We have some fantastic flash fiction lined up for May. Here’s a little taster to whet your appetite:
7 May 2021 – ‘Dandelion Coffee’ by Maia Rocklin:
I find the wild man only on the days he wants to be found. His is the domain of the in-between, transient as the morning mist caged beneath the forest canopy, his shoddy campsite with its single-person tent and battered cooking gear always reappearing in a new location as if magicked there. Never so much as a bent leaf to mark his passing. He says it’s because he doesn’t want to settle down, but when I’m older I’ll learn the truth: as long as he keeps moving, he can stay free.
14 May 2021 – ‘The Daughter’ by Alex Barr:
She seems no more than nine. He leans against her, his head on her shoulder, a strange posture for a father. He has an untidy reddish beard and wears a grey knitted hat, close-fitting. His face is slightly puffy. His eyes are closed. In the half-hour I’ve been patrolling the platform waiting for my train, passing their bench, he hasn’t opened them. The girl is staring straight ahead and doesn’t seem to register my concern.
21 May 2021 – ‘Essential Manners for Grocery Shopping on a Tuesday Morning’ by A. M. Strohman:
People should be courteous. Say please. Thank you. Excuse me. Smile at babies, like that one in the stroller by the cheese counter. Two little lower front teeth. Wide brown eyes. Mouth an adorable round O.
28 May 2021 – ‘Apple Picking’ by Jeanine Skowronski:
Behind her grandmother’s house, there is an old, dead apple orchard. It’s a stretch of gnarled trees with shriveled leaves; bruised, brown fruit bobbing on yellow grass. Sometimes, Lucy asks a boy to meet in its middle, under the big, rotting Gravenstein tree. ‘At midnight,’ she whispers, because everything shimmers in moonlight, because it’s the only spot in town where the sky will show its stars.
If you want to submit a flash for publication on our website, see out submissions page. We pay £10 for each piece published.
