I am so excited that Clearly Defined Clouds my collection of flash fictions is open for pre-orders, at a 25% discount, from Ad Hoc Fiction, today, May 28th ( my birthday)! Thank you very much to the production editor at Ad Hoc Fiction for arranging this. It’s a collection of 75 short-short fictions which have been published in magazines and anthologies over the last eight years or so, plus some new ones. I was going to get a collection out in time for a big, big birthday four years ago, but that was in the middle of the pandemic, and it didn’t work out. The book is released on Monday July 8th in time to be launched at the Flash Fiction Festival in Bristol later the same week.
I love the gorgeous cover, in my favourite colours, created by artist and writer Jeanette Sheppard. The image reflects the title story. I am blown away by the wonderful comments John Brantingham Kathy Fish, Sara Hills, Diane Simmons and Alison Woodhouse made about Clearly Defined Clouds. All these comments are included on the pre-order page at Ad Hoc Fiction. Those from Kathy, Sara, John and Diane are also reproduced on the back cover and Alison’s are inside the book. She ends hers with quoting the last line of ‘Before The Diggers Come’, my last story ‘If you join all chinks of hope together you make a necklace that can’t be broken. I hope the collection which features much concerning the ups and downs of relationships and the state of the world in general leaves the reader with a sense of hope that some things, at least, can be resolved.
If you are coming to the Flash Fiction Festival 12-14th July in Bristol UK, Clearly Defined Clouds will also be sold at a discount there and I can sign copies. If you want to buy it now, I can also send signed copies, and it will make my birthday very special. Thank you.
Jude Higgins has been writing flash fiction since 2013. Her flash fiction pamphlet, The Chemist’s House was published by V.Press in 2017 and her stories have been published in numerous literary magazines and anthologies and have won, been placed or shortlisted in many contests. She has fictions included in the 2019 and 2020 lists of Best Flash Fictions of UK and Ireland, has been long listed for the Wigleaf, nominated for Best Small Fictions, a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. Two of her stories have been selected for different volumes of Best Microfictions. She founded the Bath Flash Fiction Award in 2015, co-runs the Bath Short Story Award, directs Flash Fiction Festivals, UK, the short fiction press, Ad Hoc Fiction and runs reading events and offers flash fiction workshops online.
Julianna Holland 2016 with 
Molia Dumbleton in 2018 with 
David Rhymes from Spain won third prize in 2017 with
When Sudha Balagopal describes food, you get hungry. When she describes sadness, you feel tears in your own heart. And so it is with Nose Ornaments, this finely crafted family saga of Lakshmi, and her daughter, Savi, and Savi’s daughter, Mini. Spanning years and geographies and cultures, we see how each woman lives in her particular time. So much changes in terms of men and marriage and work life. It’s a testament to how women adapt and blossom. But even more than that, it is the exquisite detail of Balagopal’s writing which is so precise and sensory, you may very well feel that you are not just reading this beautiful story, but living it as well.
A reporter who sees her as nothing but a meal ticket
Stephanie won third prize in June 2019 with her story 
Michael Fitzgerald from Bath was commended in June 2016 for his story, 
Alison Powell from Somerset was commended in October 2020 for her story 
Chloe Banks from Devon was commended in October, 2021 with her story I
Kathryn Aldridge Morris from Bristol was commended in February 2022 with her story 
Hoc Fiction. (A Family of Great Falls is sold out on Ad Hoc Fiction bookshop) 
Read Debra’s third prize winning story in February 2022 
Jude Higgins is a writer, writing tutor and events organiser and has stories published or forthcoming in the New Flash Fiction Review, Flash Frontier, FlashBack Fiction, The Blue Fifth Review, The Nottingham Review,Pidgeon Holes, Moonpark Review, Splonk, Fictive Dream, the Fish Prize Anthology, National Flash Fiction Day anthologies and Flash: The International Short Short Story Magazine among other places. She has won or been placed in many flash fiction contests and was shortlisted in the Bridport Flash Fiction Prize in 2017, 2018 and 2023. Her debutflash fiction pamphlet The Chemist’s House was published by V.Press in 2017. Her micro fictions have been included in the 2019 and 2020 lists of Best Flash Fictions of UK and Ireland and she has been nominated for Best Small Fictions 2020, Best Microfictions, 2023, a Pushcart Prize, 2020 and Best of the Net, 2022. Her story ‘Codes To Live By’ was selected for Best Micro Fictions and was longlisted for Wigleaf in 2022. Her story ‘Spinning’ is published in Best Microfiction 2024. She founded Bath Flash Fiction Award in 2015, directs Ad Hoc Fiction, the short-short fiction press, co-runs The Bath Short Story Award, founded and directs the 
Read Jude’s spring equinox interview with first-prize winner Mairead Robinson to find out, among other very interesting things about her writing, how she wrote her stunning winning flash