@melissafitz
Words in Five South, Flash Fiction Online, Atlas + Alice, Lunch Ticket, Flash Fiction Magazine, Roi Faineant, and elsewhere. Website: https://melissa-fitzpatrick.com/ Substack: https://melissafitz.substack.com
A tiny bird (ruby-crowned kinglet) takes flight from a delicate branch. The text reads: leaves shudder / hawk cries in the distance / but listen / the smallest voice / still has a song
I have a collage piece in this. Thank you @the-engine-idling.bsky.social and @lowermelody.bsky.social for the inspiration. Can’t wait to explore the issue more!
Thank you!
A yellow and black bird (townsend’s warbler) spreads its wings, about to leap into flight from a branch with new leaves. The text reads: “leaves unfurl / spring’s first green / sky fills / the empty spaces”
Oh wow. Thanks so much for including my tiny story!
Gorgeous and heartbreaking 💔
pie illustration/logo with red background and promotional text for gooseberry pie 40~
Thank you @jhhwriter.bsky.social for this publication in @gooseberrypielit.bsky.social! Check out the whole issue, which includes stupendous work by @happilander.bsky.social, @amymarques.bsky.social, @pdforan.bsky.social and others!
gooseberry-pie.com/obituary-sis...
“Fresh off a ghostlighting incident that left him clear-eyed and cold . . .”
A new @pdforan.bsky.social story is always a treat! In @gooseberrypielit.bsky.social
gooseberry-pie.com/on-a-ghostli...
So good ❤️
"...This story
has already happened—a ravenous wanting
in the shadow of my heart. I was a telescope once,
a continuous stretching. Now I turn to rage
before I ghost..."
today from Hannah Levy!!
https://www.havehashad.com/5e34h
Incredible story 🌨️🌨️🌨️
Submissions Open
We are reading all genres through February 15th. Send us your best!
SECOND PLACE in the Welkin Writing Prize 2026, "What Stays Behind" by Muntasir Salman. A powerhouse of a micro with so much buried inside its one hundred words:
www.mattkendrick.co.uk/welkin-stori...
Oh my. Such a powerful story.
THIRD PLACE in the Welkin Writing Prize 2026, "That Witch, Gopa Devi, She Burn" by @anibanerjee.bsky.social.
A story that crackles from beginning to end, propulsive and powerful:
www.mattkendrick.co.uk/welkin-stori...
So great! Tom the Cat and Tom the Man 😆
HIGHLY COMMENDED in the Welkin Writing Prize 2026, "Time for Tom to Go" by @emilyrinkema.bsky.social. A wonderfully original relationship exploration with so much verve at the level of words:
www.mattkendrick.co.uk/welkin-stori...
Vote! Vote! So many great stories
Beautiful and heartbreaking 💔
Today's shortlisted story is "What the darkness knew" by
Bill Nwonwu. An atmospheric piece that shines so much light on the human condition:
www.mattkendrick.co.uk/welkin-stori...
I love this. That haiku … perfection 💔
It’s so good! Congrats!
Whew, this piece 🔥
💔
Today's shortlisted story is "weak beans" by
Barnaby Wick. A piece which effectively covers so much narrative in such such an original tone of voice:
www.mattkendrick.co.uk/welkin-stori...
Today's shortlisted story is "The Bit Part Actress" by
Jo Withers. A brilliant character study that ironically (given the first sentence) brings its protagonist fully to life:
www.mattkendrick.co.uk/welkin-stori...
POEM 301: "Something Borrowed" by Frances Klein (@fklein907.bsky.social)
I go into the deli and ask the old man behind the counter if I can borrow his cufflinks. He says he stole them from a coffin, and it’s no kind of luck to bring dead gold to a living altar
stonecirclereview.com/something-bo...
Beautiful story 🫧
Beautiful and haunting ❤️🩹
Congratulations!