And so I’m delighted to share some fab news in my *other* writing world — the world of flash fiction. If you’re pressed for time and want to get the juicy bits, just hop on down to News Piece #3. I promise, I’ll make it worth your while, because even though VOX the book might not be the focus here, the vox that is my voice as an author is very much the focus. You’ll see why.
News Piece #1
Two of my little horror stories made it into The Molotov Cocktail‘s Phantom Flash top-ten list! For those of you who don’t know, I owe Josh and Mary over at Molotov big time — not only did they publish my first–ever flash story back in April, 2015, but they also pubbed “Wernicke 27X,” which was the story behind the story behind VOX. I haven’t had much time to write short fiction lately, but I never miss an opportunity to submit work to this market. Read the Phantom Flash top ten (including “Crop Circles” and “Threes” by yours truly) — just click on that weird eyeball below.
Clickety-click!
News Piece #2
I swear this wasn’t my doing, but one of my favorite lit mags came back to life last month after a long sleep. Proud to have a new story up in the newly-resurrected Airgonaut. It’s called “Mid-Life Mosaic,” and I think you might like it.
News Piece #3 (this is the BIG ONE)
I wrote another story, a 400-word flash about, well, two girls selling cigarettes at the Stork Club in 1940-something. This one, like many of my flash pieces, didn’t go out on sub to five million markets. I only had one in mind. One perfect market.
And they loved it.
Before we get to the smiley-happy-people ending with fireworks and champagne, we need to traverse that sad middle part, the part where my one perfect market told me they wouldn’t publish my story unless I made a seemingly insignificant change. I didn’t.
But I did trim it down to 300 words (no small task at thirty minutes before the midnight deadline) and submit the little bugger to the Bath Flash Fiction Award. A little history here: the marvelous Jude Higgins, who runs Bath Flash, was the person who got me started writing short-short fiction four years ago! Thanks, Jude!
Skip to the end: “Candy Girls” took first prize, which means I won, and I kept my voice.
I won! (In a couple of ways…)
