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OPEN TO SUBMISSIONS

Our Screw Turn Flash Fiction Competition

Got a short-short story—under 1,000 words—on a supernatural or magic realism theme that you’re ready to start submitting to publications? Or maybe you’ve got one rattling around in your brain that you’ve been thinking about committing to paper, or to a computer screen?

Well, our Winter contest for flash fiction—AKA sudden, or brief, or short-short fiction—is now open to submissions. If you’d like to have a look at our guidelines, you can access them here.

Happy holiday season — The Editor

PUSHCART NOMINATIONS

Our Pushcart Prize Nominations For 2023

The Ghost Story has nominated six stories published here in 2023 for the prestigious Pushcart Prizes. We nominated winners/honorable mentions from The Ghost Story Supernatural Fiction Award (full-length short stories) as well as winners/honorable mentions in The Screw Turn Flash Fiction Competition. In no particular order, here is our list, along with a link to each nominated piece:

The Cobbler’s Daughter, by Joseph Bathanti

Gina Of Golden Gardens, by Shala Erlich

Night Marcher, by Michael Kaukeano Sonray-Kelly

The Barnyard And The Graveyard, by Maureen McEly

Door To Door, by Ruth Schemmel

The Carny, by Ann O’Mara Heyward

Enjoy. — The Editor

BTW . . . The Winter 2024 Screw Turn Flash Fiction Competition opens to submissions on December 1.

AUTUMN STORY CONTEST WINNERS

Four Supernatural Reads For Fall

We received a record number of submissions in the Fall 2023 Ghost Story Supernatural Fiction Award competition, and from those hundreds of stories, we selected a winner and three Honorable Mentions. These tales span an array of imaginative takes on the supernatural: We’ve got a good-looking golem, a family of athletic jinn, a smoldering grandfather ghost, and an alien seduction and abduction. And of course, we invite you have a look. As always, each story comes with a custom illustration by Andy Paciorek.

Enjoy. Our next contest will be the Screw Turn Flash Fiction Competition, which opens to submissions on December 1, with the winner and Honorable Mentions published on Valentine’s Day.

THE SUPERNATURAL FICTION AWARD

For Fall 2023 . . . Now CLOSED To Submissions

We will announce and publish the winners here on Halloween

Our contests have been running since 2015. Our next contest is The Screw Turn Flash Fiction Competition, for sudden stories of 1,000 words or fewer. You’ll find our guidelines here.

Happy writing, happy reading.