Flash! AAH-aah!

[Copied and pasted from my external blog. Please do take a look. I'm trying to update regularly, every few days or so]

This is a follow-up to my previous post on the subject, "The Art of Flashing". It’s not going to be a long piece, but I wanted to write it for several reasons.

1) The awesome title occurred to me only several days after the original flash fiction entry.
2) I do really like flash fiction.
3) I was contacted by Alan Presley, who asked me to pimp the Micro Award. Which I’m more than happy to do

The Micro Award is for outstanding flash fiction, published in the previous year. It probably doesn’t sound frightfully interesting, but really literary awards are important for recognition of outstanding fiction, and are a massive deal in the industry. They showcase the very best of what’s going on, a snapshot of the top. And they often cause controversy and debate (for example, the Booker prize recently ignored genre fiction again, and rolled out the same bollocks in explanation of that. But that’s a different debate).

But more than that, this award is an essential ingredient if flash is to be considered a genuine mode of literary art. I already made my feelings on flash fiction clear in my previous entry, and I have a lot of respect and admiration for the authors who can form a complete, engaging and satisfying story in only 500 words.

The award has just been taken over by Alan Presley (previously having been run by Robert Laughlin), and is gathering momentum. And best of all, it’s open to all genres, recognising all equally. Which, if you’ve read my previous posts, you know is something I’m more than a little passionate about. If you’re interested in flash fiction, or in the award, you should definitely take a look at the Micro Award website.

Also, while I’m plugging away, I’ll give the Escape Pod flash contest (yes, you have to register on their forum to see and vote on the stories, but at least it’s free) another nod. There are a lot of entries, so it’s gonna be going on for a while (and I’ll be flogging it on here until it’s a bloody mess of twitching organs). I have two stories in it, one of which is through to the quarter finals, and one of which is still in the first round. It’s still blind, and I’m still not going to say which are mine, but you should really read through all of them. There are brilliant examples of both flash fiction, and sci-fi in general, on there.