The Screw Turn Flash Fiction Competition

Summer 2024

Directly below, you’ll find three chilling tales for a hot summer: the winner and two honorable mentions in our biannual short-short (under 1,000 words) story contest. Enjoy! Our next contest, The Ghost Story Supernatural Fiction Award, for full-length short stories, is coming right up, opening to submissions on August 1, with a deadline of September 30, and all winning stories published on Halloween. If you’re a writer and that’s of interest to you, have a look at our contest guidelines.

The Screw Turn Flash Fiction Competition

. . . is now CLOSED to submissions.

We’ll be announcing and publishing our winner and honorable mentions on or before July 31. But that’s not the end of opportunities for writers to compete, because The Ghost Story Supernatural Fiction Award, for full-length short stories, opens to submissions on August 1. The deadline is September 30, with winners announced on Halloween. You can read more about it here.

Don’t forget to stop back in a couple of weeks to read our top three flash-fiction pieces!

Now Available For Your Reading Pleasure

We’ve just published the winner and two honorable mentions in the Spring 2024 Ghost Story Supernatural Fiction Award competition for full-length stories on a supernatural or magic realism theme. You’ll find them right here.

For Spring 2024 is . . . Now CLOSED To Submissions

We will announce and publish the winners here on June 1

Our contests have been running since 2015. Our next contest is The Summer 2024 Screw Turn Flash Fiction Competition, for sudden stories of 1,000 words or fewer. You’ll find our guidelines here.

Happy writing, happy reading.

The Ghost Story Supernatural Fiction Award

As we’ve done every spring and fall since 2015, The Ghost Story is running a competition for full-length short stories on a supernatural or magic realism theme—and we are now accepting submissions.

The winner receives $1,500 plus publication, and we also publish two honorable mention pieces, the authors of which each get a $300 cash award.

If you’re thinking of entering, please read the complete guidelines. The guidelines page also includes a link to our electronic submissions system.

And, if you’d like to read some of our past winners and honorable mentions, they’re all available for your reading pleasure here.

Cheers — The Editor

Our Winter 2024 Flash Fiction Winners

As promised, here is the winning story, accompanied by three honorable mentions, in the latest running of The Screw Turn Flash Fiction Competition. We think you’ll find that, unlike a lot of ghost stories, three of our four award-winning pieces contain elements of humor—which we think is especially welcome in midwinter, and at a time when so much of the world seems to be shadowed by gloom. And our winning piece, a dark and twisted—but also funny—romance is especially appropriate for today’s romantic holiday. Happy reading—and Happy Valentines Day.

WINNER
“He Loved His Mamma And His Mayonnaise” by Gerard J Waggett

HONORABLE MENTION
“Keep Your Head On” by Robert Garner McBrearty

HONORABLE MENTION
“The Rocking Chair” by William Weissinger

HONORABLE MENTION
“Storm And A Lonely Headstone” by Ash Kennedy

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

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

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

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.