and the dance goes on

 

So flash fiction. It’s tricky to write, and sometimes feels more like an exercise than it does a free-flowing act of creation. But it’s handy to learn the discipline, to make good with what you can of its length, and not much of that there is. Most of it is 1000 words or fewer. 

 

I’ve written maybe a couple of handfuls in my time, for better or worse. (Usually worse, let’s be honest.) And I should probably write more of them.  “In the White of the Snow,” for instance, is a 1000-word spin on the Snow White fairytale, which was published by Daily Science Fiction some time ago. My even shorter piece, “Near-Death Experience,” appeared once in the small press magazine Fusing Horizons and then was reprinted - at a different though still sub-1000 word length - in a free newspaper available to pick up in supermarkets across Yorkshire. So despite the paucity of words available to you, it gets you read, and that should never be taken for granted.

 

Which brings me around to this:I have a new flash fiction piece in print, written just the other month. It’s already been sent out to subscribers of the Flame Tree Press Publishers’ newsletter. And just the other day the newsletter appeared live on their website. Meaning you can, if you are so inclined, read it there yourselves, free and gratis.

 

It’s a short horror story, and it’s called “And the Dance Goes on.” And you can read it by clicking here.

 

I hope you give it a go. I hope you enjoy it. And I hope you write a few flash pieces yourself.

unsung stories

There's a trend of which I approve. I know - surprising, isn't it? I'm not much of a one for trends. If people walk down a flight of stairs something perverse in me tends to want to walk up them.  But I like this trend. Short stories, free of charge, emailed to your home . . . or phone or tablet or whatever.

Mostly they're short shorts, nothing much more than 1500 words long. Which is just about right for reading on a phone, I feel.

Over at Daily Science Fiction, they've really got it down to a fine art, and have stories ranging from a hundred words or so to maybe a thousand. And they do it daily. (Well, almost; they don't work weekends.) They took one of my pieces a few moons ago, which can be read free of charge still, on their site here. It's called "In the White of the Snow," and is, I seem to recall, exactly 1000 words long.

Now, the lovely folk at Unsung Stories have taken one of my pieces. It's a longer tale, edging over a couple of thousand words. Sometimes more is more. Unsung Stories don't send a tale out daily; they send you something every couple of weeks. Sometimes less is more. If you'd like to read my tale - or frankly just want some stories delivered free into your inbox - then you can subscribe by clicking through to here.

If I have got the scheduling right, sometime this month my piece will arrive . . . like Santa.

Mince pie and a tumbler of sherry at the ready for it please, even though it's not a Christmas story.

Did I mention it's free?

in the white of the snow

Here’s a short story, available to read for free on the Daily Science Fiction website. It’s actually a fantasy piece, rather than a science fiction piece, but free thinkers that the editors Jonathan and Michele are, they’ve been nice enough to publish it on their site.

Daily Science Fiction publishes a story every weekday, with a big email subscribers list, ensuring that anyone who’s signed up – for free, too, they’re not charging you  - gets a new short story, usually short enough to read in five or ten minutes, delivered into his inbox Monday to Friday. Can’t say fairer than that. Free subscription sign up here. Writers can find submissions guidelines and payment rates here.  

IN THE WHITE OF THE SNOW by Mark Patrick Lynch

In the white of the snow, dusk-stained and bordering on invisible, the footprints were increasingly harder to follow. The curled moon was of little use to see by. It turned the land grey. Clouds would soon make everything dark. We’d have to use our electric torches then, and that could ruin it all.

“We’re too slow. We’re not going to make it.” Prentice halted, bringing me to a stop also. He paused to reclaim his breath. “Once we’re in the wood it’ll be like midnight. We’ll never find her.”

Continue reading by clicking here.

Or you can go through the Free Fiction section to get to it.