In 2018, Patricia Q. Bidar, at the age of fifty-eight, published her first pieces of flash fiction. More than seven years later she has published over a hundred stories in literary magazines, many of which appear in her debut collection of flash, Pardon Me for Moonwalking (Unsolicited Press, December 2025). In the book, Bidar depicts characters in moments of transition or heightened comedy, such as driving to the country while tripping on mushrooms or skinny-dipping at a barbecue hosted by an ex. With vivid, biting images and telling details, Bidar gestures at the deeper currents guiding her characters’ lives: the loneliness they feel in long relationships, the awkward excitement of young romance, the pressures of holding down a job. The stories resist resolution and instead illustrate how characters negotiate, as Bidar writes, “the day-to-day push and pull of vulnerability and strength.”
Patricia Q. Bidar is the author of Pardon Me for Moonwalking (Unsolicited Press, December 2025), a debut collection of flash fiction.
Bidar is seasoned at assessing where to submit, always reading an outlet’s work, its “About” page, and its Duotrope listing. She adds that “a visual vibe check is vital.” For flash in particular, she follows journals that have published stories included on annual lists such as Best Microfiction, Best Small Fictions, Best of the Net, and the Wigleaf “Top 50.” One journal regularly included in those roundups and the “gold standard” for flash, says Bidar, is SmokeLong Quarterly, which was established in 2003. The online quarterly reported receiving more than 4,200 submissions for a recent issue, and Bidar says she submitted seventeen times before the editors accepted “Over There,” her story about two brothers meeting at a CVS. Bidar now serves as a submissions editor for SmokeLong. The journal also offers programs to support the writing of flash, including its recently launched biannual Master Series, featuring interviews with writers such as Aimee Bender and John Dufresne. In fall 2025, editor in chief Christopher Allen also announced that the periodical will now accept narrative prose poetry in addition to flash fiction and nonfiction. Submissions are open until February 15, 2026; the editors pay $100 for each story and an additional $50 for an audio recording.
“With journals focusing on flash, I’ve seen astounding passion and expertise on flash fiction as a literary art form,” says Bidar. She highlights one such outlet, Ghost Parachute, saying the online monthly has “published some of the best flash writers around, including Aimee Bender, Nancy Stohlman, Kathy Fish, Francine Witte, and Meg Pokrass.” Ghost Parachute, which seeks writing that is “unapologetically bold,” has published eleven stories by Bidar. A recent issue gathered lyrical, surreal pieces by Swetha Amit, Mileva Anastasiadou, and Sara Crowley, zingy microfiction from Jamy Bond and Sherrie Flick, and a satirical story by Brendan Stephens, among other pieces. Submissions are open year-round; writers do not receive payment.
After reading a story by Witte in Flash Frog, Bidar sent the newly launched online journal her piece “Man on the Moon.” Bidar says, “I took a chance that the journal would have staying power, and it certainly has.” Since 2021, Flash Frog has published a flash story every week alongside an original piece of art. “We like our stories like we like our dart frogs,” writes editor in chief Eric Scot Tryon. “Small, brightly colored, and deadly to the touch.” Flash Frog hosts a contest every January and features only ghost stories every October. Submissions are open year-round; writers receive $25 per published piece.
Bidar names Fractured Lit as another excellent publication dedicated to very short fiction—both micro (under four hundred words) and flash fiction (over four hundred, and up to one thousand words). The online journal, which bills itself as “fiction that lingers long after the flash,” posts new work twice a week. Fractured Lit is also open to reprints; Bidar reprinted “Rat Girl,” her story about four friends at a concert in San Francisco, with the outlet in 2022. The editors write, “We always want stories with realistic and monstrous characters, who refuse stasis, who would rather act and be wrong than sit out their lives silently.” Submissions are open year-round; for original pieces of microfiction and flash, the publication pays $50 and $75, respectively.
Many stories in Pardon Me for Moonwalking revolve around characters trying to make a living—in restaurants and dry cleaners, in offices and Zoom rooms—and the blurry boundaries between professional and personal relationships. “Going Public,” for example, about an unemployed cook striving to work on his marriage while participating in a dubious medical study, appeared in Cowboy Jamboree, a magazine and press focused on gritty realism and the rural working class. “When I learned Cowboy Jamboree publishes stories blending blue-collar and literary language, I knew I needed to connect with them,” Bidar says. In addition to curating their online biannual of fiction and nonfiction, the editors have released several print anthologies devoted to country and folk musicians. Submissions are currently closed.
Dana Isokawa is the editor in chief of the Margins and a contributing editor of Poets & Writers Magazine.
