“Here is a single place to celebrate all the wondrous and wonderful bigness of the tiniest of stories. Best Microfiction is amazing. A great accomplishment.”—Grant Faulkner, executive director of National Novel Writing Month
The following stories have been chosen by final judge Michael Martone to appear in Best Microfiction 2020. Congratulations!
To see the list of honorable mentions, click here.
- Ashely Adams, “Here Are The Things The Moon Told Me During The Lunar Eclipse of January 21, 2019” (Cotton Xenomorph)
- Riham Adly, “How to Tell a Story from the Heart in Proper Time” (Flash Frontier)
- E. Kristin Anderson, “Ted Cruz Attends a Goldfish Funeral” (Cherry Tree: A National Literary Journal at Washington College)
- Nin Andrews, “One day an orgasm decides to move to Spain” (hashtagart.com magazine)
- Jules Archer, “From the Slumbarave Hotel on Broadway” (New World Writing)
- Collette Arrand, “The Thing” (Passages North)
- Tyler Barton, “The Grand Am” (JMWW)
- Christopher Citro, “The Horses Are Ready and They Need to Go” (Cincinnati Review)
- Paul Crenshaw, “Weight Room” (CHEAP POP)
- Tommy Dean, “Here” (New World Writing)
- Leonora Desar, “Men's Secrets” (CHEAP POP)
- Melanie Dixon, “Swans May Bite Without Warning” (takahē magazine)
- Catherine Edmunds, “Her Wing” (Cherry Tree: A National Literary Journal at Washington College)
- K M Elkes, “Still Warm” (Reflex Fiction)
- Trent England, “A Quick Word About My Life” (Okay Donkey)
- MFC Feeley, “Why I Love Penguins” (Ghost Parachute)
- Jenny Ferguson, “She Will Become a Bird Scientist” (Matchbook Lit)
- Epiphany Ferrell, “How My Parents, Who Gave Me Up for Adoption, Might Have Met” (Third Point Press)
- Tim Fitts, “Teeth” (Apple Valley Review)
- Sarah Freligh, “We Dive” (Cease, Cows)
- Scott Garson, “Sick Day” (Split Lip)
- Sarah Green, “Lafayette Indiana” (New South Journal)
- Sian Griffiths, “An Imaginary Number” (Monkeybicycle)
- Mary Grimm, “Escape Into the Waking World” (Journal of Compressed Arts)
- Thaddeus Gunn, “An inventory of the possessions of William Kevin Thompson, Jr., age 19, upon his expulsion from the family residence on October 20, 1971” (Kenyon Review Online)
- Kyle Hemmings, “Alice in Neverland” (Sonic Boom)
- Patrick Thomas Henry, “Polaroid Snapshot: Skinny Dipping in the Little Juniata River” (CHEAP POP)
- Mary-Jane Holmes, “Down the Long, Long Line” (FlashBack Fiction)
- Jennifer Howard, “Flat Stanley grabs a burrito” (Maudlin House)
- Emma Hutton, “Skyscraper Woman” (The Short Story)
- Jason Jackson, “In my dream I see my son” (TSS Publishing)
- Steven John, “Giants” (Bending Genres)
- Josh Jones, “Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me (1987)” (Paper Darts)
- Kyra Kondis, “The Day the Birds Came” (Pithead Chapel)
- Kathryn Kulpa, “Warsaw Circus” (Milk Candy Review)
- Kathryn Kulpa, “Historic Preservation” (Cabinet of Heed)
- Kathryn Kulpa, “Why I Got Written Up by the Manager at Uncle Earl’s World Famous Bar-B-Q” (100-Word Story)
- Sarah Layden, “The Jumper” (Moon City Review)
- Nathan Alling Long, “Just to Say” (Vestal Review)
- Alice Maglio, “Settled” (Wigleaf)
- Natalie Teal McAllister, “Still Life with Prairie, 1860” (CHEAP POP)
- Frankie McMillan, “Dirty Mouth” (takahē magazine)
- Frankie McMillan, “The Fish My Father Gave Me” (Atticus Review)
- Frankie McMillan, “The Story Inside Her” (takahē magazine)
- Hema Nataraju, “For Two Blue Lines” (MORIA Literary Magazine)
- Kari Nguyen, “Bloom” (Flash Frontier)
- Leila Ortiz, “This Is A Comb” (Anomaly)
- Melissa Ostrom, “Brass” (CHEAP POP)
- Pamela Painter, “Ponds” (Journal of Compressed Art)
- JJ Peña, “the summer heat feels just like love” (Into the Void)
- Meghan Phillips, “When You First Meet the Telepath” (Jellyfish Review)
- Tucker Leighty Phillips, “TODDY'S GOT LICE AGAIN” (CHEAP POP)
- Ken Poyner, “Compensation” (Cincinnati Review)
- Santino Prinzi, “Dissolve” (Moon Park Review)
- Aleyna Rentz, “Doc Holiday Goes West” (Flock)
- Johanna Robinson, “Heartwood” (Reflex Fiction)
- Sarah Rose Etter, “The Book of X: Vision #13 (Throat Fields)” (The Adroit Journal)
- Michelle Ross, “Fertilizer” (Pithead Chapel)
- Michelle Ross, “Palate Cleanser” (Bending Genres)
- CC Russell, “Caught” (The Sonder Review)
- Austin Sanchez-Mora, “Fable Told from the Future West” (Cease Cows)
- Robert Scotellaro, “Sumo Wrestlers' Heating Service” (Meniscus)
- Robert Scotellaro, “Hit Man in Retirement” (Spelk)
- Daryl Scroggins, “Cubism” (Moon Park Review)
- Curtis Smith, “The Kitchen” (Atticus Review)
- Karen Smyte, “Muscle” (The Southampton Review)
- Beth Ann Spencer, “Exit Music” (Flash Flood)
- Archana Sridhar, “Rechargeable Moons” (Jellyfish Review)
- Jan Stinchcomb, “Teacup Werewolf” (Wigleaf)
- Jan Ellman Stout, “Stained Lips” (100-Word Story)
- Matthew Sumpter, “Mike Tyson Retrospective” (Pithead Chapel)
- Jeff Taylor, “The Boat People” (National Flash Fiction Day NZ)
- Mary Thompson, “Ladybird” (Spelk)
- Jennifer Todhunter, “Bird Wings” (Pithead Chapel)
- Cathy Ulrich, “The Quiet of Giraffes” (Tiny Molecules)
- Clio Velentza, “Anatomical Venus Girl” (Milk Candy Review)
- Emily Webb, “Wets Eats West” (A3 Review)
- Charmaine Wilkerson, “Bite” (Litro)
- Diane Williams, “Grief in Moderation” (Granta)
- Shelbey Winningham, “Liminal” (Arkana)
- Jo Withers, “Quantum Physics Allows for Particles to Be in Two States at the Same Time” (Spelk)
- Francine Witte, “Midnight on the Moon” (Milk Candy Review)
- Francine Witte, “Middle of Night” (Porter House Review)
- Tara Isabel Zambrano, “A brief progression of natural disasters” (Jellyfish Review)