Follow these guidelines, and make the night anything but silent:
– All submissions must absolutely be under 1,000 words, and we tend to look more kindly on 750 or fewer because… THREE-HEADED SQUIRREL!
– All contest submissions will be read blind, so we won’t be playing favorites.
– Please paste your entry into the corresponding field. Do not list your name anywhere or we’ll assume you won’t be able to accurately recite the words that break the curse.
– Costs $8 to enter during Early-Bird period and $10 to enter after that. (Sorry, no refunds.)
– We'll extend deadlines if necessary, though that's never happened (but you can expect our usual Slacker’s Special with corresponding increase in entry fee).
– Submissions must be previously unpublished work, and you will retain copyright (duh). By entering this contest, you give us permission to publish your work (if selected for our Top 10).
– No limit on how many entries you can submit, but you must submit them one at a time. Don’t just mash them all in there.
– Early-bird period runs until October 15th. Contest soft deadline is end of day (PST) Monday, December 9th, 2024. Winners announced on December 20th and we’ll unwrap the Flash Monster 2024 mega-issue before the eggnog turns.
– And, most importantly, this is a FLASH MONSTER contest, so you must include some sort of literal or figurative monster. But again, this can be in any form imaginable.
Submissions must not exceed 1000 words unless those extra words are fucking genius. Even so, you'd be wise to keep it under 1000, with priority given to fiction that tells the most engaging and self-contained story in the fewest words (average length of accepted pieces is around 300-600).
Include a clever two-sentence bio in the space provided. You can list all the publications in which your previous work has been featured if that gets you off, but we prefer insight into who you are or imagine yourself to be.