Awards – Andrew Careaga

Alternating Current Press recently announced the selections for the 2025 edition of The Best Small Fictions anthology, and there are some great ones you can read online, right now. Here are five I enjoyed that were published in some literary magazines I try to read regularly.

“At Once,” by Sarah Freligh, published in Ghost Parachute.
“Based on a True Story,” by Epiphany Ferrell, published in the (unfortunately now closed) Witcraft.
“They fired up the laser,” by Timothy C. Goodwin, published in Dishsoap Quarterly.
“Finding the Water to Cry,” by Jacqueline Goyette, published in Stanchion.
“Splinter,” by Didi Wood, published in Fractured Lit.

Have a good weekend.

If nothing else, 2024 for me was a year of transition and disruption. And — I hope — a year I learned to be more grateful and empathetic.

After 40 years of full-time work, much of it in academia, I entered a new phase of life last January. Some call it retirement, but it has hardly been that. My pursuit of creative writing and some freelance work has kept me busy enough. In addition, my wife and I and our cat had a couple of health scares that made us reevaluate our values and gave us greater insight into the workings of the U.S. health care system, the good, bad, and ugly of it. We also mourned the passing of a few friends from our church family and continue to honor their memory.

In other words, a lot of life happened in 2024. Here are some highlights from the year:

Category: Awards

Friday Five: selections from ‘Best Small Fictions 2025’

The obligatory end-of-year wrap-up post you’ve been waiting for