So ridiculous

Ghost Parachute: 175 Flash Fiction Stories 175 Flash Fiction Stories

Ghost Parachute's new paperback anthology is finally available to purchase online! We recommend buying it from the linked black-owned Bookstore, Kizzy's Books & More.

tinyurl.com/6fmwapat

The Status - In Flux — Ghost Parachute My daughter is a toddler, wobbling as Joe goes. Joe’s a ragged plush boy, worn out by her tears and laughter and sweat pooling at the tips of her silly fingertips, smeared with traces—sticky apricot m...

Read "The Status – In Flux" written by @damicandrea.bsky.social and illustrated by @brooksiesbooks.bsky.social.

"My daughter is a toddler, wobbling as Joe goes. Joe’s a ragged plush boy, worn out by her tears and laughter and sweat pooling at the tips of..."

tinyurl.com/ybeb6bck

Thank you for the awesome story!

A Man and A Balloon — Ghost Parachute “I can’t take it anymore!” the wife yells, but the man, her husband, is dancing and whistling. “It’s the biggest fart I’ve ever let out!” he says and laughs at the wife who’s rushing to open the bedro...

Read "A Man and A Balloon" written by @csquareh.bsky.social and illustrated by Brett J Barr.

"The fart sticks between them, but the husband doesn’t have the heart to chase it away. He shoves it inside a deflated birthday balloon."

tinyurl.com/35vjp2y6

Until the Call — Ghost Parachute In three months’ time, while Denise is sleeping and the alarm clock a few minutes from sounding, she will become an orphan. Although she won’t know for hours yet, at Willow House the young care nurse ...

Read "Until the Call" written by @dublinwriter.bsky.social and illustrated by @brooksiesbooks.bsky.social.

"In three months’ time, while Denise is sleeping and the alarm clock a few minutes from sounding, she will become an orphan."

tinyurl.com/yr9ahsnp

Thanks for the awesome story!

Splinters — Ghost Parachute Your letter consists of many fat letters explaining your fear of butter. My life, you tell me, is a meal of many courses I can’t bear to choke down. Your confession to a fixation on the parish priest ...

Read "Splinters" written by @kiptain.bsky.social and illustrated by @brooksiesbooks.bsky.social.

"Your letter consists of many fat letters explaining your fear of butter."

tinyurl.com/4wjypjes

Twenty — Ghost Parachute Jessa’s grandmother was not dying nearly fast enough for her liking. When her mother put her on a plane to Fort Lauderdale and then a taxi to Boca Raton, she’d said it would only be seven days. That w...

Read "Twenty" written by Molly Weisgrau and illustrated by Brett J Barr.

"Jessa’s grandmother was not dying nearly fast enough for her liking."

tinyurl.com/5n8hdu3w

Instructions on How to Hold a Ghost — Ghost Parachute Weston thinks it a bummer that his mother has landed a job in Baker, a washed-out miner’s town that somehow appears to be in worse shape than the one he was born (and figured would one day die) in. Th...

Read "Instructions on How to Hold a Ghost" written by
@sarpsozdinler.bsky.social and illustrated by @brooksiesbooks.bsky.social.

"Weston is convinced he and Selena will remain friends forever. By which he means he’ll forever be friend-zoned."

tinyurl.com/mwfzwfhj

Thank you!

The Howl — Ghost Parachute After the divorce, I sat on the deck of the Airbnb I rented for that spring week outside Joshua Tree National Park, holding a mug of steaming tea. The air was cool, carrying a woody scent from the shr...

Read "The Howl" written by @swethaamit.bsky.social and illustrated by @brooksiesbooks.bsky.social.

"After the divorce, I sat on the deck of the Airbnb I rented for that spring week outside Joshua Tree National Park, holding a mug of steaming tea."

tinyurl.com/4tser4bf

Bobless — Ghost Parachute She has to stop calling me Bob, but she can’t see me as anyone else.. The name on my birth certificate is Robert, I remind her. I’m Robbie. I’m even fine with Roberto. Please, Mary. Don’t. She says th...

Read "Bobless" written by @megpokrass.bsky.social and illustrated by Brett J Barr.

"She has to stop calling me Bob, but she can’t see me as anyone else.. The name on my birth certificate is Robert, I remind her. I’m Robbie. I’m even fine with Roberto."

tinyurl.com/4kb9arjt

In Bloom — Ghost Parachute There was a question on a TV show about the ancient meaning of the word amphithales and no one answered, and I thought I knew, but I didn’t, and when I looked it up my answer proved wrong, because in ...

Read "In Bloom" written by @happilander.bsky.social and illustrated by @amymarques.bsky.social.

"There was a question on a TV show about the ancient meaning of the word amphithales and no one answered, and I thought I knew, but I didn’t..."

tinyurl.com/2fd3t6uy

She’s a Miracle, Is What She Is — Ghost Parachute Stephanie wakes me up from a deep, dead sleep, whispering, “Come to me.” I slip out of bed with Jess, tiptoe downstairs, and, like a greased whisper, I’m out the sliding door. There Stephanie is, wait...

Read "She's a Miracle, Is What She Is" written by
@travisflatt.bsky.social and illustrated by Brett J Barr.

"Stephanie wakes me up from a deep, dead sleep, whispering, “Come to me.” I slip out of bed with Jess, tiptoe downstairs, and, like a greased whisper..."

tinyurl.com/2jepu4rk

Thank you for sending me such amazing work!

A Happy-Faced Woman Hands Me a Flyer at a Food Not Bombs Picnic — Ghost Parachute So I’m at the church listed on the flyer, but right as the Christian rock band really gets going, a sudden storm hits, and the lights go out. Everyone gasps and sort of despairs. Hail thunders down. T...

Read "A Happy-Faced Woman Hands Me a Flyer at a Food Not Bombs Picnic" written by @jennystalter.bsky.social
and illustrated by @courtneyb77.bsky.social.

"So I’m at the church listed on the flyer, but right as the Christian rock band really gets going, a sudden storm hits..."

tinyurl.com/mw6j9msr

Local Boy Missing — Ghost Parachute You get home from your dad’s on Sunday, and as soon as you pull up in your shitty Cavalier you can tell that Marcus and his whole family are just… gone. No curtains hanging in the windows, no lawn cha...

Read "Local Boy Missing" written by @aniking.bsky.social and illustrated by Brett J Barr.

"You get home from your dad’s on Sunday, and as soon as you pull up in your shitty Cavalier you can tell that Marcus and his whole family are just… gone."

tinyurl.com/4u3y3k75

The Writer — Ghost Parachute She arrives. His daughter, the writer with those sharp, gray eyes, always looking. He knows she’ll write about him. Look at his wreck of a body, can’t walk, can’t roll over, can’t swallow big chunks o...

Read "The Writer" written by @ninaschuyler.bsky.social and illustrated by @kaystedmanfriedman.bsky.social.

"He’s a wasteland, he’s the desiccated Arizona desert out his window, that old saguaro, five arms grasping, grasping for anything."

tinyurl.com/5n6ty7yw

After Her Death, the Murdered Girl Speaks to Reporters — Ghost Parachute What will you make of my life, a desert of ache with few oases? Of my mother’s bleeding Jesus on the refrigerator, of Jesus weeping over the rust-ringed toilet, of tomato soup and fishsticks and the d...

Read "After Her Death, the Murdered Girl Speaks to Reporters" written by @sfreligh.bsky.social and illustrated by Brett J Barr.

"What will you make of my life, a desert of ache with few oases?"

tinyurl.com/yc2n7uhu

Thank You For Your Honesty — Ghost Parachute He hands me the joystick. He says, “Now activate your truck.” I look at the screen in front of us. A monster truck. Red with an orange-flame paint job. This is the kind of scenario I hate. Why did I s...

Read "Thank You For Your Honesty" written by
@allisonfieldbell.bsky.social and illustrated by @kaystedmanfriedman.bsky.social.

"It’s not as sexy as it sounds. Just video games and empty beer bottles. My standards have fallen off a cliff. I haven’t had sex in over a year."

tinyurl.com/bdfwud8m

April 2026 Issue — Ghost Parachute

The April 2026 issue of Ghost Parachute is here!

Cover illustrated by @genevievetyrrell.bsky.social.

tinyurl.com/4jhr6umt

Thank you @claudiamonpere.bsky.social!

Thrilled to see my story published in the latest issue of Gone Lawn. Big thanks to editors @amygcb.bsky.social and @owenwyke.bsky.social.

gonelawn.net/journal/issu...

The Intruder — Ghost Parachute The intruder is clean—skin smooth, freshly shaved, black hair wet from the shower. He is toweling off in my bedroom while I stand watching from the doorway. He smiles lightly at me, as if maybe I knew...

Read "The Intruder" written by @chrissystegmanpoet.bsky.social and illustrated by Brett J Barr.

"The intruder is clean—skin smooth, freshly shaved, black hair wet from the shower. He is toweling off in my bedroom while I stand watching from the doorway."

tinyurl.com/ydfv2wy4

Precipitation — Ghost Parachute I can’t afford heat, so we stay under the covers to trap the heavy air. We change positions to work up a sweat. Only when we’re about to suffocate do we pull back the blanket and let our hot air escap...

Read "Precipitation" written by @bestthingaround.bsky.social and illustrated by @brooksiesbooks.bsky.social.

"I can’t afford heat, so we stay under the covers to trap the heavy air. We change positions to work up a sweat. Only when we’re about to suffocate do we pull back..."

tinyurl.com/3p9mratn

The Geometry of Unicorns — Ghost Parachute Leslie Abbott is a high-school sophomore sitting in Geometry class, staring at x’s and y’s and z’s, and thinking about how everything equals something else in the end, how the world wants to make sens...

Read "The Geometry of Unicorns" written by Melanie Maggard and illustrated by Brett J Barr.

"Leslie Abbott is a high-school sophomore sitting in Geometry class, staring at x’s and y’s and z’s, and thinking about how everything equals something else in the end..."

tinyurl.com/546hwuy9

Evie — Ghost Parachute When the last bird goes extinct, Dad calls the 3D Printer Man and pays for me. My back is downed vermillion red and my long fish-hook curved beak is painted the salmon of spawning fish heading upstrea...

Read "Evie" written by @kimsrogers.bsky.social and illustrated by @brooksiesbooks.bsky.social.

"When the last bird goes extinct, Dad calls the 3D Printer Man and pays for me."

tinyurl.com/2vkem4fm

What the Body Remembers — Ghost Parachute The herpes outbreak that covered half of Rania’s face a week before her wedding; red spots of fury as she prepared for the happiest day of her life, as she cried and bit the soft skin around her thumb...

Read "What the Body Remembers" written by
@delgeo14.bsky.social and illustrated by @amymarques.bsky.social.

"The doctor promised her father it wouldn’t leave scars following the treatment, but she scratched it raw, and it drew a white spot next to her left eye..."

tinyurl.com/ydejt7dj

Family Business — Ghost Parachute ‘Jesus, would you look at her, what is she like?’ ‘You know I can’t see anyone from this angle, mam. I’ve got to keep looking up, keep imploring me da to save me from myself, you know the drill,’ Jesu...

Read "Family Business" written by @fionamckay.bsky.social
and illustrated by @brooksiesbooks.bsky.social.
.
‘Jesus, would you look at her, what is she like?’

tinyurl.com/bdzee9a8