FlashBlog

Problems with email on 10/15?

2010-01-13T20:39:00.001-05:00

I'm running through queries right now, and three of them from the past several days relate to rejections that I sent on 10/15/09. I'm resending all critical emails from that day (about 25 of them) because that's a bit too much of a coincidence for me. I apologize for whatever glitch caused the problem.

Computer Rebuild = Delayed Publication

2009-08-31T16:23:00.002-04:00

My computer had to be completely reinstalled. I have all of my data, but as a result of the rebuild I'm going to take a few extra days to publish the magazine for September.

Reprint of Ripley Patton's "Traveling By Petroglyph"

2009-08-13T12:10:00.003-04:00

Ripley Patton's "Traveling By Petroglyph", originally published in our October 2008 issue, has been picked up as a reprint in Flash Me magazine. Congratulations, Rip!

Editorial Calendar Through November

2009-08-02T14:44:00.005-04:00

Here's the editorial calendar for the next few months. This doesn't include Bruce Holland Rogers' contributions or the Classic Flashes. I publish on the first Tuesday or Thursday of the month, whichever comes first.

August: Going live on 8/4
* There Are No Great Truths Here -- Danielle Friedman
* Purpose -- R.W. Ware
* A Taste For Life -- Patrick Freivald

September: Going live on 9/1
* Suddenly Speaking -- Ray Vukcevich
* Doofus -- Mark Patrick Morehead
* How High the Moon -- Patrick Lundrigan

October: Going live on 10/1
* Eating It Too -- Kristine Kathryn Rusch
* Death Babies -- S. Craig Renfroe, Jr.
* The Door -- Damon Shaw

November: Going live on 11/3
* My Superpower -- Leslie A. Dow
* A Delivery of Cheesesteaks -- Alan Grayce
* Irma Splinkbottom's Recipe for Cold Fusion -- Janene Reichert Murphy

Publication Questions

2009-07-03T09:05:00.003-04:00

I just responded to an email that I thought I'd reprint here:

> Do you publish authors who have not yet been published?

Yes, often. The competition is fierce, though.

> How do I copyright my story?

By current US law, you own copyright the moment you write your piece. When I publish it, I do so with a copyright statement at the end. I don't actually "register" the copyright, but I'm obliged to take all reasonable steps in the event of a copyright violation.

> How many stories can I submit at one time?

I don't have a formal limit, but you don't do yourself any favors by submitting more than three at once.

> How long does a story you publish stay online?

Indefinitely. My contract also says that I get First Electronic Rights (i.e., this is not a reprint, and I'll be the first to publish it) AND a non-exclusive one-time right to publish the story in an anthology. "Non-exclusive" means that you can submit your story to other markets as a reprint *after* I publish it, and you can have it in other anthologies if they'll accept it, as long as everyone knows that I can publish it in my anthology as well. I will pay my authors royalties based on their word-count contribution to the overall word count of the anthology.

This latter information is all on our submissions page.

Reopened to Submissions

2009-06-18T07:22:00.003-04:00

It took longer than I expected, but we're reopened to submissions.

As a reminder, if you have a query, please send it to query at flashfictiononline dot com.

Two Important Items

2009-05-08T07:46:00.005-04:00

First: Hopefully this won't last long, but between an initial backlog and a serious email glitch that has hampered my efforts to track submissions, I am closing the magazine to submissions. I anticipate being reopened by the end of the month.

Second, and related: There is now a separate email for queries. Please send all queries to query at flashfictiononline dot com. I've had too many emails go into the ordinary submission queue, only for me to discover after two weeks that they're queries rather than stories. Hopefully this will help us all out.

This isn't as important as the other two -- well, unless you're on pins and needles -- but if you're waiting for a response from the latest winnowing round, we have completed it and acceptances / rejections will be going out shortly.

Next Publication Date: May 5, 2009

2009-05-01T13:35:00.003-04:00

As a reminder, we publish on the first Tuesday or Thursday of the month. Our May issue will be available on Tuesday, May 5. The lineup is:

* Bryan S. Wang, "Descent", a literary story that doesn't really make me long for the glory days of my youth.

* Isaac Espriu, "Jack Rabbit", a story that makes me, a Crackberry addict, worry about my future.

* KJ Kabza, "Billions of Stars", a story that makes me think that things aren't always so bad after all. :)

Bruce Holland Rogers will be with us as always. After all, he always hits his deadlines, even when self-imposed: he published his three April stories for shortshortshort.com subscribers late last night!

Our Classic Flash will again come from that incredibly rich source of humor, Punch. In celebration of Cinco de Mayo, which is a celebration of the victory of outnumbered Mexican soldiers against the French / Mexican army at Puebla in 1862, we'll be publishing the only war-oriented classic short-short story I could find that involved the French: To The Death, from the March 26, 1919 issue. I hope you'll be as amused as I was.

See you then!

Sluggish Responses

2009-04-13T09:13:00.002-04:00

I'm never the fastest guy in the world, but I'm a little worse than usual right now. We just had a baby last Tuesday, and the last few weeks have been slower than usual. I beg your patience.

Thanks,
Jake

Line-up for March

2009-03-01T09:59:00.003-05:00

It occurs to me that I haven't announced our line-up yet, so here it is. It's a music issue:

"Addiction" by Ariella Adler, a fantasy -- though more about the aftereffects of the fantastic than the fantastic itself. The music in this case is that of the sidhe.

"Gustav's Mars" by Emily Leverett, a science fiction story. It's about music and martians, but really about something more mundane when all's said and done. And yes, the narrator starts off dead.

"Trumpet Volunteer" by Oscar Windsor-Smith, a literary story? A fantasy? I guess it depends on your perspective. It's an odd one for me, but I like it and I hope you will, too.

We publish on the first Tuesday or Thursday of the month, so I'll see you sometime on March 3rd!

It's Official

2009-02-07T14:57:00.004-05:00

I feel a little bit like Steve Martin in The Jerk -- you know, that scene where he first sees his name in the phone book? -- because we received our International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) from the Library of Congress. (The Library administers the program in the US, but it is, as the name implies, an identifier that's recognized worldwide.) It's a minor thing that happens automatically if you apply, but it's still kinda cool to be official.

We are now officially ISSN 1946-1712.

(Flash prompt for you writers out there: read the two four-digit components as the birth and death dates of a time-traveling protagonist, born 1946 and died 1712.)

If any other 'zines are wondering how long it takes, they received my application on 11/20/2008, and I received the response this morning, 2/7/2009.

Going Live Tomorrow

2009-02-02T22:08:00.002-05:00

We go live on the first Tuesday or Thursday of every month, so you'll see stories updated sometime tomorrow, February 3, 2009. New stories by Jay Lake, Robert Borski, and Tony Rogers, along with Bruce Holland Rogers's column and a classic from Punch.

Podcast RSS error

2009-01-26T09:36:00.002-05:00

I just realized that I had the Podcast RSS pointing to the development machine instead of the live machine. Sorry about that. "What the Moon Brings" by H.P. Lovecraft and "James Brown [etc.]" by Stefanie Freele are both now live and working.

Line-up for January

2008-12-22T11:37:00.002-05:00

January's line-up includes three stories:

* Mike Resnick's "The Fallen Angel"
* Stefanie Freele's "The Flood of '09"
* Robin Gillespie's "As Their Eyes Touched God"
* A Classic Flash by Anton Chekhov, "An Enigmatic Nature"

Mike's piece is a reprint, but (a) it's an out-of-print almost-20-year-old story, (b) it's a really good story, and (c) Mike is the winningest SF author ever, so I'll break my usual "no reprints" rule for this one. Interestingly, this isn't a science fiction story.

Stefanie's story falls exactly one year after her first story with us, "James Brown is Alive and Doing Laundry in South Lake Tahoe". We nominated that one for a Pushcart Prize.

Robin's bio refers to graphic novel work, but not short story publications, so this might just be her first one. When she emails me her bio, I'll know more. :)

Bruce Holland Rogers will be with us as well, of course -- even though he's traveling to Egypt. Of course we wish him safe travels.

Happy New Year!

Flash Fiction Online story wins First Annual Micro Award!

2008-12-01T13:59:00.001-05:00

This is cross-posted from News and Headlines, since it's both news (which goes on News and Headlines) and site-specific (which goes here).

Congratulations to Bruce Holland Rogers for winning the First Annual Micro Award with his story, "Reconstruction Work"!

We published this story in our very first issue, barely making the Micro Award deadline. It has also been noted on cnn.com -- which is, I think, only the second reference to Bruce on CNN (the other being a book review).

Robert Laughlin is the brainpower and administrator behind the Micro Awards. George Keithley and Clark Brown were judges for the first award; the second award will be judged by Stefanie Freele, Benjamin J. Biesek, and Len Fulton. (Remember Stefanie? She wrote the (now Pushcart-nominated) "James Brown is Alive and Doing Laundry in South Lake Tahoe" in our January issue -- the month after Bruce published his award-winning story.)

Congratulations to Bruce, and many thanks to Robert Laughlin and the rest of the Micro Award judges!

A Bunch of Wordz

2008-11-15T19:02:00.001-05:00

It's their "z", not mine. :) At any rate, they have some nice things to say about Dani Girl.

Coming on Halloween: Ray the Vampire

2008-10-28T16:05:00.003-04:00

"Ray the Vampire" by Mercedes M. Yardley will go live on Halloween. It's fun, and if you want to see what it's about (and get a look at a really cool text technology), check out this Wordle I made with its text.

Happy Halloween!

Hello? Hey - it's for you - Hollywood is calling

2008-09-03T00:09:00.002-04:00

While searching for some local writing gigs on Craigslist, I came across this interesting listing. A Chicago-based production company is seeking Flash Fiction stories for a film adaptation. It's not a paying gig from what the listing says, but you'd receive sole story credit and a copy of the film if your work is selected. I personally would *love* to see one of Flash Fiction Online's finest turned into a film. So who is going to submit?

Modified Publishing Schedule

2008-08-29T15:07:00.003-04:00

Starting in September (our next issue), we'll be shifting our publication schedule to the first Tuesday of the month. Thus, our next issue will launch on 9/2.

We have three great new stories ("Beyond The Pale" takes us to a bar and a question; "Just One Thing" is an insight into a Mexican family and inquisitive minds; "The Trick" is about a boy who... Well, you'll see) and a Classic Flash from Edgar Allan Poe. We hope you'll join us.

Blog Post I liked

2008-08-19T01:42:00.003-04:00

I particularly liked this blog post about Elizabeth Creith's "Stone the Crows". It's not earth-shattering, but it's real.

"Apologies All Around" Live at Drabblecast

2008-08-19T00:47:00.002-04:00

Norm Sherman at Drabblecast has released his podcast of Apologies All Around by Jeff Soesbe, which was originally published in our February issue. And even if you read it here already, it's so worth the sitcom treatment than Norm gives it -- funny and a little campy and totally different without mocking it or being crazy. Amazing job, Norm.

We're on CNN!

2008-08-15T16:01:00.003-04:00

Well, CNN.com, anyway:

Consequently there has been a proliferation of "flash fiction" on the Web, with E-zines and dedicated sites like Flash Fiction Online showcasing the talents of writers like Bruce Holland Rogers.

I knew that if my boring-but-descriptive name put us high up in Google it would be worth it... :)

Karen Smith Places in "Return To Luna" Writing Contest

2008-08-12T11:02:00.002-04:00

Yep, that's our very own Karen T. Smith on the list of finalists for the "Return to Luna" writing contest. She'll be published in the "Return to Luna" anthology. Karen, what other details can you provide for us?

Review at SFRevu.com

2008-08-03T22:04:00.002-04:00

Many thanks as always to Sam Tomaino for his ever-so-brief reviews of our ever-so-brief stories over at SFRevu. The story he made most note of, interestingly enough, is the oldest: Ambrose Bierce's "John Mortonson's Funeral".

While you're at it, some of you may be interested in the interview with Jay Lake and the review of The Dark Knight -- along with a ton of other great stuff.

Good News, Good Stories

2008-07-15T10:08:00.003-04:00

Cris of hat-moononline.com is a friend of R.W. Ware's, and posted a picture that he did of Cris's crew. It's a fun Webcomic, too -- check it out.

David Tallerman, who gave us this month's "Strive to be Happy" and March's "The Desert Cold", is in Hub #57 with a story called "Exodus".

Jeff Soesbe, who gave us February's "Apologies All Around", has resold the story to Drabblecast. This will be the first time that one of our stories has been resold to another market, so congratulations to Jeff and us! (Okay, more to Jeff than to us, but still...)

New Review!

2008-07-09T21:44:00.002-04:00

Special thanks to short story reviewer Sam Tomaino (and, of course, editor Gayle Surrette) for a brief review of our brief stories from last month.

The problem with reviewing such short stories is that you can't say too much without giving the whole thing away, and the problem with thanking people for such short reviews is that you can't give a flavor for what they say without quoting most of the review. I'll shut up now so you can read Sam's reviews. (Hint: he seems to have liked them.)

While you're there, you might be interested in the interview with Paolo Bacigalupi. He's paranoid without letting it get him over the edge, which is interesting, and I like this line from his comment about The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement: "I love it. It means more elbow room for me and mine."

News and Headlines Section of Web Site

2008-06-26T12:36:00.002-04:00

I've created a new "News and Headlines" section of the Web site to handle press releases and other interesting items that are external to Flash Fiction Online -- and maybe external to our current time, too. We'll see.

This blog will continue to be used for Flash Fiction Online-related information. Make sense? News and Headlines = non-FFO news, Blog = FFO only. That's why this post is on the blog, but not in the News section. :)

Classic Cartoons Available Online

2008-06-24T14:30:00.002-04:00

If you like classic cartoons, go to Unicorn Media and search on "Betty Boop" or "Felix the Cat". A press release this morning said that they're going to be publishing these and other classic videos on the Web, and it looks like at least some of them are up.

Bigfoot Hunters Going to New York

2008-06-23T21:21:00.002-04:00

I know that a fair number of people here are fond of speculative fiction, and although it may not be fiction, I thought this press release might amuse or edify:

Bigfoot Hunters Heading to Catskill, New York to Investigate Several Sightings of a Family of Bigfoot, June 26-June 28, 2008
Expedition to Be Open to Journalists and the Media

CATSKILL, NY and MENLO PARK, CA--(Marketwire - June 23, 2008) - Bigfoot Hunter, Tom Biscardi, and his Searching For Bigfoot team, are currently en route to Catskill, New York where on June 26th through June 28th, they will follow up on very recent sightings of a family of creatures commonly referred to as Bigfoot. The Bigfoot sightings have occurred several times in the past six weeks on the rural property of a family in Catskill, New York. (The exact names and locations are being kept secret to avoid a media circus and to protect the creatures.)

The whole release is here.

Technical Difficulties

2008-06-17T18:02:00.002-04:00

I'm recovering from a hard drive crash, so please forgive any tardiness in correspondence. I have all of my data, but a lot of applications needed to be reinstalled. I'm almost out of the woods, finally.

Non-traditional Publishing

2008-06-13T07:13:00.003-04:00

In the FlashForum, I just opened a discussion on non-traditional publishing. You're welcome to join the conversation.

Lineup for July

2008-06-11T20:42:00.002-04:00

We've solidified the line-up for July, and I couldn't be happier.

We have another story from David Tallerman, who wrote "The Desert Cold" in our March issue -- and I actually like this one better than the first, truth be told. (Don't tell Dave. It would be like playing favorites with his kids.) You can find him on the web at davidtallerman.net.

We have a great little story by Jennifer Tatroe. It's our first publication with her, but she's also been published in The Boston Literary Magazine, Every Day Fiction (and is about to be again), and Flashquake. Her Web site is jennifertatroe.com.

Finally, we are publishing a story by Brenda Kalt, a graduate of the Viable Paradise workshop. She's been published before in Not One of Us.

And of course, we'll have Bruce Holland Rogers's next column in the "Short-short sighted" series.

And maybe more. We'll see what we can pull off. :)

Critique Section of the Flash Forum

2008-06-05T16:29:00.003-04:00

There's a section of the Flash Forum called "Critique My Flash!" It requires registration, so if you're not in the forum then you can't see it. If you'd like people to take a look at what you're writing and provide some feedback, it's a place to go.

Note that, because it's on a password protected forum, posting your story there does not count as publication.

It was correctly pointed out to me the other day that I haven't posted guidelines for it. I'll be doing that shortly -- perhaps over the weekend. Meanwhile, just avoid erotica, graphic sex or violence, unneeded swearing, and so on; post only one or two stories a week to avoid overwhelming the critiquers; and make sure that you're helping others on the forum as much as you're being helped.

Review by SFRevu

2008-06-04T07:12:00.003-04:00

Sam Tomaino over at SFRevu just reviewed our May issue. I'm happy to say that every story got a "Very Good". Thanks, Sam!

Our Editorial Practices

2008-05-27T15:29:00.003-04:00

I recently put some information about our editorial practices in the Flash Forum. I put it there instead of on a separate page to encourage people to ask questions, complain, make suggestions, offer to be a part of the team, and so on.

Generally speaking, I like transparency in the editorial process. When things aren't transparent, it's generally because of logistical or other constraints, not because I prefer to keep things under wraps.

Five Star Literary Stories

2008-05-24T13:49:00.003-04:00

I just found a great site called Five Star Literary Stories, run by three-time Pushcart nominee T.J. Forrester. I don't suppose it's shocking, with a name like that and an editor with those credentials, that it focuses on literary fiction (as opposed to science fiction, thrillers, etc.).

It might be especially beneficial if you don't always like literary fiction, or if you're not sure what people see in some of those fancy-schmancy stories. The reviews I've seen so far have been intelligent without being pretentious, so you'll read a very short story plus a good review -- and nothing, in my experience, enriches a reading experience more than seeing what other intelligent readers see in a given story.

Naturally, when I saw what TJ was doing, I wanted to be a part of it, so I spoke to TJ and I'll be nominating Stefanie Freele's "James Brown is Alive and Doing Laundry in South Lake Tahoe".

I'll be adding this to my links page, too.

For Writers: The Turkey City Lexicon

2008-05-21T18:25:00.003-04:00

I've just created a nicely formatted version of the Turkey City Lexicon and made it available from my Goodies page.

The Turkey City Lexicon is a copyright-free collection of gaffes, stylistic problems, and other issues that face writers every day. I'm not talking about misplaced modifiers or point-of-view inconsistencies, but higher-level issues. Here are a few samples:

Brenda Starr dialogue
Long sections of talk with no physical background or description of the characters. Such dialogue, detached from the story's setting, tends to echo hollowly, as if suspended in mid-air. Named for the American comic-strip in which dialogue balloons were often seen emerging from the Manhattan skyline.
...
"Call a Rabbit a Smeerp"
A cheap technique for false exoticism, in which common elements of the real world are re-named for a fantastic milieu without any real alteration in their basic nature or behavior. "Smeerps" are especially common in fantasy worlds, where people often ride exotic steeds that look and act just like horses. (Attributed to James Blish.)
...
Dischism
The unwitting intrusion of the author's physical surroundings, or the author's own mental state, into the text of the story. Authors who smoke or drink while writing often drown or choke their characters with an endless supply of booze and cigs. In subtler forms of the Dischism, the characters complain of their confusion and indecision -- when this is actually the author's condition at the moment of writing, not theirs within the story. "Dischism" is named after the critic who diagnosed this syndrome. (Attr. Thomas M. Disch)

You get the idea. Although it targets science fiction writers, there are plenty of items in it worth reading about for all genres.

And yes, that means that I've let everyone else do the real work of making all of this meaningful content, and all I've done is reformat it and republish it. But then, that's what I do with all of the stories, too, so I'm okay with that... :)

If anyone thinks that an HTML version of this would be worth creating, let me know and I'll add it to the list of things I really oughta do someday.

For Webmasters: "My IP Neighbors"

2008-05-13T13:35:00.002-04:00

Okay, this has nothing to do with writing, but it has something to do with hosting an online 'zine (or online anything else, for that matter).

A while back I had to write to AT&T to get them to allow my email to go through to att.com (or was it .net?) email addresses. I assume that part of the problem was my shared hosting services -- if you don't have a dedicated server, a dedicated IP address, who knows who else might be sending spam out using your IP address?

I just found myipneighbors.com, which shows me all of the sites (159 of them!) that share Flash Fiction Online's IP address: 67.212.165.26. At least one is an adult site, and who knows who else is spamming whom from there? Use Firefox or Safari to view it or the scrolling is a total pain in the neck.

Announcing: New Column by Bruce Holland Rogers

2008-05-08T06:51:00.003-04:00

I'm thrilled to announce that, starting with our June issue, Bruce Holland Rogers will contribute a monthly column called "Short-Short Sighted: Writing the Short-Short Story".

Bruce is an award-winning writer and a teacher, and may be best known as a writer of extremely short stories. (If you doubt it, visit his web site, "shortshortshort.com". :) ) There's no one more qualified to write this sort of column than he is.

Watch this spot -- only a few more weeks to go!

Use the New Social Networking Tools to Promote Flash Fiction Online

2008-05-03T20:00:00.000-04:00

When I launched this issue, I added buttons for Digg, Stumble Upon, and Del.icio.us. Using these buttons will promote the stories we publish here, and you can add comments as well. This is good overall for Flash Fiction Online, and can also help you highlight the stories that you personally like the most.

I generated them on all of the earlier stories, too, so if there's one you particularly like, you can go back to it and digg it or submit it to Stumble Upon as well.

Thanks!

Subscribe to Pam Casto's Flash Fiction Flash Newsletter

2008-05-03T19:36:00.003-04:00

If you're a writer who's interested in Flash Fiction, and you haven't subscribed to Pam Casto's Flash Fiction Flash newsletter, hie thee to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FlashFictionFlash to get on her mailing list. It has enough really good information in it to make it worth the three-minute read once per month.

Review by Sam Tomaino at SFRevu

2008-05-02T00:46:00.003-04:00

Sam Tomaino at SFRevu kindly reviewed our April issue a few days ago. I thank him for his kind words, summed up like this: "I got a big kick out of them and look forward to next month's issue." (And here it is, by the way...)

Here's the link.

What is Flash?

2008-04-15T17:34:00.003-04:00

I really like this quote from an interview with Vanessa Gebbie over at Smokelong Quarterly:

Great flashes are diamond stuff. Perfect. They don't leave the reader hanging, or assume another role. Strong, resonant stories packed into non-safety matchboxes.

I have a strong emotional pull to the form. It feels very natural. I'm sure they are deeply seated in our psyches, these little stories, told in snatched moments. And it's such a joy to read a really good flash.

It's not a function of word count. It's more to do with the magic of 'scope'. Read a good flash and a whole world envelops you. You CAN'T turn the page and read another.

But I also see flash writing—the process—as a way of freeing up creativity. Of 'defeating the sentinels'. Of allowing the mind free rein to produce what connections, rhythms, voices, colours and textures it wants, with as little interference from the writer as possible... no planning, no 'conscious thought'.

If you don't read Smokelong Quarterly, they're worth a look. It's a very different 'zine from Flash Fiction Online -- much more literary, in particular -- but if you like that sort of thing then you should definitely check them out.

Review at "Grasping for the Wind"

2008-04-11T20:56:00.003-04:00

John Ottinger over at Grasping for the Wind just reviewed our April issue. His favorite story was "Call of the Wild, Line Three", but he says interesting things about the rest of the zine as well. Thanks, John!

R.W. Ware's Wares

2008-04-01T13:44:00.002-04:00

Our artist-in-residence, R.W. Ware, is a tattoo artist. He's going to the Down East Tattoo Show (DETS) in Bangor, Maine, this weekend. He's blogged about it -- along with the latest FLash Fiction Online offering and his Writers of the Future entry (busy contest-oriented week for him!) -- and you might like to check out his Web site to see work done a little differently than you'll see around here.

Even if living human vellum isn't your favorite parchment, you've got to admire his skill. And his versatility! Good luck, Rich!

Submission Guidelines Changes

2008-03-25T00:11:00.003-04:00

We just made some changes to what we will publish. Quoting from the new guidelines page:

As of 3/25/2008, we are no longer accepting submissions for stories of fewer than 500 words. All submissions must be between 500 and 1,100 words. (Stories of greater than 1000 words, if accepted, will be edited to 1,000 words.)

Stories submitted before 3/25/2008 will be reviewed for possible inclusion even if they are smaller. We had originally said that we favored the high end of the flash range, and that continues, but we still may accept smaller stories for the May and June 2008 issues.

Also as of 3/25/2008, we will be paying a flat $50 for all stories. Since the stories we publish will range from 500-1,000 words, this implies a per-word rate of five to ten cents.

The new payment terms will be retroactive for our earlier authors. It might take me a while to get the back payments out to everyone, but it won't be any later than December 2008. :)

Reviews and Backlinks

2008-03-14T20:38:00.003-04:00

Two items of note for this evening:

1. Futurismic was kind enough to note our March issue in their "Friday Free Fiction" section. Thanks for the link, folks, and back at you.

2. The Anonymous Reader just posted a review of this issue as well. Thanks again, AR!

Finally, this blog post will only be at the top of the list for a short time -- I'm about to release our St. Patrick's Day special!

Wikipedia Entry

2008-03-08T19:23:00.004-05:00

When I first launched Flash Fiction Online, I tried to put up a Wikipedia entry that described what I was trying to do. It got deleted as blatant advertising, even though I thought it was pretty objective about...well, about the site's objectives.

I've tried again, and it's been up for about a day with no complaints. Maybe this time it'll stick.

Here's the link to the Wikipedia entry for Flash Fiction Online. I'm wide open to adding things that people think would be good to add -- in fact, given the way Wikipedia works, you can add it yourself!

Technical Issues

2008-03-02T08:38:00.002-05:00

I've had some weird technical issues for the past few days, but I hope we're over the worst of them.

One thing that has taken a back seat is the creation of PDFs. If you like the PDF versions, check back on the blog every once in a while and I'll announce when they're up.

Another problem has been the forum: my connectivity has been intermittent enough that I haven't filled out all of the story topics or created the polls. Hopefully I'll have that fixed shortly, too. Either way, you should still be able to use them.

Meanwhile, the stories are there, along with a great interview with Eric Garcia. Check it out.

New Story By Rod Santos

2008-02-28T06:26:00.002-05:00

Rod Santos, who brought us "Speed Dating and Spirit Guides" in our January issue, has a new story up at the Town Drunk: "The Curse of the Friendly Forest".

Writers of the Future Semi-finalists

2008-02-26T12:25:00.000-05:00

Galaxy Press has released the names of the finalists, semi-finalists, and honorable mentions for the Writers of the Future contest for 1st quarter 2008. Of special note are two honorable mentions: Our very own R.W. (Rich) Ware -- showing he has a talent for writing as well as art -- and the author of our upcoming special feature for March, Barbara A. Barnett.

This is a very tough competition, and getting an honorable mention is a very big step for a budding writer. Congratulations to both of them!

Review by The Anonymous Reader

2008-02-26T12:08:00.001-05:00

Thanks again, Anonymous!

Is Somebody Fraudulently Clicking the Google Ads?

2008-02-22T21:22:00.002-05:00

I'm so not happy. Today I received an email from the Google AdSense team:

While going through our records recently, we found that your AdSense account has posed a significant risk to our AdWords advertisers. Since keeping your account in our publisher network may financially damage our advertisers in the future, we've decided to disable your account.

Please understand that we consider this a necessary step to protect the interests of both our advertisers and our other AdSense publishers. We realize the inconvenience this may cause you, and we thank you in advance for your understanding and cooperation.

If you have any questions about your account or the actions we've taken, please do not reply to this email. You can find more information by visiting https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=57153&hl=en_US.

Sincerely,

The Google AdSense Team

This is a real problem, since I made 51 cents off of Amazon ads in January compared to $11 (and growing with our increasing readership) from Google. I wasn't clearing a profit, but it was helping to subsidize my flash habit. Ultimately Rich and I wanted to make this a pro market for art as well, and I certainly can't do that without revenue. Without Google ads, I'll either have to eat the cost or start charging for access or something along those lines.

If anyone thought they would do me a favor by clicking on my ads repeatedly, PLEASE EMAIL ME ASAP. I need to show Google that I'm not engaging in fraudulent behavior, or (a) they'll keep the 60 bucks I already earned, and (b) they'll never let me use their ads again.

A Classical Composer and Friend of Flash Fiction Online

2008-02-19T22:34:00.003-05:00

If you like classical music at all, you should check out the Naxos Classical Music Spotlight. It's essentially a commercial for Naxos recordings, but what a commercial! Twenty minutes of music from recent Naxos releases, interviews with conductors (and composers if they're still alive), and historical and biographical information as well.

I mention this not only because I love the podcast (I was the first person to review it on iTunes), but also because we have gained a license to use music composed by James Hartway, a modern American composer, on the site. I thank Mr. Hartway and the Naxos label very much for this privilege.

If you'd like to listen to the podcast, click here. Visit Naxos of America, Inc. at www.Naxos.com, and purchase classical CDs at www.NaxosDirect.com. Jim Hartway's site is located at jameshartway.com.

Addition to the March Line-up

2008-02-13T23:49:00.002-05:00

Good news! Glenn Lewis Gillette just agreed to let us publish "Downstream from Divorce: a Drama in Three Acts" in March. It's going to be a great issue. For a little more detail, see this blog post.

What Authors Look Like

2008-02-13T00:07:00.005-05:00

I can't be the only writer who has wondered what authors look like, right? Real authors. The ones who have published books. Who get paid money to write. Those ones. I've seen some aspiring writers at local writing groups and the like, but I mean real ones.

Well I took my six year old son to the library in town on Saturday for what I thought was a used book sale. To my surprise we discovered we were at the St. Charles Literature Festival, (can't find a webpage for it, but here's a newspaper thing.) There was a book sale, but not a used one. The books for sale were fancy and new. And as you left the sale room, you entered wonderland, also known as the regular youth services department of the library, festooned with author placards and loads of people milling about (the greeter told us that she had clicked more than 500 times that morning on her hand clicker counter thingy. A technical term if I've ever seen one.)

Some observations about authors, at least this particular group of children's and young adult authors:
- Most wore glasses
- Most men had very little hair, neatly trimmed very short
- Illustrators are awesome. They draw tiny pictures for your kids when signing their books.
- Most were not young. I've reached an age at which I no longer speculate details on any individual, but I'd put the average age of the authors at high 40s, maybe even low 50s.
- Even after 2 hours of signing books (for 500 people!) the authors were gracious and kind to me and my son.
- Caldecott winners look just like regular people. Or at least like regular authors. (If you're dying to know who - there may have been others, but we met the illustrator/author of this book - which is one of our family favorites.)

Neat event, good time. Check to see if your town has a literature fest. Volunteer to work with the youth writers' workshops or do children's storytimes. Mill about to get the writing vibe. People watch. Just do it.

Karen Smith aka KayTi

Semi-retired from technology consulting and educational software design/development while the wee folk are wee. Reading, writing, and blogging in my spare time between carpools and playdates. Flash Fiction Online slush reader. Coupon clipper. Vegetarian eater. Global warming worrier. Lifelong learner.

Trouble emailing us?

2008-02-11T21:45:00.000-05:00

I got a report that att.net has blocked our IP address "for abuse" -- typically spam. Ours is a shared server, so other organizations share this IP address with us, and it's possible that one of them has been reported (correctly or not) for spam.

If you're having a hard time reaching us, use my alter ego's email address: oliverhouse@gmail.com.

Strange Horizons: Stories We've Seen Too Often

2008-02-05T09:48:00.000-05:00

I was reminded of this list this morning. Worth reading.

Why Not Name Your Main Character?

2008-02-04T22:42:00.000-05:00

This isn't a rant, but a serious question: why wouldn't you name your main character within the first sentence or so?

So many stories (especially short-short stories) have only "he" or "she" as the main character; some will start with the pronoun and then give the name later. But a name is so powerful! Consider the difference between the following opening sentences:

"She sat on an outcropping of rock that jutted out of the mountain."

"Martha Whittaker sat on an outcropping of rock that jutted out of the mountain."

"Svetlana Dushovsky sat on an outcropping of rock that jutted out of the mountain."

"Anunciación McGrew sat on an outcropping of rock that jutted out of the mountain."

"Elise de Martin sat on an outcropping of rock that jutted out of the mountain."

"Dr. Alexa Martin sat on an outcropping of rock that jutted out of the mountain."

"Libby sat on an outcropping of rock that jutted out of the mountain."

You get the idea. These women are, in order: an abtraction, English-sounding, Russian-sounding, racially mixed or an Hispanic woman married to an Irishman, French, educated, and casual or perhaps a woman (or girl) of the country. The abstraction is in many ways the least powerful, yet probably 80% of the stories I get have an abstraction as the main character -- a bare pronoun, not a name.

Why do that? I'm serious that this isn't a rant: if you have thoughts on the subject, please add your comments below.

Story Beginnings -- Ten To Avoid

2008-02-03T17:02:00.000-05:00

An amusing bit by William Meikle on sffworld.com. :)

The Lineup For March

2008-02-02T21:32:00.000-05:00

I didn't write a complete "coming next issue" article this month -- I don't yet know everything that's coming! -- but I want you to know a bit about what's on deck for March.

First, I'm very proud to present a new story by Jim Van Pelt called "Just Before Recess". Jim says on his blog that January has been a good month for him -- I'm happy to be a part of that.

We'll also present a great story by David Tallerman called "The Desert Cold". You can find his work around the Net if you look, but this will be his first pro sale.

"Avid rejection letter collector" Barbara Barnett-Stewart shows her sense of humor with our St. Patrick's Day special. She doesn't know it yet, but I'm going to ask her to post the haiku version in the Flash Forum. (And no, I don't pay by the syllable.)

Since Barbara's story won't go live on March 1, we're still looking at the last story to put up then. We're also still hashing out the details of our Classic Flash #4. And I hope to have an interview with Eric Garcia, who wrote The Materialist for our January issue.

It'll be good, it'll stick with you through the rest of the month, and it probably still won't take you more than 20 minutes to read. :)

Regards,
Jake

Stefanie Freele is Smokelong's Fish Fellow

2008-02-01T07:08:00.000-05:00

I just saw this good news for our January contributor Stefanie Freele: she has beaten out 89 other competitors to become Smokelong Quarterly's Fish Fellow. Congratulations, Stefanie!

Things Not To Put In Your Cover Letter

2008-01-28T21:08:00.000-05:00

I'm pretty good-natured, so none of the following have stopped me from reading your stories, but consider what an editor might think on reading the following statements in the email that accompanies your submission:

"I wrote this in 20 minutes after finding out about your zine." While I appreciate the fact that you want to show your instant devotion, I'd rather find out that you had taken your time crafting a story instead of slapping one together.

"I wrote this while thinking about my best friend, Virginia." While this bit of sentiment will be great in the interview after you sell the story, beforehand it just sets me up to think that it's a sentimental diary entry more than a story. While I might be pleasantly surprised, and while FLash Fiction Online staff readers don't see the cover letters, why take the chance of setting yourself up?

"I've had this one sitting around for a while. I hope you like it." While it's possible that you were just waiting for a professional flash-dedicated zine to sell to, or that you have other reasons for not submitting this story to anyone else, it seems likely that a story that you've had "sitting around for a while" hasn't sold for a good reason. Unless you're Orson Scott Card, I'm going to be a little skeptical. (Scott, do you have a flash story that's been sitting around for a while?)

There are probably more, and I'll add them as they come along. As it turns out, I didn't buy any of the stories that accompanied these cover letters. That's not because the cover letters were bad, though, so if you see yourself here don't get upset. I'm commenting here to be helpful, not to be catty.

Good writing!
Jake

Flashes and Twist Endings?

2008-01-21T17:55:00.000-05:00

Many authors write stories with twists. For a while, Law and Order even advertised the fact that there was a twist at the end of their episodes.

The problem with twist endings and flash is that they often don't feel like twists: they feel like punch lines. And that makes the stories jokes, not stories.

It makes sense. In a longer story, you have a lot of space to build up people's motivations, desires, personalities -- characters, in other words. When there's a twist, you're seeing the twist as a change in a well-established character's knowledge. In flash, none of the characters are as strongly developed, so the twist is often more of a change in the reader's knowledge. And that's just a punch line.

Sometimes the twist is even worse: the author withholds information from the reader even though the main character would definitely know it. Sometimes that happens in longer works, but I think the temptation is stronger in flash because it would have to be sustained for a shorter, and therefore seemingly more manageable, length of time. But it's still a case of the author cheating the reader.

Writing a story develops trust between the author and the reader. Withholding information from the reader breaks that trust; making a joke of the story makes the reader take you a little bit less seriously. Unless you're deliberately trying to not be taken seriously -- and I'll submit that most of the best humor is very seriously humorous -- I'd avoid both.

Review by The Anonymous Reader

2008-01-16T16:54:00.000-05:00

Thanks to The Anonymous Reader for a nice write-up of our January issue. I'd offer to buy you a beer sometime -- if I could tell who you are. :)

Flash Fantasy & SF: Harder Than Other Genres?

2008-01-15T22:45:00.000-05:00

I just stumbled across a year-old post by Steve Goble called "Swords and Flashery". It hits on a topic I've been thinking about as I go through the submissions we've received over the last two months.

[After writing the first draft of a fantasy flash,] I read the [2000-word] piece and found nary an ounce of fat in it. It was the simplest kind of plot I could devise and still have a sense of drama to it. In short, there was just no way I could go back and jettison half of what I’d written.

"Come on, Steve," you might say. "The very first submission to Flash Fiction Online was a drabble, only 100 words long. Surely we can write stories in fewer than 2,000 words!"

But the drabble I received needed absolutely no setup. Steve writes swords-and-sorcery stories. He needs lots of setup.

Science fiction and fantasy require at least one speculative element. You have to describe what the element is and show how it makes the world you're creating different from the world we live in. If the speculative element is a person, you may need to show how this person's history fits in with the rest of the fictional world; the rest of that fictional world then needs sufficient explanation to let it be the context for the fictional person. Objects can be the same way (think of all the history behind Gollum's ring or the Gom Jabbar of the Bene Gesserit), as can political situations, planetary conditions, species of creature...

Well, you get the idea. If you're making stuff up, and you want people to experience your invented world, you have to make it all fit. That's tough to do in a thousand words.

One submission we received came from a professional author with many published stories. I'd love to get his name on my Web site. But the amount of information that came pouring off the page -- just to set up the plot -- was staggering. The plot itself had minimal room to move, and was therefore somewhat unsatisfying. I give him immense credit for trying to get everything into a thousand words, but I don't think it's possible for this particular story.

Does that mean that it's impossible to write flash SF & fantasy? No, of course not. I've already published some of it, and I just agreed to buy a great little SF story by Jeff Soesbe (his first sale!) called "Apologies All Around" for the February issue. I'm acquiring the rights to a very funny SF story by Carl Frederick for our April issue. (As an aside, I'm really happy to have both someone as new as Jeff and someone as experienced as Carl on the site.) But it's hard.

What can you do to make it work? I'm thinking out loud here, but it seems to me that you can (not must, just can) do some of these things:

(a) Make the world you're writing about very similar to the one you're in. The less you have to explain, the more words you can devote to plot. Since literary fiction is, generally speaking, in "our world", there's very little explaining to do. Literary writers have the advantage over sci fi writers here.

(b) Use dialogue sparingly -- and with precision. If you read "The Materialist" from this issue, you'll see only two brief bits of dialogue: 48 words out of a thousand. Note, though: the spoken words that made it into the story are gems. The "higher goal in mind"--"cancer research?"--"Rhodium!" exchange brilliantly and succinctly characterizes Dr. Albrecht in a way that 500 words of description couldn't.

(c) Avoid things like the plague if they're not part of the narrative thread. I recently participated in a flash challenge at Hatrack River. I wrote my flash between midnight and 2:30 AM the day it was due. Reading it the next day, I realized that I had included bits of history of the device that the story revolved around -- history that didn't need to be there. Excise those 150 words, and suddenly I have more space to talk about the stuff that matters: character, plot, and setting. While this theoretically isn't purely a sci-fi-or-fantasy problem, the submissions of the last month show me that many sf writers seem to want to go down that path more than literary writers. Even if you're an engineer, you don't need to explain the engineering.

I'm sure there's more. What do you think?

Web Site Statistics

2008-01-13T00:08:00.000-05:00

In case you're interested, you can see how many visitors we have here.

On Romance and Horror

2008-01-10T21:50:00.000-05:00

...not that I'm intimating that they're closely related or anything. ;)

This post is for writers rather than readers.

Over the past six weeks we've received about 300 submissions. Thanks to everyone who has given us a try, and I'd like to offer my encouragement even to those whose stories I've rejected. It looks like we're going to accept something like five or six stories, so the competition is stiff (and not always in predictable ways).

I'd like to mention something briefly that might help you make it through the slush pile, especially if you're writing in one of these two genres.

If you write romance, you face a stiff challenge. Basic boy-meets-girl just isn't compelling; there has to be something besides the romance to make a romance worthwhile. In When Harry Met Sally, there was an awful lot of story going on around the Harry-and-Sally romance.

It's tough to pack both romance and something else into 1000 words, but that's what you need, or else it's just... well, sorry, but corny.

In the same way, horror needs more than just something evil happening. I've read quite a few submissions that set up a scene and then have an evil person / devil / creature do something evil, followed by the death or survival of a character (usually the protagonist). But if there's no point to the scene except to have the evil thing happen -- if it doesn't involve a psychological thrill -- then it devolves into titillation.

For instance, in Robert Harris's Silence of the Lambs, the interest didn't come from the serial killer that Clarisse was chasing so much as from Clarisse's interactions with Hannibal Lector, and the psychological drama that came from the necessity of interacting with such a repulsive man. In Stephen King's Christine, the psychological drama was self-imposed: it came from the choices the protagonist had to make in relation to his car, his girl, power, popularity, and, in essence, good and evil.

Good flash is hard to write. Maybe horror and romance are harder than other genres for flash. I'd love to read your attempts to write it, but consider what I've said above if you want to stand out from the crowd.

Good writing!

Geek Giving

2008-01-07T00:56:00.000-05:00

It’s a new year. We've made resolutions to do more, do more with less, do less, give of ourselves more, and give ourselves less. It can be hard to find innovative ways to contribute to the community with busy schedules and limited financial resources.

While Flash Fiction Online publishes a variety of genres, many of us come from a speculative fiction background or are geeky-like. Now, don’t go wagging your head at that. You might think you don’t know your left click from your left foot, but you used some type of technology device to get here today. Embrace your inner geek and let’s do the technology two-step for a bit.

For us geek-like folk, it can be hard to find a satisfying way to give back. It’s important to me to do more than fling money at the nearest good cause. I’d also like to find ways to connect with others who share my interests.

What struck me about both of the programs below is the importance of communication – specifically the written word via the web (hmm, sound familiar?) To be successful, these programs have to grab both the imaginations and the time of potential volunteers.

Volunteer Computing:
You can help scientists around the world by allowing your computer to work on itsy bitsy parts of their massive problems at times when you aren’t using it. Talk about embracing your inner geek – you can participate in projects as diverse as the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence, climate prediction, or protein folding research. With many more projects coming on-line in the near future, there’s something for every style of geek.

The most widespread platform for these distributed volunteer computing projects is the Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing. You download software from the BOINC site and choose projects to get involved with. Because life has no meaning unless you are competing, you earn points for the calculations your computer performs. In true geek fashion, you only win bragging rights, but hey – those are worth something. In a great Chicago Tribune article about volunteer computing, one reporter describes the communication challenge faced by these programs so well I’ll just quote it:

"This is democratic computing, so it's based on the goodwill of a bunch of people from all walks of life, all backgrounds," Wandelt [U. of I. physics professor and director of Cosmology@home] said. "If as a researcher you cannot communicate what's interesting about your problem to the general public, this sort of thing probably isn't for you."

One Laptop Per Child:
This project is also known as the XO laptop, and previously known as the $100 laptop. Due to a mustard stain on the original design spec, it’s now the $200 laptop. Headlined by current and former Smart Folk from the MIT Media Lab, the program has lofty goals.

The premise of One Laptop Per Child, beside the obviousness of the name, is that computers are powerful learning tools. When scaled and built for children, computers can be a leveler; reducing or eliminating disparities in income, socio-economic status, geographic location and hundreds of other challenges faced by children in developing nations today.

The laptop is packed with features – standard computer fare like writing and painting programs, and innovative applications like an acoustic tape measure that can factor in the current air temperature to accurately calculate the speed of sound (getting these figures wrong by a few significant digits really honks off the true geek), and a journal program that records each activity a child does on their computer.

In addition, children can click to see the source code for any activity. They can tinker with it. If they make a mistake, they can revert to the original. As the program states in their Mission:

“We want the child to interact with the laptop on as deep a level as he or she desires. Children program the machine, not the other way around.”

This embraces a new way of thinking about children and technology, and in my view ends some of this silly business of assuming that a child can’t comprehend (or doesn’t need to) the inner workings of a computer, particularly not a child in the developing nation. Why not? Everyone could benefit from a more intimate view of technology, even you people who shook your head at the beginning of this and said you don’t know diddly or squat.

As the OPLC folks say here:

“Starting from the premise that we want to make use of what people already know in order to make connections to new knowledge, our approach focuses on thinking, expressing, and communicating with technology. The laptop is a “thing to think with”; we hope to make the primary activity of the children one of creative expression, in whatever form that might take.”

A thing to think with. Wow. They had me with think.

In the fall of 2007 the OLPC project offered the $200 laptops for sale to the general public for $400 through the Give 1 Get 1 program. You bought one computer, and another was donated to a child in the XO deployment areas. Full disclosure – my family bought two. (That's my 6 year-old working on his in the photo.)

One of the goals of the G1G1 program was to create a user base in the US and Canada that would act as a virtual support network for the recipients of the laptops in developing nations.

The online communities for the XO project are growing at a rapid clip. Opportunities to volunteer exist in supporting the deployment (communications, tech support, help desk, logistics, translation), writing manuals, developing software for the XO, supporting the teachers who will be using them in the classroom, and countless others.

This program has caught the imagination of people in the US and around the world. And I can see why -- children empowered with technology from their earliest years in education. To loosely paraphrase one of my favorite authors: Just think of the thinks they can think.

Karen Smith aka KayTi

Semi-retired from technology consulting and educational software design/development while the wee folk are wee. Reading, writing, and blogging in my spare time between carpools and playdates. Flash Fiction Online slush reader. Coupon clipper. Vegetarian eater. Global warming worrier. Lifelong learner.

Digital Publishing and the Kindle

2008-01-06T23:18:00.000-05:00

Perhaps you've been on an archeological dig and haven't heard about the Amazon Kindle (or the Sony Reader, for that matter). I'm not here to sell you one (although if you want to buy one, please feel free to use our affiliate links). But I do get a kick out of having a Flash Fiction Online original available for download. It only costs a dollar (I can't make it cheaper, and since I won't have any advertising opportunities on the Kindle it makes sense to charge something), and it has the same text and illustration by R.W. Ware as the original. Neat, huh?

R.W. Ware on the Preditors & Editors Art Poll

2008-01-04T22:33:00.000-05:00

If you've read the past two issues of Flash Fiction Online, you've seen the artwork that accompanies each story. It has been relevant and tastefully done in different media to match each story. It's mature, sensitive, appropriate art through-and-through.

That excellence has been achieved through the toil of our art director and resident artist, Rich Ware.

Now other people are giving him the credit he deserves. Over on Andrew Burt's Preditors & Editors Poll, someone nominated R.W. Ware in the "Artist Publishing in 2007" category. As I write this, Rich is #6 -- a testament to his skill and thoughtful craft work.

If you agree, click here, scroll down to R.W. Ware, and cast your vote.

Thanks!

Allegory and Symbolism

2008-01-03T22:36:00.000-05:00

Mark, a member of the editorial team, enjoyed Boleslaw Prus's Mold of the Earth quite a bit. It highlighted something interesting about the relationship of allegory and symbolism.

He wrote an essay about that relationship, and I liked it enough to publish it, so here it is.

Hemingway as a Flash Fiction Writer

2008-01-01T23:48:00.000-05:00

Guy Hogan has been encouraging us here at FFO since the day we went live -- thanks very much, Guy.

He runs a blog at http://flashfictionnow.blogspot.com, and I want to highlight one really interesting thing he's doing: picking apart Hemingway as a flash writer. You can find the Hemingway series tagged here:

http://flashfictionnow.blogspot.com/search/label/Hemingway

I especially like entry #7.

Nice work, Guy!

About the Flash Fiction Online Blog

2007-12-31T11:22:00.000-05:00

You may know that we went live with the Flash Fiction Online site on December 1, 2007. We'd like to stay in touch with our readers, so starting on January 1, 2008, we'll be doing that here. I'll be responding to emails that need a public response, and other staff members will contribute posts about fiction, science trends, literacy, and other topics that strike us as important. We hope you'll stay tuned.