SmokeLong Quarterly

This year we have done something a bit different with The SmokeLong Grand Micro Competition (The Mikey) by opening up the contest to previously published work. We wanted the competition to be as inclusive as possible to allow writers and their work another shot at a new readership. But of course we’ve also read lots of previously unpublished work. We considered fiction, CNF, and work in languages other than English as long as an English translation accompanied the entry. Over the last couple of months we’ve read nearly 1500 micros by writers from all over the world. The standard was high. Our long list of the top 46 entries is below.

At SmokeLong we don’t hire a celebrity judge for our competitions (but who knows in the future?). Our own editors read and discuss your work, and they do their utmost to offer the same response time we offer with our general submissions. This means if you’re not on the long list below, you’ve already received your response. Thank you so much for entering this competition. We wish you lots of success with your work and of course congratulate you if the work you entered has already found a home.

Our long list represents the micros that began a discussion among the judges–sixteen dedicated, talented writers of flash. Thank you so much to everyone who helped us arrive at this list.

Anonymous judging is still in progress! If your work appears on the list below, please feel free to shout this on social media, but please do so without sharing the title(s) of your work. ETA: Authors’ names added on December 2, 2023. 

The SmokeLong Grand Micro Competition Long List

A nightmare about your wife – Jay Jellicoe
Animals – Rebecca Parfitt
Balance – Barbara Diggs
Bang Bang America – Lisa Thornton
Ben & Myra – Marnie Dresser
Call and Response – Mark Foss
Catamount – Sofia Drummond-Moore
Chicken – Natalie Warther
Dancing at the Galway Oyster Festival – Karen Arnold
Dangling Over the Sea – Nicole Brogdon
Down for Anything – Anne Gerard
Fire Dancing in the Dark – Barbara Black
Grand Canyon, 1967 – Bill Merklee
Hey Lisa I Hope You Like – Sara Hills
His First Vacation in Years – Michelle Hoeckel-Neal
How I Raise My Daughters – Lisa Bass
In Grover Cleveland’s Childhood Home – Sari Fordham
It Was – Frances Gapper
It’s Negro Day at the Fair – Barbara Diggs
Last Meal – Noreen Hyde
Latecomer – Eileen Tomarchio
Lemons – Rashmitha Muniandi
Mom’s in Rehab and I’m at a Beach Party with My Dog – Alida Dean
Mother Tongue – Kik Lodge
Nightshift – Emily Rinkema
Passing – Dhyanna Raffi-David
Perseids – Madeline Anthes
Questions My Caseworker Should have Asked After My X Accused Me of Neglect – Barbara  Diggs
Red bead, white bead, red bead – Savera Zachariah
Reinvention – Tina Tocco
Reversion – Sarp Sozdinier
Shucked – Mags Diep
Songbirds – Jay McKenzie
Spinning Top – Elisabeth Pillar
Still – Casey Walsh
Stone Fruits – Camille Verzal
String – Efrat Danon
Surfaces – Kim Magowan
Synonym for Tree on Fire – Becca Yenser
The Believers – Nicole Hart
The Final Quadrant – Jude Higgins
The Great Butter Baby Championship – Emily Rinkema
The Impact – Judy Koot
The Truth of It – Kim Rogers
Torn – Kirankumar Ramachandran
Unfinished Houses – Ani King
Wind Tunnel – Allison Field Bell