"the claw machine now offers babies for prizes. limited-edition grow-in-water ones that you can take home."
Read The Claw Machine by @nadiaborn.com in Issue 40 of #NFFR. Wonderfully weird, beautifully written.
newflashfiction.com/the-claw-mac...
"[This story is based on] the aftermath of my father-in-law’s death. Though the rituals were performed for thirteen days, the tenth day was very emotional. That was when we said a final good-bye to the departed soul. That night my mother-in-law was made to sleep alone."
Vijayalakshmi Sridhar #NFFR
"I have a very strange brain that associates everything back to numbers. Numbers are immensely soothing to me as a person who grew up with a bewildering sensory, emotional and interpersonal world. Numbers never trip you up, they never do anything unexpected."
@pleomorphic2.bsky.social #NFFR
"A few months ago my toddler pointed to her closet and told us there were ghosts in there. When you’re a new parent, you spend an inordinate amount of time trying to decode your child's statements. With this story, I tried my best to cast this fleeting moment in plaster."
Andrew Martin #NFFR
"For flash fiction, there’s a messy, resonant moment that usually comes to mind as inspiration. With such a tight word count, the tension has to be created from the first sentence, sustained through the slice of story, and end with an ambiguity that isn’t too frustrating."
Elana Lavine #NFFR
"In the US there have been attempts to censor everything, including the weather, and I was looking at the website for NOAA, one of the federal agencies under attack, and came across a list of meteorological terms, and that gave me the shape for the final story."
@writesofkathryn.bsky.social #NFFR
"Despite my difficulty with numbers, I find them comforting. My first son was born early and had to gain weight to catch up. Recently, I found the log of times I’d fed him and how much he’d had. The numbers would just float away if I didn’t write them down immediately."
Rebecca Klassen #NFFR
"The origin of 'Lights out at Ten' is a documentary about long-term mental health patients. While some were fully institutionalised, others talked reflectively about their old lives and seemed to be holding on to a sense of self. I thought that was an interesting headspace."
Neil James #NFFR
"Writing is a form of resistance. It might not feel like what you’re writing is important in the face of all that’s happening in the world, but always remember there’s a reason fascists burn and ban books. Words are powerful."
@sagreene1.bsky.social #NFFR
"Writing is engagement with the things and people that anxiety yearns for you to turn away from. I’m the last person to give advice about writing, but to write during anxious times is, paraphrasing Didion, to tell the stories we need in order to live."
@mitchellgauvin.bsky.social #NFFR
"If your cup is feeling empty, find something that fuels your creative soul. Read everything you can get your hands on. Spend time with people you love. Writing will always be there waiting for you when you’re ready to come back to it."
Great advice from @ashdoeswords.bsky.social #NFFR
Love this interview between two past editors of #NFFR - @theburninghearth.bsky.social & @alkratz.bsky.social
Al has a new book out, T is for Train. "It’s part travel writing, part memoir, part writing craft, part we don’t know what to call it." Sounds an ideal mix!
All the best, Al and Connie 👋🏼
Thanks so much for these comments about Kim's story "Tapped." Proud to have her in the #NFFR family.
“Grandma gets her episodes at least once a month. She’ll grow out her jaws and if it happens on a rainy day..”
@smokelong.bsky.social
#archivechallwnge
This one in #nffr is very Angela carter with a twist of Ben Loory( two of my favorites!) newflashfiction.com/katerina-kis...
“The sugar is white and Jessie’s in black. There’s a black wreath on the door and a deep black hole opening up under Jessie’s feet…”
@smokelong.bsky.social #archivechallenge
This lovely triptych by Kathryn Kulpa in #NFFR made me want to write…
newflashfiction.com/special-feat...
I’m not part of the #NFFR fam yet, but hoping to try and get something together for your tenth anniversary issue, so hopefully that’ll change soon ☺️
Delighted to see 6 #NFFR stories selected for the WIGLEAF TOP 50 longlist 🎉🎉 - links in the comments
Congrats to
@nomad-sw18.bsky.social
@timcraig.bsky.social
@judydarley.bsky.social
Laura Grant
@claudiamonpere.bsky.social
Sarah Cappell Thomason
Huge congrats to all the writers in the #NFFR family whose stories were selected for the WIGLEAF TOP 50!
@kazbarwrites.bsky.social
@patriciaqbidar.bsky.social
@jamesmontgomery.bsky.social
@pamelapainter.bsky.social
@mandirapattnaik.bsky.social
@crobertswriter.bsky.social
wigleaf.com
To get you started with ideas for our theme of 10, we've gathered links to some previous #NFFR stories.
Read #flashfiction with numbers or counting from @joelhans.com @writesofkathryn.bsky.social
@kazbarwrites.bsky.social
@christinamilletti.bsky.social
newflashfiction.com/call-for-sub...
Pinning this, a link to my story in the brilliant #NFFR.
Excited to be reading your stories at @nffr.bsky.social next month. Theme of 10. Put those thinking caps on!!
#themedcall #flashfiction #NFFR
"And you’re going to go to bed, and you’ll think that this is it, like you’re a character in a story, the Turning Point. But you won’t always be this brave."
Not all turning points are created equal, and this one by Jenna Burns in #NFFR is bittersweet.
newflashfiction.com/remember-you...
Such a joy to see these stories out in the world. Love working with the #NFFR crew @megpokrass.bsky.social, Valerie Fox, Kirsten Kaschock, @louellalester.bsky.social & @shanejlarkin.bsky.social, and Keith Powell for all his website magic 🎩
Here are some of the amazing writers we've published since 2020, including those from Issue 37 which launched today! Proud to have you all in the #NFFR family.
If you're missing from the pack let us know 😍 Lots of writers have joined Bluesky since we set it up.
go.bsky.app/ADoXRJ1H
Something new for this issue of #NFFR- for many of the stories, we have audio files of the authors reading their works. Enjoy!
Many congrats to all the writers chosen for the 2024 Best Small Fictions anthology. Delighted to see Judy & Christy's #NFFR stories:
“Blue-Naped Parrots See More Than They Say” by Judy Darley
“Prudence” by Christy Stillwell
Links to the stories in the comments
altcurrentpress.com/best-small-f...
"This world was more or less ruined, they thought, and we’d best start fresh on Mars."
Flipping burgers, algorithms and space travel, it's all here. "In Another World" by Robert McBrearty in #NFFR Issue 36. Enjoy!
#flashfiction
newflashfiction.com/in-another-w...
"My brother leaves Alabama for Philadelphia to be a bone broth barista because it’s cooler to sip liquified bones than a Starbucks pumpkin latte."
So much to love in this #flashfiction, esp the voice! "Love spell" by Kat Gonso in #NFFR Issue 36.
newflashfiction.com/love-spell/
