Christopher Allen
@christopherallen.bsky.social
Publisher and EIC of SmokeLong Quarterly. 2023 Flash Fiction Judge Bridport Prize. #BestSmallFictions #FlashFictionAmerica. Nomad. Very much a back-office guy. He/him
OK, so today I did this. The round stone at the top, so I think I've found a new vocation.
November 18, 2025 at 10:13 PM
OK, so today I did this. The round stone at the top, so I think I've found a new vocation.
Thank you so much, Gillian! And what a great pleasure it was to spend time with the literary community in Perth!
⚡️Fast Flash Review: Other Household Toxins by Christopher Allen.
@christopherallen.bsky.social @smokelong.bsky.social
@christopherallen.bsky.social @smokelong.bsky.social
October 31, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Thank you so much, Gillian! And what a great pleasure it was to spend time with the literary community in Perth!
Reposted by Christopher Allen
Cover Reveal! September 15th! Issue 89 of SmokeLong Quarterly! Ten killer flash by ten amazing writers. And we're thrilled to feature new CNF by Aimee Bender, our first featured author in the SmokeLong Master Series. Cover art by Mario Loprete.
September 10, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Cover Reveal! September 15th! Issue 89 of SmokeLong Quarterly! Ten killer flash by ten amazing writers. And we're thrilled to feature new CNF by Aimee Bender, our first featured author in the SmokeLong Master Series. Cover art by Mario Loprete.
I'll just leave this here. The rubber duckies are watching.
August 26, 2025 at 6:16 PM
I'll just leave this here. The rubber duckies are watching.
Thank you, @kplumhoff.bsky.social for these BEAUTIFUL tiny gin and tonic cups! They are stunning.
August 10, 2025 at 7:34 AM
Thank you, @kplumhoff.bsky.social for these BEAUTIFUL tiny gin and tonic cups! They are stunning.
Reposted by Christopher Allen
Our competitions always introduce us to new talent. Chi Pham's story "Man Spelt Backwards" is the author's first published story. We are THRILLED to be the first. And we have nominated the story for PEN America's Robert J. Dau Short Story Award for Emerging Writers. @seaheye.bsky.social
July 8, 2025 at 12:47 AM
Our competitions always introduce us to new talent. Chi Pham's story "Man Spelt Backwards" is the author's first published story. We are THRILLED to be the first. And we have nominated the story for PEN America's Robert J. Dau Short Story Award for Emerging Writers. @seaheye.bsky.social
Reposted by Christopher Allen
Novelists, don't miss this! August 2! www.smokelong.com/product/comp...
Compression for Novelists with Sherrie Flick - SmokeLong Quarterly
We forget that the core element of flash fiction—compression—is frequently used in novels, not just novels-in-flash, but any longform manuscript benefits from understanding how compression works and w...
www.smokelong.com
July 8, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Novelists, don't miss this! August 2! www.smokelong.com/product/comp...
Reposted by Christopher Allen
"The makeup ritual is both self-flagellation and self-creation because those can be the same gesture...It’s violent work of daily erasure and reconstruction, but becoming yourself sometimes requires destroying what you were." Chi Pham (2nd place in The Smokey 2025): www.smokelong.com/interviews/s...
Smoke Signals with Chi Pham - SmokeLong Quarterly
On the idea of contour as scalpel for creation and self-flagellation: The narrator eliminates the father’s aesthetic and creates something other. Do they create their full self or only who the father ...
www.smokelong.com
June 30, 2025 at 1:20 PM
"The makeup ritual is both self-flagellation and self-creation because those can be the same gesture...It’s violent work of daily erasure and reconstruction, but becoming yourself sometimes requires destroying what you were." Chi Pham (2nd place in The Smokey 2025): www.smokelong.com/interviews/s...
Reposted by Christopher Allen
We're sponsoring The SmokeLong Quarterly Trans Writer Fellowship and Residency in cooperation with @sundresspub.bsky.social and you can find out more here... www.sundresspublications.com/safta/reside...
Residencies - Sundress Publications
www.sundresspublications.com
June 18, 2025 at 3:21 PM
We're sponsoring The SmokeLong Quarterly Trans Writer Fellowship and Residency in cooperation with @sundresspub.bsky.social and you can find out more here... www.sundresspublications.com/safta/reside...
Reposted by Christopher Allen
Looking for a supportive, energetic writing community? Do you write flash? The next starting date for SmokeLong Fitness is August first. Book anytime before July 31st to start August 1st. www.smokelong.com/smokelong-fi...
SmokeLong Fitness — The Community Workshop - SmokeLong Quarterly
Please note that due to A SmokeLong Summer 25, we are accepting new participants starting August 1st. If you book now, you’ll be able to start August 1st. In September 2022 SmokeLong launched a works...
www.smokelong.com
June 18, 2025 at 9:41 PM
Looking for a supportive, energetic writing community? Do you write flash? The next starting date for SmokeLong Fitness is August first. Book anytime before July 31st to start August 1st. www.smokelong.com/smokelong-fi...
Reposted by Christopher Allen
This challenge starts June 25th. Read the archives of a favorite flash journal and get your name in the hat to win $400. www.smokelong.com/the-archive-...
The Archive Challenge — Win $400! - SmokeLong Quarterly
How often do you read the literary journals you submit your work to? Flash has been around for centuries but as “flash” only for around 23 years, when James Thomas’s wife suggested the term. Lots of o...
www.smokelong.com
June 23, 2025 at 7:15 PM
This challenge starts June 25th. Read the archives of a favorite flash journal and get your name in the hat to win $400. www.smokelong.com/the-archive-...
Reposted by Christopher Allen
Reposted by Christopher Allen
Good morning, US and Western time zones! Issue 88 of SmokeLong Quarterly, featuring the finalists and winners of the SmokeLong Quarterly Award for Flash Fiction 2025, is now LIVE. www.smokelong.com/issue-eighty...
June 16, 2025 at 11:19 AM
Good morning, US and Western time zones! Issue 88 of SmokeLong Quarterly, featuring the finalists and winners of the SmokeLong Quarterly Award for Flash Fiction 2025, is now LIVE. www.smokelong.com/issue-eighty...
Reposted by Christopher Allen
For our readers in the UK and eastward (and night owls in the US), our special competition issue is live! The SmokeLong Quarterly Award for Flash Fiction! www.smokelong.com/issue-eighty...
Issue Eighty-Eight The SmokeLong Quarterly Award for Flash Fiction 2025 - SmokeLong Quarterly
www.smokelong.com
June 16, 2025 at 6:22 AM
For our readers in the UK and eastward (and night owls in the US), our special competition issue is live! The SmokeLong Quarterly Award for Flash Fiction! www.smokelong.com/issue-eighty...
Reposted by Christopher Allen
@sfmontgomery.bsky.social wrote a 🔥 flash cnf collection and I had the honour of reviewing it for @smokelong.bsky.social (thanks @erinvachon.bsky.social for bonza editorial support). Read my review and read this collection now. It’s so important 🧡 www.smokelong.com/dear-sarah-f...
June 10, 2025 at 9:54 PM
@sfmontgomery.bsky.social wrote a 🔥 flash cnf collection and I had the honour of reviewing it for @smokelong.bsky.social (thanks @erinvachon.bsky.social for bonza editorial support). Read my review and read this collection now. It’s so important 🧡 www.smokelong.com/dear-sarah-f...
Reposted by Christopher Allen
A lot of SmokeLong Fitness trousers are here. :)
Any @smokelong.bsky.social buddies here? Since I started A SmokeLong Summer 2025, I haven't had time to dip into socials! How is everyone doing?
June 12, 2025 at 7:15 AM
A lot of SmokeLong Fitness trousers are here. :)
Reposted by Christopher Allen
"Can you give helpful and encouraging feedback? Are you able to remain calm and polite? Do you need some friendly warmth and support?" Frances Gapper, long-listee for the SmokeLong Workshop Prize 2024, on peer-review workshopping. www.smokelong.com/an-interview...
An Interview with Frances Gapper - SmokeLong Quarterly
In 2024 SmokeLong hosted our second SmokeLong Workshop Prize competition. Our workshop participants reported almost 300 publications to us before November 1, 2024. In 2025, we’ll be featuring one writ...
www.smokelong.com
June 12, 2025 at 3:52 PM
"Can you give helpful and encouraging feedback? Are you able to remain calm and polite? Do you need some friendly warmth and support?" Frances Gapper, long-listee for the SmokeLong Workshop Prize 2024, on peer-review workshopping. www.smokelong.com/an-interview...
Having trouble with your novel? www.smokelong.com/product/kick...
Kickstart Your Novel with Flash with Shasta Grant - SmokeLong Quarterly
In this 90-minute craft discussion and reading with Shasta Grant, we’ll explore ways flash writers can approach writing longer works. We’ll discuss Grant’s When We Were Feral, a novel coming out in 20...
www.smokelong.com
June 10, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Having trouble with your novel? www.smokelong.com/product/kick...
Congratulations, Glenn!
Wild Gazelle is a finalist! Cool, cool, very thrilling. The story was originally a scene in my novel (currently on sub) so it feels good that it will have a public life at this beautiful place.
Thanks to all the editors at @smokelong.bsky.social, and congrats to all the finalists and winners.
Thanks to all the editors at @smokelong.bsky.social, and congrats to all the finalists and winners.
The results are in! The winners of The SmokeLong Quarterly Award for Flash Fiction 2025 are...
www.smokelong.com/the-smokelon...
www.smokelong.com/the-smokelon...
June 10, 2025 at 11:26 AM
Congratulations, Glenn!
Congratulations, Sara!
You guys!!! I'm beyond thrilled to announce that my story "Zombie Duck" is a FINALIST in the Smokey!! ❤️ 🙏 Huge thanks to @smokelong.bsky.social editors for loving it! Mega congrats to the winners & other finalists. I'm honored to be in their company! 🌟🌟🌟
The results are in! The winners of The SmokeLong Quarterly Award for Flash Fiction 2025 are...
www.smokelong.com/the-smokelon...
www.smokelong.com/the-smokelon...
June 10, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Congratulations, Sara!
Congratulations, Mizuki!
Hello!! I am overjoyed to announce my story "Between Chamisa and Rengyo" has won ✨FIRST PLACE✨ in the Smokey!
Am I dreaming?!
Tremendously honored to be amongst these incredible authors and stories. Super grateful to the @smokelong.bsky.social judges for seeing something special in this one. 🌿
Am I dreaming?!
Tremendously honored to be amongst these incredible authors and stories. Super grateful to the @smokelong.bsky.social judges for seeing something special in this one. 🌿
The results are in! The winners of The SmokeLong Quarterly Award for Flash Fiction 2025 are...
www.smokelong.com/the-smokelon...
www.smokelong.com/the-smokelon...
June 10, 2025 at 11:20 AM
Congratulations, Mizuki!
Reposted by Christopher Allen
The results are in! The winners of The SmokeLong Quarterly Award for Flash Fiction 2025 are...
www.smokelong.com/the-smokelon...
www.smokelong.com/the-smokelon...
The SmokeLong Quarterly Award for Flash Fiction — The Winners - SmokeLong Quarterly
I know I probably say this every year, but narrowing down the top 25 entries to the group of stories we’d eventually end up publishing was such a difficult task. Once an entry reached the second stage...
www.smokelong.com
June 8, 2025 at 2:25 PM
The results are in! The winners of The SmokeLong Quarterly Award for Flash Fiction 2025 are...
www.smokelong.com/the-smokelon...
www.smokelong.com/the-smokelon...
Reposted by Christopher Allen
COVER REVEAL! Here’s the gorgeous cover for Issue 88, with all the names of The Smokey 2025 winners and finalists whose work will appear in it. Out next Monday. Art by Mia Broecke ⭐️
June 9, 2025 at 10:24 PM
COVER REVEAL! Here’s the gorgeous cover for Issue 88, with all the names of The Smokey 2025 winners and finalists whose work will appear in it. Out next Monday. Art by Mia Broecke ⭐️
Reposted by Christopher Allen
If you haven't read @dawnsteffler.bsky.social you don't know what you're missing.
I pulled together a whack of favourites in a post, including a few from a flash-fiction novel she's working on about parenting a transgender teenager.
Gorgeous, devastating and unforgettable stuff.
Links here:
I pulled together a whack of favourites in a post, including a few from a flash-fiction novel she's working on about parenting a transgender teenager.
Gorgeous, devastating and unforgettable stuff.
Links here:
Short stories by Dawn Tasaka Steffler - turn and work
I hate to admit that I almost skipped past the first Dawn Tasaka Steffler story I encountered. It wasn't until I saw her Bluesky post about "The Election Goes
www.turnandwork.com
May 28, 2025 at 12:36 PM
If you haven't read @dawnsteffler.bsky.social you don't know what you're missing.
I pulled together a whack of favourites in a post, including a few from a flash-fiction novel she's working on about parenting a transgender teenager.
Gorgeous, devastating and unforgettable stuff.
Links here:
I pulled together a whack of favourites in a post, including a few from a flash-fiction novel she's working on about parenting a transgender teenager.
Gorgeous, devastating and unforgettable stuff.
Links here: