MARCH 2024

Softee
By Elizabeth Gassman

Anthony arrived in his truck on a Tuesday in June. It was the summer I learned to shave my legs.

I was working the register at Bodiddley’s market, where I had to wear a stiff, red cotton vest and khaki shorts. No denim. Mr. Bodiddley—Al Peterson was his name, but everyone, including his wife, called him Mr. Bodiddley—was very strict about this. In his truck, Anthony wore a white tank top curdled with sweat and chocolate stains. It was an ice cream truck. And even though there was a freezer full of desserts I could purchase for 25% off at the market, I bought a drumstick from Anthony every day for the rest of the summer after I saw him that first afternoon.

He was hairy, unlike any other man I’d seen. When I told him this two weeks or so after he started showing up, while I counted out the cash for my cone, he laughed.

“That’s cause they keep ’em clean shaven down here. Boot camp ready.”

JANUARY 2024

This month we feature the winners of our Pop-Up Writing Contest, who submitted stories for the prompts “Melting Icicles” and “Cold Wave.” The winning authors are Cath Barton, Roberta Beary, Helen Chambers, and Tricia Gates Brown. 

Melting Icicles
By Cath Barton

I don’t remember the first kiss. I do remember the walk back through the woods, the feeling of his arm round my shoulder, the excited fizz of that. At a certain point we stopped and he kissed me. But I don’t remember what that felt like. There’s a lot I don’t remember. But I remember the cold of that winter. The biting cold. And the icicles that hung from the high gutters of the houses in the street where I lived in a student flat. They grew downwards, like stalactites. He said they could be stalagmites. I knew they couldn’t, knew that the way to remember which was which was by thinking of the French words—‘tomber’ to fall and ‘monter’ to rise up. I knew I was right; I was the one studying French, not him. But I didn’t argue, because I wanted him to like me. I remember that. With a sinking feeling. And a sadness for my young self.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS!

10th Anniversary Anthology

Brilliant Flash Fiction celebrates its tenth anniversary in 2024 with an eBook and print anthology entitled TENacity. We are seeking flash fiction stories of 300 words or less on the subject of Tenacity. Writers do not have to use the word “tenacity” in their stories or titles; simply send us your best work expressing the concept of te·nac·i·ty:

1. the quality or fact of continuing to exist; persistence.”the tenacity of certain myths within the historical record”

Similar: persistence, determination, doggedness, single-mindedness, perseverance, stick-to-it-iveness, resolution, If someone calls you tenacious you’re probably the kind of person who never gives up and never stops trying – someone who does whatever is required to accomplish a goal.

POP-UP WRITING CONTEST RESULTS

Many, many thanks to the 40 writers who donated at least $10 to participate in the Brilliant Flash Fiction pop-up writing contest. We received 27 entries and BFF editors chose four stories to appear in the January 31, 2024 issue. 

The winning authors are Cath Barton, Roberta Beary, Helen Chambers, and Tricia Gates Brown. 

Donations generated by this writing contest will support Brilliant Flash Fiction through its tenth year of operation in 2024. 

Season Greetings to Readers and Writers everywhere!

GIVING TUESDAY

Please consider making a donation to Brilliant Flash Fiction on Giving Tuesday, November 28.

It’s easy: Go to our Home Page at brilliantflashfiction.com and click the Donate button on the right-hand side. Any amount will help. Our all-volunteer 501(c)3 charitable organization will celebrate its 10th anniversary in 2024, and we rely on donations to survive. 

What will be lost if Brilliant Flash Fiction cannot afford to continue? 

Writers of flash fiction will lose a quarterly venue for publishing their work online, as well as writing contests and anthology opportunities; writers’ workshops; and a ten-year online archive of flash at its finest. 

Your donations keep us alive. 

Thank you in advance for your help.

POP-UP WRITING CONTEST

It’s FUNdraising time! 

We are sponsoring an impromptu writing contest to celebrate our upcoming 10th Anniversary in 2024, and we want it to be challenging as well as fun. Donate at least $10 to Brilliant Flash Fiction, and you could win a slot for your story to be published in our January 31, 2024, issue.

Here’s how it works:

Step one: Go to our website (brilliantflashfiction.com) and click the Donate button on the right side of our Home page. Please give generously—but you must donate at least $10 to enter the contest. Every $10 donation earns you one chance to submit an entry. If you donate $20, you can submit 2 entries; $30 for 3 entries; and so on.

Step two: When we receive your donation, we will email you a story title. You will then write and submit a fiction story of 1,000 words or less that matches this story title. When you donate more than $10, you can submit more than one entry. The deadline for all contest entries is December 5, 2023. No poetry or essays. One entry per $10 donation.

SEPTEMBER 2023

YOU ARE LIKE ME
By Pamela Painter

I’m on the Landergin Mesa, where I used to hunt arrowheads and pretend I lived in Black Dog Village, but when I turned 8 I began to imagine the future with aliens living here right next door. Now I draw that future for myself and my TikTok followers with what my sixth-grade teacher calls my fertile imagination.

But this alien, planted in the sand, is real. “You are like me” is what the alien says. It/him/her/they has a lightbulb head, four eyes, no nose, an oblong mouth—and like a lightbulb it has a round, gold-circled throat with lines. The alien twirls closer and I can tell it already feels plugged in to our planet.

“You are like me” actually sounds like “Youuuuaarrrrrreellllllliiiiiiiiikkkkkeemmmeeee.”

JUNE 2023

How to Raise a Pet Raccoon
By Anna Tatelman

1. Don’t adopt a wild raccoon. Even if your neighbor’s Rottweiler murders raccoon’s mother and siblings. Even if raccoon keens all night until you swaddle him up like the baby you never had.

2. After failing step one, research. Ignore memory of ex-husband Derrick laughing, “Is a furry garbage can supposed to be some kind of baby-substitute?” Focus on encouraging messages from the raccoon owners you follow on Instagram.

3. Bottle-feed several times daily. Don’t let raccoon overeat because it can cause serious health complications. You, on the other hand, should feel free to eat as many peanut butter cookies as you want now that Derrick can’t lecture you about developing cottage cheese thighs.

BEST SMALL FICTIONS 2023 WINNER!

CJ Erick

Congratulations to CJ Erick, whose story Fish Woman Sea has been chosen for inclusion in The Best Small Fictions 2023. Out of thousands of works considered for this anthology, only 110 were selected.

Originally published in the September 2022 issue of Brilliant Flash Fiction, Erick’s story was nominated for the BSF anthology by our editorial team.

CJ Erick’s stories have appeared in anthologies from WMG Publishing, WordFire Press, and others. He won the FenCon short story competition in 2015. He writes in multiple genres, publishes novels in a space fantasy series, and dabbles in poetry. He’s an MFA student in creative writing at Lindenwood University, and an editorial assistant for the Lindenwood Review. He lives in Dallas area with his wife and their rescue superhero dog Saber-Girl, calls his sourdough bread starter “Ursula” (K. Le Guin), and cooks crazy-good Cajun food for a Midwest Yankee.

2023 WRITING CONTEST RESULTS

This year 758 writers submitted their brilliant work, and our editors had a difficult time choosing a shortlist of 15, as well as the top three prizewinners. Congratulations to everyone who earned a place on the short and long lists this year.

First Prize: Brittle Battle, chosen by Editor Charline Poirier

Charline’s Comments: “Brittle Battle” transports readers into a mesmerizing and unique world. The story opens with Minerva, a warrior, leading a battle on an alien planet at sunset. The glass miniature soldiers are shattered into pieces with transfixing energy. The sensory details of the combat are so rich and vivid that they engulf the reader, yielding for her a memorable experience. Cay Macres’ voice, hauntingly melancholic, adds a layer of complexity to the violence of war. The imagery and figurative language float like an iceberg, hinting at deeper meanings beneath the surface. The combination of Macres’ eloquence and imagination makes “Brittle Battle” an impressive achievement.