We’re delighted to have Michelle Elvy back to judge the single flash fiction award again in the year that she is also judging the Fish Flash Fiction prize. Michelle judged our Novella-in-flash award in 2021 and 2022 and she first judged BFFA in June, 2016, when she selected Sharon Telfer as the first prize winner, for Sharon’s amazing historical flash fiction Terra Icognita. Read more about Michelle’s latest projects and writing services below and tips for writing great flash. Read in Full
by Pilar García Claramonte
-0-
Doctors are avoiding the zero conditional. No-one tells me, “If a brain is deprived of oxygen for twelve minutes, it never recovers fully.”
You sleep. I watch. We share this arctic cubicle with the beep and whirr of machines. One shivering certainty rises stark-naked with your in-breath and falls in time with your chest: If you die, I die. If you die, I die.
-1-
Fourteen days since you collapsed on our kitchen floor. Doctors use the first conditional daily now: “If your partner doesn’t wake soon, we’ll need to make decisions.”
Your first conditionals were much easier.
If I promise coffee in bed forever, will you marry me?
If it’s a girl, we’ll name her Daisy.
If we retire next year, we’ll grow old by the sea.
-2-
It’s been thirty-two days. I hold your hand in one hand and write, with the other, the probable results of hypothetical situations. The complexity of the second conditional, scribbled on the back of hospital leaflets, is my foothold through this labyrinth.
If you woke, you would live significantly impaired, physically and mentally.
If you lived, you would not manage to breathe on your own.
At the end of the day, I scatter scraps of leaflets amongst binned paper cups. Acrid coffee coats my tongue across the dark drive home.
If you spoke, I know what you would tell me to do.
-3-
I tackle the third conditional in the classroom. The hardest of the four.
“You have to imagine the probable result of something unreal, impossible, something that didn’t actually happen,” I explain.
I write on the whiteboard: If, eighteen months ago, he had lived …
I pause, marker pen in the air. “In this conditional, there’s often a sense of regret.”
I wipe the board and start another sentence.
Pilar García Claramonte wishes that she had discovered the joy of creative writing much earlier in life. Now retired, she spends her time between the Kent coast, Oxford and the Basque Country, where she was born, trying to make up for lost time, aided and abetted by some great teachers and writing buddies. She was also highly commended in the June 2023 Bath Flash Fiction Award
Our big thanks to Susmita Bhattacharya for being our 26th Award judge, and for her close reading and excellent comments on the amazing stories she selected.
Comments:
Judging for the Bath Flash Fiction has been an absolute treat, but it’s also been quite stressful! I’ve enjoyed reading all the stories, and I didn’t mind reading them multiple times. I actually enjoyed all my train travels these past couple of weeks because I carried these flash fiction pieces with me and they kept me company wherever I went. But it was stressful to choose the three winners and the two highly commended. I had no problem choosing some of them, but with a couple of them, I really, really had to ponder about which one would make it.
I’m in awe of the flash fiction pieces I read, the idea, the crafting of the story, the structure and how these stories got such a variety of reactions from me. A sharp intake of breath, a few tears, a nodding of the head, a smile. When I read the winning story for the nth time on the train, and wiped my tears, the person sitting opposite looked at me uncomfortably. I so wanted them to read the story and cry with me.
All the entries are such excellent pieces, so congratulations to everyone who made it to the longlist, then the shortlist and then the winners, of course. And congratulations to everyone who wrote a story and submitted it. And congratulations to everyone who wrote something. Read in Full
Another leap year and another BFFA Award completed. Thank you all those who entered. 34 countries this time and 1010 entries.
Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Latvia, Macedonia, Malaysia, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Zambia
As usual, there was a flood of stories near the end and a lot of writers picked up the Last Minute Club Badge on the final day, February 5th. Someone said it was the colour of a Cadbury’s Caramac bar. Tasty!
We appreciate everyone for submitting, early or later. Read in Full
Many congratulations to all twenty authors who have made our 26th Award short list selected by our judge, Susmita Bhattacharya.
While it fine to share that you are on the shortlist, please do not identify yourself with your story until the final results are announced, at the end of February. Thank you.
The weather where we were at the launch of BFFA Volume eight was stormy, but the party in St James Wine Vaults, Bath, where we launched both anthologies was wonderful. Seventeen people came to read. We heard winning, shortlisted and longlisted stories from The Weather Where You Are by 
Sara HIlls, Mairead Robinson, James Ellis, Mark Barlex, Kathryn Eldridge-Morris, Nick Havergal, Lotty Talbutt, Alison Woodhouse and Sophie Hampton
Stories in the Flash Fiction Festival Anthology Vol Six, were read by authors Michael Loveday, Kathryn Aldridge Morris, Grace Palmer, Jude Higgins, John Wheway, Damhnait Monaghan, Diane Simmons, Sara Hills Cole Beauchamp, Sara Hills and Anna M Wang. So many brilliant stories in both anthologies and it was so good hearing them read out loud.
As you can see from these lists some authors had a story in both anthologies and read them both and Mark Barlex read two of his stories which were listed in different rounds of the 2023 BFFA Awards.
We had a cake (pictured above ) with a cover showing part of the cover of each anthology to celebrate, along with wine and snacks. There was also a raffle of festival anthologies and other Ad Hoc Fiction books plus two bottles of Argentinian red wine kindly donated by Cole Beauchamp.
The twenty sixth round of BFFA is being judged this month and the new Award will open March 1st. Everyone longlisted in this and the other two awards in 2024 will be offered publication and a free copy of the book when it is printed at the end of the year. Everyone coming to the 2024 Flash Fiction Festival will also be able submit stories to be considered for publication in the seventh (violet coloured) edition of the rainbow series of Festival anthologies.
Booking for the 2024 Flash Fiction Festival weekend we sponsor, 12-14th July is open now. More details at flashfictionfestival.com
Congratulations to all the authors who have made our Award long list and huge thanks to all who entered.
Author names are yet to be announced, so while it is fine to share that you are on the long list, we do ask that you do not identify yourself with your particular fiction at this stage.
Important
We receive many many entries, and occasionally some entries have the same title. We are in the process of sending an offer of publication email to all authors on the long list. Please do not assume you are on the long list unless you have received that publication offer. If in doubt, contact us.
The Last Minute Club is open! Our 26th Award closes today, Sunday 4th February at midnight. Prizes £1000 first, £300 second, £100 third prize £30 for two runners up. One entry £9.00. Two entries £15.00, Three entries £18.00. Anthology publication offer for all fifty longlisted in our 2024 BFFA Anthology. Up to 300 words. Judge Susmita Bhattacharya from the Uk. Read her judge’s interview here. Results out by end of Feb. Enter here.
Here is the last minute club badge that John at Ad Hoc Fiction created again for the 26th Award. Green and pale brown Anyone entering today should get one with their entry confirmation.
Thanks again to all flash fiction writers, for your support for our Bath Flash Fiction Awards. Our readers are very busy reading your entries for the 26th Award which closes this Sunday 4th February at midnight GMT. For up to 300 word flash fiction. Entry costs: £9.00 one entry £15 two entries £18 three entries. Prizes £1000 first prize, £300 second prize, £100 third prize, £30 each for two runners up. All fifty longlisted stories are offered publication in our 2024 print anthology and posted world wide. Top stories are always nominated for Best Small Fictions The Best of the Net and The Pushcart Prize.This round is being judged by award winning writer Susmita Bhattacharya
To remind everyone, The Last Minute Club, for intrepid flash fictioneers is only open on the final day. Anyone entering on Sunday 4th February will receive a (virtual) Last Minute Club badge. Everyone loves badges don’t they? Our mini-competition to guess the colour of the badge is open on X and Facebook tomorrow, Saturday 3rd Feb. The first person to guess the colour (or colour comibation of the new badge will receive either one of the 2023 Bath Flash Fiction anthologies Vol 8. Or the new Flash Fiction Festival Anthology. We often give prizes to two people for near guesses. You won’t know the colour until first thing on Sunday morning. Read in Full
A busy week! It’s the final weekend to enter our 26th Award judged by Susmita Bhattacharyya. The deadline is midnight GMT, Sunday 4th February. Results out on 29th Feburary. All fifty on the longlist will be offered publication in our eighth anthology. Copies posted worldwide.
Double and triple entries reduced. £1460 in prizes.
And for more excitement, booking for the packages at the seventh flash fiction festival we’ve sponsored, 12th -14th July, in Bristol UK is now open.
There are four different flash fiction festival booking options, two for a place with accommodation and meals, one for a place with meals but no accommodation and one for a place only. There are 29 fantastic workshops and panels by presenters from the UK the USA, Canada Germany, Italy, Cyprus and Ireland to choose from in seven different slots during Saturday and Sunday. And there are readings, book launches on Friday and Saturday nights, a book shop, a bar with karaoke and plenty of space to socialise in the beautiful grounds of Trinity College! On the flash fiction festival site, check out the gallery of pictures from 2023 to get a sense of the atmosphere Read in Full