In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction

Thank you so much to EIC Steph Liberatore and *all* the staff at @inshortlit.bsky.social for this incredible nomination. This is an essay very close to my heart, and it's an honor to have it recognized like this.

inshortjournal.com/dawn-tasaka-...

Best American Essays Nominees Kyoko Mori, “What We Wore Together” Ira Sukrungruang, “Boy + Gun” Dawn Taska Steffler, “Bra Shopping” Brian McGuigan, “Crack” Sue William Silverman, “The Long Road Out of Eden”

Congrats to all our Best American Essays nominees!! Check out all their pieces at inshortjournal.com!

Man Sized Boots by Brandi Handley The interruption of searching for some “man-sized boots” while the narrator deconstructs this performance is exceptional. The freedom or “audacity” women want to lay claim to against reality. Handley’s introspection of this tension is done with care and a little bit of humor. Sneak Peek: “At Red Racks, a local thrift store chain, the shoes and boots line the tops of the racks of used clothing. They’re not organized by size or style or any other discernible pattern of arrangement. But it doesn’t matter. I’m only interested in what they look like at a glance.”

@brandihandley24.bsky.social

Farmhouse Elegy by Molly Wazeck What remains unsaid in this piece is all you can think about when you finish. The visual of the fire and the mental hospital being the tension Wadzeck balances on while navigating our way through the piece. Sneak Peek: “K and I dig holes, at least three feet deep, holes to fill with dead chickens, reciting names if we recognize what remains of their charred, limp bodies.”

When I am six, I speak in tongues by Amy Cipolla Barnes Barnes pulls readers into the body of a young child who is forced into a sort of religious scheme. The intersection between identity, religion, family, and language is blended seamlessly; the objective correlative of the mother’s belt against the teacher’s belt ties this piece together. Sneak Peek: “because my Mama wants me to. I’m standing on a dining room chair. She’s coaching me in a loud voice because I haven’t been listening closely enough.”

@amygcb.bsky.social

My Hair was Never Mine to Cut by Vani Aadhya This piece focuses on the exploration of a mother’s love and viewing it from the persepctive of smothering and transforming it into longing. What we used to view as a milestone or a form of freedom becomes a disconnect we can never mend. Sneak Peek: “My mother treated my hair like a boon—something gifted by the gods to tie us together.”

Drowning by Shoshana Ray The shift in this piece from the carefree nature of childhood to reality is like whiplash. The mom’s words echo and remain with you long after the final line. Sneak Peek: “We weren’t taught how to swim but learned through osmosis. Watch your older cousins, watch your siblings, watch the adults, and you’ll figure it out. ”

@shoshanaraywrites.bsky.social

Crack by Brian McGuigan McGuigan writes with an intensity that sneaks up on you. The balance between the voice of innocence and the voice of experience in this piece also creates a powerful punch with the final line. Sneak Peek: “I remember when crack took over our block.“

The Long Road Out of Eden by Sue William Silverman This piece feels like sinking into a body of water and watching the ripples. Silverman introduces each detail into the scene with such care that by the end you have a complete picture different from where you began. The possibilities of the “almost perfect strawberry” no longer matter by the end of the piece. Sneak Peek: “One late afternoon after work, as a college intern on Capitol Hill, I sit on a sunny porch in a house off Wisconsin Avenue with an older woman, a friend of my parents.“

In Short Issue Three Flash Includes: lessons from mothers, powerful final lines, things left unsaid, all 1000 words or less

Looking back on Issue 3!! Today we are reviewing Flash (1000 words or fewer).

Read the full pieces at the link in our bio!

So honored to be included in the inaugural issue of a journal that uplifts flash nonfiction and receive the recognition from Best American Essays. Thanks, In Short!

Deb Fenwick

Congrats to contributor, @debfenwrites.bsky.social, whose “Escape Route,” from Issue 1 was listed as Notable in Best American Essays ‘25!

Congrats, Deb 🎉🎉 Read it here: inshortjournal.com/deb-fenwick/

Submissions In Short is an independent literary journal for flash nonfiction at every length. We publish creative nonfiction of 1,000 words or fewer, micros of 400 words or fewer, and short-shorts of 100 words or...

📢 ONE MONTH left to submit!

We close for submissions on Nov. 30 or whenever we reach our 300-sub cap in each category.

Send us your:
✔️flash cnf (< 1,000 words)
✔️micros (< 400)
✔️short-shorts (< 100)

We can’t wait to read your work 🖤
inshortjournal.com/in-short-hom...

It’s spooky season so perhaps you’d enjoy my piece about the Rapture and organ donations 😀🫀

The Telstar by Clifford Thompson This piece grips you with every sentence and never lets you go. Thompson's style and word choice really brings the energy of the piece together and leaves you with a final punch in the last line! Sneak peek: "Spring of 1980, I seventeen, clop-clopping past squat gray buildings in Northwest DC in my hard black shoes, trench coat, tie, Afro."

Erasure by Timothy C Smith This piece explores what tries to remain unsaid and buried and unearths it with care and gentleness. The last few lines will make you want to reread the entire piece with Annie's name in mind. Sneak Peek: "She had a name. A sultry July afternoon, the grass slowly turning from jade green to dried hay."

Night Walk by Elizabeth Rose This piece drops you into a pool of release restless, searching for a moment of calm only to take it away. When he sentences get longer and the calm recedes, readers miss the freedom and quiet the sky can only give and grieve its loss with the narrator. Sneak peek: "I am aware of the risk, that when I use my fingers to wipe my eyes, I may unintentionally extract one of my good long eyelashes."

[Terrible is the Punishment of the Lord] by Darby Price Price creates such a poetic and intense moment with only 214 words. The scene and the rhetorical questions in the piece force readers to wonder about reclaimed with her. Sneak peak: "Terrible is the punishment of the Lord for those who believe in such things."

@darbyprice.bsky.social

The Quiet Part by Matthew E. Henry The form Henry uses to break up this one-sided conversation forces readers to pause and think after each mini mic drop. The tension that builds to the final line feels like a bucket of ice water being poured over your head. Sneak Peak: "Excuse me? Excuse me. I'm so sorry to interrupt your conversation, but are you Matthew E. Henry, the poet?..."

@mehpoeting.bsky.social

In Short Issue 3 Themes: Superhero punches, terrible conversations, grief, all 400 words or fewer

Looking back on Issue 3!! Today we are reviewing the Micros (400 words or fewer).

Read the full piece at Inshortjournal.com!

Elena Zhang

Want a submissions secret? 🤫 We get way fewer short-short and micro submissions than flash, so if you want to increase your chances, why not give one of those a try?

Here’s a short-short from Issue 3 we love by @ezhang77.bsky.social
inshortjournal.com/elena-zhang-2/

Happy #FlashFriday! Today’s feature is “Man-Sized Boots” by @brandihandley24.bsky.social .

We love its structure, its lines. And boy did it resonate:
t.co/TZ13lROCKy

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And order Darby’s debut lyric memoir, All the Lands We Inherit, here: bookshop.org/p/books/all-...

Love seeing our contributors IRL! @darbyprice.bsky.social read from her new collection—including [Terrible is the punishment of the Lord] from Issue 3 of In Short!—at the 804 Lit Salon in DC last weekend.

Read it here: t.co/qKZMNdJPpH

"Border Crossings, Macau to Hong Kong, 1957" by Melissa Hung With one sentence we are forced to experience the fear and uncertainty of the narrator. We wonder how she got there and where she will go. More importantly we dream of her mother with her by the end of the piece. Sneak Peek: “How long did she wait in that old apartment by the window...”

@melissahung.bsky.social

The Seamstress of Buenos Aires by Donald A. Ranard With just a little more than 50 words, Ranard includes readers into this small moment of shared love and loss. The final line leaving us sitting in that shared moment of acknowledgement. Sneak Peek: “How many children do you have? she asked. “

Shadow Animals By Michelle La Vone Every time you read through the piece a new word or phrase reveals itself and adds meaning to the piece. The objective correlative in the piece being the shadows on the wall also packs a punch when you finish reading! Sneak Peek: “My childhood room is frankincense, steady puffs of steam. “

In Short Issue 3 Themes: motherhood, loss, immigration, all 100 words or fewer Short-Shorts

As we gear up for Issue 4 of In Short we are going to take a look back at the past issues; starting with the Short-Shorts of Issue 3!

Read full pieces as inshortjournal.com

Melissa Hung

Did you know that we publish 100-word CNF? We call them “short-shorts”! And today’s feature is @melissahung.bsky.social’s “Border Crossings, Macau to Hong Kong, 1957.”

We love its long, breathless sentence with an ending that cuts like a 🔪
inshortjournal.com/melissa-hung/

Graphic of Editorial Intern: Megan Cobb What do you love about Flash Nonfiction? I love a good hermit-crab essay! Taking on a new shell to explore yourself is incredibly revealing and cathartic. A piece from In Short that you love? "Bra Shopping" by Dawn Tasaka Steffler, Issue 2 Favorite Author? Anne Rice