Inlay

Read this if you remember travelling pre internet, when the world was your oyster, there was no social media and your folks had no clue about your antics. Actually, just read it.

Huge thanks to judge Rosaleen Lynch @rosaleenlynch.bsky.social and Ian @freeflashfiction.bsky.social for this. Chuffed to bits to have won this competition.

Delighted that my story, Gravel, was Highly Commended by judge @rosaleenlynch.bsky.social in this fab competition. Huge thanks to Rosaleen and to Ian Rushton at @freeflashfiction.bsky.social 😍

As Chosen by Judge Rosaleen Lynch @rosaleenlynch.bsky.social FFF Competition Thirty-Three Highly Commended: Renovations by Keenan Sands keenansandswriting.co.uk #writingcompetitions #flashfiction freeflashfiction.com/fiction/comp...

by Emma Phillips We’re astronauts, floating. I’m the stronger swimmer. Hey, you say, it’s as if we could reach out and pocket the Earth. Like a marble, like God. I grin at the contrast...

I’ve been watching the walls dissolve for three weeks now. Not dramatically – they simply become less certain of themselves each morning. My neighbour insists it’s just condensation, but I’ve seen the...

As Chosen by Judge Rosaleen Lynch @rosaleenlynch.bsky.social FFF Competition Thirty-Three Shortlisted: The Carriers of Light by Amanda Losinski #writingcompetitions #flashfiction freeflashfiction.com/fiction/comp...

As Chosen by Judge Rosaleen Lynch @rosaleenlynch.bsky.social FFF Competition Thirty-Three Shortlisted: Life needs a 3D printer by Helen Newdick @helennewdick.bsky.social #writingcompetitions #flashfiction freeflashfiction.com/fiction/comp...

As Chosen by Judge Rosaleen Lynch @rosaleenlynch.bsky.social The Competition Thirty-Three Winning Flash Fiction: My Sister’s Second Word by Emma Phillips @words-outwest.bsky.social #writingcompetitions #flashfiction freeflashfiction.com/fiction/comp...

Update announcement #ThirdAnthology #DirigibleBalloon #PoetryForChildren #KeepMeBreathing This is your Captain speaking ... northernjim.wordpress.com/2026/06/11/t...

As Chosen by Judge Rosaleen Lynch @rosaleenlynch.bsky.social FFF Competition Thirty-Three Highly Commended: Gravel by S. A. Greene @sagreene1.bsky.social #writingcompetitions #flashfiction freeflashfiction.com/fiction/comp...

Aimee designs plastic dinosaurs for kids. The computer slices her designs and the 3D printer deposits the material, one layer at a time. When she’s done, they have facial expressions like they could e...

In the land of gloom and gunmetal shadows, the citizens carried jars of light. Many hid this treasure away under layers of clothing or sealed tight in rucksacks strapped to their backs, for there was ...

Strasbourg 5 am. A heron’s heavy row across a blue July sky, over green gravel lakes beside the motorway. We’re sixteen. Hungover French drizzles from our English tongues as we waste away with the was...

No was my sister’s second word. Her first was dada, which Mom said didn’t count because it was an extension of babble. No came after and my sister would yell it until she was red and streaked with sno...

Hello Balloonists. We’ve sent out all the emails to the poets whose poems will form our third anthology (new working title Aeronauts Away! Awesome Adventures in a Poetry Balloon). The wonderful Col…

He’s been at the precinct the past three Wednesdays, trying to sell driveways made of gravel and resin. Kathy and I discussed him in Birds. Who’d want a job standing out in the cold like that all day?...

Her teeth are so perfect, they’re earmarked for ten-dollar bills. Brandi never goes hungry. She blows pink bubbles like birthday balloons while I shush the voice warning me not to steal her pearl-white canine and stash it in my empty lunchbox. When Brandi checks her backpack at recess, I slip her tooth against my gums and suck like it’s no big deal. Instead of dollar bills, I get detention. When my incisor finally falls, the tooth fairy goes all-out for revenge. There’s no trail of glitter like Brandi said, just a Mini Tootsie Roll and a sellotaped nickel. --- Emma Phillips lives by the M5 in Devon, which sometimes lures her away in search of adventure. Her words have recently appeared in Trash Cat Lit, Temple in a City, Raw Lit and Literary Namjooning.