December 2025

Twenty (and a few more) of my favourite flash fiction pieces from 2025

We’ve reached the end of another year, so as is now tradition, I’m taking the reins of Mondettes and choosing some of my favourite flash fiction pieces from the last twelve months. These are (apparently) known as the MAFFIAs (the Matt Flash Fiction Awards), because (apparently) I’m fancy like that and also a little shady 😂.

As always, I should stress that these are just SOME of my favourites and that, as with any “best of” list, it very much depends on which stories the picker has read (once again, I haven’t read half as much as I would have liked this year), how good their memory / record keeping is (not particularly great) and what their mood is when they come to making their picks.

So, this isn’t so much a “best of” list as a list of personal favourites that are jumping to my mind at this particular moment of writing this post.

Nine-one-one (Sarah Freligh | The Welkin Writing Prize)

Why I like it: I started last year’s post with a Sarah Freligh piece, and here I am doing the same. This is a piece told in less than a hundred words that contains a whole universe. It’s brilliantly breathless in the way it’s told. It’s woven with such a depth of emotions. And every time I read it, I notice something new.

The Box (Joshua Jones Lofflin | Matchbook Lit)

Why I like it: This piece is so powerful in the way it uses the speculative. The scenario is absurd, but that absurdity is also painfully real. There are so many uncomfortable truths here, not just about the present state of the world but also about the state of the world as it might yet become in the not-too-distant future. A piece to read followed by a moment of deep reflection.

PROMPT: write a piece about an absurd new TV show which gets increasingly out of hand. What might you say about the world through this innovative lens?

Out of Season (Georgene Smith Goodin | Fractured Lit)

Why I like it: I always love a piece that does something clever with an extended metaphor. The trick, I always think, is to find something that has enough overlap with what you’re comparing against, and the challenge is to not step outside of those constraints. Here, everything reads so brilliantly at both levels - the surface-layer description of the amusement park and the implied-layer description of the sister - and there’s such a heart-breaking build from beginning to end.

Psalm (After the Animals) (Joseph Randolph | Bath Flash Fiction Award)

Why I like it: I’m a sucker for beautiful language and there are so many details in this piece that make me want to read them out loud. “Not namewise, but gutward” is wonderfully original in how it evokes such a unique voice. The verbs are full of pinpoint specificity. I particularly love “soles clagged with rainrot.” And there’s some great use of parallelism (“Not prayer. Not name” for example) to create a propulsive rhythm.

The Devil Alive in Jersey (Catherine Buck | Craft Literary)

Why I like it: As writers, we can play it safe or we can take risks, and I always think that the gold dust is to be found in the latter. This piece unfolds purely through dialogue and that’s so tricky. There’s no padding to describe body language or scene, yet I still get such a strong sense of that here. Such clever, impactful writing.

PROMPT: write a piece that unfolds purely through dialogue where a large group of characters are discussing a rumour or a scandal.

This Is Not A Story (Karen Crawford | Roi Fainéant)

Why I like it: This is another tiny micro that contains multitudes. First, we have the “you” narrator, the insistent paragraph starters of “you stare”, “you type”, “you backspace”. Then we have the multiple stories (or not-stories) that unfold from that staring / typing / backspace - the person-specific and the universal - all brought to life in such a powerful way.

Wendy, Darling (Sumitra Singam | Tiny Molecules)

Why I like it: I was privileged enough to read this piece when it was at an earlier draft stage. It was wonderful then, but now - wow! - what a piece. I love the use of repetition here and the lyrical brilliance of the writing. I love the way it engages with the Peter Pan story. And I love the powerful emotions bubbling away underneath.

Our Mutual Friend (Ivy Grimes | HAD)

Why I like it: I often talk about ‘poise’ in writing and I’m never quite sure how to define that. This piece, though, is one of those pieces that feels so poised. There’s a restraint to the prose but there are also wonderful moments of contrast - the shift in voice brought in with that “no offense”, the play on words in “I wish I believed I was beloved”. And at the level of story, this is one of those pieces that asks a reader to engage with it, to look for the levels of meaning beneath that poised surface layer.

Wooden Horse Redux (Ron Burch | Ghost Parachute)

Why I like it: This is a fable wrapped within the absurd which like all powerful speculative fiction holds a mirror up to the real world. It doesn’t take much to figure out who the leader of this country might be, and I love how the scenario is pushed into absurdity, underpinned at the level of words and sentences by repetition and the great use of questions and asides.

Peonies (Ani King | Wigleaf)

Why I like it: With flash, we often talk about ‘breathless’ prose and when it’s done well (like here) it can be so powerful at driving a piece forward. Added to that, there’s an anaphora repetition of “you see” and everything builds and builds, the architecture beneath the piece so clever in the way the sentences get longer and longer to mimic what is happening emotionally.

the body forgets in parentheses (Molly Thapviwat | trampset)

Why I like it: This is such a creative piece. It’s creative at the level of content - I love the random shifts like “a goat showed up on my porch” - and it’s creative at the level of form, the use of forward slashes rather than full stops, the propulsive rhythm of the writing.

PROMPT: write a story that starts with an everyday action (like putting something in the post) but shift that action into the surreal (so, you might put your brain in the washing machine or bake your sadness in the oven).

Other World (Kelli Short Borges | BULL Lit Mag)

Why I like it: In my editing and teaching work, I often talk about planting the seeds towards an ending, and this is such a great example of that. The reference to the Brontosaurus in the first paragraph is almost casual, but it lingers in the mind, so that when we get to that gut-punch ending, it ties the piece together rather than veering off into a new narrative strand. This piece is about other worlds and what’s amazing here is how many worlds are contained within this space. The real world. What Mr. Smyth hopes for in a parallel universe. And all the real and hoped-for worlds of all the kids.

Margaret Mulaney and the New Faces (Cuyler Meade | trampset)

Why I like it: Sometimes, flash can be flashy. Sometimes, it’s woven with complexity. But sometimes, an understated, simpler approach is the way to go. I love how this story unfolds without pyrotechnics, the sadness and the situation building in such a structured and powerful way.

Three Belts (Kathy Fish | Re)

Why I like it: Like most of the flash fiction world, I’m continuously in awe of Kathy Fish. With every piece she publishes, it feels like she finds something completely original to say or a completely new approach. Here, we have a list piece that demonstrates the possibilities and power of all-out concision. I love the tight rhythm of this and how each sentence fragment interacts with the ones either side of it. I love how a reader is asked to see what’s contained in the gaps in between. I love the random elements, the shift of tone in “The horse, remarkably, again” and the endpoint of anesis. So much craft to unpick here and such a great overall effect.

PROMPT: write a story about a big or traumatic event that unfolds through the form of a staccato list. Each item should be a sentence fragment - nouns or nominal phrases. Start with the time and place. Include one splash of dialogue. Include at least one random element that doesn’t necessarily connect with the story but adds depth. Include one abstract element like “destiny". Create interesting juxtapositions and keep the rhythm taut.

Eugenia (Susan Holcomb | Flash Frog)

Why I like it: It feels to me that when we think about how to create something unique, we can focus on story, form or character, and I’d love to see more of the latter. This piece does that so well - such a unique character who I fell in love with right from that opening sentence (“She’s a poet and a bass guitarist, the coolest in my LA mommies group”). I love how that’s explored both in the present and the past. And I love how this reflects backwards onto the emotional landscape of the narrator.

PROMPT: write a story about a unique character who goes against the grain of the general grouping to which they belong. What is that character’s backstory? How does that character’s presence affect the others within the group?

The Last, Great Letter Writer (Sean Ennis | Pool Party Mag)

Why I like it: I don’t know what it is about this piece, but I just really like it. I’ve read it several times over the last few months and it never fails to slightly unsettle but also to give me a sense of resonance and satisfaction. This is another piece with so much poise, but also some wonderful tonal shifts. I love the postscripts at the end of the letter. I love the way the letter is couched within a brief musing from our narrator.

Bird in the Desert (Kip Knott | Ghost Parachute)

Why I like it: This is such beautiful writing, so lyrical, so much flow from one sentence to the next. It’s full of brilliant imagery like “It’s a silver river full of silver fish gleaming beneath a silver sliver of a moon.” I love the use of repetition and how the sentences shift through different rhythms, everything building towards the endpoint, a vast emotional swell.

Butterfly Time (Sage Tyrtle | trampset)

Why I like it: When we contemplate the speculative, we often think about the need to world-build right at the start. But what I love here is how we begin in the real world and shift, slowly, into that speculative parallel. That’s such a clever approach, giving a strong sense of journey. And what’s so impressive here is the number of journeys building alongside that - the journey of the “Girl Who Didn’t”, the journey of a reader’s understanding, the emotional journey, the thematic journey - all of that tied together in an ending that contains so much rawness and meaning.

PROMPT: write a story that starts in the real world and slowly shifts into something more speculative, shifting a reader’s understanding of scenario with every paragraph and weaving together different journeys.

Go Bag (Chris Scott | Milk Candy Review)

Why I like it: Another list piece (perhaps I’m particularly drawn to these?) that unfolds in such a brilliant way. I love how this list contains both the concrete and abstract, how there are things that are included and things that aren’t (“no bridges, no tunnels”). I love the use of bracketed asides. The connection between list items here is deliberately much more cohesive than in Kathy Fish’s piece above, and I love the journey in that. Another piece that builds towards such a resonant emotional swell.

You are pulling your hair again (Melissa Llanes Brownlee | Fractured Lit)

Why I like it: And another one-sentence piece (another thing that always draws me in, but only when done well). Like Sarah Freligh’s piece above, this has so much propulsion to it and so much structure in how this single sentence flows. I love the textural contrast brought in by the splashes of dialogue and I love how subtle that shift is from focus on “you” to focus on “I”, how the dialogue acts as a pivot for that. Again, such skilful writing that demonstrates so much understanding of writing craft.

BONUS STORIES

Baby Change (Sumitra Singam | JMWW)

But This is not a Story (Tommy Dean | Flash Flood)

Cotton Mouth (Janna Miller | Fractured Lit)

Deer in the Headlights (Allison Field Bell | Roi Fainéant)

I Regret to Inform You I Made These Plans When I Gave a Shit and Things Have Changed (Mario Aliberto III | Fractured Lit)

Love ; sigh (Claire Y. Guo | SmokeLong Quarterly)

Maybe Someday I’ll Stop Writing About A House On The Border Of A Swamp (Corey Farrenkopf | Milk Candy Review)

Me and Barnaby, Alone (Travis Flatt | New Flash Fiction Review)

My mom said if it’s okay with your mom you can come over and watch Kitchen Nightmares (Katherine Plumhoff | Whale Road Review)

Receipt (Mizuki Yamamoto | Does it Have Pockets?)

Revelation, 1859 (Sharon Telfer | Bath Flash Fiction Award)

Tascadora, Texas, 1935 (Myna Chang | The Sunlight Press)

Time Only Looks Human (Lynne Jensen Lampe | Okay Donkey)

The Wishmaker (Shauna Friesen | Tiny Molecules)

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What about you? What are your favourite pieces from this year? Please feel free to share your own personal picks in the comments - I always love to hear other people’s suggestions.

Next month’s selection will be chosen by Chris Scott and will be appearing (fingers crossed) on the 20th January.

Opportunities to work with Matt

Editing

NOVEL / NOVELLA EDITING: First steps review, structural review, line edit, proof edit, submission review

EDITING FOR COLLECTIONS: structural overview report, line edit, proof edit

SHORT FICTION EDITING: Structural review, line edit, detailed edit, proof edit