Fractured Lit 2021 Micro Contest Winners and Shortlist

Huge thank you to judge Matthew Salesses for reading and choosing the winners. This was definitely one of our most competitive contests and we expect these shortlisted stories will find excellent homes very soon!

1st Place: “mi corazón quiere cantar así” by jj pena

“The way this story uses sound makes it stand out from the bunch. Gunshots, dance beats, and the beat of a heart combine and intensify.” Matthew Salesses

2nd Place: “freedom fighters” by aureleo sans

“ I like a story in which the sentences take interesting turns. Flash fiction often relies on the turn of a sentence over a turn in the plot.” Matthew Salesses

3rd Place: “Not interested” by Catherine Gammon

“Not Interested” is a list story that takes advantage of the way lists can quickly build worlds around what a character knows or notices.” Matthew Salesses

Short List:

How to Take Care (of the Environment) by Yvanna Vien Tica

Four Words for Pink by Juliana Rappaport 

Dorothy Paints Poppies From Memory by Barbara Diehl 

An Instructional Guide on Making Your Cloud Bleed by Fedja Celebic

Afterwards by Barbara Ford

Offerings by Karen Jones

impossible things that might come true by Helena Fox

How To Leave Your First Husband by Amanda Hadlock

genealogy of red by Caroline Fleischauer

When I Stole All the Streets that Weren’t Streets by Todd Seabrook

Name the Fish in the River by Danielle Harms

One Morning in Maine by Rita Ciresi

What My Grandmother HIdes by Debra Daniel

Brain Food by Ellen Ziegler

Week Six on the Day Ward by Marie Gethins

Things the sun told me while waiting for your forgiveness by Melanie Maggard

Tangerine by Allison Field Bell

Baby Hearts by Ashton Russell

Physical Touch is My Love Language by Eli D’Albora

Tag-along by Christina Toman

Boto by Amy Marques

The Zen Garden by Mariel Masque

When You Come Home From Nashville by Patricia Q. Bidar