Congratulations to all the authors who have made our Award short list.
June 2019 Long List
Congratulations to all the authors who have made our Award long list and huge thanks to all who entered.
Out today! ‘All That Is Between Us’, by K. M. Elkes and ‘the everrumble’ by Michelle Elvy
It’s 22nd June and National Flash Fiction Day in New Zealand! On this auspicious day, Ad Hoc Fiction, our short-short press, which recently won best publisher 
category in the Creative Bath Awards, is thrilled to publish the everrumble ‘a small novel in small forms’ by Director of NFFD, New Zealand, Michelle Elvy and All That Is Between Us the debut flash fiction collection by K. M. Elkes from Bristol, UK, who was one of the judges for NFFD New Zealand’s micro competition, MicroMadness which culminates today. We love these global connections from authors in different hemispheres. And is doubly exciting that Ken and Michelle are teaching workshops at the Flash Fiction Festival, Bristol UK next week 28-30th June and are launching their books there.
Both collections have received many glowing endorsements from well known flash fiction writers and teachers.
Here’s one from Tania Hershman about All That Is Between Us
“I could dazzle you with well-chosen superlatives or make clumsy attempts to sum up K. M. Elkes’ work, but really what I want to say is: This collection is so good. So very, very good. Whoever you are, whatever you like to read, you need these stories in your life.”
Tania Hershman, author of Some Of Us Glow More Than Others
And one about the everrumble from Christopher Allen.
“A tour de force, Michelle Elvy’s the everrumble is a profound, poetic constellation of notes on the Earth’s ‘alive noises’, the hope that lives in the natural world. Zettie’s story – all her moments of evolving, her capacity to listen, and her gift of becoming all the sounds of the earth – affected me to the core.”
Christopher Allen, author of Other Household Toxins
You can buy both of these brilliant collections now in paperback in several different currencies for worldwide posting directly from the Ad Hoc Fiction online bookshop. Go straight to the bookshop page for All That Is Between Us by K M Elkes here and straight to the bookshop page for the everrumble by Michelle Elvy here. And you can also buy in digital format on Kindle via Amazon. Links to Kindle for each collection are on the bookshop page.
Flying the Flag for Flash
We’re so thrilled and honoured that Ad Hoc Fiction,the short-short fiction press which publishes all our anthologies and flash fiction collections won the publisher’s category in the Creative Bath Awards, 2018 announced last night, June 13th, in Bath, a recognition for all the publishing work we did last year. Jude, Ad Hoc Fiction’s representative here, is pictured proudly holding the trophy which was designed by a student at Bath Spa University and she is with Ad Hoc fiction published authors, Diane Simmons, holding her book Finding A Way and the prosecco and Alison Woodhouse, an Ad Hoc Fiction micro winner. The Awards are sponsored by Bath Spa University among others, so it’s altogether thrilling. And we hope this continues to extend the reach of flash fiction in the South West and beyond.
Huge thanks to John at Ad Hoc Fiction who has worked very hard to produce so many beautiful books since 2017 when our paperback publishing venture began. Hundreds of writers have been published in the five anthologies compiled from Bath Flash Fiction Award submissions over the years since 2016 and from submissions by participants who attended the flash fiction festivals and these publications have travelled around the world. Hundreds more have been published online in the weekly free Ad Hoc Fiction micro contest, which John administers and which has a worldwide writing, reading and voting community. Without his work in typesetting and designing the books we would never have reached the stage of receiving this prestigious Award..
It’s timely to receive it, because Ad Hoc Fiction is publishing several new books this June. First up on 22nd June, National Flash Fiction Day, New Zealand New Zealand based author, Michelle Elvy’s ‘small novel in small forms’, the everrumble, and local writer, K M Elkes’ debut collection, All That Is Between Us will be published in paperback and available in paperback for purchase in many different currencies for posting worldwide from the Ad Hoc Fiction online bookshop as well as for sale in various locations in New Zealand on 22nd June. Ken’s collection is available for pre-order here and Michelle’s here. Both marvellous books. And NFFD New Zealand is a good day to support them. We’re also very happy that both Ken and Michelle will be at the Flash Fiction Festival running workshops and talks and their books will be for sale for cash or by card there.
We’re also launching Birds With Horse Hearts the winner of the 2019 Novella in Flash, Homing, the runner-up novella by Johanna Robinson and Roster by Debra A Daniel, highly commended in the same Award. These three books will also be published on 29th June, the Saturday of the festival and the three amazing book covers will be revealed on that day.
Flash Around the World in June!
June is busting out all over with flash fiction, so if you are not aware of the coming delights, here’s a summary for you of what we know about the rest of the month. I am sure there is a lot more to add.
Sunday 9th June: In Bath, we have the closing date of the twelfth round of the Bath Flash Fiction Award for micros of 300 words. £1460 in prizes and judged by writer, writing tutor and editor, the amazing Christopher Allen. For those entering tomorrow, we will be sending out our famous Last Minute Club badges for anyone submitting during the day up until the midnight deadline. I think some people are collecting them! The picture of the February 2019 badge shows you what to expect as a late, and valued entrant. We also thank everyone very much for entering before the last day. The limit is 300 words max so you still have a little time to hone your flash and enter now.
13th June: Our small publishing press, Ad Hoc Fiction is a finalist in the publishing category of Creative Bath and the Award ceremony is in the evening of 13th June. Jude is going along with Diane Simmons, whose collection, Finding A Way, short-listed recently in the 2019 Saboteur Awards, was published by Ad Hoc Fiction in February this year, and Alison Woodhouse who won the Ad Hoc Fiction weekly micro competition last year. Her story ‘Metamorphosis’ which was shortlisted by Vanessa Gebbie in the February round of the Bath Flash Award will be published in the 2019 Bath Flash Fiction anthology published by Ad Hoc Fiction. Wish us luck!
15th June: It’s National Flash Fiction Day in the UK!. And events are talking place in Coventry. Our founder Jude will be on a panel talking about competitions and publishing with Steve Campbell from Ellipsis Zine, Ingrid Jendrzejewski and Diane Simmons. Stephanie Hutton and Ingrid Jendrzejewski are also offering workshops. The extremely popular Flash Flood will also happen during the day and about 150 flash fictions will be published about every ten minutes or so. Loads of brilliant reads.
22nd June Lots going on today! It’s National Flash Fiction Day New Zealand and it’s also publication day for two of the new flash fiction books published by Ad Hoc Fiction, the everrumble, ‘a small novel in small forms’ by Michelle Elvy, Director of NFFD New Zealand and All That Is Between Us by K. M. Elkes who judged the NFFD New Zealand MicroMadness contest. One shortlisted story a day is posted from 1st June until 22nd June, when the winner is announced.
You can pre-order the everrumble by Michelle on the paypal button on the post about her book, linked here and Ken’s collection of flash fictions on the post about his book. Both collections are marvellous.
28th June -30th June The third ever Flash Fiction Festival UK is taking place at Trinity College, Bristol, UK! Workshops, talks, panels, readings, a raffle with great prizes including a week’s retreat in Italy, and a weekend in Wiltshire near Avebury stone circles, festival long mini comp with prizes, bar, bookshop and opportunity to submit to a post-festival anthology. Some day tickets available at half the full price now. Booking finally closes next week, Friday 14th June.
Book launches at the festival! Michelle Elvy and K. M. Elkes books will be launched at the festival and Birds With Horse Hearts by our 2019 Novella in flash winner, Ellie Walsh and the 2019 runner up, Homing by Johanna Robinson, and The Roster by Debra Daniel, which was highly commended in the 2019 Award, will be published on 29th June and launched at the festival. We’re thrilled that both Ellie and Johanna are able to attend and are participating in the panel hosted by Michael Loveday on the novella in flash, where their books will be launched. All these books will also be available to buy at the Ad Hoc Fiction bookshop and in ebook formats on 29th June and we’ll have the first peek at the lovely covers of the novellas then.
30th June We have a very quick turnaround for our Awards. Christopher Allen is judging the 12th Award, and Jude and Christopher will be announcing the winners live at the Festival where he is running workshops. Notifications will be posted online as usual.
All That Is Between Us
Debut flash fiction collection by K. M. Elkes
Ad Hoc Fiction, our short-short fiction press, is thrilled to publish All That Is Between Us, the dazzling debut flash fiction collection by Bristol-based author, K.M.Elkes. The collection “explores the complex fragility of human relationships, both the challenges of belonging and how much we risk to avoid being alone. It is a book of moments, evoking the beauty and comfort that connection brings, and the pain when it is severed.”
All That Is Between Us, includes Ken’s first-prize winning flash fiction, Extremities from Bath Flash Fiction Award, June 2018 and many more wonderful fictions and is highly rated by the eight well-known flash fiction writers quoted below. The art work for the stunning cover is by Bridport based artist, Suzanne Clements.
Read in Full
California Continuum by John Brantingham and Grant Hier
CALIFORNIA CONTINUUM, VOLUME 1: MIGRATIONS AND AMALGAMATIONS is “a nonlinear look at little discussed aspects of the history of California. Hier and Brantingham look as far back as California’s geologic past, fast forwarding to the age of the mastodons, then to the time when only Native Americans inhabited this land and finally to the present age.”
Review by Damhnait Monaghan
Last year at the Flash Fiction Festival, I attended a brilliant workshop on ‘Extraordinary Points of View’ led by American poets and flash fiction writers, John Brantingham and Grant Hier. My notes from their session contain many gems, including this tip for writing flash fiction: ‘cut straight to the character’s humanity.’
Brantingham and Hier have done just that in their recently published collection California Continuum (Pelekinesis, 2019). The characters in this collection are varied: a Japanese boy being sent to an internment camp; the daughter of a concentration camp survivor; gun crazy (and gun shy) boys; indigenous people of the distant past; and Mexican, Vietnamese, and other immigrants to California. Yet with all of them, we are taken right to the core of their thoughts and feelings. Read in Full
Michelle Elvy, published by Ad Hoc Fiction, June 2019
Ad Hoc Fiction is honoured to be publishing the everrumble, “a small novel in small forms” by Michelle Elvy. It’s a wonderful and important work of fiction highly praised by the writers quoted below. The striking cover art is by acclaimed Ethiopian artist, Eyayu Genet.
“the everrumble is a poetic imagining of intense focus and sweeping ideas. Zettie’s story is fluid and in motion, transcending geographies and time. She stops talking, at age seven, and starts to listen – to the worlds she finds in language and books, and to the people and places she encounters as she moves across continents. Her silence connects her to people, to nature and to the elemental world. Magical and beyond boundaries, this collection focuses on small fragments, taking Zettie, and the reader, inevitably to the place where human history began.”
the everrumble was launched at the Flash Fiction Festival, UK on 28th-30th June where Michelle ran workshops, chaired a panel on Flash Around the World, introduced the latest Best Small Fiction anthology, and talked about flash fiction in New Zealand. It is for sale at the Ad Hoc Fiction bookshop in paperback in several different currencies and in Kindle ebook format via Amazon. Read in Full
Ad Hoc Fiction’s Fourth Birthday
It’s Ad Hoc Fiction fourth birthday! The micro contest opened for entries first on 15th April 2015 and the first winning story by writer, Nick Black was published on 22nd April, four years ago, today. Our big thanks to John at Ad Hoc Fiction, who runs the Ad Hoc Fiction contest; designs and publishes the Ad Hoc Fiction paper back and ebooks; administers the Bath Flash Fiction Awards, and who has been doing so much to help put flash fiction on the map in the UK and beyond. A lot has happened in the last four years and here are sixteen random Happy Birthday Ad Hoc Fiction Facts: Read in Full
‘Finding A Way’ by Diane Simmons, shortlisted for the Saboteur Awards 2019
We’re thrilled that Finding A Way, Diane Simmons flash fiction collection, published by our short-short press, Ad Hoc Fiction has been shortlisted for the Saboteur Awards. We suggested you might like to nominate her if you enjoyed the book and thank you very much to everyone who did this.Voting is now open to find the winner. Please do vote for Diane again on the new shortlist voting form saying why you liked it.
Diane’s book was launched in February in Bath and online and is selling well via the Ad Hoc Fiction bookshop where you can buy it in paperback in several different currencies, in ebook formats on Kindle and Nook and in Moorland Road Bookshop, in Bath, where it is a best-seller. There are already many five star
reviews on Amazon, our own Bookshop review pages, on Goodreads and one on Saboteur Reviews. We have included quotes from some of these reviews below :
“Diane Simmons writes with deceptive simplicity about complex emotions. This collection navigates a sea of loss which is so vast, so devastating, that it is incomprehensible to most of us. The writing is assured and deft, and the work as a whole is skilfully crafted.” Amanda H.
“This is a perfectly balanced collection that explores loss and grief in stories that are deceptive in their simplicity and domesticity.” Rachael D.
“What struck me most was the way the loss of Becky was shown so poignantly in everyday situations the reader can recognise and imagine, yet without a trace of self-pity.” Joanna C. Read in Full