We have closed the door on submissions to the Summer 2026 Screw Turn Flash Fiction Competition. We’re in a reading and judging period now, and we’ll announce (and publish) the winner and a pair of honorable mentions on or before July 31. Be sure to come back and give them a read. We’ll also be in touch with everyone who entered the contest this time around to acknowledge and thank them for their participation. As always, we received many competitive submissions.

Meanwhile, on August 1, the Fall 2026 Ghost Story Supernatural Fiction Award competition, for full-length short stories incorporating a supernatural or magical realism theme or element, will OPEN to submissions, with a deadline of September 30. If you’re thinking of submitting a tale, the complete guidelines are available elsewhere on our home page. Cheers — the Editor

Look up to the top of the TGS Home Page, and you’ll see that we’ve listed the new Top Three in the Supernatural Fiction Award—this trio of tales for our Spring 2026 contest iteration. Congratulations to winner Mari Harrison, and honorable mentions Alexander Weinstein and Gerard J Waggett. These are three awesome and original short stories in our unique supernatural/magic realism genre, each one a terrific read for its own individual reasons. Have a read and enjoy, and, if you’re a writer of our kind of fiction, be advised that our Summer 2026 Screw Turn Flash Fiction Competition opens for submissions on June 6. Cheers, everyone.

The Ghost Story’s editor and publisher, Paul Guernsey, has published a new novel—his fourth—that’s been out for not quite two months. Rolling Back the River is an outdoor adventure story that contains strong elements of magical realism—including scenes and dreams that take place in both Maine and South America. A lot of things have been happening with RBtR: reviews, newspaper and television interviews, and book signing events planned out through at least the end of June. We’ve got a separate website now to post news and updates as well as author events related to the book. If you’ve got an interest, check out PaulGuernsey.com. Of course, the novel itself is available via all the usual online sources—and can doubtlessly be ordered through your local bookstore. Cheers—the editor.

TGS Editor and Publisher Paul Guernsey has a new book out in the world—his fourth novel. The title is Rolling Back the River, published by Stackpole Books, an imprint of Globe Pequot, and while it isn’t a ghost story, it contains strong elements of magical realism and is mostly set in Argentina, home country of Jorge Luis Borges and Julio Cortázar, two pioneers of the magical realism movement. The protagonist of RBtR is a man from Maine named Vincent Mapp, who is an expert and passionate fly fisherman—fly fishing itself being rather mysterious and magical, don’t you agree? As Vincent proceeds through his angling adventures on two continents, in addition to viewing himself as having embarked on a quest for a sacred grail in the form of an elusive, and perhaps mythical, salmon, he is also powerfully motivated by vivid dreams that serve to warn him and instruct him about where he has gone wrong in his life. Rolling Back the River is Paul Guernsey’s fourth novel—all of which are works of magic realism—and if you’d like to put your name in the magic Goodreads hat for a chance at winning one of 10 free books signed by the author, you can do that here.

A reminder that we are  currently accepting submissions to the Spring 2026 Ghost Story Supernatural Fiction Award competition for full-length short stories—1,500-10,000 words—on a supernatural or magical realism theme. Deadline is April 30, with the winner and two honorable mentions published right here on June 1. If you’ve got a piece you are thinking of submitting, please check the links at the top of our home page for guidelines, access to our electronic submissions system, and access to our most recent winning and honorable mention stories—as well as all the stories we’ve awarded and published over the past 11 years. Good luck!

It’s Valentines Day—which for us here at TGS is always the day when we post the winner and honorable mentions in the Winter Screw Turn Flash Fiction Competition. Our 2026 winter winner is Ralph Wales Huntley, of Portland, Oregon, for his timely and topical sudden-fiction piece, “Influencer.” In addition, Ralph is also one of our honorable mentions—the first time in more than a decade that’s ever happened. His honorable mention piece—one of three we’re publishing—is titled “Rough Patch.” As most TGS fans likely are already aware, we usually only honor two honorable mentions in each iteration of our contest—but sometimes the competitive quality of several stories forces us to make an exception . . . and this was one of those times. So now you’ve got four brand-new, never-before-been-published, chilling and/or though provoking pieces of supernatural sudden fiction to read over the course of several cold winter nights. They’re available, along with all of our many past winners and honorable mentions, right . . . HERE. Enjoy.

TGS Editor and Publisher Paul Guernsey has a new book coming out with a publication date of February 17. Rolling Back the River is a novel being published by Stackpole Books, an imprint of Globe Pequot, and while it isn’t a ghost story, it contains strong elements of magic realism and is mostly set in Argentina, home country of Jorge Luis Borges and Julio Cortázar, two pioneers of the magic realism movement. This is Guernsey’s fourth novel—all of which are works of magic realism—and if you’d like to read and hear more about it, visit the new website dedicated to Guernsey’s writing at PaulGuernsey.com. Cheers.

The Winter 2026 Screw Turn Flash Fiction Competition is now OPEN to submissions of sudden fiction—1,000 words or fewer—on a supernatural or magic realism theme. If you’ve got a piece you are thinking of submitting, please check the links at the top of our home page for guidelines, access to our electronic submissions system, and access to all of our previous winning and honorable mention stories. Good luck!

Joseph Bathanti, winner of our most recent Supernatural Fiction Award for his story “Kesh,” has had quite a distinguished writing career. He is the former North Carolina Poet Laureate (2012-14) and recipient of the North Carolina Award in Literature, the state’s highest civilian honor. He is the author of 20 books. His latest volume of poetry, Light at the Seam, from LSU Press, won the 2022 Roanoke Chowan Prize, awarded annually by the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association for best book of poetry in a given year, as well as the 2023 Brockman-Campbell Award, given annually by the North Carolina Poetry Society, for the best book of poetry published by a North Carolina poet in the previous year. The Act of Contrition & Other Stories, winner of the Eastover Prize for Fiction, from Eastover Press, was published in July of 2023. His novella, The Stranger, is forthcoming in 2024 from Regal House Press. Bathanti is McFarlane Family Distinguished Professor of Interdisciplinary Education at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. He served as the 2016 Charles George VA Medical Center Writer-in-Residence in Asheville, NC, and is the co-founder of the Medical Center’s Creative Writing Program. Bahtanti’s flash fiction piece, “Jesus,” won the Summer 2022 Screw Turn Flash Fiction Competition. His story, “The Cobbler’s Daughter,” was an honorable mention in our Fall 2023 Supernatural Fiction Award contest.

Although the Fall 2025 Ghost Story Supernatural Fiction Award competition is now in the record books—winner and honorable mentions selected, payed, and published . . . supernatural story and magic realism writers don’t have to wait long for another contest. November is our only month-long break of the year, after which we move right into the Winter 2026 Screw Turn Flash Fiction Competition for brief tales of 1,000 words or fewer. This contest opens to submissions on December 1, closes to submissions on January 31 . . . and the winner and honorable mentions are published on February 14. You can find the guidelines right here.