For #32, NFFR will be reading flash fiction stories of up to 500 words, again. We’ll be accepting submissions from December 15 to January 14, 2024. For #32, we are happy to announce a theme: Animal Life.

Send us your stories that speak to us about animal lives, about animals in our lives, or animals in history, or in our human-animal futures. Maybe a certain dog or cat just likes to walk through or inhabit (in their way) your stories. Maybe your attitudes about animals (or a certain animal) have changed over time and this could bring out a theme in your flash fiction. What do your characters’ relationships with animals reveal? All animals are welcome—land, sea, air. We welcome varied and creative interpretations of the theme. Over-sentimentality can be a hazard here, so we want to challenge you to try to avoid that.

All other criteria guidelines (outside of this theme) remain the same.

• We invite you to submit one story.
• The maximum word count is 500 words.
• We don’t accept previously published material.
• Submissions only via Submittable.
• Simultaneous submits are cool, just do us the courtesy to withdraw it if needed.
• Please note all of our readings are anonymous, so please do not have any author information in your document, including as the file name, or we will have to reject it in fairness to the others and the principle of reading anonymously. 

As usual, include a cover letter including a brief bio. Also, include an originality pledge in your letter that affirms that your work is your own and that AI was not used in its creation.

And do read recent issues of NFFR to give you a sense of what we love.