The latest

We like the future. It gives us something to look forward to. We like to make plans and projects and ideas and inventions. So not surprisingly, we have some more events up our highly fashionable sleeves. Hopefully you can join us!

Wednesday 6 July 2011, 7.30pm, Barcelona, Hilton Street, NQ, Manchester
We’re joining forces with our Bad Language pals to run the Flash Language Literary Pub Quiz as part of, er, Not Part Of, the official fringe of Manchester International Festival. There will be four rounds of questions, each comprising two topics, from opening lines to Manchester fiction, plus a picture round. It’s going to be ace.

Sunday 17 July 2011, 7.30pm, Apotheca, Thomas Street, NQ, Manchester
The fabulous fivesome will be presenting another legendary pop-up literary salon, treating the adoring masses to some brand-new short story shizzle, during an evening of bookish fun hosted by the Bad Language collective for this year’s Oxfam Bookfest.

The podcast

If, for some ker-ay-zee reason, you missed the extravaganza that was the Flash Mob Literary Salon, worry your pretty little head not, for you can now listen again, courtesy our friends at Chorlton FM, who’ve only gone and given us the links t’podcasts. Here:

Part 1: with some of the 12 shortlisted stories, plus titbits by the Flash Mob collective.
Part 2: with some more of the 12 shortlisted stories, more titbits by the Flash Mob collective, a special guest star appearance by Nik Perring, and the results of our exquisite corpse challenge.
Part 3: with the glittering awards ceremony

The anthology

Hey, so we have an online anthology of all the twelve stories shortlisted in the Flash Mob Writing Competition.

It is called Flash Mob Writing Competition The Shortlist. You can read it here.

It is in myebook format and was created especially for us by Seabrook Associates, a Chorlton-based design and marketing type company. Thanks, guys!

The winners

Thank you to everyone who came to our Chorlton Arts Festival literary salon last night.  We had immense fun and we massively enjoyed your exquisite corpses. (That might sound a little creepy to those that weren’t there….!)

The night was broadcast on Chorlton FM, and should be available as a podcast after the festival. Massive thanks to Dulcimer too – it’ s great to have you back in Chorlton. Special mentions must go to entrants Matthew Hull for the brownies and to Sandra Jensen for such a professional pre-recording of her story.

The winners of the Flash Mob Writing Competition are:

Ist place: prize was an personalised A2 illustration by Laurie Pink and a gift set from Penguin:

Water Pressure by Socrates Adams (@socratesadams)

2nd place: prize was a personalised A3 illustration by Lottie Pencheon:

Marked by Michael D Conley

3rd place: prize was a personalised A3 illustration by Billy Mather:

The Dryer Monkey by Sal Page (@SalnPage)

All 12 shortlistees will appear in an e-book: link on this page soon. Meanwhile, do have a look at the websites of the entrants and judges, and use the hashtag #flashtag to stay in touch!

The Shortlist

The judges gathered. The judges argued. The judges ate pizza and calmed down a bit. The judges whittled 88 pieces of flash fiction down to their favourite 12. The judges had tough decisions to make and had to leave out some very, very fine pieces of work indeed.

And then the judges were humbled. The judges pizza-filled mouths fell silent. The judges basked in the glow of the final shortlist and they decided that it was very good indeed.

So, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. In alphabetical order by author’s surname we present the 12 shortlisted stories for the Flash Mob Writing Competition…

Water Pressure by Socrates Adams (@socratesadams)

Marked by Michael D Conley

The Underwater Detective by Nick Garrard (@havershambler)

Hoochy Coochy Man and the Wagon of Rhymes by Sarah Hilary (@sarah_hilary)

Citric by Matthew Hull (@hulloyou)

Karaoke Girl by Sandra Jensen (@SandraAJensen)

The Klee of Kilmacsharry by Hannah Lynn

Milk and Honey by Lynsey May (@LynseyMay)

The Dryer Monkey by Sal Page (@SalnPage)

Metagurneypunk by Craig Pay (@craigthegeek)

Balloons by Sarah Schofield (@saraheschofield)

The Cracks by Nicola West (@NicolaRWest)

The winner and the two runners-up will be announced at our glittering live literary salon at Dulcimer in Chorlton on 26 May 2011 at 7.30pm. All shortlisted entries will be included in an ebook courtesy of Seabrook Associates and will be broadcast on Chorlton FM. Congratulations to all who were successful, and a massive thanks to everyone who entered.

Welcome to the Flash Mob Writing Competition

The Flash Mob Writing Competition is a celebration of very short stories. Stories of 500 words or fewer to be exact.

We believe that small can be beautiful and that if a picture tells a thousand words you only need half a picture to tell a story. That is why we are asking you to send us your literary miniatures, your flash fiction, your short, short stories and your one-minute wordy wonders.

If a novel is a marriage, a short, short story is one acid-sharp kiss, snatched on a rainswept street, under cold neon light. If an epic poem is an eight-course meal, then a piece of flash fiction is a mouthful of a chilli-laced samosa bought at a roadside stall and shared with a broken-hearted friend. You don’t need pages of words to tell a story, you just need an imagination.

So get your thinking hats on and sharpen your pencils.

The Flash Mob Writing Competition is now closed to entries.

Have a look round the site. Put the date of our exciting prize-giving ceremony and live event, part of this year’s Chorlton Arts Festival, in your diary. The date is Thursday 26 May. The fun kicks off at 7.30pm.