A gathering of recent speculative flash & micro fiction, each presenting a tiny-yet-powerful universe. How tiny? About one-thousand words for flash; four-hundred words for micro. The word count isn’t as important as the emotion, the adventure, the sense of wonder. Including science fiction, fantasy, horror, and the spaces in between.
If you love these stories as much as I do, please share them so others can discover these brilliant authors!
By Ash Howell in Lightspeed * 997 Words * Audio Available
I don’t know why these women trusted an impossibility, why they risked everything on a gamble of phylogeny, an unpredictable mutation, and an unexpected miracle. But we still remember Athena. The fact of you was too strange to be true, but we wanted to believe in you, so we did.
A biopunk epistle of love, hope, and rebellion. Howell plays the reader’s emotions with glimpses of a desperate people and their daring subterfuge, set against a dystopian existence. The unfolding escapade fits into place like puzzle pieces.
Small Mythologies from a Late Summer Garden
By Jenny Wong in Flash Flood Journal * 187 Words
The forecasters predicted horizons to be sunny and clear. But overhead, a seafaring god worries about his capsizing yacht. Thus begins a day of minor curses.
I love the way Wong defamiliarizes the everyday happenings in a garden, and how this approach firmly plants the story into our current day social/political/physical climate. The wistful tone at the end is the perfect cap to this piece. “Small Mythologies” ran as part of the Flash Flood event, which is hosted yearly by the folks at National Flash Fiction Day. New tiny stories are released every ten minutes or so, over the course of 24-hours. It’s overwhelming, crazy, and fun! You can check out the entire 2024 TOC here.
By H.V. Patterson in Hex Literary * 619 Words
On the ninth day, I slid my vengeful ghost against their hollow bones. They hissed and coughed, and let me in.
I wasn’t surprised to see that the author lives in Oklahoma. Maybe I’m projecting my own biases, but growing up in Dust Bowl territory has sharpened my appreciation for stories that feature extreme heat and drought. What better atmosphere to set a horror story? Patterson does a marvelous job of setting this scene with specific, icky details and a creepy vibe. I couldn’t help but root for the main character.
By Liam Hogan in 100-Foot Crow * 100 Words
This shocking, terrible moment, when the capacitor explodes, robbing us of all the temporal energy we have stored, and worse.
Drabbles are notoriously difficult to pull off. Sure, it’s possible to cram a full story arc into 100 words, but does the resulting story grab the reader’s attention? Does it take the reader on an emotional journey? Hogan succeeds beautifully here, showing us a moment in time that is complex from both a physical and scientific aspect, but more importantly, it shows us a depth of emotion through language that unfolds luxuriously. I’m excited to see this new drabble publication, 100-Foot Crow. They already have a handful of stories published so give them a read!
By Lindz McLeod in Flash Fiction Online * 975 Words
In their ragged dresses they stalk the streets at night, following the sour-musk spice-flower stink of men. In their hands, they wield crescent-sharp knives, each crying for a place to sink deep and sweet. Legend says it was once the other way around, that men once roved in packs, sniffing and snarling, looking for a girl to satisfy them.
This is a visceral story of a harsh world, frightening in that it’s perched on the edge of familiarity. In this tension-filled narrative, McLeod flips reality, examining what it means to know yourself, to fit in, to wonder if happiness will ever be possible.
By JD DeLuzio in Flash Point * 997 Words
Main Street Bridge runs over Wyatt Creek. Beneath it I play troll some nights, use the library’s Wi-Fi to search things on the laptop Tara gave me. These new screens work with my eyes and I learn why a few more people, lately, wander through my woods with cameras.
I dare you to read this story and not fall in love with the Lainebridge Lizardman. DeLuzio does a nice job with world building, bringing the phenomenon of cryptids into focus, but the real draw is the heartfelt relationship at the story’s core.
By Gretchen Tessmer in Small Wonders * 980 Words
I’m dying today. It’s happening. It’s okay. I didn’t have any plans for the weekend anyway.
Tessmer gives us a thoroughly satisfying story. Trying to stay spoiler-free, I can say these characters are compelling and the voice is fun. Much of the story is told in the format of instant messages, with just enough connective tissue to firmly seat the reader in the main character’s head. I love it when an author turns a well-loved trope in a surprising direction.
By Andrea Goyan in Small Wonders * 975 Words
I flick a blue-green scale off the white porcelain and hold it in my palm. The size of a silver dollar, it shimmers like a jewel, and I think this hidden piece of my mother is the most exquisite, perfect thing I’ve ever seen.
The wonder and beauty in this piece is heightened by the protagonist’s anguish. Hasn’t everyone felt this way about a parent or grandparent, at some point in their lives? Goyan’s tale of acceptance, and ultimately, love, truly broke my heart and made me smile.
By Megan Chee in Small Wonders * 911 Words
It’s not easy to open a successful hotpot restaurant in Space Station Singapore. Competition’s tough. Collagen soup, lab-grown Wagyu beef, organic hydroponic-farm-to-table vegetables…every variation of hotpot imaginable already exists. If you want to stand out, you’ve got to think outside the box.
I wish I had Chee’s imagination and creativity! This story takes several turns that I absolutely did not expect, and I was smiling the whole time. A wild idea, told with a fantastic voice.
Myna Chang 