FFF Competition Sixteen Judge’s Report by Emma Phillips
17th July 2023
Firstly, I would like to thank Ian Rushton and the team at Free Flash Fiction for the opportunity to judge this competition. It was a very positive experience, and I would wholeheartedly recommend taking part in future contests! All of the long-listed stories jostled for my attention; I loved the range and breadth of themes within them. Congratulations to all fifteen authors, I enjoyed spending time with your words. I read and re-read all the long-listed stories, trying to narrow them to a shortlist of five. It was a tough choice and another judge, on another day, may have selected differently.
The first shortlisted story ‘Safe’ is a clever take on loss. I liked the rhythm of the detached heart pulsing throughout the piece, as ‘warm water pitter patters, imprinting you should you should you should on your bare skin.’ It is a personal tale of one person’s sadness, told in a way that is instantly relatable.
The second shortlisted piece ‘This House Knows’ manages to create a sensual poetry from everyday occurrences ‘the slither of pooling silk, the sigh of a yielding mattress, the purr of a zip’ whilst also alluding to more sinister events occurring within the four walls ‘the crack of a hammer, the patter of plastic scree.’ The momentum builds until the house is abandoned and ultimately, reoccupied. The author excels at showing, not telling, carrying the reader through the eponymous house with all its ghosts.
Highly Commended ‘Trojan Horse’ is a masterful micro, by equal turns funny and disturbing. I enjoyed the idea of ‘a rescue cat watching with a baleful eye’ as the flawed human occupants of the sofa play out their dramas. I read this piece numerous times; each time, the characters held my interest. I loved the contrast and pathos in the final line ‘the cat warm in her lap, her glass cupped in a napkin to soak up the weeping ice.’
‘Salad Days’ is a wry take on a coming-of-age story. The salad bar location for college student Tom’s fling with much older Letty who is ‘as lean as a green bean’ and gives Tom ‘a trial’ works brilliantly; its clever structure holds the salad metaphor throughout their summer holiday romance. It’s funny and lighthearted and the ending is a triumph, where Letty thrusts her homemade salad into Tom’s hands as he’s boarding the train and tells him ‘I have to go Tom. Enjoy this while it’s still fresh.’ So much is covered in so few words, which is the wonder of flash.
The winning piece ‘Three Rites for a Passage’ was the first story to get under my skin and make the shortlist. I loved the way whole worlds and vast timescales were condensed to 300 words and I was drawn to its ethereal qualities and mythical references of the piece. This writer has a unique and powerful style. As someone unfamiliar with Celtic myths and legends, I wanted to learn more about the ‘son-brother-fighter’ claimed by the river at the beginning or the spider goddess, with ‘a needle, bone fine but fierce’ who weaves cosmic time, linking the character(s) to Collan . The story lingered and I noticed something fresh to admire with each reading. The piece is carefully structured into the three rites, which could stand alone as micros but together, build a miniature epic in flash! The themes of renewal, rebirth, longing and hope are woven deftly through poetic language like ‘Freed of leaden limbs, I’m a feather in the flood’, which carries the reader through the piece. Truly brilliant stuff!
Emma Phillips
Click here to read the FFF Competition Fifteen Winning Story: Here Come The Gulls by Emma Phillips