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flash fiction (25)

IOANNA MAVROU Lucky Cat

Monday, January 21, 2013

The narrator of Ioanna Mavrou's "Lucky Cat" invests the eponymous figurine with hope, bravado, and fear in this flash fiction piece about a relationship challenged by illness. [...] more

MARY O'DONOGHUE Honest, Or Nine Precious Insights

Monday, January 7, 2013

It's only one sentence, but "Honest, Or Nine Precious Insights" offers a vivid portrait of a man looking for companionship. As he weighs the merits and disadvantages of a blind date at "a tea place," Mary O'Donoghue's narrator expresses both vulnerability and confidence, confusion and insight. [...] more

JOANNE BARKER How To Be Naked

Monday, December 17, 2012

The frailty of the human body and the strength that emerges from one woman's self-scrutiny are the subjects of Joanne Barker's "How To Be Naked". A swimming-pool locker room sets the scene for this unflinching assessment of nakedness in many forms. [...] more

BEN LURIE Looking Forward

Monday, December 17, 2012

Ben Lurie's "Looking Forward" tells the story of a young man dealing with the loss of his memory. An encounter with someone from his past--a stranger to him now--gives him an ominous sense of who he was and who he might become. [...] more

ELIZABETH O'BRIEN Over Easy

Monday, October 15, 2012

A plate of eggs, a map, and a greasy table top inspire a new journey for the young narrator of Elizabeth O'Brien's "Over Easy". O'Brien's vivid and concise writing, and her evocative reading performance, give the listener a strong sense of the narrator's need to just go. [...] more

ANDREW SULLIVAN The Lesser Half of Sir John A. Macdonald

Monday, October 8, 2012

Andrew Sullivan's narrator names the lesions on his body after the cities where he has endured the loneliness and pain of homelessness. "The Lesser Half of Sir John A. Macdonald" paints a world in which people can be torn in two, like the eponymous Canadian banknote, by the longing to stay put and the need to keep moving. Sullivan's story follows a young man struggling through the consequences of one bad turn, as he makes his way across Canada. [...] more

JOAN KANE NICHOLS Treasures

Monday, August 27, 2012

At this time of year in 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and much of the surrounding area. Joan Kane Nichols's flash fiction "Treasures" sets us down in one woman's home as she and her husband Darryl prepare to evacuate, one of them more readily than the other. The story is a vivid dramatization of the pull of belongings--treasures--as both burden and rescue. [...] more

LISTEN! THEN SEND US YOUR AUDIO STORY

Monday, August 20, 2012

Get some audio inspiration from our regularly changing audio prompts and record a three-minute story for The Drum. Send us the audio on our Soundcloud Dropbox--over there on the left-hand side of our home page--and share with Drum listeners and writers. [...] more

PRAIRIE MARKUSSEN Nothing Special

Monday, July 30, 2012

Prairie Markussen's "Nothing Special" tells the short, moving story of an old Korean woman fighting for permanence in her changing city. Am-yeong Im, given the name for babies not expected to survive, patiently and insistently works for the survival of her home. In Markussen's story, a woman's small act of erasure turns into an attempt to make something last. [...] more

CHARLES RAFFERTY Dump

Monday, July 9, 2012

In Charles Rafferty's "Dump," a simple garbage trip becomes a test of a newly single father's need for his children's safety. While he worries, they are carefree. He is left to ponder his daughters' responses to a world in which people leave--sometimes without returning. [...] more

2012 MuseFlash Contest: Flash Fiction and Non-Fiction

Monday, June 4, 2012

Announcing the winners of our Third MuseFlash Contest , recorded during Grub Street's Muse and the Marketplace conference May 5-6. Paula Chu Patrcia Sollner R. J. Taylor Collin Tobin Betty Yee MuseFlash invites writers to read their 500-word pieces aloud in The Drum 's recording room at the Muse conference. The [...] more

KIMBERLY ELKINS Laura Bridgman, The First Famous Blind Deaf-Mute

Monday, November 14, 2011

Kimberly Elkins' "Laura Bridgman" offers a fascinating fictionalized account of an actual historical moment. As she meets the young girl who is being groomed to take her place as a celebrity, Bridgman muses on the vagaries of fame and reputation. Elkins' piece raises interesting questions about the rivalry among the senses (or their loss), and the strange power that can be wielded by disability. [...] more

LAUREN NORTON CARSON The Ironing

Monday, November 14, 2011

Lauren Carson's "The Ironing" takes a domestic scene as the setting for a domestic undoing. Carson paints a detailed portrait of a woman's experience as a pair of pants becomes a wry battleground. [...] more

LISA KORZENIOWSKI While You Were Gone

Monday, November 14, 2011

In Lisa Korzeniowski's "While You Were Gone", a mother's night out leaves her children to do whatever they want, thrilled to be free from a parent whose weaknesses and failures are all too apparent.  But their experience of exhilaration quickly slides into yearning for their mother's love and for the return of her questionable authority. [...] more

RANDY ROSS One Day in Thailand

Monday, September 19, 2011

Randy Ross' "One Day in Thailand" is the Finalist in the 2011 Drum/Side B Dual Publication Award . Brief, clever, and with a final twist, "One Day in Thailand" presents a comic observation on the experience of the ex-patriate in Asia. [...] more

ALLY ENGELBERG Stay

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Ally Engelberg's "Stay" finds a young man poised for departure--from his childhood home and from his childhood. As he empties his room, memories of lake-swimming pull him both back into the past and forward into the uncertain future. "Stay" appears in The Drum as part of our selection from Grub Street's Young Adult Writers' Program . [...] more

CATHERINE ELCIK Why We're Swimming With The Fishes

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

In Catherine Elcik's "Why We're Swimming With The Fishes," there are three people in one marriage: the husband, the wife, and Marlon Brando's Godfather. Over a North End dinner, the wife wants romance while the husband wants intrigue, simply the latest trouble in a failing marriage. [...] more

DAWN DORLAND PERRY Do Us Part

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

In Dawn Dorland Perry's "Do Us Part," a simple question posed to an old friend about his wedding reveals the complicated layers of a relationship, and the longing. ambivalence, and regret for what might have been. [...] more

MICHELLE SEATON Low Tide

Monday, June 27, 2011

Michelle Seaton's "Low Tide" takes a tide pool as the starting point for its study of independence and growth. A child's discovery becomes the source for a mother's discovery too, as parent and child explore the water's edge. [...] more

NADINE LYNN KENNEY How to Meet Your Future Husband (and Almost Scare Him Away)

Monday, June 27, 2011

Nadine Lynn Kenney's "How To Meet Your Future Husband (and Almost Scare Him Away)" presents a nightmare mother on a Florida beach vacation. An oversexed parent, her parents' troubled marriage, her own attraction to a young vacationer, and an excess of alcohol are all ingredients in the narrator's bad trip. [...] more

LAURA PACKER Running Away With Greta

Monday, June 27, 2011

Laura Packer's "Running Away With Greta" focuses in on one night in the life of a little girl experiencing the temptation of escape and the pull of home. In miniature, this flash-fiction piece examines the complicated relationship between danger and comfort, risk and safety. [...] more

NATHAN POOLE Raw Milk Fever

Monday, May 24, 2010

Nathan Poole’s “Raw Milk Fever” begins at the turn of a young girl’s fever, brought on after she drank raw milk on a dare. Her brother narrates the piece, evoking the daze of heat and anxiety that lingers over this farm family during the girl’s illness. [...] more

JASON M. RUBIN In the Nickel of Time

Monday, May 24, 2010

The narrator of Jason M. Rubin’s “In the Nickel of Time” works at a convenience story where the weight of a roll of nickels comes in handy for an act of late-night self-defense. [...] more

ELLEN MEEROPOL Watching Her

Monday, May 24, 2010

A palace guardsman speaks for his battalion in Ellen Meeropol’s “Watching Her,” describing how the soldiers’ affection for a young noblewoman must give way to obedience during a civil war. Following orders, they must punish the woman’s allegiance to the rebel cause, and to her rebel lover. [...] more

GRACE TALUSAN The Girl in The Red Dress

Monday, May 24, 2010

In Grace Talusan’s “The Girl in the Red Dress,” Rodrigo sees the eponymous girl. But is it a ghost or a hallucination—or perhaps a sign of illness? During a visit to the doctor with his mother, Rodrigo tries to understand the intricacies of affection and intimacy and ponders what wealth means. [...] more

theme: comedy

theme: crisis

theme: relationships

theme: family

genre: essay

novel excerpt

short fiction

poetry

under 10 min

under 20 min

under 30 min

under 40 min
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