Several years ago, I had the honor and pleasure of working with countless amazing fellow indie authors to put together 4 flash fiction anthologies.
These anthologies are free on multiple bookstores and have been downloaded and reviewed many times. They’ve also gotten a lot of reviews. I should really provide some stats on that!
I had planned a fifth anthology, around space opera, tentatively called Blast. But I never quite got around to it.
Until now!
Table of Contents
Open Table of Contents
The Plan
- To absolutely gain you some new readers for your fiction!
- To have some fun working with fellow indie authors.
- To publish it no later than Feb 15, 2026.
- To publish it wide and permafree in ebook format.
- To distribute it to your mailing list free of charge.
- To participate in group promos.
The Requirements
- Any writer is welcome, 18 and over.
- Pen names are fine.
- Submit as many stories as you like!
- Your story should broadly fall into the space opera genre. Stories aimed at similar genres are fine, including: Space Exploration, Alien Invasion, First Contact, Galactic Empire and Military Science Fiction.
- Submissions must be complete stories – with a beginning, middle and end – and never excerpts.
- Story length: ideally 1,000 words or less. You can go up to 2,000 if you really need it.
- You must have your story proofread and line-edited prior to submission, by you or someone else. Please don’t submit messy drafts, only final work. Although I’m an editor and the editor of this project, this is unpaid volunteer work, so please pitch in (or hire me for a special flat rate of $10 per story – see below).
- Stories are due Jan 15, 2026, which gives you about 4 months.
- No erotica please.
- Please submit your stories here: https://forms.gle/HHQntQMhHhMEvyu48.
The Schedule
Stories Due: Jan 15, 2026
Publish: Feb 15, 2026
Please Help Me With
- getting the word out to other indie authors so they can submit stories, too.
Editing
To hire me to line edit and proofread your story/ies for the special flat rate of $10 each, email [email protected] with the subject line: “Edit my flash fiction story for $10 please.” This is entirely optional and not in the least required. It will get you a great editing job but not any kind of preference in the anthology.
If you’d like an editor credit, email me. I’ll need you to proofread 20 stories for me and to bring in at least 10 new stories, including your own.
See more about my editing and marketing services on my Editing page.
Author Collaboration
I often do collaborations so if you want to find out about them right away, I can add you to my author collaboration list. Just drop me an email. You’re also welcome to join the Flash Flood Authors Facebook group.
For example, I have covers for fantasy, thriller, galactic empire and military scifi anthologies that we could add to this series, if there is author interest.
Rights
Here’s the license I’m asking you to agree to. It’s plainly visible at the end of the submission form:
I affirm that I am the owner of the content provided herein and am granting a royalty-free, non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable license to use the content as part of the anthology “Space Opera Flash Fiction Anthology (‘Blast’),” (title subject to change) edited by George Donnelly in ebook, print, audiobook and translated formats. Once the anthology is published, I promise to promote it to the best of my ability through my author website, mailing list and social media account(s). (If you don’t agree, please don’t submit the form.)
Money
Any income generated will go towards promoting this anthology. However, the goal is to help new readers discover your work, so it is very unlikely that any income will be generated.
Tentative Cover
Here is the cover I bought for this anthology. Please let me know if you like it or not as I am open to changing it.
If using Google Docs
If you’re using Google Docs, please share the story with [email protected] or just grant access upon request to that address. Ditto if you’re using Dropbox and only want to share the file with a specific account/address.
I look forward to working with you! Any questions, please email [email protected].
P.S. I’ve also announced this at KBoards. Join the conversation there!