A birthday cake with one candle by Hatem RiahiYesterday was FFDO’s first birthday. Despite repeated reminders that it was coming up I somehow managed to miss the date. Like a bad father who can’t even be at his kid’s first birthday party, I was off doing something else. At any rate, I don’t want the anniversary to pass completely unmarked, thus this (albeit late) post.

Happy Birthday FFDO, and thank you to all the folks that make it happen. That includes the terrific Tiger Team (Angie, ED, Estrella, Susan, and Tim), as well as all the folks who read and write #FridayFlash. None of this would happen without all of you.

We have grown over the course of the year, and now have 101 on site members, 93 subscribers, and 347 members on Facebook. Not bad for an Internet writing meme. We hope to grow more in the next year, and toward that end are implementing some more user friendly features. You’ll hear more about that from Tim soon. We are also looking for suggestions from you, the readers and writers, on suggestions on how to improve the website and bring you more features you might find useful.

So if you have any suggestions, or even general comments, please feel free to express them below. We hope to see you all here again next year.
~jon

Photo by Hatem Riahi (HatM) via Flickr Creative Commons: attribution, noncommercial, and share alike

 

Graphic for the official launch of the Chinese Whisperings books.The paperback editions of eMergent Publishing’s Chinese Whisperings anthologies launches today. The publishes, Jodi Cleghorn and Paul Anderson, are both part of the #FridayFlash community as are many of the authors involved. I encourage everyone to drop in on the official launch party over on Facebook and leave an encouraging word or two, and seriously consider the purchase of a copy of one or both of these excellent collections. The launch party runs through Friday. You can also follow the #pangaean hash tag on Twitter where many of the authors from the Yin and Yang are live tweeting as their characters. The Yin and Yang Book revolves around the collapse of the fictional Pangaean Airlines, thus the hashtag.

The Red Book is the first of the CW brand and features ten interconnected stories arranged in a circular fashion. This means you can start reading at any point and work your way around and still get the full impact. It is a very cool concept. It is set in a small university town somewhere in North America and deals with ten characters who “grapple to stay sane in an insane world.”

The Yin and Yang Book is also an experiment in collaborative writing, but here the stories are arranged in more of a “sliding door” arrangement, where characters, situations, and timelines come together in unexpected ways. There are twenty stories from contributing authors, (ten men and ten women – the Yin and Yang of the premise), which are tied together as a unified whole via a the prologue and epilogue, written by Jodi and Paul. The effect is something more than an anthology, bordering on a novel. Again, quite an interesting concept and a fun project to be involved in. Yes, I do have a story in the the collection: No Passengers Allowed.

If you look at the list of authors involved you will find many names you are quite familiar with. Please drop in and wish them well. And remember, Christmas is just around the corner.
~jon

A cake and icecream with a lit 2 candle.Today Friday Flash is two years old. I think the toddler is now fairly steady on its feet, and as any parent knows, once that happens anything goes. No telling what kind of mischief they get into after that. Before you know it FF will be asking for the keys to the car.

Well, to help celebrate we’re having a party. We have chocolate cake with chocolate icing, and a little chocolate ice cream to the side. OK, some strawberry shortcake too for those who aren’t quite so addicted to chocolate. Just pop on in anytime today to wish the little tyke a Happy BD, grab some cake, and participate in the party games.

Party games?

Oh yes. What kind of birthday party doesn’t have party games?

We thought about pin the tale on the donkey, but decided the risk of popping balloons was too great. The werebeagle is easily upset by loud popping noises. So to keep things from getting ugly we’re having a little writing contest instead.

In 100 words or less, tell us why you like flash fiction. You can approach it from the perspective of either a reader or writer of the form. Just leave your little micro essay in the comments below. Three lucky people will be chosen by the Random Number Fairy to receive an ebook copy of Best of Friday Flash – Volume One. One lucky entry will be picked to receive an Amazon gift card for the paperback edition by the werebeagle based on the quality of the essay. (Yes, the werebeagle can read when in proper form). Comments must be posted before midnight UTC minus 12 (i.e., come midnight on Howland Island). The winners will be announced in a follow-up post next week.

Please help us celebrate. And Happy Birthday, to each and every one of us!
~jon