2021 Force Majeure Flash Contest Winners!

After a big eyeball-lift and a sluice of delicious writing, we’re panned out our most shiniest flakes of gold! It is our massive honor this year to announce the winners of the 2021 Force Majeure Flash Contest:

1st Prize: Serrina Zou, “Bái Chī”

2nd Prize: Sherrell McLafferty, “Can Elizabeth Bishop Relate?”

2nd Prize: Justine Teu, “The Water Cycle”

We are also pleased to note these flashes of distinction, our Honorable Mentions in this year’s contest:
• “Congratulations, You’re Approved! We Are Pleased to Welcome You to Your New Habitation!” by S. Erin Batiste
• “An Incomplete Inventory of What Once Belonged to My Mother” by Jax Connelly
• “Praisesong for Fornication” by Erica Frederick

All of these flashes will appear in Storm Cellar Vol. X No. 1, due in winter 2021-22. Our deepest thanks to everyone who entered the contest — we are exhausted in the best way by the volume of excellent flash we read this year. Thank you so much!

Matthew Woodman: Decolonization

We’ve got a bit of a play on words for you today, Reader, a bit of rough chuckles in the teeth of the systems we’re in, although ants don’t have teeth, now we think about it, so here’s Matthew Woodman’s [>>] “Decolonization“:

This flash first appeared in SC 7.2, available in our shop as an ebookRead on!

Stephanie Niu: A Guide to What Lives Between Land and Sea

Get your No. 2 pencils and your brain-warmers on, today’s share is the sea shanty we’ve all been waiting for, perhaps in horror, Stephanie Niu’s [>>] second prize winner in our 2020 flash contest, “A Guide to What Lives Between Land and Sea.”

This flash originally appeared in SC 9.1, available in print and ebook editions in our storeRead on!

Negesti Kaudo: The One Where My Femme Swallows You Whole

The winner! The winner of the 2020 Force Majeure Flash Contest 1st Prize, this blessed flash by Negesti Kaudo, the one where her femme swallows us whole, dear Reader:

This flash originally appeared in SC 9.1, available in print and ebook editions in our storeRead on!

R.L. Aseret: Brother, Eye, Hospital

We’re here together, whether or not we’re going anywhere, and you can stay with us when you have to, so enjoy today’s share, R.L. Aseret’s “Brother, Eye, Hospital“:

This flash first appeared in SC 7.2, available in our shop as an ebookRead on!