Flash fiction

Question: Is flash fiction an art form in itself, or an excuse to write for about thirty seconds, look challengingly at the cat and say, “And”? Who knows. But flash fiction – also known as sudden fiction, Kato-from-the-cupboard prose, and mashed stanza – has a peculiar appeal. It’s short; sharp. Very occasionally shocking.

You’ll find many bloggers dabbling with flash fiction. A brief glance at my newsreader app reveals sciffy author Gareth D Jones, Managing Director of the Velcro City Tourist Board Paul Raven, and sciffy author Gareth L Powell, all of whom are blogging flash fiction on Fridays.

Readers of this blog – hey, Dad – will be aware that I’ve ventured into the flash fiction before. See Stone Sun, for example.

But, Saturday morning, when I was reading the Guardian Weekend, I noticed several ‘new media’ types on the cover (podcasters, mostly, including Alex Albrecht.) I mentioned to my girlfriend how it’s possible now to produce professional(ish) quality audio and video without big-money backing. I must have sounded rather pompous and knowing, because she said, “Well, why don’t you do one?”

I blinked once.

Twice.

And here it is, m’readers. My FICTION FLASH. As a correspondent of mine, TheDudeAbides, noted, FICTION FLASH has a Twitter-like feel to it, and I’m happy about that.

FICTION FLASH will be released every Friday evening (GMT). It has an iTunes ‘explicit’ tag because of the occasional strong language. It will tend not to be science fiction; for some reason I’m not able to fathom, my short fiction seems to be of the non-genre sort. Episodes should be about one minute in length. It might be fun to have some guest flash fictioners – if you’re interested, let me know.

Click here to go to the FICTION FLASH website.

Click here to open FICTION FLASH in iTunes

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