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COMING ATTRACTIONS

Our Valentine’s Gifts To Readers . . . And Writers

On February 14, we’ll be posting a whole new set of stories to read as we announce—and publish—the winner and honorable mentions in our Winter 2024 Screw Turn Flash Fiction Competition, which closed to submissions just two days ago. Come back then and give them a read.

The very next day, on February 15, we’ll be OPENING submissions to the Spring 2024 Ghost Story Supernatural Fiction Award contest, for full-length short stories on a supernatural or magic realism theme. If you’re a writer, you may want to take a look at our complete guidelines.

Happy reading—and exciting writing. — The Editor

BEST SMALL FICTIONS

Our Nominations For 2023

We’ve just handed in our nominations to the Best Small Fictions competition for flash fiction (1,000 words or fewer) published during the current year. Best Small Fictions allows us to enter five stories in the contest, and here are the ones we’ve presented to them, in no particular order:

Beat The Devil, by Mona Susan Power

The Barnyard And the Graveyard, by Maureen McEly

Night Marcher, by Michael Kaukeano Sonray-Kelly

The Pickup, by Kathryn Pratt Russell

The Lair, by Brid Cummings

Meanwhile, we are now accepting submissions to our own flash fiction contest—The Screw Turn Flash Fiction Competition. The Deadline is January 31, and the winner and honorable mention will be published on Valentine’s Day. Complete guidelines are available here.

Cheers—The Editor

OPEN TO SUBMISSIONS

Our Screw Turn Flash Fiction Competition

Got a short-short story—under 1,000 words—on a supernatural or magic realism theme that you’re ready to start submitting to publications? Or maybe you’ve got one rattling around in your brain that you’ve been thinking about committing to paper, or to a computer screen?

Well, our Winter contest for flash fiction—AKA sudden, or brief, or short-short fiction—is now open to submissions. If you’d like to have a look at our guidelines, you can access them here.

Happy holiday season — The Editor

PUSHCART NOMINATIONS

Our Pushcart Prize Nominations For 2023

The Ghost Story has nominated six stories published here in 2023 for the prestigious Pushcart Prizes. We nominated winners/honorable mentions from The Ghost Story Supernatural Fiction Award (full-length short stories) as well as winners/honorable mentions in The Screw Turn Flash Fiction Competition. In no particular order, here is our list, along with a link to each nominated piece:

The Cobbler’s Daughter, by Joseph Bathanti

Gina Of Golden Gardens, by Shala Erlich

Night Marcher, by Michael Kaukeano Sonray-Kelly

The Barnyard And The Graveyard, by Maureen McEly

Door To Door, by Ruth Schemmel

The Carny, by Ann O’Mara Heyward

Enjoy. — The Editor

BTW . . . The Winter 2024 Screw Turn Flash Fiction Competition opens to submissions on December 1.