Invisible by George L. Hickman We had been whipping the whiskey wash for three hours now, my socks long soaked from the Scottish rain. Four of us boys stood around a bubbling vat of yeast and barley, piercing its thick…
Backstory: Five Questions with Ryle Lagonsin
Backstory: Five Questions with Ryle Lagonsin Author of The Lost, Independencia What inspired you to write ‘The Lost, Independencia’? Usually, though not by intention, my writing is influenced by the places that I am fond of. The fact that I…
The Lost, Independencia
The Lost, Independencia by Ryle Lagonsin From my window overlooking the mountains, I watch a line of soldiers climbing up the footpath, small as ants in the green totality of the range. They are all the same, only multiplied in…
BackStory: Five Questions with Cathy Lennon
BackStory: Five Questions with Cathy Lennon Author of A Note on the Understanding of Fossils What inspired you to write ‘A Note on the Understanding of Fossils’? I felt great sympathy for Mary Buckland who clearly enjoyed learning about things…
A Note on the Understanding of Fossils
A Note on the Understanding of Fossils by Cathy Lennon She is leaking. Milk dribbles from her breasts and blooms across her nightdress as she works. She has an ear cocked for the baby and his fearsome greed but her…
Timeline: FlashBack’s Sixth Season
Timeline: FlashBack’s Sixth Season We’d like to celebrate our final season of our second year with this tremendous collection of flash and prose poetry. We’ll be back in January with new work and our next submission window which stretches from…
BackStory: Five Questions with John Nicholson
BackStory: Five Questions with John Nicholson Author of Compost What inspired you to write ‘Compost’? I was on a prose fiction Diploma course at UEA at the time. My old Norfolk garden had apple trees in fruit, all but one…
Compost
Compost by John Nicholson The Berlin Wall is down and my pension is in real marks. The notes feel good between finger and thumb, substantial. My shovel feels good too, balanced horizontally in my left hand, cold wood and colder…
BackStory: Five Questions with Matt Kendrick
BackStory: Five Questions with Matt Kendrick Author of Life at the Colliery, 1832-1845 What inspired you to write ‘Life at the Colliery’? This piece germinated from a single word – ‘darkness.’ Being afraid of the dark is such a universal…
Life at the Colliery, 1832-1845
Life at the Colliery, 1832-1845 by Matt Kendrick Six, Trapper It’s dark. Darker than coal. Darker than Ma’s eyes when I came home caked in mud after football on the common. Which is before. When we weren’t down here. Crouched…