  He was the head judge for Wisconsin People & Ideas 2012 Fiction contest. He hosts Flash Fiction Fridays for WUWM’s Lake Effect, and his book, Flash Fiction Fridays, is at Amazon.  His prose & poetry chapbook, Microtones, is with Cervena Barva Press.  His blog contains more fascinating facts at http://rgv7735.wordpress.com.

 Karen Nelson:  How did you approach the challenge of the writing prompt?  Tell us how the story evolved.

Robert Vaughan: I wrote the first draft about four months ago. There were several personal things going on that went into this bizarre tale. The short list might include illnesses in extended family, year end holidays, a trip to Mexico, movies like “Lincoln,” and a chapbook section called Basement Tapes that I was creating (I’m currently shopping a new project called Amnesia in two parts: Absences and Basement Tapes.)

The last thing I did is to figure out how I could use the necessary words from the list that FFC provided with the contest rules.

There is a writing prompt called a word bank that I have done numerous times and I think this practice played into this last step. How could a word like grave, for example, be used as a verb or adverb?  Mincing up words and their use is one of my favorite things to do as a writer. However, this question leaves me wondering if I can ever pinpoint exactly how any story evolves, or what goes into a first, a fifth, or a fifteenth draft?

KN:  You have an unusual title.  Explain how the title affects or explains elements of the story.

RV:  I edit for two different magazines, so I read a lot of submissions. Too often titles give a story away all up front. I prefer suggestive titles that mystify, or give you pause, make you go, “hmm!” My title derives from the medical world on some literal plane, and the triptych, or three sections arrived in later drafts. I love to play with form, mix things up, and to challenge myself (and the reader possibly?) The use of three “sections” of this are akin to stanzas in poetry. They allow for breath, or time, and the reader can digest the dense paragraphs more easily. There is a consistent feeling in re-reading and assessing them that there might be a wound, or a filmy consistency to these that all add up to the strange and quirky essence of the overall character of the piece.

I like to write about characters in the shadows, down and out, homeless, in transition. Someone you might barely notice.

I write about what isn’t there, what’s missing, disappeared.

KN:  The boy seems to metamorphose in an almost Kafka-esque way.  Is this theme of change common in your work?  What seems to be the familiar thread that readers can find in your writing?

RV:  Kafka-esque! I like this, I also was very honored that Kathy Fish at the FFC site compared my work to Wes Anderson or David Lynch! Yes, there are some threads in this piece that are linked to other short fiction of mine. Humans morphing into other creatures, or shape- shifting into other forms, a la Kafka. Also the haunting or dark tone of “A Medical Dressing” then shifts with the lyrical prose-poetry of the note the boy leaves in “A Scrim.” Perhaps I am pushing the element of change (a given constant in life) to extremes. I relish surprises, and unsuspected twists in short condensed sentences. One interesting reader commented that he thought the boy (“Billy”) might be autistic. Certainly with a line like “The family nearly forgot he existed” I am inferring an outsider. I like to write about characters in the shadows, down and out, homeless, in transition. Someone you might barely notice. I write about what isn’t there, what’s missing, disappeared. Flights of fancy always comes to mind. Letting my imagination wander without limitation, then seeing where it needs to be sculpted, or shaped.

KN:  The ending carries a sense of expectation.  What do you believe is going to happen next?  What is the boy communicating in his final note, and are we to determine that it IS his final message, or is it a lost message from some time ago?

 RV: The ending does have an (hopeful? fatalistic?) open-ended quality. One aspect of flash fiction that is vital to me is use of “white space.” Knowing when to let the reader interpret for his or her own enjoyment, and the element of trust. So often an author is a little heavy handed, or guides the reader too much. In this story, I wanted the possibilities to be endless. As for the note he leaves, the repetition of the word Here brings about an immediacy yet one has to wonder Where does he mean exactly? The amorphous imagery, and the use of the word “bastion” in the sentence with “sailboats employing out horizons” is a paradox, which conjures the reader to wonder- is the entire note a seeming contradiction (tone, message, the way it is revealed?) So, we don’t know – is he “gone?” Was he “real?” It is disarming, and we are left to wonder the very same questions you’ve asked me here. Do we ever really know what happens when one leaves us?  A child?

KN:  Thank you for sharing your writing process with us.  Are there any other tips or secrets you would like to share with those just getting started in flash fiction?

RV: Write every day, or at least as often as you can. I do recommend reading Flash Fiction also. Kathy Fish’s chapbook Laughter, Applause. Laughter, Music, Applause and in fact, the entire collection of A Peculiar Feeling of Restlessness from Rose Metal Press is a fantastic place to start. I also recommend the same press’s Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction by Tara Masih. Fantastic.

Read the online and print journals, like FFC, PANK, Wigleaf, JMWW. There is a world of flash fiction books from great writers available. My new book, Microtones, has just been released from Cervena Barva Press!

I also can honestly say I’d not be the same writer without writer’s groups. I lead two writing roundtables at Rebird-Redoak Writing and also bring in pages in another group. I do weekly prompts with local writers every Saturday and workshop in a small online group, also. Getting feedback on your work from those writers and readers you trust is vital. Don’t be afraid to edit your piece. This particular story morphed no less than ten times before submission for the FFC Contest. It’s one of the benefits of short fiction- you can fine-tune it, and please try! Each single word is vital to the overall story. Try to omit over-used words. Read it aloud, consider the aural effects. Is there unexpected tension(s)? Do you trust the reader?

These are all great questions! Thanks for this great opportunity, Flash Fiction Chronicles. I am deeply honored.

______________________________________

Karen Nelson is a writer in the Ozark mountains of Southwest Missouri.  Her years of teaching in the public sector and interest in young adult literature have led her to write integrated theme units for some of today’s best YA authors, as well as a host of teaching aids and lessons for fellow educators.
Her historical and local interest articles have been published in The Ozarks Mountaineer Magazine, All Roads Lead to Branson, The Independent Scholar, and online news journals.  She writes regularly on her blog (kbnelson.wordpress.com) and participates in weekly writing challenges with the Friday Fictioneers and Reason2Rhyme.  She is currently the Technical Editor for Flash Fiction Chronicles, and the Curriculum Coordinator for Goldminds Publishing.  She homeschools her two children from their small hobby farm, where every day brings fresh eggs and fresh ideas.

by Aliza Greenblatt

Folly Blaine was the third-place winner in FFC’s 2013 String of 10 Contest, with her story “Before the Fireworks”.  The challenge was to use four of the ten prompt words in a 250 or fewer word story.  The word choices were: EVENING – QUARRY – ACCENT – ROSE – TEAR – MINUTE –GRAVE – CLOSE – ENTRANCE – BOW.  An aphorism was provided for inspiration, but not necessarily to be used in the story.  This contest offered, “I want to put a ding in the universe” – Steve Job.

 To find out more about the contest, go to the String-of-10 FIVE Guidelines.  (http://www.everydayfiction.com/flashfictionblog/string-of-10-five-starts-feb-3/)

Here is Folly Blaine’s award-winning story…

Before the Fireworks

 

After the evening crowd, but before the fireworks, I took my dinner break out by the dumpsters. A hard shift on my feet, serving kids and their pushy parents, but only a few more tips and I’d have tuition. Enough to never look back.

I settled on the concrete steps to read a mystery. The fire door opened and the old cook, Roberto, squeezed through. I liked Roberto. He sneaked me chicken fingers.

“Hello,” I said.

Roberto thrust a rose in my face. “I removed the thorns.” R’s trilled in his Tijuana accent.

Touched, I bowed my head into the white bloom, inhaling unexpected musk. He’d sprayed it with cheap cologne.

“It didn’t smell nice like it should.”

I smiled.

“You have a nice smile.”

“Thank you, Roberto.”

A thorn he’d missed pricked my thumb. I smeared blood between my fingers, concealing the wound so he wouldn’t see. In the sky behind the diner, fireworks popped in quick succession.

“Starting early,” I said.

“Kids.” He stared at his hands–the skin cracked and rough, textured by faded burns and blisters.

A loud boom. I jumped.

“Reminds me,” he said, “of the time my cousin got shot.” Roberto sat so close I smelled the fry grease on his clothes. Another firework exploded. “Innocent bystander, party.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, taking his callused hand. “I can’t imagine.”

Roberto turned my palm upward, exposing blood-smeared fingers. His eyes widened.

“Don’t forget us,” he said. “But do better.”

We held hands. The fireworks raged.

Folly Blaine lives in the Pacific Northwest. Her short fiction has appeared at Every Day Fiction, Mad Scientist Journal, and Short, Fast, and Deadly, as well as in the Bram Stoker-nominated anthology, Dark Tales of Lost Civilizations, and in the anthology, Fresh Blood, Old Bones. Her short story “The Hero Garden” won the 2012 Hawthorne Citation in the Short-Short category. For more information see her web site at www.follyblaine.com.

 Aliza Greenblatt:  Can you tell us a little about the inspiration for this story and how it evolved? 

 Folly Blaine:  Thank you for asking. I started by taking the ten words from the challenge and listing out of all of their possible definitions and uses. No ideas jumped out at me, so then I thought about how I could relate the words to experiences in my own life. Years ago, when I was in high school, I worked minimum wage jobs during summers and school breaks to save money for college. “Before the Fireworks” is loosely based on several of my work experiences that I smooshed and twisted until the story ceased to have any autobiographical relevance.

 AG:  What were some of the challenges of writing a 250 word story?

 FB:  I love writing short and seeing how much information I can convey in the fewest words. The biggest challenge at this length is choosing the right word that will mean precisely what I want without compromising the rhythm of the piece.

AG:  What do you think is the key to writing an effective flash piece?

FB:  I’m partial to precise language and a complete story, one in which the end references the beginning. I also enjoy flash when it’s clear what the characters want.

AG:   I very much enjoyed this piece.  It offered a snapshot into the lives of these characters.  The reader got a glimpse at their dreams and their regrets, all of which hinted at a much larger picture.  Typically, when writing a new story, how much background do you like to create for your characters?

 FB:  Thank you. I appreciate that. I’ve only been writing fiction for a couple of years, so I’m still learning what works for me and what doesn’t. I’ve tried writing stories where I haven’t made enough decisions about a character’s background, and my critique group never lets me get away with it–for good reason.  Now as I go along I ask myself questions about each character: What does she want? Why does she want it? What’s the worst that could happen if she doesn’t get the thing? Usually this is enough information to ground the characters in their reality. After I write a first draft I go back over the story and attempt to reveal the answers to those questions in the text using the lightest possible touch.

 I’m partial to precise language and a complete story, one in which the end references the beginning.

AG:  At first, I thought Roberto was romantically interested in the narrator, but as the story progressed I realized he was trying to protect her because he had placed a great deal of hope in her future. Knowing this, do you think the narrator will ever be able to see her future, or her past, the same way again?

 FB:  I would like to think the narrator has made a connection that will stay with her for the rest of her days, but it is also possible that she does not have enough life experience to understand all of the layers of its significance. At the very least I believe she will remember Roberto fondly, however I am more interested in what the reader takes away from the encounter rather than what happens to the narrator.

 AG:  I’m always curious what drives writers to become writers. Why do you tell stories? What keeps you writing? What type of stories do you prefer to write?

 FB:  Great questions. I’ve wanted to be a writer for as long as I can remember. I started by writing short plays and then I worked as a Technical Writer for a long time. A couple of years ago I decided to focus on prose, so I took a break from my job to attend classes, workshops, and conventions. The challenge of telling stories is what keeps me writing. In general, my work tends to skew dark, but I like to throw in moments of joy, too. I also like to challenge myself across different genres and play with styles. For example, my recently accepted short story, “The Man at the End of the Chain,” is about the special talents of an organ grinder’s capuchin monkey in a steampunk-inspired London. This story will be part of the upcoming anthology, Beast Within 4: Gears and Growls.

 AG:  Thanks you for your time Folly and congratulations again. 

____________________________

Aliza T. Greenblatt works in a firmly non-writing field when the sun is up and writes under a desk lamp at night.  Fueled by a sheer love of books and a tyrannical imagination, she writes the stories that appear over her morning coffee and won’t leave her alone until they are put down on paper.  She writes, raves, and blogs at http://atgreenblatt.com. and on Twitter @AtGreenblatt

by Jim Harrington

I’ve been thinking about the kinds of articles I’d like to see here and came up with the idea for a series called 5 Tips For____.  I know.  That sounds an awful lot like Six Questions For. . .
(http://sixquestionsfor.blogspot.com/).  Anyway, I thought this post would be the perfect inaugural piece to give the idea a try.

 If a 5 Tips For___ topic comes to mind as you’re reading, write it up and send it to us.

(http://www.everydayfiction.com/flashfictionblog/about/)

We’re open for business!

With 210 entries, String-of-10 FIVE was our most successful contest yet. We received many wonderful submissions and a few that, quite honestly, left the judges shaking their heads.  I want to thank Gay Degani, Aliza Greenblatt, and, especially Kathy Fish for helping judge the contest.  Based on the stories submitted, here are my five tips for submitting to writing contests.

Tip #1: Follow the rules

With so many stories vying for four prizes, a writer can’t afford to make silly mistakes. The rules for the String-of-10 contest specifically state that a story must use a minimum of four prompt words and be no more than 250 words. 251 or more words disqualified a story.  A handful of entries fell into this category.  A second handful contained stories that used fewer than four prompt words.  These were also disqualified.  Yes, we counted.

Tip #2: Don’t write about the first thing that comes to mind

We ended up with a lot of stories set in graveyards and big stone pits.  Not that this hindered the writer.  The winning story for the Patricia McFarland Memorial Prize, “Jump” by Stephen V. Ramey, was partially set in a quarry.  Still, I got a little antsy after reading fifty stories set in a quarry on a dark, ominous night.

When writing for a contest, I often sit down with paper and pencil and create a list of story ideas.  Then I cross off the first four and start from there.  Why?  Probably everyone else who plans on entering has written a story based on one of those top four ideas.

Tip #3: Spelling and grammar count

I don’t look for problems with grammar and spelling when I read a story.  I don’t have to.  They jump off the page all by themselves.  There were a few stories that didn’t make it past the first cut simply because they were poorly crafted.  In at least one case, the story idea was good, but the grammar was atrocious. There’s no way writing like that is going to win a contest, especially when competing against 209 other entries.

Tip: #4: Dare to be different

I don’t mean write a story about space aliens (oh wait, we had a few of those), or send a poem to a prose contest (yep, we received one of them, too).  But think about other meanings for the prompt words. Grave has multiple connotations. Explore them. Pull out your dictionary and make a list of the definitions before you start. Set your story someplace not suggested by the prompt words.

Gay looked at word use in the entries. Here’s what she found.

The words used most often were “evening,” “rose,” and “minute,” at around 13% each. The rest were evenly distributed. I liked that someone used “evening” as a verb, in that a character was “evening” out the dirt around a grave in an OCD way.  With “rose,” the sun rose, people rose, characters were named Rose, and things were rose-hued or rose-tinted.  “Minute” was most often used as time, but was occasionally used to describe something small.  Though “quarry” wasn’t used quite as much as the other three, it was used with interesting variety: the “Ali-Quarry” fight set the tone for one story; it served as someone else’s last name; most often it became a noun, a pit where rocks were removed and as a verb, removing or retrieving something from somewhere larger. It was also used as prey, of course.

“Tip #5: Have another writer read your entry

Yes, you only had a week to write and submit a story.  That’s no excuse.  I’ve participated in a 24-hour contest a few times and was asked to join a critique group set up specifically for that
challenge.  Another set of eyes may see things in your story that you miss, things that may make the difference between winning (or at least making it past the first round) and sulking around the house because you didn’t.

Following these tips won’t guarantee you’ll win the next contest you enter, but they should help improve your chances.

We plan on running a String-of-10 SIX in February of 2014. We hope to read your stories then, too. Maybe we’ll hit 310 entries.  Oh gosh, did I really wish that on myself?  And rumor has it that our guest judge for 2014 will be the one and only Gay Degani.  But that’s our little secret. Shhh…

Beginning Monday, we will publish interviews with the winners of this year’s contest. Give them a read and leave a comment for the authors. We know they’ll appreciate it.

_____________________________

Jim Harrington began writing fiction in 2007 and has agonized over the form ever since. His stories have appeared in Every Day Fiction, Liquid Imagination, Ink Sweat and Tears, Near to the Knuckle, Flashes in the Dark, and others. He serves as the Interim Managing Editor for Flash Fiction Chronicles (http://www.everydayfiction.com/flashfictionblog/). Jim’s Six Questions For . . . blog (http://sixquestionsfor.blogspot.com/) provides editors and publishers a place to “tell it like it is.” You can read more of his stories at http://jpharrington.blogspot.com.

CONGRATULATIONS go out to LINDA SIMONI-WASTILA whose story, “After the Tsunami” has been selected by Guest Judge Kathy Fish as the FIRST PLACE WINNER of the String-of-10 Five Flash Fiction Contest.

“After the Tsunami” will be published in April at Every Day Fiction.    “A Gauze, A Medical Dressing, A Scrim” by Robert Vaughan and “Before the Fireworks” by Folly Blaine have placed Second and Third respectively and will be published in April at Flash Fiction Chronicles.  (Exact publications dates to be arranged.) The Honorable Mentions and Finalists will not be published by Every Day Fiction nor by Flash Fiction Chronicles, but we are positive they will find a home for their wonderful work in short order.

You’ll find a complete list of Winners and Finalists (in alphabetical order) plus an interview with Kathy Fish below.

 Top Three Winners

String-of-10 FIVE Flash Fiction Contest is sponsored by Flash Fiction Chronicles.

It begins February 3 at 12:01 PST

For the week of February 3 through February 9, Flash Fiction Chronicles is having its Fifth String-of-10 Contest—String-of-10 FIVE—for the best 250-word story written from a randomly selected string of ten words.

For String-of-10 Five contest only!

IF YOU HAVE TROUBLE WITH THE SUBMITTABLE FORM PLEASE SEND YOUR ENTRY TO gaydegani@yahoo.com WITH “STRING-OF-10 5 ENTRY” IN THE SUBJECT LINE.

STRING-OF-10 FIVE PROMPT:

EVENING-QUARRY-ACCENT-ROSE-TEAR-MINUTE-GRAVE-CLOSE-ENTRANCE-BOW 

 

I want to put a ding in the universe. –Steve Jobs 

 

GUEST JUDGE: KATHY FISH

I am pleased to announce that this year’s Guest Judge will be Kathy Fish.  Kathy Fish’s short fiction has appeared in Indiana Review, The Denver Quarterly, New South, Quick Fiction, Guernica, Slice and elsewhere. She was the guest editor of Dzanc Books’ Best of the Web 2010. She is the author of three collections of stories: a chapbook of flash fiction in the chapbook collective, A Peculiar Feeling of Restlessness: Four Chapbooks of Short Short Fiction by Four Women, (Rose Metal Press, 2008),  Wild Life (Matter Press, 2011) and Together We Can Bury It, forthcoming from The Lit Pub.

The guidelines of this year’s contest are listed below.   The contest is open for one week only.  All entries must be submitted through our Submission Manager.  There will be no other prompt words for this week while the contest is running.  Regular daily prompts will begin again next Sunday.

GUIDELINES

1. The prompt for String-of-10 FIVE will be available at 12:01 on Sunday, February 3, 2013 here at FFC.
2. There is no entry fee.
3. Submit stories up to 250 words. Title is not counted int the 25o words.
4. Enter up to two stories per author.
5. All stories must contain at least four words from the String-of-10.
6. You can use any tense of the words and any recognizable form.  For example, if the word  is “jar,” “Jargon” would not qualify while “jar-like” chin would.
7. You can use a prompt word in the title.
8. Seamless integration of any four of the prompt words is the goal.
9. The quotation is given for thematic inspiration.  Using the theme of  ”if one makes a ding in the universe, such and such will happen” is not necessary to win.  However, this year we will give out *a special prize for the story that best  incorporates the theme,  The Patricia McFarland Memorial prize. First, second, and third place winners are eligible to also win this prize, but any story that is submitted that best uses this theme may win.
10. Entries must be received by 11:59 PST Saturday, February 9.
11. Winners will be notified sometime in March 2013.  Publications will follow in April.
12. All decisions made by the FFC staff and our guest judge are final.
13. Submit all entries here: SUBMIT TO STRING-OF-10 FIVE

For String-of-10 Five contest only!

IF YOU HAVE TROUBLE WITH THE SUBMITTABLE FORM PLEASE SEND YOUR ENTRY TO gaydegani@yahoo.com WITH “STRING-OF-10 5 ENTRY” IN THE SUBJECT LINE.

PRIZES STRING-OF-TEN FIVE FLASH FICTION CONTEST

1st Place: Winner will have his or her story published at Every Day Fiction in April, 2013 and be paid the standard payment of $3.00 per story.  A $50  Cash Prize from Flash Fiction Chronicles will go to the first place winner. A choice from Every Day Publishing Book List along with a copy of Pomegranate Stories by Gay Degani, editor of Flash Fiction Chronicles, will also be awarded as well as an “I Write Every Day” t-shirt. As a special bonus this year, Kathy Fish, our guest judge, is awarding an autographed copy of  her collection Together We Can Bury It.

2nd Place: Winner will have his or her story published at Flash Fiction Chronicles in April. (There is no payment for publication at Flash Fiction Chronicles). A $20.00 cash prize will be awarded as well as a copy of Pomegranate Stories by Gay Degani, the editor of Flash Fiction Chronicles. A special bonus this year, Kathy Fish, our guest judge, is awarding  an autographed copy of her collection Wild Life.

3rd Place: Winner will have his or her story published at Flash Fiction Chronicles in April. (There is no payment for publication at Flash Fiction Chronicles). A $20.00 cash prize will be awarded as well as a copy of Pomegranate Stories by Gay Degani, the editor of Flash Fiction Chronicles.

The Patricia McFarland Memorial Prize: Winner will have his or her story published at Flash Fiction Chronicles in April.  (There is no payment for publication at Flash Fiction Chronicles) and a cash prize of $25.00

All four winners will be interviewed at Flash Fiction Chronicles.

Stories from the fourth String-of-10 Contest

1^st Place—When Elliot Let Go by Troy Farah

2^nd Place—Dutch Boy by Len Kuntz

3^rd Place—Nothing Left to Lose by Andrew Stancek

Stories from the third String-of-10 Contest

1^st Place—Pretending by A. S. Andrews

2^nd Place—Today She Will Write Cool Things by Romit Berger

3^rd Place—Wingless by Karolyn Reddy

 Stories from the second String-of-10 Contest

1^st Place—Salvation by Ann Pino

2^nd Place—Gypsy Flour by John Towler

3^rd Place—Good Morning Susan by Brittany Soder

 Stories from the first String-of-10 Contest

1^st Place—The Haircut by Sharon E. Trotter

2^nd Place—The Forever Summer by Mary J. Daley

3^rd Place—Choices Made by Jim O’Loughlin

 

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NOTE: Jim Harrington’s Market updates which usually appear on Sundays will begin again next week.