The Best Small Fictions is the first-ever contemporary anthology solely dedicated to anthologizing the best internationally published short hybrid fiction in a given calendar year. Now in its sixth year of existence, The Best Small Fictions features the best micro fiction, flash fiction, haibun stories and prose poetry from around the world.
For the Best Small Fictions 2023 anthology, editors of literary magazines and journals sent their five best works of flash and micro fiction, haibun stories, and prose poems within 1,000 words published in 2022.
Capsule Stories Best Small Fictions 2023 Nominations
Capsule Stories nominated the following five pieces for the Best Small Fictions 2023 anthology.
“Tuesday, Taking on Water” by Virginia Laurie
Virginia Laurie is an English major at Washington and Lee University whose work has been published in LandLocked, Phantom Kangaroo, Cathexis Northwest Press, and more. You can find her online at virginialaurie.com.
Read “Tuesday, Taking on Water” by Virginia Laurie in Capsule Stories Spring 2022 Edition: Into the Light
“Aqua” by Kerry Langan
Kerry Langan has published three acclaimed collections of short fiction, the most recent being My Name Is Your Name by Wising Up Press. Her short fiction has been published in dozens of literary magazines, including StoryQuarterly, Cimarron Review, West Branch, American Literary Review, The Seattle Review, Other Voices, Reflex Fiction, Fictive Dream, Syncopation Literary Journal, and others. Her fiction has been anthologized often, including in Solace in So Many Words, XX Eccentric: Stories about the Eccentricities of Women, and others.
Read “Aqua” by Kerry Langan in Capsule Stories Summer 2022 Edition: Swimming
“wishing we were anywhere but the high school swimming pool” by Alejandra Medina
Alejandra Medina is a Latina writer, born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She is a WriteGirl alumni and recipient of a Scholastic Art and Writing Award, and her work has appeared in Lucky Jefferson, WriteGirl’s Lines & Breaks, The Incandescent Review, Unpublished Magazine, Alebrijes Review, and elsewhere.
Read “wishing we were anywhere but the high school swimming pool” by Alejandra Medina in Capsule Stories Summer 2022 Edition: Swimming
“Dental Records” by Isabel Glass
Isabel Glass (she/her) is a healthcare worker from Massachusetts. As a graduate of Middlebury College, she spends much of her time dreaming of Vermont Octobers. Isabel also loves struggling through Sunday crosswords, running with her rescue dog, Phoebe, and listening to rainfall. “Dental Records” is her first published piece.
Read “Dental Records” by Isabel Glass in Capsule Stories Autumn 2022 Edition: Falling Leaves
“Promise and Potential, 1881” by Valerie Hunter
Valerie Hunter teaches high school English and has an MFA in writing for children and young adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her work has appeared in publications including Room, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, The Quiet Reader, and Edison Literary Review. You can find her on Instagram at @somanystories_solittletime.
Read “Promise and Potential, 1881” by Valerie Hunter in Capsule Stories Winter 2022 Edition: Hibernation
We wish these writers the best of luck and hope these pieces are selected for The Best Small Fictions 2023 anthology this year. And as always, thank you to all our contributors whose work we published in 2022!