Narrowing the field of entrants from 1476 to 45 for the long list and now to 25 for the shortlist has taken weeks. Thank you to the 17 SmokeLong readers who helped us get this far!
Each of the stories on the long list and the shortlist below is a memorable example of flash. Ten of the narratives on the list below will make it into the competition issue coming out on December 19.
If you see your title on this list, please feel free to express your elation wildly, but please do so without identifying your title. Blind judging is ongoing.
Look for the announcement of the finalists on Wednesday, December 14!
The SmokeLong Quarterly Award for Flash Fiction Shortlist
A Ghost in 5 Stages
Between Earthquakes
Chambered
Death Drive
Do You
Drowning on Main Street
Eddie, in Three Parts
Emergency Contact
Generation Opioid
Lil Fucker
Love at the Rodeo
Museum of Natural History
My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys
Remembrance
Somewhere in Eastern Europe, a Tiger Hides in a Puffy Jacket
Superheroes and Roses
Taco Tuesday
The Resident in Room 402
The Violence of Grape Popsicles in the Fall
The Way the Cookie Crumbles
The Whirlwind
vacations
We are Janet Jackson
What Fits in a Mason Jar
What We Always Carry With Us
A SmokeLong Summer 24!