I’m thrilled to share the National Flash Fiction Day 2026 Anthology with you, and introduce the title and cover of NFFDs latest anthology, Mudlarking: National Flash Fiction Day Anthology 2026. My story, Lotus, will be published alongside some wonderful short fiction authors. The launch date is on 13 June 2026, and you can pre-order a copy here. Mudlarking can be pre-ordered worldwide, and will be available as an eBook on Amazon UK and US soon.
I will be giving a reading of Lotus at the online launch on 13th June at 7:30pm, so keep an eye on the NFFD website for more information. The collection is edited by Karen Jones and Sharon Telfer. Joanna Campbell created the art work for the cover design; her watercolour was inspired by Mudlarking, a story in the collection by Rachel Dunlop.
I’m thrilled to share the news that my recent story, Lotus, has been selected for publication in the National Flash Fiction Day 2026 Anthology. Here is what the editors had to say:
After reading scads of brilliant stories on the theme of BRIDGES, editors Karen Jones and Sharon Telfer have finalised their selections for the 2026 National Flash Fiction Day anthology and for the third annual Editors’ Choice Awards.
Below is the list of the stories that will appear in this year’s anthology. Thank you so much to everybody who submitted their stories for consideration for this year’s anthology. It was an honour to read each and every piece. We appreciate the chance to read your work! We hope that you will all join us for the launch of the anthology on National Flash Fiction Day later this year.
2026 National Flash Fiction Day Anthology Line Up
‘A Brief History of Trolls’ by Anne Howkins
‘A Frog Funeral’ by Finnian Burnett
‘As Easy as Falling Off a Log’ by Paula Durance
‘Bridge Over Troubled Water (Show Choir 6TH Grade)’ by Jessica Edmond
‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ by Mileva Anastasiadou
‘Bridge That Gap with a Cadbury’s Snack’ by Alison Wassell
‘Cantilever’ by James Roderick Burns
‘Come On’ by Patricia Q. Bidar
‘Dice’ by C. L. Spillard
‘Doggerland (or, 10,000 years ago there were no migrant boats crossing the English Channel)’ by Erin Bondo
‘Don’t Look Down’ by Hilary Ayshford
‘Falling from the Mid-Point’ by Keith Rutter
‘Forty-nine Hedgehogs and the Hump-bottom Bridge’ by Rosaleen Lynch
‘Gentle Yoga Guide to Dealing with Materializing’ by Andy Lavender
‘He and She’ by Shelley Roche-Jacques
‘How to Fill the Space’ by Debra A. Daniel
‘Hue and Cry’ by Sarah Masters
‘If You Leave From the Southwest Gate and Follow the Cliffs for Half a Day, You Will Reach the Chasm, and the Bridge and the Heap’ by Jenna Muiderman
‘In Hebden Bridge at Midnight’ by Lucienne Cummings
‘Jack the Zoo’ by Jaime Gill
‘Learning to Talk Like the Bridge Ladies’ by Lola Page
‘Le Nez’ by Jill Munro
‘Lotus’ by F. C. Malby
‘Maybe Sarajevo’ by Cassandra Parkin
‘Meet Me Halfway’ by Rob Walton
‘Mile Marker 1.5’ by Steven Patchett
‘Mothman Caused the Silver Bridge Collapse’ by Sonora Hills
‘Mudlarking Under Richmond Bridge During the Annual Draw Off’ by Rachael Dunlop
‘Nepenthes’ by Jules Foshee
‘No Jerusalem for Alf Bridges’ by Andy Larter
‘Northolt Park’ by Sally Jane Tate
‘Nose’ by Rebecca Klassen
‘On Southend Pier, Sergeant Cranley Doesn’t Cut the Mustard’ by Gill O’Halloran
‘Placenta’ by Karen Arnold
‘Reasons to Be with You Parts One to Five’ by Emily MacDonald
‘Salad Days’ by Melanie Maggard
‘Seven Bridges Road’ by Sara Hills
‘Sister Benedict’ by Fiona Vigo Marshall
‘The Calm After the Storm’ by Jo Rigg
‘The Keep’ by Beth Sherman
‘The Passing Place’ by Bryony Burton
‘The Valley’ by Isabel McKeough
‘The World Doesn’t Like People It Can’t Mold’ by Christina Tudor
‘This Life’s Span’ by Audrey Niven
‘Vivaldi in B, Please Hold’ by Nivara Lune
‘Watermarked’ by Rosaleen Lynch
‘What It Holds’ by M.M. Bailey
‘What Single People Do on Sundays’ by Cath Holland
‘When Will the Bridge Break?’ by May Suri
‘Why I Sometimes Wish I was a Troll Under a Bridge’ by Rebecca Field
Lots of people ask me where I get my ideas from when writing fiction. The answer remains elusive. As a photographer, I find much inspiration from snippets of every day life that are captured in photographs. Scenes from life, interactions, a moment in time. These all form the seeds of an idea.
I find black and white images particularly striking. Ted Grant famously said, “When you photograph people in color, you photograph their clothes. But when you photograph people in Black and white, you photograph their souls!”
I use Pinterest to collect and find ideas. You can read about it in this post. I’ve gathered together a few of my favourite recent photographs from other photographers into a board of writing prompts. You can see a few of them below, but go to the board for the full range.
All photo credits: Unsplash (see my Pinterest Board for individual photographers)
There is something about a visual stimulus which can spark an idea. It also makes the writing process less daunting, particularly if you’re struggling with writer’s block.
Do you use images for inspiration in art or writing? Let me know in the comments. If you find inspiration from any of these writing prompts, I’d love to hear from you.
WordPress sends these milestone reminders, and it’s often a good time to take stock and realise how far you’ve come as a writer. I began writing my debut novel, Take Me to the Castle, in 2007. It was published in 2012 and won The People’s Book Awards in 2013. I began writing short stories with several going on to be published in literary journals. Some won writing competitions and I was inspired by so many other writers and their stories…Alice Munro, Lydia Davis, Hilary Mantel, David Gaffney, Raymond Carver, Franz Kafka, Anton Chekhov, Ernest Hemingway.
It’s been a journey! Eight books (including two novels, two short stories and work in four anthologies) later and I still get a buzz from writing down the first words of a story, a poem, or a novel. I don’t know where the last 12 years have gone, but it’s been quite a journey. Writing, the grit required to keep going and hone your craft, along with the journey to publication, requires motivation and determination. It demands new learning and a level of discipline, but it’s also a lot of fun. The creativity, the process, it’s all part of the draw to write.
I’ve learned that you will always surprise yourself, and others. You’ll never quite know where you are going. This applies even to the most tightly planned plot! You can read more about planning, plot and structure in these posts:
I get asked lots of questions on where I find my ideas and how I write. It’s different for poetry, short stories, flash fiction and novels. Novel writing is a marathon, not a sprint, but it also allows you more space for a story to unfold. Short stories and flash fiction, in particular, are less forgiving and no word can be wasted. You need to grab your reader in just a few hundred words, or more, or less!
I love writing. I love it as much now as I did 12 years ago. Blogging has also been a really helpful way of sharing my journey and what I’ve learned. I’ve been able to encourage new writers, connect with readers, network with people, interview authors and be interviewed. Thanks for joining me on the journey, whether you’ve just arrived (welcome!) or if you’ve been here a while. Drop any questions in the comments.
The day has arrived. It’s the release of my long-awaited second collection of short stories. Lots of you have asked when they will be available to buy and the wait is over. I’m thrilled to announce the release of a new collection of stories, many of which have been placed in competitions and published in international literary journals. Two of the stories can be found in anthologies – You Fold Yourself into Tiny Spaces was Longlisted in the Reflex Press Quarterly International Flash Fiction Competition and published in In Defence of Pseudoscience: Reflex Fiction Volume Five. Prolific was published in Pens of the Earth and is forthcoming in a Pens of the Earth Anthology in October 2024. Some of my favourite stories are new to this collection.
The sentences we leave unfinished, questions surrounding sudden loss, a decision on a train. This second collection covers themes of relationships and memory, exploring what happens when memory fails. It looks at beginnings and endings, weaving through themes of generations, family, uncertainty, and what happens when experiences change us.
“F C Malby’s stories capture characters teetering on the edge of precipices in their lives, sometimes literal, sometimes metaphorical, as they decide whether or not to take a leap of faith into the unknown. These intense, beautifully realised and ice-sharp stories momentarily suspend us over an Everestian abyss.” Jonathan P Taylor, author and Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing, University of Leicester
“In this impressive collection of 65 short and very short stories, F C Malby gives us sharply honed glimpses into the profundity of the ordinary and the impact of the extraordinary. Malby’s characters deal with choices and their consequences, with themes of life passages, nature and the sea. Her prose is strong with much implied and left to the interpretation of the reader. Highly recommend.”Barbara Byar, novelist, short story author and Fiction Editor, Variant Literature
You can purchase my second collection of short stories, A Place of Unfinished Sentences, in paperback and as an eBook https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DFW6BPMW
F C MALBY 
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