Dear Reader, by Tara Campbell and Christopher Gonzalez

Dear Reader:

When we posted a call for “Funky Flash” submissions, we threw out some loose guidelines—and our eager, open palms—and waited for your wonderful surprises. “Give us your unique,” we said, “your unusual, your hard-to-place flash stories yearning to be read.” We were interested in hermit-crab style pieces, we wanted to see experimentation in form, and we wanted voices that were strong and confident, if not completely absurd. 

And did we ever get it.

Over one weekend, we received 542 submissions in response to our call, nearly all of them including two flashes. This certainly made the job of picking just ten for publication a difficult one, but it’s a challenge we were delighted to meet. 

We present to you our Funky Flash online issue of 2020. May these stories excite you as much as they did us with all their funky glory!

Keep it weird,

Tara Campbell and Chris Gonzalez
Barrelhouse Fiction Editors and Wonder Twins