Finally, and with a great deal of hearty congratulations to all involved, the winners of our annual flash writing contest — this year we had some truly wonderful entries and you all made it so very hard to choose! Lo:
1st Prize “Pre-Elegy for My Sister” by Whitney Koo
2nd Prize “A Brief World” by Uyen P. Dang 2nd Prize “Bones” by Nathan Long
honorable mentions: “Garden Statues” by Kendall Morris, “Midnight Zone” by Caleb Tankersley, and “Taint” by Veeda Khan.
All of our winners and honorable mentions will be published in issue #11.2, forthcoming in 2024!
It’s here and here it is — and merry darn turning of the calendar to you!
Storm Cellar Vol. X No. 1, winter 2021, nicknamed “Ruling Passion” → click for the delicious print and ebook editions. Pub date today 12/30/21.
Contents:
2021 FORCE MAJEURE FLASH CONTEST 1st Prize: Serrina Zou – Bái Chī 2nd Prize: Justine Teu – The Water Cycle 2nd Prize: Sherrel McLafferty – Can Elizabeth Bishop Relate? Honorable Mention: Jax Connelly – An Incomplete Inventory of What Once Belonged to My Mother Honorable Mention: Erica Frederick – Praisesong for Fornication Honorable Mention: S. Erin Batiste – Congratulations, You’re Approved! We Are Pleased to Welcome You to Your New Habitation!
FICTION Kevin Serrano Echevarría – א (Infinite Sets) Sophie Hoss – Coney Island Sphinx Vincent James Perrone – Moon, PA
FLASH Kate Garklavs – Letter S. S. Mandani – A Tentacle of Night Edward Columbia – Full-Service Station Luke Rolfes – Human Resources Capella Parrish – Point Reyes Station S.D.S. – Des Moines
POETRY Rebecca Pelky – Kikátohkáq Moira Walsh – Written in a thunderstorm Caroline Taylor – Winepress Kristi Maxwell – Totoaba Natasha Sharma – Broken Fronds Micah Daniel McCrotty – Finishing Mud Terry Belew – Detours Meg Johnson – Mostly, I’m a Menace Mira Martin-Parker – Ancestor.com
IMAGES CJ Nye – Cueva de la Pileta Martins Deep – Focus Lisa Monique Hauck – Wolf Dreams Arinze Ndieli – Ihe Elder Gideon – A River Flows Through Eden Sarah Kimmel – Detroit Ultraviolence Zhongwen Hu – Man with pigeons Rebecca Ledbetter – The World Is Too Quiet (cover) Scott Brennan – Waterfall, Brooklyn, New York, 2021 (back cover)
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!
Congratulations to the winners of the 2020 Force Majeure Flash Contest! This year’s contest included hundreds of entrants presenting dazzling approaches to the short form. We were blessed with a tough choice between many strong flashes, and thank everyone who participated so, so much!
The winners:
1st Prize to Negesti Kaudo for “The One Where My Femme Swallows You Whole”
2nd Prize to Stephanie Niu for “A Guide to What Lives Between Land and Sea”
2nd Prize to Taylor Drake for “Rumination”
Honorable Mentions: Suphil Park, “Heartland”; Noah Farberman, “Grown Ass Person”; and Rebecca Morton, “I Remember Meeting You, My Son Says While Trying on Big Kid Shoes; I Pull and Pull at the Tongues, I Remember Meeting You, Too”
These flashes will appear in Storm Cellar Vol. IX No. 1, coming this winter. Look out for it!
Announcing the winners of the 2019 Force Majeure Flash Contest!
1st Prize:
Chila Woychik – The Importance of Air
2nd Prizes:
Anthony DiPietro – Possession Diary
Z Kennedy-Lopez – Scrounge
Honorable Mention:
Lindsay Reeve – Cake
Pınar Yaşar – The Future
Lee Anne Gallaway-Mitchell – Combustion
This year’s short list and winners were selected from hundreds of flashes, and all our entrants made the decision super hard! Our heartiest thanks to everyone for participating.
The winners will be published in SC 8.2. Love to all, and: Read on!
stormcellar.org 