News
Dear Leo #9
The Misfits How writing outsiders can make you truly, truly outrageous by Leonora Desar I am not talking about the punk rock band. I am not talking about a Flannery O’Conner character, or even the Misfits, the rival all-girl group in my favorite 80’s cartoon ever, Jem...
Dear Leo #8
Betty and Veronica— or how opposites attract (the reader) by Leonora Desar Opposites are in. This is in the tradition not only of Paula Abdul, but of film, literature, comics, TV shows. Infomercials, probably, too. There’s Betty and Veronica (Archie). Mike and Eleven...
The Dear Leo Call for Questions
Is there something you’ve always wanted to know about the writing process? Or maybe you’re curious about the submission process? Maybe you want to know why LEO never wears matching socks, why she’s obsessed with ice cream, why she never takes a normal bio pic. ...
Negative Capability by Josh Russell
After her wife dies (cancer, brain, sudden), she watches lectures her wife recorded for her students, videos she’d never seen while Pam was alive.
Protrusions by Misty Urban
They’re called mandibular tori, and yes, since you’re asking, they do hurt, a little, often, not in a take-me-to-the-dentist-immediately way but in an ongoing, low-grade, what-can-you-do-but-learn-to-live-with-it kind of way.
Trip-trapping by Sara Hills
The autumn I turn ten, we leave my dad and the crusted expanse of Arizona desert, hard-packed sand dotted with dried grass and shriveled cacti, for the suburbs of Chicago.
Pigs Die by Constance Malloy
I envied the pigs their voice. They weren’t silenced. Well, not before the electrocution or before the Hog Sticker with his 18-inch blade sliced the swine’s throats as they hung upside down.
En Aeropuertos by Pat Foran
I’m in a line, a line of lines, waiting to check in for my flight to Monterrey. The line isn’t moving.
Uncle by Anthony Varallo
Uncle says we are not to disturb him when he is in the basement. Because the basement is his place. His. Got it?
Last Day by Briana Maley
You wake up thinking not about dying, but about Trina DeMartini and the inside of her warm mouth and all the places you want her to put it, and maybe if you’re being honest a little bit about your Algebra teacher.
Issue 22
Featuring new flash by Madeline Anthes, Anthony Varallo, Constance Malloy, Lucy Zhang, Josh Russell, Pat Foran, Daniel Roy Connelly, Briana Maley, Sara Hills, and Misty Urban.
Dear Leo #7
In Praise of Writing “Dull” by Leonora Desar Or how a simple writing prompt is better than all the good ideas— One day, instead of writing, I was doing my usual. I googled: “writers better than I am” and “writers that will inspire me to get off my butt.” I came across...
Exciting BIFFY 50 News!
Huge Congratulations to the writers of 3 NFFR Stories that have been named to the Best British & Irish Flash Fiction 2019-2020 aka the BIFFY50! Also high five to Founding Editor Meg Pokrass as well for her story in Electric Lit, one of our Meg favorites! More Than...
Special Issue: Triptychs
This special issue features work published as part of our “Triptych” feature, including work by Meg Pokrass, Mary Thompson, Paul Beckman, Jude Higgins, Elisabeth Ingram Wallace, and more.
Special Issue: Anton Chekhov Prize for Very Short Fiction 2020
Congratulations to Amina Gautier, Cyn Nooney, Emily Kiernan, Luke Rolfes, and all of our finalists. Special thanks to guest judge Hugh Behm-Steinberg.
Anton Chekhov Award for Very Short Fiction 2020 judged by Hugh Behm-Steinberg
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 is considered to be among the greatest writers of...
The Anton Chekhov Prize for Very Short Fiction
Contest Guidelines: Open June 5th, 2020. Entries for the Anton Chekhov Prize for Very Short Fiction should be 800 words or less. Submissions should be unpublished and in .rtf, .doc, or .docx format. Deadline is July 15th, 2020. The entries will be read blind by...
Issue #21: Disneyland Is Closed
Featuring new flash by Rosie Garland, Nuala O’Connor, Daryl Scroggins, Mary Thompson, Natalie Teal McAllister, Kathleene Donahoo, Rick Krizman, Alan Michael Parker, Evan James Sheldon, and Faye Brinsmead.
Special Issue: Horo-Flashes
In the best traditions of public service publishing, New Flash Fiction Review asked the brightest stars of flash fiction to gaze into the heavens and share something celestial — their spaced-out stories and astral life projections as foretold by the twelve Signs of the Zodiac. This special issue collects work published as part of our “Horo-Flash” feature.
Issue 20: Surreal Flash Fiction
Featuring flash by Aimee Parkison, Frankie McMillan, Jenny Stalter, Nod Ghosh, Epiphany Ferrell, Morgana MacLeod, Cristina Fernandez Valls , Kim Hagerich, Stephanie Devine, Jefferson Navicky, Phebe Jewell, Robin Littell, and Katerina Kishchynskam translated by Alice Chester.