Christopher Allen

Cover Reveal! September 15th! Issue 89 of SmokeLong Quarterly! Ten killer flash by ten amazing writers. And we're thrilled to feature new CNF by Aimee Bender, our first featured author in the SmokeLong Master Series. Cover art by Mario Loprete.

I'll just leave this here. The rubber duckies are watching.

Thank you, @kplumhoff.bsky.social for these BEAUTIFUL tiny gin and tonic cups! They are stunning.

Awwwww! Great to see you in person too!!!

Yay!!!

Yay!!!

Our competitions always introduce us to new talent. Chi Pham's story "Man Spelt Backwards" is the author's first published story. We are THRILLED to be the first. And we have nominated the story for PEN America's Robert J. Dau Short Story Award for Emerging Writers. @seaheye.bsky.social‬

Compression for Novelists with Sherrie Flick - SmokeLong Quarterly We forget that the core element of flash fiction—compression—is frequently used in novels, not just novels-in-flash, but any longform manuscript benefits from understanding how compression works and w...

Novelists, don't miss this! August 2! www.smokelong.com/product/comp...

Smoke Signals with Chi Pham - SmokeLong Quarterly On the idea of contour as scalpel for creation and self-flagellation: The narrator eliminates the father’s aesthetic and creates something other. Do they create their full self or only who the father ...

"The makeup ritual is both self-flagellation and self-creation because those can be the same gesture...It’s violent work of daily erasure and reconstruction, but becoming yourself sometimes requires destroying what you were." Chi Pham (2nd place in The Smokey 2025): www.smokelong.com/interviews/s...

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We're sponsoring The SmokeLong Quarterly Trans Writer Fellowship and Residency in cooperation with @sundresspub.bsky.social and you can find out more here... www.sundresspublications.com/safta/reside...

SmokeLong Fitness — The Community Workshop - SmokeLong Quarterly Please note that due to A SmokeLong Summer 25, we are accepting new participants starting August 1st. If you book now, you’ll be able to start August 1st.  In September 2022 SmokeLong launched a works...

Looking for a supportive, energetic writing community? Do you write flash? The next starting date for SmokeLong Fitness is August first. Book anytime before July 31st to start August 1st. www.smokelong.com/smokelong-fi...

The Archive Challenge — Win $400! - SmokeLong Quarterly How often do you read the literary journals you submit your work to? Flash has been around for centuries but as “flash” only for around 23 years, when James Thomas’s wife suggested the term. Lots of o...

This challenge starts June 25th. Read the archives of a favorite flash journal and get your name in the hat to win $400. www.smokelong.com/the-archive-...

Cover of SmokeLong Quarterly Issue 88 June 2025, Says The SmokeLong Quarterly Award for Flash Fiction, listing the names of the contributors (Mizuki Yamagen | Chi Pham | Valerie Fox Glenn Orgias | Sarah Chin | Binh Do Jesse Ackles | Seth Gleckman | Sara Hills) and cover artist: Mia Broecke. Image:painting of person crouching against background in muted teal/aqua/moss tones; person is cupping a red fallen star in their hands beneath their chin. There are more red stars falling around them.

Good morning, US and Western time zones! Issue 88 of SmokeLong Quarterly, featuring the finalists and winners of the SmokeLong Quarterly Award for Flash Fiction 2025, is now LIVE. www.smokelong.com/issue-eighty...

Issue Eighty-Eight The SmokeLong Quarterly Award for Flash Fiction 2025 - SmokeLong Quarterly

For our readers in the UK and eastward (and night owls in the US), our special competition issue is live! The SmokeLong Quarterly Award for Flash Fiction! www.smokelong.com/issue-eighty...

@sfmontgomery.bsky.social wrote a 🔥 flash cnf collection and I had the honour of reviewing it for @smokelong.bsky.social (thanks @erinvachon.bsky.social for bonza editorial support). Read my review and read this collection now. It’s so important 🧡 www.smokelong.com/dear-sarah-f...

A lot of SmokeLong Fitness trousers are here. :)

An Interview with Frances Gapper - SmokeLong Quarterly In 2024 SmokeLong hosted our second SmokeLong Workshop Prize competition. Our workshop participants reported almost 300 publications to us before November 1, 2024. In 2025, we’ll be featuring one writ...

"Can you give helpful and encouraging feedback? Are you able to remain calm and polite? Do you need some friendly warmth and support?" Frances Gapper, long-listee for the SmokeLong Workshop Prize 2024, on peer-review workshopping. www.smokelong.com/an-interview...

Kickstart Your Novel with Flash with Shasta Grant - SmokeLong Quarterly In this 90-minute craft discussion and reading with Shasta Grant, we’ll explore ways flash writers can approach writing longer works. We’ll discuss Grant’s When We Were Feral, a novel coming out in 20...

Having trouble with your novel? www.smokelong.com/product/kick...

Congratulations, Glenn!

Congratulations, Sara!

Congratulations, Mizuki!

The SmokeLong Quarterly Award for Flash Fiction — The Winners - SmokeLong Quarterly I know I probably say this every year, but narrowing down the top 25 entries to the group of stories we’d eventually end up publishing was such a difficult task. Once an entry reached the second stage...

The results are in! The winners of The SmokeLong Quarterly Award for Flash Fiction 2025 are...
www.smokelong.com/the-smokelon...

SmokeLong Quarterly Issue 88 cover with painted image of person crouching and holding a red star in their cupped hands under their chin. There are other red stars falling around them. Text lists the finalists of the SmokeLong Quarterly Award for Flash Fiction

COVER REVEAL! Here’s the gorgeous cover for Issue 88, with all the names of The Smokey 2025 winners and finalists whose work will appear in it. Out next Monday. Art by Mia Broecke ⭐️

Short stories by Dawn Tasaka Steffler - turn and work I hate to admit that I almost skipped past the first Dawn Tasaka Steffler story I encountered. It wasn't until I saw her Bluesky post about "The Election Goes

If you haven't read @dawnsteffler.bsky.social you don't know what you're missing.

I pulled together a whack of favourites in a post, including a few from a flash-fiction novel she's working on about parenting a transgender teenager.

Gorgeous, devastating and unforgettable stuff.

Links here:

An Interview with Emily Rinkema Podcast Episode · Tiffin Inn Writing Workshop (with Imposter Syndrome & Unlimited Refills) · 05/27/2025 · 57m

I had so much fun talking with Tim and Art from @tiffininnwrites.bsky.social. Check out the podcast! Shout outs to @smokelong.bsky.social & @notquitewrite.com & @mattkendrick.bsky.social & @havehashad.com and so many others.
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

An Interview with Dawn Tasaka Steffler - SmokeLong Quarterly In 2024 SmokeLong hosted our second SmokeLong Workshop Prize competition. Our workshop participants reported almost 300 publications to us before November 1, 2024. In 2025, we’ll be featuring one writ...

Read what Dawn Tasaka Steffler @dawnsteffler.bsky.social has to say about workshopping in her interview for her two stories that made the SmokeLong Workshop Prize long list... www.smokelong.com/an-interview...

The SmokeLong Quarterly Award for Flash Fiction — The Shortlist - SmokeLong Quarterly Thank you to everyone who has sent work to The SmokeLong Quarterly Award for Flash Fiction, or as we affectionately call it The Smokey. Our team of 14 judges from seven countries around this troubled ...

Announcing the outrageously good shortlist for The SmokeLong Quarterly Award for Flash Fiction 2025, aka The Smokey. Please feel free to celebrate but please do not identify your story as judging is still in progress. www.smokelong.com/the-smokelon...