Unwrap the Flash Monster results
Though we’ve been running these annual Flash Monster contests since 2014, this is the first time the contest bled into December. You all answered the festively monstrous call with stories that either hinged on the holiday season, used it as a subtle backdrop, or didn’t incorporate the holidays at all. That’s the kind of mix we wanted for this special edition of Flash Monster, and we’re looking forward to gifting this mega-issue by the end of the week.
Interestingly enough, given the season, we saw a lot of the Top 10 stories focusing either on elusive connections with other people as essential to happiness, or alternately proving the existentialist maxim that “hell is other people.” Whether other people are literally connected (or ingested) in sinister ways, or the horror lies in separation, this version of Flash Monster showcases the wonderful awfulness and perverse beauty of interpersonal relationships.
Close-but-no-cigar shortlist shout-outs go to:
Jonathan Cardew
Amanda Chiado
Donna Greenwood
Wiebo Grobler
James Holland
Navissa Kaiser
Nancy Levan
Eliot Li (2)
Samantha Rafferty
Kim Rogers
Aeryn Rudel
Dan Scamell
Clare Sears
Chelsea Stickle
The Top 10 that you’ll find below will be published in our forthcoming
Flash Monster mega-issue, which will be arrive by the end of the week.
They will also be included in a future Prize Winners Anthology print issue.
10th: “Would You Be Mad if I Got Store Credit Instead?”
by
9th: “Name the Unknown and Kill It” by
8th: “Black Christmas” by Colin Alexander
7th: “Here We Come A-Wassailing” by
6th: “Love Among the Kaiju” by
5th: “Home for Christmas” by
4th: “Ruination” by
And now for the three stories that really spooked us…
3rd Prize ($100)
“Night Shift”
by
2nd Prize ($200)
“Baby”
by Andrea Goyan
1st Prize ($300)
“Rabbit Mountain”
by Michael Carter
Congrats to the winners and a huge thanks to everyone who participated in our first-ever holiday Flash Monster contest!
Check back by Festivus for the Flash Monster mega-issue.
The Molotov Cocktail 