bestmicrofiction 2026

The following stories have been chosen by final judge Diane Seuss to appear in Best Microfiction 2026. Congratulations!

• Amy Allen, “Bad Guy” (Flash Frog)
• Mikki Aronoff, “I Keep Asking My Doctor What to Do About My Problem” (New World Writing Quarterly)
• Andrew Bertaina, “The Shape of Things” (Heavy Feather Review)
• Nick Bertelson, “Mistakes in Cars with Girls” (Wigleaf)
• Mary Biddinger, “Everyone Needs a Bit of Spiritual Devotion” (Whale Road Review)
• Caroline Bock, “Newboy” (The Hopkins Review)
• Amber Burke, “Dark Circles” (Okay Donkey)
• Tom Busillo, “Squirrel On My Back” (Does It Have Pockets)
• Luanne Castle, “Garden Seasons” (MacQueen’s Quinterly)
• Christine H. Chen, “Yellow” (Centaur Lit)
• Amanda Chiado, “My Great-Grandmother Had the Face of a Beast” (Waxwing)
• Chris Clemens, “How We Kept Going” (The Dribble Drabble Review)
• Thora Dahlke, “SPECULAR” (BRUISER)
• Natalie DeVaull-Robichaud, “Done” (The Prose Poem)
• Jose Hernandez Diaz, “The Search” (-ette review)
• Allison Field Bell, “Breasts” (The Hooghly Review)
• Sarah Freligh, “Sweet” (Ghost Parachute)
• Jeff Friedman, “A Note of Delirium” (The Ilanot Review)
• Sandie Friedman, “This Is Josephine” (Wild Roof Review)
• Frances Gapper, “Goodbye, goodbye” (Switch)
• Emma Goldman-Sherman, “The Summer My Mother Remarried” (Boudin)
• Michael Harper, “Homecoming Queen or I Could’ve Been the Queen of France” (Whale Road Review)
• Jeffrey Hermann, “Unimaginable Powers” (The Disappointed Housewife)
• Jeffrey Hermann, “Places Everyone” (Wigleaf)
• Ella Hormel, “Aftershock” (Pithead Chapel)
• L Andrew Huffman, “I WOKE UP DEAD” (Have Has Had)
• Joe Kapitan, “Visitation” (HAD)
• Zach Keali’i Murphy, “Alas!” (Full House Literary)
• L F Khouri, “The Distance We Name” (100 Word Story)
• L F Khouri, “The Map that Leads Nowhere” (SmokeLong Quarterly)
• Ani King, “Feels Like Rain” (Paranoid Tree Press)
• Kathryn Kulpa, “Bent Twigs” (Boudin)
• Kathryn Kulpa, “A Few Words About the Weather” (New Flash Fiction Review)
• Babal Lakghomi, “Fight” (The Cincinnati Review)
• Sydney Lea, “Nostalgia” (Cleaver)
• Matt Leibel, “How to Buy a Snow Globe” (-ette review)
• Christian Lesmes, “Dazed” (Tint Journal)
• Louella Lester, “Opening Drawers” (Rawhead)
• Kik Lodge, “Outside Chuckle and Chew” (Bending Genres)
• Kik Lodge, “Monosyllabic” (Milk Candy Review)
• Andy Lopez, “Funnel Cloud Baby” (Flash Frog)
• Lorette C Luzajic, “Marguerites” (Hot Flash Literary)
• Niamh Mac Cabe, “Peor es Nada” (Fictive Dream)
• Robert McDonald, “Jane Goodall of the Mantid Kingdom” (Gone Lawn)
• Kathleen McGookey, “Eight to Ten Inches by Nightfall” (The Mackinaw)
• Frankie McMillan, “The existential crisis of the bride (a triptych)” (MoonPark Review)
• Heather McQuillan, “Milk Carton Churches” (Rawhead)
• Claudia Monpere, “Morning Stroll” (Gooseberry Pie)
• Jack Morris, “Ernst is coming home” (New Flash Fiction Review)
• Devan Murphy, “The Beginning of the End” (Electric Literature (The Commuter))
• Erin Murphy, “Insomnia Chronicles XXIII” (ONE ART)
• Vic Nogay, “The Great Girl Evaporation of 2022” (Lost Balloon)
• Christopher Notarnicola, “Dysgeusia” (The Baltimore Review)
• Frances Orrok, “Have You Seen Me” (Pithead Chapel)
• Kalliopy Paleos, “The Ghost of the Hyeres Villa Sends the Drifter a Special Greeting” (Rawhead)
• Dawn Raffel, “Circus” (Centaur Lit)
• Samantha Rich, “Things in Threes” (Night Shades)
• Emily Rinkema, “Seventeen” (Flash Boulevard)
• Luke Rolfes, “Little Bluegills” (100 Word Story)
• Michelle Ross, “Long Game” (jmww)
• Tracy Royce, “Sibling Rivalry” (Blink-Ink)
• Marybeth Rua-Larsen, “Wild Turkeys” (Hot Flash Literary)
• Joanna Ruocco, “iDeath” (Big Other)
• Carolyn R. Russell, “The Way Back” (Pictura Journal)
• Carolyn R. Russell, “Summertime, and the Living is Easy” (Vestal Review)
• Samia Saliba, “poem in which I fantasize about taking direct action against my neighbour’s eagle screech motion detector” (ANMLY)
• Chris Scott, “Go Bag” (Milk Candy Review)
• Beth Sherman, “My Mother is the Everglades” (South Florida Poetry Journal)
• Kelli Short Borges, “We Don’t Meet in Buda” (Centaur Lit)
• Cheryl Snell, “Portrait of the Usual Suspects” (Bending Genres)
• L Soviero, “Ferment” (Pithead Chapel)
• Sarp Sozdinler, “Belongings” (100 Word Story)
• Norie Suzuki, “What Do You Mean “You’re Bilingual?” My Therapist Asks” (Emerge Literary Journal)
• Veronica Tucker, “The Waiting Room At The End of the Universe” (Astrolabe)
• Sage Tyrtle, “Playtime” (Milk Candy Review)
• Kyle Weik, “Escape to a Burning Moon” (Variant Lit)
• Rachel Weinhaus, “That’s All the Time We Have” (Moon City Review)
• Mizuki Yamamoto, “Receipt” (Does It Have Pockets)
• Kenton K Yee, “On the 38 Rapid Geary, the Children Know” (Southeast Review)
• Elena Zhang, “Do You Want to Become a Wolf” (Emerge Literary Journal)
• Tina S Zhu, “At the Dentist’s in Arlington Heights” (Centaur Lit)