Who made the cut?

After a grueling selection process, 10 stories have made it out alive. This marks our fifth Halloween contest, and while the quality of submissions always bowls us over, carving these tremendous entries down to a Top 10 was brutal. 

This contest saw a higher than average percentage of entries from American writers, but as always, we are thrilled to see submissions trickle in from around the globe. In addition to the States, we read work from writers stationed in Australia, Bahamas, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, and (of course) the U.K.

And now on to the good stuff…

The following writers had stories that made it through several rounds of cuts, but didn’t quite squeak into the Top 10.

Close-but-no-cigar shortlist shout-outs go to:

Sarah Barbet-Sawyer
Sean Barrett
Nathan Blixt
Alicia Bones
Andrew Bourelle
Gordon Brown
Michael Carter
Karolina Connolly
Celia Daniels
Christina Dalcher
Jaq Evans (2)
Robert Fael
Donna Greenwood
Wiebo Grobler 
Aaron Housholder
Anastasia Kirchoff
Mark Left
Matt Leibel
Emily Livingstone
Rachel McCafferty
Brianna McNish (2)
Chris Milam
Quentin Norris
Erin Perry Willis
James Potter
Timothy Roberts
David Rochon
Aeryn Rudel (2)
Jeffrey Spinazzola
Christopher Stanley
Alyssa Striplin
William Thompson
Kaleb Tutt
Margret Wiggins
Brian Wilson

The Top 10 that you’ll find below will be published in our forthcoming Flash Monster 2018 mega-issue, which will drop on Halloween. They will also be included in our annual Prize Winners Anthology print issue, to be published next year. 

10th Place – “The Scaredy Men” by S.E. Casey

9th Place – “Morkus” by Justin Eells

8th Place – “Sawdust” by James Turner

7th Place – “Ink” by Alpheus Williams

6th Place – “Manticore” by Stuart Airey

5th Place – “I’ve Seen the Other Shadow in the City” by Emma Miller

4th Place – “Indoors” by Travis Dahlke

And now on to the three stories that really blew us away.

3rd Place ($50)

“Our Immortal Night”
by Neil Clark

2nd Place ($100)

“The Lamppost Huggers”
by Christopher Stanley

1st Place ($200)

“Ursa Major”
by Jen Corrigan

Congrats to the winners and a huge thanks to everyone who participated in our Flash Monster 2018 contest! Always a pleasure to read your work, and we couldn’t host these contests without you.

Check back tomorrow for the Flash Monster mega-issue.