Monthly Micro Longlist - March 2024
New publications, submission opportunities and workshops
From this month on we have moved the publication of the stories in the Retreat West Monthly Micro contest here to WestWord. We are in the process of shifting the Retreat West website to a new home and thought this was a good time to bring the publication of winning and shortlisted entries here so that all the stories we are publishing are in one place.
The theme for this month was LIE and we received 86 entries so the cash prizes are £93 for first place and £62 for second. Plus there is the surprise prize for the public vote winner.
All reading and voting is anonymous so if your story title is listed below, please don’t reveal which is yours! As always, there are some fantastic titles this month!
Longlist
6 Easy Steps to Assemble a Two-Person Hammock
A Dog's Life
A few minutes of truth before dinner
All the Things I Wish I Could Unsee
Because Nothing Like This Ever Happens Round Here
DRAFT COMMS Stringer 09.03.24 (F-drive)
Family recipe
Funny bones
I took the truth with me
It’s No Coincidence That The Letters L I E are Veiled Within SMILE
Mate
MONTHLY QUIZ: Place the following statements in order of mendacity (most untruthful first) as factors in the success/failure* of your early love life and parents’ desire for grandchildren (*delete as applicable)
On Lying Down and Looking Up
Penelope really should have told Odysseus to back the fuck up on the whole Calypso and Circe parts but if you don’t know the story, no problem. It’s the same shit, different millennia; men thinking omittance is different to downright deceit. Prime example:
Playing Two Truths and a Lie With My Husband
She Cannot Lie, He Stole Her Heart
She had Doubts about the Algorithm
Thank you!
The mirror never lies
The small deceits of daughterhood are a practised art
The Triple Goddess Still Rules the Roost
The White Lie
Then and Now - Hot and Cold
Things I’ve learnt since becoming a mother
Things My Teenage Son Tells Me About What Happened That Day, on the Top Deck of the Number 22
Three Questions for Mr Rabbit
Two Bar Stool Cowboys At The Last Chance Saloon
We’ll have the shortlist online for voting on Monday.
In the meantime, get polishing your stories for the Micro Fiction category of the WestWord prize, which is being judged by Tania Hershman and closes at the end of this month. The theme is RAIN and there are cash prizes for the winners and up to 7 shortlisted stories, plus publication in the anthology edition of WestWord.
Submissions open for August themed edition
The August edition has the theme CIRCUS and submissions are open now. They close on 31st May. We want your micros, flashes and short stories inspired by the theme.
We’re busy reading the stories for the Hermit Crab Prize and will have the longlist for this contest very soon!
If you want to hone your short fiction skills, I have one space left on my Short Story Club for April; and four left for the May course. And I am running a Flash Focus course in May too.
Plus don’t forget by becoming a paid subscriber to WestWord, you can get submissions to our editions and monthly Zoom workshops included. The next workshop is in April and you can also book on it without subscribing.
With love,
