January 2026
Ten stories picked by Chris Scott
Bio: Chris Scott’s work has appeared in The New Yorker’s Shouts & Murmurs, HAD, Flash Frog, Okay Donkey, Milk Candy Review, hex, scaffold and elsewhere. His stories have recently been selected for Best Small Fictions 2025 and Best Microfiction 2026. He is a regular ClickHole contributor and elementary school teacher in Washington, DC. You can read his writing at https://www.chrisscottwrites.com/ and find him on Bluesky at @iamchrisscott.bsky.social.
If you aren’t familiar with his work, here’s one of his pieces to start things off:
Go Bag (Chris Scott | Milk Candy Review)
Why I like it (MK): List stories can sometimes become a little stale through the restriction of form; here though, I love how the story comes to life through a contrast of concrete and abstract, the shift from “real” things to things like “four vivid memories” and the great use of bracketed asides. List stories can also become slightly emotionally void, but this is the opposite. There’s so much resonance here, such a wonderful build towards that final line.
The Museum (Elena Zhang | Night Shades)
Why I like it (CS): There is a dream logic to this piece -- and so much of Elena Zhang’s highly imaginative writing -- that activates something new in my brain, forcing me to make connections and consider scenes I wouldn’t have otherwise. I always want to immediately re-read her work as soon as I’ve finished it, and this is a great example.
PROMPT: Describe a mundane scene (such as a visit to a museum or the library) and tweak the internal logic of it just slightly to create something surreal or even sinister.
The Liminal Space of the Track at a Tri-City YMCA (Sarah Lynn Hurd | Ghost Parachute)
Why I like it: I love the quiet desperation of this piece, the feeling of paranoia and danger Sarah Lynn Hurd conveys, without ever explicitly acknowledging or explaining it. How something as routine as running laps can begin to feel claustrophobic, slightly terrifying, and deeply sad. This is not a piece that you expect to gut you, and somehow it does.
Buddy’s Gone (Sheldon Birnie | HAD)
Why I like it: Sheldon Birnie has such a great sense of voice, in this piece and his excellent short story collection Where the Pavement Turns to Sand, writing in punchy prose that feels very distinct and unassuming, usually masking something deeper and more complex. Here he portrays a strange and senseless tragedy that’s heart-breaking but, in his more than capable hands and casual tone, never collapses under its own weight. An impressive feat.
Out (Lillie E. Franks | hex)
Why I like it: I really admire Lillie E. Franks’ ability -- of which “Out” is a great example -- to write morbid and unsettling stories that don’t necessarily scan as horror. This story begins in seemingly familiar territory before plunging into something surreal, surprising, and haunting. Every word is employed perfectly. I’ve read it through repeatedly and found something new each time.
Of the Lovers (Addison Zeller | Your Impossible Voice)
Why I like it: This piece is eerie and hypnotic. I keep returning to it, finding some meaning that I’ll grasp for a minute, and then will suddenly change shape, eluding me once again. Addison Zeller is one of my favorite writers for this reason: He writes these odd and beautiful puzzles that attach themselves to my brain like little else. I appreciate his versatility and ability to extract emotion and mystery from even the most ordinary of images -- in the case of “Of the Lovers” two shadows through a window. Or are they?
Tongue Tied (Lauren Kardos | Fictive Dream)
Why I like it: Such a clever framing device to spin a story -- using common tongue twisters to suck the reader in and guide them along -- the significance of which becomes clearer as it progresses. I really admire the creativity with which Lauren Kardos approaches this, gradually peeling back the layers and memories to reveal what’s buried underneath.
PROMPT: Take a common figure of speech or phrase and build a story around it, perhaps revealing its contradictions through repetition, imbuing it with new meaning, or exploring what we reveal about ourselves when we use it.
Come Eat at O’Houlihan’s Because of What We Have (Dan Weaver | Burial Magazine)
Why I like it: Absurdist, uproarious, borderline stream-of-consciousness that’s typical of Dan Weaver’s writing style I love so much. One thing I particularly appreciate about his writing is that he doesn’t shy away from silliness. So many writers are afraid to access or reveal their silly side, fearing they won’t be taken seriously as a writer or artist or whatever. Dan Weaver has no such fear, and it makes his fiction so surprising and fun to read, even when it veers into darker directions.
PROMPT: Even if you don’t typically write ‘comedy’, or think of yourself as a comedy writer, try writing a short piece that you think will make a friend laugh, and then share it with them. This is a muscle a lot of writers don’t typically exercise, and injecting levity and absurdity into flash fiction (when it’s warranted) can often make pieces snappier and more memorable.
Indicator Species (Courtney Pasko | The Dodge)
Why I like it: One of my favorite pieces of nature writing in some time, perhaps because I see reflected here the Chesapeake Bay watershed that I call home. But mainly because I love both Courtney Pasko’s lyrical and vivid descriptions, and the mobius strip of hope and catastrophe that forms as the piece progresses. A highly creative and thoughtful approach that I’ve had a difficult time shaking.
Two Old Friends and a Ghost Walk into the Woods (Anna Vangala Jones | CRAFT)
Why I like it: The emotional honesty Anna Vangala Jones reveals here is refreshing and inspiring, both in its tenderness for the characters, and also in the unflinching honesty of the two (living) women who are ostensibly “friends” but may not like each other all that much. It’s a complex dynamic from which there is no tidy resolution or shattering falling-out, something that probably every reader can relate to.
A Quick Word About My Life (Trent England | Okay Donkey)
Why I like it: Last but not least, I want to share one of my very favorite works of short fiction, first published in Okay Donkey about 7 years ago. With so many literary magazines and stories floating around the void, a lot of great stuff can get buried with time. But this is one of those stories that I have held in my mind for years as a perfect example of what I hope to accomplish with my own writing. Somehow, in just a couple hundred words, Trent England builds an entire world only one or two degrees separated from our own, just slightly askew, and in doing so reveals something heartbreaking, honest, and oddly beautiful about the lives we share here in the real world. It is, to my eye, everything I look for when I read flash fiction, and I hope you get something out of it, too.
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 Kathryn Reese and will be appearing (fingers crossed) on the 17th February.