Who has emerged?

You’ve heard it said umpteen times in the past two months, but these are indeed strange days. All the more reason to write strange flash fiction, we say, and you delivered with one of our most hotly contested competitions to date. With the world in chaos and many 20th century speculative fiction plots playing out in real life, we found shelter in the dark and offbeat places you took us. Turns out that fictional apocalypses are a lot more fun than the real thing! The Top 10 (okay, Top 11—we couldn’t help ourselves) that has emerged strikes a compelling balance between insight into our humanity and heaping doses of gonzo escapism, giving us beauty amid blight.

This might just be our most international contest yet. We we thrilled to read entries from Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Finland, Germany, Israel, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, the UK, and the USA. 

But if you’re like us, quarantine-brain can only handle so much information before it starts turning into grey goo, so I suppose it’s about time we get to the goods.

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:

Christopher Aguiar
Colin Alcock
Andrew Bourelle
Jill Bronfman
Neil Clark
Christina Dalcher
Andrea DeAngelis
Patrick Downing
Frank Dullaghan
Yael Duvdevani
Wiebo Grobler
Jude Higgins
Jenny Johnson
Jackson Kuhl
Luis Jefté Lacourt
William Lanford
Miguel Lasala
Richard Leis
Connor Lucey
Lance Moody
Neil Orts
Rebecca Owen
Erin Perry Willis
Matthew Polmounter
Aeryn Rudel
Daniel Scamell
Kyra Simone
Luke Sprunger
Chelsea Stickle
Alpheus Williams
Maura Yzmore
Elliott Zee

The Top 10 that you’ll find below will be published in our forthcoming Flashpocalypse mega-issue, which will drop within a week. They will also be included in Vol. 6 of the Prize Winners Anthology print issue (Vol. 5 is one the way soon!).

10th Place (tie)– “To Catch a Moon” by Tiffany Meuret &
“Formicaries” by Greg Girvan 

9th Place – “Mourning Cloak” by Greg Tebbano

8th Place – “The Favor” by Bill Richter

7th Place – “Dead Trees Give No Shelter” by Dom Wilton

6th Place – “Bone Stew” by Samantha Jean Coxall

5th Place – “After the Ghosts” by Christopher Stanley

4th Place – “Warden of the Sun” by Chris Panatier

And now on to the three stories that really lit things up…

3rd Place ($75)

“The Story Collector”
by Quentin Norris

2nd Place ($150)

“Pets”
by Nick Story

1st Place ($300)

“Angels Only Dance
with Astronauts”
by Donna L. Greenwood

Congrats to the winners and a huge thanks to everyone who participated in our Flashpocalypse contest.

Check back next week for the Flashpocalypse mega-issue.