Autumn Micro-fiction Competition 2023 – Results
We received dozens of imaginative and entertaining stories for our free-to-enter micro-fiction competition. We are delighted to published the winning entry and some of the honourable mentions.
Winner
The Thing About Bonfires Is
all that smoke, acrid, hanging in the air, though you try to stay downwind, it makes your lacquered hair reek and your mascaraed eyes water. You go home stinking like charred leftovers and incinerated rubbish, seared with the memory of Jim kissing Sue. The thing about bonfires is they burn.
by Heather Haigh
Author Bio: Heather is a sight-impaired spoonie and emerging working-class writer from Yorkshire. Her work has been published by: Reflex Press, Pure Slush, Mono, A Coup of Owls, Free Flash Fiction and others. She has been nominated for Best of the Net. ( Website | Twitter/X | Facebook)
Honourable Mentions
As with any writing competition, there is a high level of subjectivity involved in ‘judging’ the entries, so if you didn’t win this time or make it to the honourable mentions, please don’t be disheartened. But here are the three other entries that stood out from the crowd.
Halloween Decisions
A Zombie, a Ghost, two Pokémon, and a Pumpkin walk up to a house.
The Homeowner says, “I only have two candies left.”
Zombie says “Give them to the Pokémon,” Ghost says, “I already have enough.”
Pumpkin says, “I’ll take cash instead.”
Pumpkin grew up to become a rich woman.
By Yasmin Goldie
Author Bio: Yasmin Goldie works as a Registered Nurse and a Registered Psychotherapist. She is a new and emerging writer who recently placed second in The Ontario Poets Society’s Ultra Short Poetry Contest for 2023. and was also recently shortlisted for the 2024 National Poetry Contest by Polar Express Publishing.
You can follow her endeavours at her Facebook page.
Statement by the Defendants, 31 October 2023
The three of us bought siren costumes with gorgeous soft feathers all over and we sang and danced all night and waved at these guys who crossed a busy road and died and we were sorry but we were just waving and they could have gone home to their wives.
By Bethan Michael-Fox
Author Bio: Bethan Michael-Fox is an academic and co-host of The Death Studies Podcast. Find out more about her and her work at drbethanmichaelfox.com.
Seasonal Bargains
She sheds gold from her gnarly fingers.
“Wait,” I plead. “I need just another day of warmth. I never got around to feeling happy.”
The branches crackle in the wind. She whispers – not unkindly:
“You are, alas, too late.”
By River M. Blues
Thank you to everyone who entered. If you’d like to find out about our upcoming writing competitions (both free-to-enter and those with an entry fee such as the Flash Fiction competition with a £1,000 top prize), as well as writing prompts, book recommendations and more, sign up to our newsletter (we send one each month and will not share your email address or any other information with anyone else).