Flash Villain Contest

Flash Villain is now closed.

Check back for results
on March 1st, 2021 at 9am PST.

Slackers, rejoice!

Procrastinator Special keeps late entries
open until February 19th.

“I firmly believe that a story
is only as good as the villain.”

– Clive Barker

Submit to Flash Villain

In storytelling, beneficence is overrated. So, for this contest, we’re looking for malice and ill-intent. Give us misunderstood antiheros or characters rotten to their cores. You can go as literal or figurative with your villain as you want. Keep them lurking in the shadows or tell the story from their perspective. Defy archetypal expectations or fully immerse yourself in the trappings of the dark side.

Malevolence could be subtle or nuanced, everyday villainy or crossing the line into cartoonish supervillainy. Your villain could take the form of a person, an animal, a seemingly inanimate object, a supernatural entity, a corrupt system, an undigested bit of beef, you name it. The only thematic requirement is that there is some sort of antagonistic force at work within your story.

We like literary-adjacent approaches, but we also dig full-on genre and pulpy takes as well. The sweet spot is often somewhere in the middle.

The top three entries will win cash money (USD).

$300 for Flash Villain winner

$200 for 2nd place

$100 for 3rd place

We also give mad respect to 4th-10th place,
publishing them in our Flash Villain mega-issue
and in a future print anthology, with contributor copy included.

Submit to Flash Villain

Follow these guidelines, and your entry could take over the world.

– All submissions must absolutely be under 1,000 words, and we tend to look more kindly on 750 or fewer because… ACORN-STEALING SQUIRREL!

– All contest submissions will be read blind, so we won’t be playing favorites.

– Please paste your entry into the corresponding field. Do not list your name anywhere or we’ll assume you don’t know to read.

– Costs $8 $10 to enter during Procrastinator Special (Sorry, no refunds.)

– We reserve the right to extend deadlines if necessary (and you can expect our usual Procrastinator’s Special with corresponding increase in entry fee for you slackers).

– Submissions must be previously unpublished work, and you will retain copyright (duh). By entering this contest, you give us permission to publish your work (if selected for our Top 10) both online and in a future print anthology.

– No limit on how many entries you can submit, but you must submit them one at a time. Don’t just mash them all in there.

– Contest ~~deadline is end of day (PST) Monday, February 15th, 2021.~~ Procrastinator special final deadline is end of day (PST) Friday, February 19th. Winners announced on March 1st and we’ll unleash the Flash Villain mega-issue shortly thereafter.

– And, most importantly, this is a FLASH VILLAIN contest, so you must include some sort of antihero, villain, malevolent force, or malicious act. But again, this can be in almost any form imaginable.

So that means you can do something like this…