Category Archives: flash fiction

Call for Submissions

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The Casket of Fictional Delights is an online short story and flash fiction website which specialises in producing professional podcasts. We are looking for submissions for the following slots :~

Short Stories – The vast majority of short stories are made into podcasts, therefore should be between 1,500 and 3,000 words. This is an optimum length for a podcast.  There is flexibility on word count and, in terms of theme, other than Valentines, there are no restrictions. 

November 2022 short story

February 2023 short story (Valentines)

June 2023 short story

October 2023 short story

November 2023 short story

2023 Summer Flash Fiction Collection – this will be a group of flash fictions on the theme of ‘Summer’ in its widest interpretation.  We anticipating there will be between 6 and 12 in the collection.  Flash fictions should be no more than 500 words (excluding title). The Summer Flash Fiction Collection will be made into a series of podcasts. 

We do not publish stories  containing excessive swearing, sex or violence (we do not have an ‘explicit licence’ from Apple iTunes).

Deadline – 1st May 2022.

Contact The Casket with ShortStops in the subject. Thank you.

We look forward to hearing from you and Good Writing Vibes.

Join Bristol’s First Flash Open Mic – Flash in Hand

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The opening night of Bristol’s new open mic event, Flash in Hand, is on Monday 13th May. Of all the things we might associate with Mondays, this is probably one of the most uplifting!

We know that stories can take us anywhere, from the depths of the human condition to the sky and beyond. We normally read stories in the privacy of our own heads, whether curled up on the couch or cocooned in our commute, but sometimes the best way to connect with stories is with other people. Flash fiction is ideally suited to this. From beginning to end, no more than 500 words, a whole story, a whole journey from beginning to middle to end that will leave you moved, laughing or struck by insight. And that’s not the only taste it will leave in your mouth: we have a bar.

So, whether you want to come along to listen (£3.50 on the door) or to read (free!), we’ll see you there, 19:30 onwards. Let us know you’re coming via the Facebook event:

https://www.facebook.com/events/519720555223593/ 

And keep yourself notified of future events via our page:

https://www.facebook.com/FlashInHand/

Submit to National Flash Fiction Day 2019!

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m15flat-bwtextNational Flash Fiction Day this year will be on Saturday 15th June Submissions for the 2019 National Flash Fiction Day anthology and micro fiction competition are NOW OPEN!

Anthology

This year’s theme is filled with possibility…or not! Our theme can reveal secrets to us and it can keep danger hidden. Is it trying to keep everyone from getting in, or is it trying to keep you from getting out? Knock, knock, who’s there? It’s our theme: Doors!

We want you to open the door to stories wild with imagination. We’re looking for those creepy mysteries about doors we can’t find the key to. We want those funny tales of frustration when doors do exactly what they’re supposed to when we don’t want them to. Maybe the stories you want to share are about metaphorical doors, filled with the disappointment of doors that are closed to us or brimming with excitement at new opportunities. Whichever door you decide to write about, make sure it’s your best and that is fewer than 500 words!

This year’s editors are Joanna Campbell and Santino Prinzi.

Please submit up to three (3) unpublished flashes of 500 words or fewer before our deadline. Titles are not included in the word count.

The submission fee for this year’s anthology is: £2.50 for one (1) entry, £4.00 for two (2) entries, and £6.00 for three (3) entries.

The deadline is Friday 15th March 2019, 23:59pm GMT.

Please visit our website for the full submission guidelines.

 

Micro Fiction Competition

Entries are open for this year’s National Flash Fiction Day Micro Fiction competition! This year’s judges are Angela Readman, Diane Simmons, Kevlin Henney, and Judy Darley.

First prize is £75.
Second prize is £50.
Third prize is £25.

The winning and shortlisted authors will be published in the National Flash Fiction Day 2019 anthology. Winning and shortlisted authors will also receive a free print copy of this anthology.

Please submit up to three (3) unpublished micro fictions of 100 words or fewer before our deadline. Titles are not included in the word count and there is no themefor the micro fiction competition.

The entry fee for this year’s micro fiction competition is: £2.00 for one (1) entry, £3.50 for two (2) entries, £5.00 for three (3) entries.

The deadline is Friday 15th March 2019, 23:59pm GMT.

Please visit our website for the full submission guidelines.

 

Support

In previous years we have had funding and have been able to offer free entry to everyone. Other years, like this year, we do not have funding and have needed to charge a small fee in order to cover our costs so we can continue doing what we do.

We would like offer free entry to disadvantaged and marginalised writers but we do not have the funding we need to be able to do this. We are working to try and secure funding.

If you would like to help us achieve this by donating entries for the anthology or micro competition, please email us: nationalflashfictionday@gmail.com.

National Flash Fiction Day celebrations

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FlashWalk2016_Actor Tom Parker

National Flash Fiction Day 2018 falls on Saturday 16th June, with events across the UK and a special trio of celebrations in Bristol.

The day kicks off at 10.30am with the #FlashWalk.

We invited competition entries on the theme of Urban Landscapes. Submissions arrived from all over the world. The winning entries will be shared by actors during the Flash Walk.

The Flash Walk begins just outside the harbourside entrance to Bristol’s M Shed. It will finish at the GreenHouse, Hereford Street, BS3 4NA (just under a mile’s stroll away), around 12.30pm.

The GreenHouse will be the venue for the afternoon’s free writing workshops. There will also be an evening of flash fiction performances at Bedminster Library, and the launch of the 2018 National Flash Fiction Day anthology.

You can find more details here: https://www.facebook.com/events/178868469594679/, here https://www.facebook.com/events/177406499633651/ and here: https://www.facebook.com/events/2106124046323877/

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2018 Flash Fiction Competition

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The Casket of Fictional Delights

HURRY CLOSING DATE 31st MAY 2018

We are looking for entries with a maximum of 300 words (excluding title). The competition is open to anyone over 18.

Judge: David Gaffney

Entry: £5 per Flash Fiction. 

Prizes                

  • The winning Flash Fiction will receive £150.
  • The top Eight Flash Fictions will be published online on The Casket of Fictional Delights
  • The top Four Flash Fictions will be professionally recorded and broadcast in a special audio podcast on iTunes, SoundCloud, TuneIn and Stitcher, promoted by The Casket of Fictional Delights.

Full set of Rules and writing Tips available on the website.

Judge David Gaffney has the following advice –

“I do not expect to understand it at first. I expect to be a little confused. I hope to be a little confused. I will expect to have to read it again, and maybe again after that. And the feeling I want to have after finishing it is a feeling that I have understood something I didn’t understand before but I still don’t really know what it is.”

Enter

Good Luck Everyone

#FindYourStory

Submissions for National Flash Fiction Day 2018 are NOW OPEN!

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Now in it’s seventh year, National Flash Fiction Day will be on Saturday 16th June 2018 and we’ll be celebrating with events and readings and submission opportunities! We’re currently open for our micro-fiction competition and our annual anthology, so get writing!

Micro Competition

From now until Saturday 17th March 2018, you can send us up to three micro fictions on any theme for our Micro fiction competition. These must be 100 words or fewer, and can be on any theme.

More details about the micro completion can be found here: http://nationalflashfictionday.co.uk/comp.html

Anthology

This year’s anthology theme is one you’ll be able to sink your teeth into, and we’re hungry for your flashes! From now until Saturday 31st March 2018, you can send us up to three 500 word flashes on this year’s theme: Food! The anthology will be edited by award-winning writer, Alison Powell, and National Flash Fiction Day Co-Director, Santino Prinzi. Your stories must be 500 words or fewer.

We’re looking for stories inspired by and about whatever’s on your plate. We’re ready to salivate over your sentences, to savour the subtle flavours of your subtext, to devour your delicious dialogue. Sweet, sour, savoury, sharp, tangy, rich, or rotten. Serve us up some scrumptious tales and tantalising treats with tasty twists. Are we all becoming too healthy? Or is suet the main dish of the day? Has a friendship been ruined by raw chocolate? We’re looking for full-fat, jam-packed flash fiction with an aftertaste we won’t forget. Feel free to interpret the theme of “food” however you wish, but your flashes must fit the theme in some way.

More details about the anthology submissions can be found here: http://nationalflashfictionday.co.uk/anth.html

 

We can’t wait to feast upon your words!

25th November. Flashy times in Bristol and Bath

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Bath-Flash-Fiction-AwardSome people write a  novel in November. Others write a flash a day. Join in the November flashy fun at Bath Flash Fiction Award’s ‘Flashathon’, an intensive day of writing and editing flash fiction at Trinity College, Bristol this coming Saturday 25th November, from 10:00 am- 4:00 pm. Be inspired by a variety of prompts from Meg Pokrass, flash fiction writer editor and tutor and current judge for the Bath Flash Fiction novella-in-flash award and Jude Higgins  flash fiction writer and founder of the Bath Flash Fiction Award. You’re guaranteed to produce at least six new pieces plus get advice, tips and encouragement on all aspects of flash. £45

NoirflashLater the same day come to ‘Flash Noir’ at, St James’ Wine Vaults Bath, an evening of darker-themed flash fiction . From 7.30-9.30pm. Six writers reading short- short stories. Expect suspense, mini-thrillers and black comedy from published  flash writers, Meg Pokrass, KM Elkes, Jason Jackson Damhnait Monaghan, John Wheway and Christopher Stanley. Cost £5. Free nibbles. Late Bar. Students can come free. Hope to see you there.

Book soon here for both events

Reflex Fiction Autumn 2017 & Other News

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Flash Fiction - Reflex Fiction - Short Stops
It’s been a busy couple of weeks at Reflex Fiction. At the end of June, we published the winning stories from our inaugural competition. You can read the winning stories here.

At the beginning of July, we published the long-list for our Summer competition. You can read the long-list here. We’ve already started publishing some of our favourite non-longlisted stories as we count down to the publication of the winners at the end of September.

And becuase Reflex Fiction is a rolling competition, we are accepting entries for our Autumn 2017 competition:

Prize fund: £1,750 (approx. $2,250 / €2,040)
Prizes: £1,000 first, £500 second, £250 third
Entry Fee: £7 / $9 / €9
Entries close: August 31, 2017
Judge: Tim Stevenson

SUBMIT YOUR ENTRY

Flash Fiction Festival: Saturday 24th June & Sunday 25th 2017, in Bath.

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The first literary festival in the UK entirely devoted to Flash Fiction. Happening on the weekend of National Flash Fiction Day UK 2017, our first year will be taking place in Bath. Our venue, The New Oriel Hall, is a short bus ride or a twenty minute walk from the town centre, with wifi, disabled access and a hearing loop.The whole building is available for the festival.

The Flash Fiction Festival is for beginning and experienced writers who want to learn more about flash fiction – an exciting and continually emerging short-short form of prose, growing in popularity around the world. Come and be inspired by the UK’s leading flash fiction practitioners and to immerse yourself in writing, reading and listening to flash fiction throughout the weekend. All sections of the community, from all corners of the globe, are welcome.

Workshops and talks generously funded by The Arts Council England include: Vanessa Gebbie, Kit de Waal, Tania Hershman, Paul McVeigh, David Gaffney, Ashley Chantler, Peter Blair, David Swann, Meg Pokrass, Jude Higgins, K M Elkes, Christopher Fielden, Michael Loveday, and The National Flash Fiction Day Anthology Launch with Calum Kerr.

For more information and to book tickets, please visit our website: https://www.flashfictionfestival.com

We hope to see you there for a fun-filled weekend of flash fiction!

Submit your flashes to National Flash Fiction Day’s Micro Competition and Anthology!

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National Flash Fiction Day UK is on Saturday 24th June 2017, and we are open for submissions for our Micro Fiction Competition and our Annual Anthology! Entry for both are free!

Competition: There is no theme for our competition, so feel free to send us up to three of your stories that are 100 words or fewer! Deadline for entries for our Micro Fiction Competition is Friday 31st March 2017. You can find out more information here: http://nationalflashfictionday.co.uk/comp.html

Anthology: Once again we are delighted to open ourselves up to submissions for the annual NFFD anthology. This year the theme is Life As You Know It.

This year’s editors will be the Co-Director of National Flash-Fiction Day, Santino Prinzi, and renowned flash-fiction writer, Meg Pokrass.

We want stories inspired by the lens of your own experiences, stories that navigate life and the world as only your characters know how. Tales of hope, loss, fear, and resilience. Flashes about identity, vulnerability, and triumph. We want you to harness and make use of your own experiences in fiction: What are your secrets? What makes you cry? What keeps you awake? Feel free to interpret “life as you know it” however you like, but your flashes must fit the theme in some way.

However you care to work with our theme, we want to read your stories. The word limit is 500 words, and you can submit up to 3 stories. Please include them in the email as MS Word attachments, and follow all the guidelines below.

All writers who have a story selected for the anthology will receive a free print copy of the book upon publication. Deadline for entries for our Anthology is Friday 14th April 2017.

You can find out more information here: http://nationalflashfictionday.co.uk/anth.html

This year we will be launching the anthology the U.K.’s first ever Flash Fiction Literary Festival, which will be taking place in Bath.

‘Dots’ by Santino Prinzi

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The Nottingham Review is proud to present our first print publication! This debut collection of delicate, precise flash fictions examines a diverse range of characters whose perceptions of everyday life are challenged by their interactions with those around them. Dots explores how our views of the world may not always connect to reality.

dotsweb_1_orig

“Santino Prinzi’s engaging, well-paced stories combine the contemporary moment of Netflix and Facebook with the timeless struggles in human relationships. Sometimes poignant, sometimes humorous, always insightful, Dots shows Prinzi’s promise as a great storyteller.” – Carrie Etter
“Reading one of Santino Prinzi’s stories is like watching a master stonemason at work. He carves his stories, with fine strokes of a chisel composed of words. At the end he leaves a breathless sculpture, standing solid and immovable in the mind.” – Calum Kerr

Only £5 (plus P&P), 75pp

Dots can be ordered in print from our shop or as an ebook on Amazon. Orders will be sent out before the end of September.

London StorySLAM:Live – Call For Submissions – Thursday 01 October – Southbank Centre

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Light2015

London StorySLAM:Live –  The brightest flame casts the darkest shadow… 

Take to the literary spotlight and impress our panel of judges.

Write and perform a five-minute short story on the theme of ‘Shining’ for your chance to triumph.

Plus, meet fellow aspiring authors and be a part of London’s literary scene. For ages 16+

Spirit Level at Royal Festival Hall on Thursday 01 October – Southbank Centre.

See London StorySLAM:Live for inspiration and to receive our newsletter.

BOOK HERE.