Worthing Flash

Bringing you stories of intrigue, action, love, and adventure from near and far. The further our world and civilisations go from today, the stranger they could become, and the weirder things we could encounter. That’s the simple yet open-ended inspiration for my flash fiction. Over the past decade I’ve written and released flash pieces to several online outlets – the majority being for  365tomorrows  – and they’ve formed the core of my annual anthologies. Those anthologies also contain a number of other short and flash tales, the ones that just arrive during each year. This omnibus draws on my 2011-2021 catalogue of pure flash fiction work (those containing 25 to 700 words) that have not been published online, plus a few that were, but are no longer available. They’re appearing together for the first time, and have all been revised in some form – my writing has evolved over the thousand-plus stories I’ve written, and I’m reflecting that by ‘tidying up’ some work. In a couple o...

Chomp! I know I’m only little but I practice hard every day. My mother and father and even ancestors all the way back will be proud of me. Chomp! It’s true that it involves a lot of pain, but I’m willing to make that sacrifice in order to get to my goal. Chomp! The Pain Away people are happy to sponsor me because I need so much of their stuff to keep me going. Chomp! But I know it will be worth it one day when I’m “The All-Time World’s Best Ouroboros”! Sigh. Chomp! by Susan Cornford  Susan Cornford is a retired public servant, living in Perth, Western Australia. She/her has pieces published or forthcoming in Across the Margin, Adelaide Literary Magazine, Antipodean Science Fiction, borrowed solace, Cafe Lit, Crow’s Feet Journal, Ethel Zine, Flash Frontier , Flora Fiction Website, Frost Zone Zine, Granfalloon Magazine, Meet Cute Press, Mono, Mystery Tribune, The Mythic Circle, Quail Bell Magazine, The Short Humour Site, Thriller Magazine, Worthing Flash and others.

October 28, 2022 By  Linda S. Gunther T he topic this week :  THE DANGER ZONE: EDIT “RUMINATION” To read this blog, go to  my author website:  www.lindasgunther.com Click on Write-Bytes at top of screen and enjoy this week’s blog byte. You may not be a writer  now  but you are thinking about writing or you have been writing stories or memoir for a while and you’d like to read something that might be helpful from another writer’s perspective.  MINE! And I want to share with you. Each week is a new blog post and all previous blog posts appear   for your convenience! ​            P.S.  If you read the WRITE-BYTES blog, let me know if it’s of value to you.  Please contact me on website or friend me on Facebook.  

THIS WEEK’s WRITE-BYTES Blog Post for  WRITERS October 21, 2022 By  Linda S. Gunther T he topic this week :  BOOSTING COMPLEXITY IN YOUR CHARACTERS To read this blog, go to  my author website:  www.lindasgunther.com Click on Write-Bytes at top of screen and enjoy this week’s blog byte. You may not be a writer  now  but you are thinking about writing or you have been writing stories or memoir for a while and you’d like to read something that might be helpful from another writer’s perspective.  MINE! And I want to share with you. Each week is a new blog post and all previous blog posts appear   for your convenience! ​            P.S.  If you read the WRITE-BYTES blog, let me know if it’s of value to you.  Please contact me on website or friend me on Facebook.

By Marcelo Medone They came back to the coast to contemplate their honeymoon hotel. A visit full of touching and vivid memories. Time has been merciless with the old building, long abandoned. The persistent salty drizzle had washed away the white and light blue paint and eroded the entire structure. The once manicured front garden was now a tangle of bushes and weeds. "It was more beautiful when we were young newlyweds," Oscar said. "Those were good times," Amanda mused. They hugged without caring about the icy wind that blew from the sea and swept the sand off the beach. Only the murmur of the waves and the cries of seagulls celebrated the hundredth anniversary of the ghostly lovers. BRIEF BIO Marcelo Medone (1961, Buenos Aires, Argentina) is a fiction writer, poet, essayist, playwright and screenwriter. His work received numerous awards and was published in multiple languages in more than 50 countries, including the UK. He was awar...

Ingenu/e magazine published this and even sent me a free copy. Ingenu/e is sympathetic to #worthingflash and the magazine is a great place to publish flash fiction in print.    

Rose Dobbs worked as an undertaker’s usher and I couldn’t figure out for the life of me what she wanted. We — I the curious son, and she the middle-aged woman with heavy make-up and blood red lipstick — sat drinking coffee at Ricks Place on the High Street. She smelled of air freshener and carpet shampoo: funeral home smells. “Your phone call wanting to meet surprised me. I had forgotten about my late father’s diary.” I said. “ He gave me the diary as a keepsake when I visited him the night before he died." Her voice sounded husky; a smoker’s voice. She told me she had met my father three months after my mother’s funeral. She heard him sobbing in the adjacent chapel and offered to bring him home to her house nearby for a cup of tea and a chat. After that, they became friends. They went for walks along the canal and ate at different restaurants. I remembered that diary on my father’s desk during my frequent visits home for some years before his death, and bef...

October 14, 2021 By  Linda S. Gunther T he topic this week :  DEVELOPING TENSION and CONFLICT To read this blog, go to  my author website:  www.lindasgunther.com Click on Write-Bytes at top of screen and enjoy this week’s blog byte. You may not be a writer  now  but you are thinking about writing or you have been writing stories or memoir for a while and you’d like to read something that might be helpful from another writer’s perspective.  MINE! And I want to share with you. Each week is a new blog post and all previous blog posts appear   for your convenience! ​            P.S.  If you read the WRITE-BYTES blog, let me know if it’s of value to you.  Please contact me on website or friend me on Facebook.    Linda S. Gunther has written five novels: Ten Steps From The Hotel Inglaterra, Endangered Witness, Lost In The Wake, Finding Sandy Stonemeyer, and Dream Beach. She grew up in New York...

You look up and down a street illuminated by flames and suffocated by pain, you take a deep breathe before stepping into a community broken by sirens and screams of realisation. You twist and turn your way amongst people, running in all directions but not going anywhere. You’re not like them; whichever direction you go- except back – will lead you to a better place. For all your bravado you scan faces searching for him. Scared you will spot him. Or him you. You know he’s out there somewhere, using the disaster to relieve whoever he can of their valuables. Once he’s done, like a cat bringing its owner a dead mouse, he’ll present you his haul expecting to be praised. This time they’ll be no praise. So, he’ll curse you but you won’t be there to care. You climb onto the bus that will take you far from him, and curse when you spot him watching you. But It’s not him. It’s a face on a Missing Poster. They’ll be more of those soon; people looking for loved ones lost in the tra...

THIS WEEK’s WRITE-BYTES Blog Post for  WRITERS October 7, 2022 By  Linda S. Gunther T he topic this week :  GOING DEEPER/ASKING “WHY“ AS A WRITER To read this blog, go to  my author website:  www.lindasgunther.com Click on Write-Bytes at top of screen and enjoy this week’s blog byte. You may not be a writer  now  but you are thinking about writing or you have been writing stories or memoir for a while and you’d like to read something that might be helpful from another writer’s perspective.  MINE! And I want to share with you. Each week is a new blog post and all previous blog posts appear   for your convenience! ​            P.S.  If you read the WRITE-BYTES blog, let me know if it’s of value to you.  Please contact me on website or friend me on Facebook.   Linda S. Gunther has written five novels: Ten Steps From The Hotel Inglaterra, Endangered Witness, Lost In The Wake, Finding Sandy Ston...

THIS WEEK’s WRITE-BYTES Blog Post for WRITERS September 30, 2022 By Linda S. Gunther The topic this week:  SHOW vs TELL   To read this blog, go to my author website:  www.lindasgunther.com Click on Write-Bytes at top of screen and enjoy this week’s blog byte.   You may not be a writer  now  but you are thinking about writing or you have been writing stories or memoir for a while and you’d like to read something that might be helpful from another writer’s perspective.  MINE! And I want to share with you.   Each week is a new blog post and all previous blog posts appear for your convenience! ​            P.S.  If you read the WRITE-BYTES blog, let me know if it’s of value to you. Please contact me on website or friend me on Facebook.     Linda S. Gunther has written five novels: Ten Steps From The Hotel Inglaterra, Endangered Witness, Lost In The Wake, Finding Sandy Stonem...

 “Anton, I don't believe in horoscopes.”    “That's because you are a typical Capricorn, Simon."    “Seven billion people on this planet. That means about 580 million people are Capricorn. So this horoscope applies to all of them?”    “What does it say?” he sighed.    “One horoscope tells me to “Connect with people on a deep level, Capricorn. Much of your focus is on emotional security. Make sure your home is a sanctuary where you feel comfortable being exactly who you are. Demonstrate patience and understanding through your words and actions.'”    “But another tells me 'You’re likely to be craving a fantastical adventure out into greener pastures today, Capricorn. You may find yourself searching for foreign rentals or dreaming up a new life altogether.' "    “Do you really think over half a billion people are going to want to go abroad while making their home a sanctuary? The one in the paper is more precise. 'A new pers...