Most events are installed on their deadline date, unless there is a long submission window or unless it's a rolling submission.
P=Poetry, N=Nonfiction, F=Fiction
- This event has passed.
F – Trash Cat Lit Flash Pop-Up Spring 2025 Theme: Collectors & Special Collections
Just like all trashcan dwelling critters, we’re looking for treasure in unexpected places.
Like the tenacious fungi and beetles that thrive in dark, abandoned spaces.
The plant that discovers a sliver of soil in an
ocean of paving slabs,
then blooms.
For this special issue of Trash Cat Lit, we want stories about characters with special collections.
We want weird and creepy, strange and magical,
kitsch and retro, disturbing and diabolical.
Give us your characters pretty things, tatty things, special hand-me-down things. Their secret things, displayed things, haunting things and first-things-they’d-save-from-a-fire-things.
Collections that bring joy, sadness, nostalgia, fear.
That take up just an inch of shelf space or are crowding someone out of their home, or their mind.
coins, spells, teapots, heartbreaks, plants, books, vinyl, scars, memories, thimbles, clocks, skulls, wine, taxidermy, souls, cameras, postcards, antiques, butterflies, nightmares, maps, video games, cigarette cards, seeds, lies, puzzles, cassette tapes
You can write in any genre you prefer.
Be romantic with a collection of rare roses in a secret garden,
or surreal with a room full of sentient porcelain dolls,
or sci-fi with an alien’s collection of humans.
This theme lends itself to the humorous, the strange,
the horrific and the magical, as well as contemporary stories all about human truth.
What Trash Cat Wants
We love a really good story with a compelling voice.
Start strong, finish with a punch, leave us with your words lingering long after we turn off the lights…
Submission Guidelines
- We ‘re looking for Flash Fiction only (no CNF or poetry) up to 1000 words (excluding title)
- One submission per writer, new and unpublished stories which interpret the theme.
- No genre limits – go weird, surreal, scary, lyrical, sweet – we’d love to see it – HOWEVER, NO STORIES OF ANIMAL HOARDS, THANK YOU
- Use simple formatting – 12pt, easy-to-read-font, double spaced
- No name etc. on the story doc
- Submission is via the Google Form linked below.
- Please review our general guidelines and Ts & Cs on our Submissions Page