Spring 2025

In this issue, we feature the work of 19 wonderful writers. Our Spring 2025 edition includes the finalists, honorable mentions, and winner of our 2025 Flash Fiction Contest judged by Abby Frucht—congratulations to these folks, and huge thanks to Frucht for her care, time, and attention in making selections.

What Frucht had to say about the winner:

First Place: Becky Petterson, “The Wildling“
“Readers will love the exactitude of The Wildling and the legibility of its emotional and empirical underpinnings, as much as they’ll find themselves moved, even comforted, by the mysterious, central, unidentified creature that lives at the center of it. As taut as it is tender, this inventive little tale is as true to its subject, the grief one feels for a lost loved one, as any story can be.”

And the honorable mentions:

Honorable Mention: Neil Corbett, “Rehearse It Once More“
“Anybody who has ever stressed out over what should be the simplest of exchanges, not to mention anyone who has ever tried to stay away from smoking cigarettes, will see themselves in this piece.”

Honorable Mention: Amanda Trout, “Aperture”
“Reading Aperture, readers travel a line between what appears to be actual and what appears to be hallucinatory. At the same time, the presence of the protagonist is felt as strongly as if we inhabit them, body and mind. We are utterly THERE, and absolutely convinced … but of what, and where, we can’t, and somehow shouldn’t, say.”

We appreciate all the fine work sent our way for both the contest and the general submission period this round. We hope you’ll enjoy these selections as much as we did.