News
Anton Chekhov Prize for Very Short Fiction

Anton Chekhov Prize for Very Short Fiction   New Flash Fiction Review continues to honor master storyteller Anton Chekhov through holding an annual award for excellence in flash fiction— or as they might have said, back in Chekhov’s time, “very short fiction”. Anton...

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3 NFFR Stories Selected for Best Small Fictions 2019

We are thrilled to announce that THREE stories from New Flash Fiction Review were selected for inclusion in Best Small Fiction 2019! Stories are "Shopgirl" by Dionne Irving Bremyer, "How Not to Become an Expat" by Kara Vernor, and "Insurance"by Elaine Chiew!...

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Anton Chekhov Prize for Very Short Fiction

2020 Anton Chekhov Prize for Very Short Fiction New Flash Fiction Review continues to honor master storyteller Anton Chekhov through holding an annual award for excellence in flash fiction. Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian playwright and short-story writer, who...

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2018 Pushcart Prize Nominations

Congratulations to our 2018 Pushcart Prize nominees! You can read the nominated stories below: Raki Kopernik, Homely Jaqueline Doyle, Pretty Girl AE Weisgerber, Sweet Violets Salvatore Difalco, Three Days Paul Crenshaw, “Fuck Zeus,” Ms. Lynne Said in Fourth Period...

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Anton Chekhov Prize 2018 Longlist is in!

Congratulations to all the authors who made the long list, and huge thanks to all who entered our first contest! Anastasia, My Broken Bird Auf Liebe Eingestellt Beneath the Pond Charred Cistern Hunger I Am Fluent In Spine Joe D. Takes Measure Kessler keeps his clothes...

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MicroWriMo Prompts by Meg Pokrass

PROMPTS ARE HERE! November 1st November 2nd November 3rd NFFR's Founding Editor/Managing Editor, Meg Pokrass, will be offering flash fiction prompts everyday in November. The prompts will be based on her stories from ALLIGATORS AT NIGHT, her new collection, available...

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Best Small Fictions, 2019 – Our Nominations

BEST SMALL FICTIONS 2019 NOMINATIONS: Everything, then Silence by Justin Hermann How Not to Become an Expat by Kara Vernor The Difference between Alligators and Crocodiles by Cathy Ulrich Two Girls Contemplate What Gorillas Do at Night by Angela Readman Anatomy of a...

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Anton Chekhov Prize 2018

Winners, Finalists, and Honourable Mentions Judge Nuala O’Connor’s results for the Anton Chekhov Prize for Very Short Fiction 2018 have come in. The stories were read blind, so it is very exciting to unveil the names of the winners, finalists, and honourable mentions!...

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Instruction Manuals for Writing Flash by Georgia Bellas

In the garden of flash: Three mini faux instruction manuals Pay attention to the weeds What’s growing inside you? What will you cultivate? Weeds push through cracks and take over. Look at them. Study them. Why uproot something that is flourishing? A weed by definition...

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Notes from the Slush Pile by Al Kratz

Beginnings   I’d like to share some ideas on beginnings that occurred to me after a recent run through the slush pile. REM wrote a great song called Begin the Begin on their album, Life’s Rich Pageant. It started: Birdie in the hand for life’s rich demand. A...

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3 NFFR stories in new Norton Anthology

— From Meg Pokrass, NFFR Founding Editor — I'm thrilled to be holding an advanced reading copy of W.W. Norton's anthology New Micro: Exceptionally Short fiction edited by Norton Anthology's editor James Thomas and microfiction author Robert Scotellaro! I was delighted...

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The Creative Process

—The Creative Process (Paris) in Collaboration with NFFR— We’re very excited here at New Flash Fiction Review! A handful of excerpts from New Flash Fiction Review‘s last 5 years have been selected by The Creative Process for an upcoming exhibition as part of the...

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Two by Two Story Collaborations

Feature Editor, Pamela Painter   I was delighted when Meg Pokrass asked me to be a Feature Editor for New Flash Fiction Review.  Here is my first Feature and one that I hope will continue beyond the first Two by Two Story Collaboration. The Guidelines: ...

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Gallows Pole by Kathy Hoyle

In the dead of summer, while the whiptails hide in sagebrush shadows, and everything blisters in the amber heat and there ain’t nothin but buzzards hummin for miles around, a hanged man dances on a gallows pole.

After by Claudia Monpere

and after and after and nothing changes, just the names of the children. This one drew birds wearing hats. That one had an orange juice popsicle for an imaginary friend.

Husband by Sara Cappell Thomason

I want a house, a wife, a steak dinner and all my bills paid on time. I want to settle down in a house and get paid. Dinner from my wife served on time

You, Visitor by Jane O’Sullivan

You don’t like her much, not that you can tell her that. Slugging along behind you, hands in pockets. Sullen as a fish despite the fucking dawn rising over the city, the glory of it.

Blue-naped Parrots See More Than They Say by Judy Darley

I date Brodie while I’m visiting Seattle. He shares a draughty old house with a bunch of roommates, including a blue-naped parrot who lives in a big cage looking out at a treehouse.