L Mari Harris’s stories have been selected for Best Microfiction and the Wigleaf Top 50. She lives in the Ozarks, and she is currently working on a linked flash fiction collection about the region. Follow her on X and BlueSky @LMariHarris. You can read her work at lmariharris.wordpress.com
If you aren’t familiar with her work, here’s one of her pieces to start things off:
Changeling (L Mari Harris | Flash Frog)
Why I like it (MK): there is such a vividness to the way the characters in this piece are brought to life, so many cleverly-picked details that expand outwards so that I see these people as completely unique human beings. I am drawn into their world as a result, a world of simmering tensions which are built up in such a skilful fashion. At the level of language, I love the tonal shifts (the splashes of humour, the moments of sad reflection) and how every level of the story is working in harmony with the others.
Good Neighbors (Cody Shrum | Have Has Had)
Repetition can be hard to pull off well. It has to propel the story forward or else it falls flat on its face. But this story utilizes repetition perfectly. We see people trying to be “good neighbors,” wanting to be members of their community. Each paragraph increases their level of involvement. Their hearts are pure, but their actions grow more intrusive. Their community continues to ignore them, until outside violence takes the “good neighbors.” We are left with all the good things they did that the community happily uses without a thought to who was responsible for these positive things. If that isn’t a microcosm of the world we live in, I don’t know what is. Shrum handles this perfectly.
Hum (Tara Isabel Zambrano | New Flash Fiction Review)
I come back to this tale over and over again. Zambrano creates a relationship that is a little absurdist, a little ethereal, a little fantastical. In lesser hands, this story would not work. To pull this off, you have to firmly root this story in realism. I never like to give too much away when I tell people to read this story. I want them to experience every brilliant line for themselves.
Every Which Way, the Wind (Pat Foran | Reckon Review)
Foran has an uncanny ability to write stories that make you feel you’re inhabiting his heart and soul, and you will question whether you’re reading fiction or non-fiction. Equally astonishing is Foran’s ability to understand a truly great piece cannot be just about the writer. It has to pull the reader in, too, to the point where the reader viscerally experiences the piece for themselves. While I have many favorite Foran stories, this one is probably one of my favorite favorites. What he achieves is such a short space is nothing short of miraculous.
Hero (Mike Wilson | XRAY Lit)
Rarely does a story make me jealous that I wasn’t the one who wrote it, but the first time I read Wilson’s story I was very jealous. And even more stunned. What Wilson achieves here is nothing short of stellar. Each sentence, each image, circles and propels. Slowly at first, then gaining momentum, until its explosive, sudden stop.
Sisters (Cezarija Abartis | matchbook)
I am such a sucker for a really great breathless paragraph, and Abartis’s “Sisters” is such a wonderful example of what can be achieved. The breaking of an heirloom bowl roots us in the story of a family of women tenuously holding on amongst squabbles and not feeling seen as individuals. And yet we are given hope at the end with that yes that is so much more than a sister forgiving her sibling for something that hasn’t happened yet.
A Queer Girl’s Guide to Reading Fairy Tales (Rebecca Turkewitz | The Cincinnati Review)
What happens when we imagine our way into an age-old story? How can we find ways to make it relevant to our modern existence? What I love about this story is how it resonates with the reader, allowing a way into commonalities of what it means to be a hero, a heroine, to exist within the world and within oneself. The repetition of “You may” sets the stage for finding a way into strength and resilience, building on everything possible in what feels like an impossible world.
A Brief Natural History of the Girls in the Office (Sarah Freligh | Milk Candy Review)
Freligh has a gift for walking that line with her pieces: Is it a micro fiction or is it prose poetry? When a piece transcends its standard form confines, that’s when you realize you must pay attention. This is one of my faves by Freligh. We see what probably amounts to decades of a group of women in the “wild,” surviving day by day, enjoying small moments, taking hits as they come, each image taut, perfect, defining.
Twelve (Leonora Desar | Passages North)
The cusp of adolescence is such a difficult time to write about well. Desar is a fave of mine because of her strong voice and deft skills. She never leaves you unsatisfied as a reader. Every image builds towards an emotional reaction as these girls begin to navigate life, adulthood, and the parents in their lives who are far from perfect.
Phylum (Rita Bullwinkel | Bomb)
I love one-word titles and “Phylum” perfectly represents a relationship that is unclear, even disputed between how the couple sees themselves and their relation to each other. Repetition is used to build the fracture of this man and woman throughout the story: “I was the type”, repeated in scenes and tying back wonderfully to the title.
Andy Warhol Sightings (Valerie Fox | Juked)
In a great flash, every single image must build to create the whole. Fox’s stellar use of specific moments throughout these Andy Warhol “sightings” encapsulates an extraordinary life played out in very ordinary circumstances. We’ll all supposedly be famous for fifteen minutes, but in the end, we all end up in the same place, and Fox hits you with that at the end.
What did you think of these choices? Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments - have you found a new favourite piece? Did you try out one of the prompts?
Next month’s selection will be chosen by Sumitra Singam and will be appearing (fingers crossed) on the 18th March.
Opportunities to work with Matt
How do we create flow in our writing, sentences that slip one into the next like a river of words? This flash fiction course explores sentence craft at a molecular level, thinking about the connection of ideas, rhythmic patterns and thematic cohesion.
5th - 18th May 2025
Anchors | Bridges | Stitches | Threads.
Online, fully asynchronous course and workshop.
Pay-what-you-can pricing. £105 recommended.
Editing
NOVEL / NOVELLA EDITING: First steps review / structural review / line edit / submission review
EDITING FOR COLLECTIONS: Structural overview report / line edit
SHORT FICTION EDITING: Structural review / line edit / detailed edit
Happy to see Pat’s story in Reckon Review - a favorite!
Love that Sarah Freligh story. Happy for a chance to revisit it.