FlashBack Fiction is holding a microfiction competition to commemorate the centenary of the end of World War I. We are looking for flash, prose poetry and hybrid work of up to 100 words (excluding title) on the theme of WW1.…
The Garden Statue
The Garden Statue by Amy Barnes The lady of the house pays me not to move. It isn’t enough for her to have garden statues made of stone. To have a genteel party, there must be living statues. There are…
BackStory: Five Questions with Ceinwen E Cariad Haydon
BackStory: Five Questions with Ceinwen E Cariad Haydon Author of Gutted What inspired you to write ‘Gutted’? I was involved our local Workers’ Educational Association’s ‘Turbulent Times Project’ which looked at the decade after the end of the World War…
Gutted
Gutted by Ceinwen E Cariad Haydon The telegram came one cold Friday in September, and within minutes Stella knocked on the door of my Ladies’ Boarding House. ‘Rachel,’ she said. ‘Wor lad. He’s missing. Missing in action.’ ‘My poor hinny,’ I said. She collapsed into my arms,…
BackStory: Five Questions with Olivia Fitzsimons
BackStory: Five Questions with Olivia Fitzsimons Author of Shoes in the Wall What inspired you to write ‘Shoes in the Wall’? I renovated a cottage from 1920s a few years ago and my dad mentioned that there might be shoes…
Shoes in the Wall
Shoes in the Wall by Olivia Fitzsimons They took his shoes, they slipped them from his feet and placed them in the wall, beside the lintel of the door. They cut the wattle away as I lay drowned in my bed,…
BackStory: Five Questions with Kate Finegan
BackStory: Five Questions with Kate Finegan Author of The Fire She Feels What inspired you to write ‘The Fire She Feels’? The line from Hamilton (which is basically my brain’s soundtrack) where Angelica says, “It’s Ben Franklin with the key…
The Fire She Feels
The Fire She Feels by Kate Finegan Mama always knew there was something about that lightning, even before that old rascal Franklin tied a key to a kite. Mama, she attracts lightning, always has. Been struck six times. Once with…
BackStory: Five Questions with Emma Venables
BackStory: Five Questions with Emma Venables Author of Snow in March What inspired you to write ‘Snow in March’? I’ve been researching and writing about Nazi Germany for a while now and I’ve long been fascinated with the image of…
Snow in March
Snow in March by Emma Venables Anna skirts around the ruins of Berlin, around burst waterpipes and mangled tramlines. Her eyes are on the blue, inspecting the gap-toothed skyline for movement. She stands on her tiptoes, gets knocked sideways by a…