Some More Updates!

Hello, everyone!

I’ve been so terrible for posting news as and when it comes, as I used to do, but I have been busy focussing on finishing my MA. The dissertation has been completed, bound, and is staring at me from my desk, tempting me to tweak just…one…more…thing…!!! I have high hopes for it, but what will be will be.

Firstly, some exciting news that I’m sure many of you may already know. I’m the new Senior Editor of New Flash Fiction Review. I’m beyond thrilled to be a part of this flash magazine who have published stunning flash fiction writers (including the likes of Lydia Davis!) and to be working with Meg Pokrass and Pamela Painter. Here we are pictured below at the end of the Flash Fiction Festival. Submissions are currently open until September 12th. Check New Flash Fiction Review out and send us something incredible.

(L-R): Me, Pamela Painter, and Meg Pokrass. We’re having a well deserved sit down after the busy Flash Festival.

I’m also now an Associate Editor for Vestal Review, who I have been a First Reader with for almost a year. Our current reading period is from now until the end of November, so send us something we can’t refuse.

Last time I posted an update, the new National Flash Fiction Day Anthology, which I was co-editing with Meg Pokrass, was about to be published. Well, it’s now available in to purchase in paperback and on Kindle. It’s called Sleep is a Beautiful Colour and features incredible authors, including: Calum Kerr, Robert Shapard, Pamela Painter, Bobbie Ann Mason, Claudia Smith, Robert Scotellaro, Stuart Dybek, Etgar Keret, Meg Pokrass, Angela Readman, Danielle McLaughlin, Robert Lopez, and so many more! Based on the theme of Life As Your Know It, every flash in this anthology offers something striking, unusual, unique, and powerful. You will not be disappointed!

I’ve also had a few more publications and acceptances:

I have four flashes forthcoming in flash fiction magazines that I’m really excited about and haven’t blogged about! Each of these magazines, some old and some new, have been absolutely killing it with the flash they publish. Thank you to all of the editorial staff of these magazines who keep publishing such awesome work. I’m so happy to be a part of them:

‘Colour Tasting’ will be published in Ellipsis Zine very soon (Friday 25th August).

‘Marrakech’ will be published by the off-the-wall (b)OINK zine in September and is possibly one of my favourite flashes I’ve ever written (mainly because of the fun I had writing it).

‘These Are the Rules of Canopy Shyness and Life’ is one of those stories I thought would never find a home because it’s really a bit mental and odd, but thankfully The Airgonaut loved it and will be publishing it in their September issue.

‘Moderation’ will be published in September by Spelk. 

And as if that’s not enough…

‘They Dropped the Bomb’ was published by Paragraph Planet on Sunday 25th June, while at the Flash Fiction Festival in Bath. It’s inspired in some ways by my family, and in others by where the world is likely to end up… You can read it below:

My micro ‘The Broom of Sisyphus’ won National Flash Fiction Day New Zealand’s Micro Madness. You can read it here.

My prose poem ‘In the Light, I See…’ was published by Unbroken Journal, who I love. read it here.

A new anthology called Short on Sugar, High on Honey, which features stories about love that are between 7 and 13 words in length, is going to be published and will feature one of my stories. The anthology has been edited by Mark Budman and Tom Hazuka, and will be published by Flash: The International Short-Short Story Press.

And three more stories of mine will also be published in the 2017 Worcester LitFest Flash Fiction Anthology. The anthology is usually published in November in paperback and kindle, and will include ‘Actually, Love Actually’, ‘What the Coffee Promised’, and ‘Interviews with Prospective Postmen’.

If you’re in Bath on Friday 29th September, you can catch me reading some stories at St. James Wine Vaults in Bath for Jude Higgins’ launch of her pamphlet The Chemist’s House. It’s a great collection. The event is free so do come along! More details here.

I think that’s it… I’m hoping to return to more regular posting of news rather than piling everything into one post every couple of months. As I have now finished the MA, I’m currently planning on relaxing (hence the lovely butterfly picture I took on a recent walk), applying for jobs, thinking about PhD proposals, and getting some writing done! I have a few newer pieces out in the world for consideration, and I’ll be taking part in a Kathy Fish workshop in September, which I’m so looking forward to!

Thanks for reading!

I’m judging the inaugural District Lit flash fiction contest! Enter the competition!

Below are the details for the inaugural District Lit competition that I am judging! For more information check out District Lit‘s website here: District Lit. I can’t wait to read your stories!

‘We Need a Heart Transplant, Not a Facelift’ to be published by Black Market Re-View!

My flash fiction ‘We Need a Heart Transplant, Not a Facelift’ will be published in the second issue of  Black Market Re-View, an online magazine edited by undergraduate and postgraduate students from Edge Hill University in the UK.

I’m so happy that this story has found a home; it was fun to write, and I hope have fun reading it! ‘We Need a Heart Transplant, Not a Facelift’ is about a man who reads in the newspaper that Mary Portas is coming to town to fix up their high street.

Interested? You won’t have to wait long! The second issue of Black Market Re-View is scheduled to be published this weekend. I’ll post a link once it’s up!

I’m a new First Reader / Marketing Coordinator for Vestal Review!

I’m thrilled to be able to share that I have become a part of the team behind Vestal Review, a very well-established flash fiction magazine. The below is quoted from the Vestal Review ‘About Me’ page because I feel this really sums up what Vestal Review is all about:

Launched in March of 2000, Vestal Review is the world’s oldest magazine dedicated exclusively to flash fiction.

We are firmly established as an exciting venue for exceptional flash by both emerging and well-known authors. Our stories have been reprinted in numerous anthologies such as Best of the Net, Sudden Flash Youth and You have Time for This. Vestal Review is an eclectic magazine, open to all genres except children’s stories and hard science fiction. Our past contributors include Steve Almond, Katharine Weber, Aimee Bender, Sam Lipsyte, Judith Cofer, Bruce Boston, Robert Boswell, Bruce Holland Rogers, Michelle Richmond, Stuart Dybek, Robert Olen Butler, Pamela Painter, Sara Banse, Claire Tristram and others.

Vestal Review is one the best flash fiction magazines in the world. It originated so many things–so many great stories have been between its covers. And no doubt, with Vestal, more of the best is to come. May it thrive. -Robert Shapard.

Vestal Review is an awesome literary journal, one that does the work of angels when it comes to short short fiction. A national treasure. Find it. Read it. Now. -Steve Almond

I’m really excited to be a part of the team. I’m looking forward to reading all of your submissions, and to do what I can to uphold the reputation of Vestal Review as one of the best places for quality flash fiction.

‘On Returning Home’ Published by Speculative 66!

My flash fiction, ‘On Returning Home’, has been published by Speculative 66, and is now available to read in their very first issue. Speculative 66 is an online magazine dedicated to flash fiction of exactly 66 words, and they accept all types of fiction, so I encourage you all to submit something for their second issue.

‘On Returning Home’ is a little science-fiction tale, which isn’t something I normally write, but I was inspired by a thought one day: what if we weren’t the original inhabitants of Earth? You can read ‘On Returning Home’ and other 66-word stories in their first issue by following this link here: Issue 1 of Speculative 66.

‘Handball’ Now Published by Cafe Aphra!

My flash fiction ‘Handball’ has now been published by Cafe Aphra and is available to read by following this link here: ‘Handball’. I hope you enjoy reading it!

‘Between the Notes’ Published in Issue One of Ink In Thirds

My short piece, ‘Between the Notes’, has been published in the inaugural issue of Ink In Thirds and is now available to read by following this link here.

I hope you enjoy reading it, as well as the other brilliant poetry and prose published in this issue, and maybe consider submitting your own writing to the journal for their second issue!

‘Just Like Mummy’ Published by CHEAP POP!

My flash fiction, ‘Just Like Mummy’ has now been published over at the incredible CHEAP POP and it is available to read by following this link here.

I’m so happy this story has found a home. ‘Just Like Mummy’ is about a little girl who wants to grow up to be like her mum, though she probably shouldn’t… It’s innocent and dark… you’ll see what I mean.

I hope you enjoy reading ‘Just Like Mummy’ and I wholeheartedly encourage you to read the other fiction CHEAP POP have published because they’re powerful pieces which will stay with you long after reading. They really do pop!

‘Backspace’ Published by the Journal of Microliterature!

My flash fiction, ‘Backspace’, is now available to read at the Journal of Microliterature now! It’s about all the things we wish we could say on social media but decide not to. You can read it by following this link here.

 

Interview for Unbroken Journal’s ‘Finding the Magic’ Series Available Now!

I am honoured to have been interviewed recently by R.L.Black, the editor of the incredible Unbroken journal, about my prose poetry and my writing processes. You can read the interview by following the link here:

Prose Poetry|Finding the Magic: An Interview with Santino Prinzi

I love Unbroken journal. Taken from their website: “Unbroken is a bimonthly online journal that seeks to showcase poetic prose, the prose poem, and the haibun, both from established and emerging voices.”

I thoroughly recommend both reading and submitting to this journal, though they aren’t open for submissions until February. However, this gives you plenty of time to check out their previous issues and see for yourself the wonderful prose poems, poetic prose pieces, and haibuns.

Unbroken have been incredibly supportive of my prose poetry. They have currently published four of my prose poems (‘Midnight Sky in Winter’, ‘Stuck’, ‘Caught’, and ‘Tessellation’) and will be publishing three more of my poems in their March/April 2016 issue (‘Submerged’, ‘Tempestuous’, and ‘Sequester’).

I hope you enjoy reading the interview and find it useful.

Happy writing!