About the original story.
Check out the Instagram Reel version.
Stories Illustrated
Author: DL Shirey
DL Shirey writes from Portland, Oregon, where it's probably raining. His short stories and non-fiction appear in over 60 publications, including including Confingo, Page & Spine, Zetetic and Wild Musette. You can find more of his writing at www.dlshirey.com and @dlshirey on Twitter.
New This Month
New this month on The Short List. 16 new opportunities for writers of short prose to get published.
Mondays Can Be Funny
The “best of” last week’s Pain Chart comic. To get your daily dose, follow on Instagram.
The Witch
This microfiction is about small-town rumors. First published by 50-Word Stories in April 2022.
The Witch
by DL Shirey
By day her grave is littered with pentagrams and stumpy, gutted candles. On moonless nights, gothed-out teenagers chant her name at the stroke of twelve. They tell drunken stories of surviving her spells.
Before she died, the old woman’s only sins were berating trespassers and living with too many cats.
END
A Short Course in…
Authors Publish Magazine is a wonderful resource for writers. I’m on their email list and dutifully read it each time it hits my in-box. There are loads of articles, agents looking for manuscripts and journals open for submission.
I dropped them a line in April 2022, thanking them for all they do and asking if they knew about The Short List. Not only was Authors Publish intrigued, they asked me to write the following article:
A Short Course in Finding the Right Publication
by DL Shirey
Short prose can offer big challenges. Those who haven’t tried writing microfiction sometimes balk at the craft, often thinking it’s no big deal to dash off a couple hundred words. Yet, the hardest part may not be composing a complete, engaging story using minimal word count. Finding a publisher for your 50-word story, drabble or flash can also be difficult.
Continue readingThe Imidor
He’s not quite a soldier, but Bazzy is a willing participant in a near-future war. Read all about it in my short story “The Imidor.” Now available in Bullet Points 6 on Amazon, along with a half dozen more stories about war and its aftermath.
Halfway
My creepy flash fiction piece “Halfway” is out in the inaugural issue of SPOOKY Magazine (no longer avaialble). I can’t say it’s about a lab experiment gone wrong, because the experiment is only halfway complete.
Purchase SPOOKY now on Amazon.
The One That Damned Me
After Dinner Conversation is a unique magazine. Not only do they publish excellent short stories, acceptance is predicated on the premise that what you read is worthy of discussion. As such, the editors then follow up with philosophical or ethical questions for further conversation.
“The One That Damned Me,” first published in July 2020, is about a man wrongly accused of a crime. It is reprinted below without the magazine’s follow-up questions.
The One That Damned Me
by DL Shirey
Sent u email about Jesmyn.
Please read.
S
The text from the Ex was short and sweet, like Susan used to be. The message nearly sobered me up. I was suddenly warmer, caused by the friction of memories rushing back from five years ago. The flip phone in my hand felt twice as hot, so I dropped it in the sand as if scalded. I stared at the message until the screen blanked black. Like my life after Jesmyn.
Continue readingIn Memorium
The Short List lost many wonderful publications in recent months. They will be missed, but are now included among our dearly departed:
JANUARY
The Bureau Dispatch
BAHR
Fairy Piece Mag
The BeZine
Grimsy
Dream Pop Journal
Space Fantasy Magazine
No. 17
This flash fiction piece was originally published on PAPER (shock) in February 2022. No. 17 is about a man’s search for something in an Iowa cornfield. Strangely enough, it was a UK publisher that picked it up.
When I received my contributor’s copy of Hungry Ghost Magazine, I was blown away by the production value. Not only were the stories top notch, but the graphics were astounding.
No. 17
by DL Shirey
“Long way from home,” the old man said. He raised the crossed leg to point a foot at my Oregon plates. Eighty if he was a day, a stereotype in overalls. When I asked about my destination, he waved a whittling knife vaguely northwest, “That-away. Yonder. Three, four miles as the crow flies.”
Continue reading
DL Shirey 