I have so much to tell you. Issue 90 is a double issue with 17 pieces of flash brilliance. Thank you to everyone who lent a hand in getting this issue done. To the submissions editors, Circuit Trainers from SmokeLong Fitness, the creative writing classes and their instructors who read the submissions queue, thank you for giving each submission so much care and thought. Thank you to our team of seven senior editors, who this time had a bit more to do with The SmokeLong Grand Micro Contest. And to the interviewers headed up by Michael Czyzniejewski: you always ask the best questions. The author interview—the discussion—is so central to what we want to do in the community. Thank you to the artists. When we lost our art director a few years ago, Helen Rye stepped in and said We can do it, Chris! Please don’t implode! And she has done so much to make sure that doesn’t happen. She is “SmokeLong” when the art says “Art by SmokeLong,” though she doesn’t really want me to say this.
A word about the cover: This photograph was taken in Rocinha, a favela in Rio de Janeiro. To thank this community, SmokeLong has donated to Acorda Capoeira, an organization in Rocinha with the mission to change lives through the art of Capoeira and offer new opportunities to young people by providing a sanctuary from crime and violence.
We have just finished Promptember, a monthish of free write-in and open mic events—five per week!—and are excited to weave future write-ins into our workshop program. One reason we offered this series of free events was to raise some money and awareness for SAFTA. The participants of Promptember raised around $600, which we rounded up to $700. This is enough to fund The SmokeLong Fellowship for Trans Writers, a residency at SAFTA’s farm near Knoxville, Tennessee, for another year. Sundress Academy for the Arts does so much for our community and beyond. If you have a few dollars this holiday season to support them, I’m sure they’d be thrilled.
Soon, SmokeLong will be launching Flash World, a newsletter/magazine space for the flash community—a place to meet and exchange information relevant to the art we create. You’ll be able to sign up free soon. Keep watching our social media channels for information about Flash World. While this is run by SmokeLong, it’s for the entire world of flash. More information coming soon.
We’re coming to Singapore! If you’re in Singapore on January 16th, we hope you’ll join us for an evening of flash and flash-adjacent readings at Book Bar. We can’t wait to be back. Our last reading there was great fun. In March we’ll of course be at AWP. Our off-site event is at Old Major on Thursday evening from 6pm to who knows? Look for more info soon. And we’re in the planning stages of a SmokeLong on the Road trip to the US West Coast. Stay tuned!
Deadlines Approaching! Today is the last day to apply for the 2026 (January-June) Emerging Writer Fellowship. The deadline for The SmokeLong Workshop Prize is December 31 to be considered for the 2025 prize. Any current or previous participant who has published something they started in a SmokeLong workshop is eligible to win this prize. It’s free to enter, and you can find this on our Submittable page. The deadline to join SmokeLong Fitness, the year-round community workshop of SmokeLong, is December 31st to test-run the community in Jan/Feb, but we like to get new members in about a week early to do some onboarding. Use the discount code COMMUNITY to get $10 off.
Dig in to Issue 90—17 works of flash and micro we love and are thrilled to share with you.
Christopher
