SmokeLong publishes essays on the subject of flash fiction on our blog. Essays will be considered for the Flash in the Classroom, Why Flash Fiction? and Flash, Back series, but we also consider craft essays and flash fiction collection Reviews. 

The Why Flash Fiction? series explores what draws flash fiction writers and editors to the form. Send us your essays about the first time you wrote a piece of flash, why flash resonates with you, your favorite piece by another writer, your experience writing a particular published flash piece, or any other topic that broadly answers the question "Why do you write flash?" We normally do not publish essays that exceed 2000 words. Read our past essays on flash (which can be found on the blog!) to get a better idea of what we’re looking for.

Our Flash, Back series asks writers to discuss flash fiction that may be obscure or printed before the term “flash fiction”  became popular, and tell us how these older or not-widely-known works are meaningful. 

The Flash in the Classroom series invites creative writing instructors to discuss how they use flash fiction in their classrooms with the aim of inspiring other creative writing instructors around the world. We pay $25 for accepted Flash in the Classroom essays. 

Please submit a completed draft for consideration.

Book Reviews

SmokeLong is interested in reviewing flash fiction collections from emerging writers, famous authors, independent presses, big publishing houses, and everything in between. Authors and publicists are welcome to submit queries and/or books for consideration through our Submittable portal. If you are a reviewer, please submit a completed review or query letter detailing your interests and qualifications as a flash fiction reviewer. Please note that we are a flash journal and that the reviews and interviews we publish should also be 1000 words or fewer. 

Please note there is no monetary payment at this time for blog content unless otherwise stated above.