“But he’s dead!”

“Makes no difference, sorry.”

That night, the ghost gibbered until 3 a.m. Next morning, Harold received an eviction notice—for unlawful harassment.

British-born writer and translator Heather Starastin lives in Toronto and enjoys writing fiction about ordinary people encountering improbable situations. She is indefatigable in her pursuit of the perfect cup of tea.

A little tightening, that’s all. No elephants, no terrible radiance. Not severe, nor crushing. Barely squeezy. It will stop when I rest.

She does. It does. She returns to her book and wine.

She’s not the betting kind, but she gambles.

Kassy is trying to be a part-time writer in Colorado. Her work is featured mainly under a pile of tears and rejection notices.

It spread like a virus, its contributions novel, its disruption magnificent.

Soon it was bloating pride, compounding greed, personalizing lust, escalating envy, supersizing gluttony, stoking wrath, and automating sloth.

And on the eighth day, it saw that he was redundant.

Bryan is an advertising copywriter who’s drawn to the evocative simplicity of micro fiction largely due to his goldfish-like attention span.

Bob Thurber is the author of six books. Regarded as a master of Flash and Micro Fiction, his work has appeared in Esquire and other magazines, been anthologized 60 times, received a long list of awards, and been utilized in schools and colleges throughout the world. He resides in Massachusetts. Visit his website at BobThurber.net.

The finalists for September were:

Visitation by Paul D’Arcy
Cradle by Mikaila Nalbantova
The One Who Can’t Close Her Eyes by Angela Carlton
Barren by Cynthia Chrisman

The winner of the September 2026 Story of the Month is…

Visitation

Lynn Kozlowski has appeared in The Citron Review, The Zodiac Review, Molecule, 50-Word Stories, Bright Flash Literary Review, Every Day Fiction, The Dribble Drabble Review, Friday Flash Fiction, Switch, and The Malahat Review. He has a volume of short pieces, Historical Markers.

“I’ll show them all,” he thought in bitter anticipation. “Once they notice my silence, they’ll come running to apologize and beg – absolutely beg – me for my brilliance.”

He never spoke another word again.

A recovering lawyer, Liam MacDonald has learned when to speak and when to remain silent, although he does get the two mixed up from time to time. Find him at liammacwrites.com.

Then she discovered the scale—her proof. The mirror—her judge. The hunger—her vindication.

It became easy to do nothing. To slowly disappear.

Shirlee Jellum is a retired English teacher who published fiction, nonfiction and poetry. Family drama, current events and the natural world inspire her writing.

Start reading.
Start dancing.
Start crying.
Start being.

There is a stranger in the rooms of your mind.

He starts in the entryway,
Then the living room.
The dining room.
The kitchen.

He runs his fingers across every dusty shelf and pockets knicknacks as he goes.

Karlie Wright is a teacher, trying to convince her students to stay human.

Best thing about Plastic Darlene is she’ll never be hooked up on life support, feeding tube snaking out her throat.

I’ll never have to question whether the machine is draining out her life like a clicking mechanical vampire.

Will never go mad tearing out the cords.

Tim Boiteau lives in Michigan. He is a Writers of the Future winner and author of The Nilwere (Grendel Press, 2024).