It was a real barnburner…

…but we’ve got our Top 10 locked in. Competition was fierce as usual with a large number of top notch stories. Plenty of interesting angles taken with this elemental prompt, although bleak and apocalyptic themes seemed to win the day. It’s as if you know we like our flash fiction drenched in dread. 

We were thrilled to read work from writers stationed in Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Spain, UAE, UK, and USA.

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:

Seth Augenstein
Edward Barnfield
William Burtch
Michael Carter
Meghan Corwin
Marilee Dahlman
Paul de Denus
Allison deFreese
Luca Demetriadi
Justin Eells
Christa Feazell
Fannie Gray
Alyssa Jordan
Jami Kimbrell
Kelsey Larson
Anushree Nande
Amanda O’Callaghan
Keely O’Shaughnessy
Belicia Rhea (2)
Barbara Rogers
W.R. Soasey
Steven Stampone
Sid Treanor
Alpheus Williams (3)
Holly Woodward
Maura Yzmore

The Top 10 that you’ll find below will be published in our forthcoming Elemental Flash mega-issue, which will drop within a week. They will also be included in a future Prize Winners Anthology print issue.

10th – “MidasFauna” by Philip Webb Gregg

9th  – “The Barbie Tree” by Max Hipp

8th – “The Plague Golem” by Nicki Blake

7th – “Goodbye to Rock” by Richard Leis

6th – “The Seed” by Mark Granger

5th – “Ode to Three” by Wiebo Grobler

4th – “Dark Spin” by Stuart Airey

And now for the three stories that really made a splash…

3rd Prize ($100)

“Without Fear or Favour”
by Christopher Stanley

2nd Prize ($200)

“The Sirens”
by Kelsey Larson

1st Prize ($300)

“The Alchemist of Desert Storm”
by Addie Schweiss

Congrats to the winners and a huge thanks to everyone who participated in our Elemental Flash contest! 

Check back soon for the Elemental Flash mega-issue.