I only watch the crawdads now, their ruby bodies moving fast beneath the water’s surface.

J.C. Pillard is a writer and editor living in Colorado. Her work has been published in Hearth Stories, Abyss & Apex, Corvid Queen, and elsewhere. When not writing, J.C. can be found gardening and playing too much D&D. Find more of her work at jcpillard.com.

Robin Koczerginski is a Toronto-based writer. He is completing a memoir on parenting his daughter, born with a genetic condition deemed “incompatible with life”. He lives with his partner and their two daughters.

• Pointy high-heel footprints
• Smell of haystacks
• Memory of a small dog

You flew away. I met a steely woman with lips of pewter, eyes of bronze. You were no longer of interest; a passing storm.

Tom Walsh writes these days from Cambridge, MA. His stories can be found in Emerge, Hobart Pulp, Lost Balloon, Bending Genres, HAD, Flash Frog, The Citron Review and elsewhere. He’s working these days on a flash-novel play about wildfire and fate. Say hi at @tom1walsh.bsky.social.

Typically, submissions are open from the 1st to 15th of each month. However, May 2026 submissions will be open from April 15 through May 15.

I will be away for a few weeks starting in late April, and I’d like to select and schedule some of the May stories before I leave.

Happy writing!

Dave Bradley’s words have appeared in publications such as Best Of British Science Fiction and Dorling Kindersley’s The Screen Traveller’s Guide, as well as various pop culture magazines and websites.

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.

Susmita Mukherjee is an Indian author and former teacher at Army Public School, based in Kolkata. Her work explores human tenderness and oddities in everyday life. She writes with precision and empathy, finding humour and strangeness in ordinary moments.

Thompson Emate is trying his hand at every genre of fiction. He has a deep love for nature and the arts. He lives in Lagos, Nigeria.

And in the back, hunched against a wall, my father glares wordlessly, wishing he were me.

Marc Young lives in Seattle and writes speculative fiction, sometimes using more than 50 words.

Erick Lima is a wanderer and writer.