Yearly Archives: 2021

Bath Flash 2021 Round Up and Thank you!

Thank you to everyone from around the world who supported all our flash fiction ventures in 2021. We so appreciate all your support. This year we ran the three Bath Flash Fiction Awards, receiving 3947 entries in total from 64 different countries; the novella-in-flash award which over 100 writers entered and since March this year, have sponsored eight monthly on-line flash fiction festival days with fabulous workshops, talks, readings and mini-contests.

The first online festival day of 2022 is coming up on Saturday January 8th with more great workshops, two mini=contests with cash and other prizes, readings and chats to boost your New Year writing resolves. Just £30 for a whole day of flashy fun 11.00 am – 6.30 pm GMT and plenty of free places for those for whom cost is a barrier. Book at flashfictionfestival.com

And we have also taken the plunge to sponsor a further in-person Flash Fiction Festival in Bristol, UK on the weekend of 8-10th July. We’ve a fantastic line up of presenters and online as well as in-person options for workshops and talks. We’ve booked the venue and a brilliant caterer. And there’s only a few more things to arrange before booking opens at the end of January. Read in Full

Snow Crow, the 6th Bath Flash Fiction Anthology, published!

We’re thrilled that Ad Hoc Fiction has now published Snow Crow the sixth yearly Bath Flash Fiction Award Anthology! 136 flash fictions 300 words or under from the longlist of the three 2021 Awards. All the authors, from around a dozen different countries, are listed below. The Awards were judged this year by Charmaine Wilkerson, K.M.Elkes and Sharon Telfer and extracts from their reports are quoted on the back cover and the foreword. So many fantastic stories to read! The title and the striking cover design this year are inspired by our October winner’s story, by US based writer, Doug Ramspeck, which you can read here, along with Doug’s interview about the story.

We’d love to see pictures from the contributors when the anthologies arrive in their location. Either posed with snow, or crows or anything else! Here Jude’s copy is perched on a hedge with a crow (or maybe its cousin, a raven) looking down.

Snow Crow is available from Ad Hoc Fiction or in paperback from Amazon.

Authors within the book

Abigail Barker,Alexis Boddy,Alison Wassell,Alison Woodhouse,Amanda McLeod,Amy Barnes,Amy Mackrill,Amy Stewart,Andrew Stancek,Anne Howkins Anne Summerfield Antoinette Bauer,Audrey Niven,Bahar Razaghi,Barbara Diggs, Bernadette Stott,Carl Stevens
Catherine Deery,Catherine Edmunds,Cathrin Hagey,Charise de Becker,Chauna Craig,Chloe Banks,Christine Collinson,Claire Carroll,Claire Penna,Conor Montague,Dara Elerath,Debra A Daniel,Denny Jace,Dettra Rose,Diane Simmons,Doug Ramspeck,Elena Croitoru,Elizabeth Edelglass
Emma Kentish,Emma NealeEmma Phillips,Finnian Burnett,Fiona J. Mackintosh,Francis McCrickard,Freda Churches,Geeta Sanker.Georgiana S Nelsen,Gina Headden,Hillary Rose,Isabella Mead,Jason Jackson,Jayne Martin,Jo Gatford,Johanna Robinson,John Brantingham,Jupiter Jones,K.S. Lokensgard,Karen Jones,Karen Vallerius,Kate Carne,Kathryn Aldridge-Morris,Kathy Hoyle,Katie Hale,Keely O’shaughnessy,Keith S. Wilson,Ken Shirley,Kinneson Lalor,Kirsty Seymour-Ure,Kristen Loesch,L.J. Moss,Laura Kyle,Lauren Collett,Laurie Marshall,Leonie Rowland,Lily Peters,Lottie Hazell,Lucy Lasasso,Lyn Ellis,M Casseem,Madeline Anthes,Maria A. Ioannou,Maria Jackson,Marissa Hoffmann,Mark Left,Marsha D Rappley,Mary Francis,MaxieJane Frazier,Melissa Bowers,Michael Salander,Molly Lanzarotta,Morgan Quinn,Natalie Warther,Neil Clark,Nicholas P. Murray Nick Petty,Nicola Godlieb,Peter Davison,Philippa Maughan,Rachel J Fenton
Rebecca Netley,Regan Puckett,Rhys Jones,Rob Swain,Robert Barrett,Rosaleen Lynch,Rose San Jose,Ruth Skrine,Sage Tyrtle,Salena Casha
Sally Bothroyd,Sally Vanns,Sam Payne,Sara Hills,Sarah Ann Winn,Sarah Reader Harris,Saskia McCracken,Simon Cowdroy,Slawka G.Scarso,Sophie Goldsworthy,Steven John,Tea Vatsadze,Terri Mullholland.Tom 0’Brien, Tim Craig,Tracey Slaughter,Tze Chua

Launch Party for 4 Novellas in Flash, 22nd December!

Come to the launch party, hosted by Ad Hoc Fiction director, Jude Higgins on Wednesday 22nd December, 7.30pm – 9.30 pm on Zoom for four of the novellas-in-flash published from our 2021 Award! Published today (9th December 2021), in a beautiful line up, One For the River by Tom 0’Brien a runner up in the Award; and two short-listed novellas, The Listening Project by Ali McGrane and Kipris by Michelle Christophorou. We’ll also be officially launching Small Things by Hannah Sutherland, highly commended in the 2021 Award and published in October.

These are four brilliant novellas in flash, all very different and at the launch the authors will tell us more about them and each read three short pieces from the books.There will be break out chats and a book giveaways at the end of the evening. Hope you can come! Email jude {at} adhocfiction {dot} com for a link. All welcome. In the meantime, have a look at our 2021 judge, Michelle Elvy’s comments on the novellas.

You can buy all of them directly at the online bookshop at Ad Hoc Fiction. On each bookshop page there are also links for buying in paperback from Amazon world wide. And if you want a signed copy, some of our authors are selling them directly. Please DM them on Twitter to ask for a copy or email Jude at the above address for her to pass your details on.

And the last of the ten novellas in flash from the 2021 Award (the fifth yearly Bath Novella in Flash Award) will be published by Ad Hoc Fiction on 18th December. It’s the first prize winner, Season of Bright Sorrow by David Swann. Read more about it here. It is now open for preorder. We hope to launch David’s book in early January.

The 2022 Bath Novella in Flash Award closes on January 14th. Submissions welcome for novellas in flash in between 6000 and 18000 words. Michelle Elvy is judging again and results will be out in April 2022.

Preorders open for Season of Bright Sorrow, winning Novella in Flash by David Swann

We’re thrilled that Season of Bright Sorrow David Swann’s brilliant first prize winning novella in flash from our 2021 NIF Award judged by Michelle Elvy is now up for preorder at a 25% discount from Ad Hoc Fiction, until publication day on 18th December.

It’s such a moving story, and is wonderfully illustrated with drawings by artist Sam Hubbard, some of which are shown below.

The striking cover image was also designed by Sam and shows a prison notebook. Sam and Dave have supplied a ‘Property of the prison’ stamp for us to use to make the book unique before it is posted off to purchasers. Season of Bright Sorrow will also be available on Amazon worldwide at publication, but you won’t get an individualised stamp there!

Here’s a brief synopsis:

After her father is jailed for murder, a young girl is re-housed with her mother in a crumbling resort. There are terrors here: tides and quick-sands, also a strange boy who wanders the marsh. But when the girl meets an elderly beachcomber who has known heartaches of his own, she senses that her fortunes could turn like the tide. The tide that rushes in faster than a horse, bringing life – and sometimes taking it…

Read in Full

Bath Flash Fiction Award Nominations, 2022

We’ve made our choices for Best Small Fictions, 2022 and The Push Cart Prize from among the wonderful winning and placed stories from the three Bath Flash Fiction Awards this year. Best wishes to all!
Our end of year Bath Flash Fiction Award anthology will be published this month by Ad Hoc Fiction and you will be able to read all the stories we’ve nominated in the book as well as on this website. All stories linked here.
Note: We’re not able to select for Bestmicrofictions as that anthology is for stories that are published in magazines only and are not published or forthcoming in a paperback print book.

Lucky four leaf clover photograph by Dustin Humes, Unsplash

Pushcart Prize Nominations
Let Them Eat First by Geeta Sanker
Reasons You Married A Woman Called Rose by Leonie Rowland
Strong Like Carp by Emma Phillips
Car Trouble, Spartansburg, August 2002 by K.S. Lokensgard
That’s All There is There Ain’t No More by Tim Craig
On Rannoch Moor by Audrey Niven.

Best Small Fictions nominations
Snow Crow by Doug Ramspleck
The Button Wife by Dara Yen Elerath
The Mothers by Jo Gatford
Now You See Him by Tim Craig
Always Down A Dirt Road I am Walking by Sara Hills

Three more novellas in flash available for preorder now!

Ad Hoc Fiction is publishing all the shortlist and winners from the 2021 Novella in Flash Award. Ten novellas in all and today three more are up for preorder.
You can read judge Michelle Elvy’s report here.

One for the River, a story about the tragic death of a young boy in a river by Tom 0’Brien was the runner-up in this year’s Award and he has extended the story for publication so it has even more poignant impact since we read it first at Bath Flash. We’re also pleased that Kipris by Michelle Christophorou a coming of age story set in British occupied Cyprus in the last century has a few extra stories in it, which add to the depth of this little written about period of history. The Listening Project by Ali McGrane focusses brilliantly on other aspects of loss — the loss of hearing and the loss of a brother.

All these books are beautifully written and address important issues in different ways. You can now pre-order at a 25% discount until publication day for all three on Thursday 9th October. We hope to host an online launch shortly and will keep you posted

Below, we’ve added a gallery of these three novellas in flash now up for pre-order and the six others from this year’s award already published and available from the Ad Hoc Fiction bookshop. They are A Family of Great Falls by Debra A Daniel, Things I Can’t Tell Amma by Sudha Balagopal, The Tony Bone Stories by Al Kratz, Hairy on The Inside by Tracy Fells, The Death and Life of Mrs Parker by Jupiter Jones and Small Things by Hannah Sutherland.

The winner of our last year’s award, Season of Bright Sorrow by David Swann will also be out soon. And if you want to enter next year’s Award, it closes on January 14th and is again judged by writer and editor Michelle Elvy

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Interview with Doug Ramspeck, first prize winner, Oct, 2021

Doug Ramspeck won first prize in our 19th Award, with Snow Crow, a stunning and deeply moving story.You can read judge Sharon Telfer’s comments on it in her judges report. In this interview, Doug, a recently retired Professor of English from Ohio State University in Lima, USA who writes in several different genres, tells us, among other fascinating things, more about his winning piece and his new poetry collections. He talks about looking for the magic in flash and mentions third prize winner Tim Craig’s story That’s All There Is There Ain’t No More as a brilliant example of ‘rule breaking’ in writing. In an amazing co-incidence, we’ve also learned that Doug Ramspeck was the judge who selected Dara Yen Elerath’s debut collection of poetry, Dark Braid as the winner of the 20th John Ciardi Prize for Poetry through BkMk Press. Dara won first prize in our June, 2021 Award with another amazing story, The Button Wife. We’re delighted that Doug is reading his winning piece on November 27th at the next Flash Fiction Festival Day in the 2.30-2.45 pm GMT reading slot. We’re really looking forward to hearing it in his own voice. Hope you can come!

Interview

We agree with our 19th Award judge, Sharon Telfer, that your first prize winning story ‘Snow Crow’ is a stunning piece of writing,”brimming with tension and mystery”. Can you tell us what inspired this story and the process of writing it?

Read in Full

Interview with Karen Jones, 20th Award Judge

Karen Jones is a flash and short story writer from Glasgow, Scotland. Her flashes have been nominated for Best of the Net, Best Micro Fiction and The Pushcart Prize, and her story 'Small Mercies' was included in Best Small Fictions 2019 and BIFFY50 2019. In 2021 she won first prize in the Cambridge Flash Fiction Prize, Flash 500, Reflex Fiction and Retreat West Monthly Micro and was short listed for To Hull and Back, Bath Flash Fiction Award, Bath Short Story Award and longlisted for Fractured Lit Flash Fiction Prize. Her work has been published in numerous anthologies and magazines. Her novella-in-flash, When It’s Not Called Making Love is published by Ad Hoc Fiction. She is Special Features Editor at New Flash Fiction Review.

We’re delighted that Karen Jones has agreed to be our 20th Award Judge. In this intervoew we learn what makes a stand-out flash fiction for her, more about her own writing journey, and at the end she’s given a great prompt to get you writing a new story. Read in Full

19th Award Round Up

Thank you again to all who entered our 19th Award and sent in stories from around the world. We appreciate your support very much and greatly enjoyed reading the huge variety of stories we received. This time, 1212 flash fictions from 44 countries, listed below. It’s wonderful to know there are flash fiction writers in all these different places.

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Philippines, Romania, Serbia, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Vietnam, Zambia

Read in Full

Doug Ramspeck October 2021 First Prize

Snow Crow

by Doug Ramspeck

And the days were made of auguries. And the cricket calls arrived disembodied from the field. And a dead mole lay on its back by the garage, gathering its thin blanket of ants. And wasps hummed outside the boy’s window like primitive wraiths. And one morning, he found a dead crow in the woods and carried it back to the house, hiding it at the back of his closet like a reliquary. And sometimes he imagined the creature calling to him in the night, calling to him in his dreams, and the boy would rise, pull the string for the closet light, and open the cardboard box. And there was the crow: its dark wings motionless, its dark and lacquered eyes gazing up at him. And sometimes in the mornings, the boy stepped into the backyard and gazed at the sun with its raw, sepulchral eye. And at breakfast, now and then, he asked about his father. And his mother would cross her arms over her chest or set his plate so forcefully on the table that the boy would look away. And some afternoons, he sat in his closet and imagined the crow lifting itself on the dark oars of its wings, rowing high above the trees. Or the boy imagined a crow call fissuring the air, a crow call that was both corporeal and incorporeal at once. And the smell in the boy’s closet was like something secretive congealing on the surface of a pond. And on the evening when a first light snow of the season came dropping toward the land, the boy carried the crow back into the woods and tossed it as high as he could manage into the air.

About the Author

Doug Ramspeck is the author of eight collections of poetry, one collection of short stories, and a novella. His most recent poetry collection, Book of Years (2021), is published by Cloudbank Books. Individual stories have appeared in Iowa Review, The Southern Review, The Georgia Review, Narrative Magazine, and many other literary journals. His short story “Balloon” was listed as a Distinguished Story for 2018 in The Best American Short Stories. A retired professor from The Ohio State University, he lives in Black Mountain, North Carolina, United States. His author website can be found at dougramspeck.com. and you can also find him on Facebook