Surprise! It’s the culmination of this year’s 55 Fiction contest! And much like the endings of the stories that people send us, the stories are always a shock—well not always, but mostly. We’ve got love, war, murder, politics, twists, and more for you in this year’s collection of printable pieces. Our judges sifted through hundreds […]
55 Fiction
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55 Fiction 2024: The winners of our annual short story contest are in!
The world’s shortest stories, with a twist
Tiny tales: A hallmark of the 55 Fiction stories submitted to our annual short story contest is the “surprise” at the end that ties the preceding sentences together. They show up in stories about murders, love, food, animals, cars—really, you can craft a tiny twist into any tall tale. We’re here to publish the best […]
Posted inSpecial Issues
55 Fiction 2023 Tales tell the short—not the long—of it
Each year, we take story submissions from across the country for our 55 Fiction contest. People send us miniature novels, short but not necessarily sweet. The briefest stories in the world weave tales about murder, loss, love, family, pets, pouting, and more. In 55 words or less, we get the characters, the tension, and the […]
Posted inSpecial Issues
55 Fiction 2022
Find your joy, laughter, tears, and sorrow in this year’s winning short stories Every year brings a new batch of teeny, tiny stories complete with plots, details, characters, and surprise twists. Murder, love, the life of pets, commentary on current events, and cake all get encapsulated in 55 words or less. Some of our authors […]
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55 Fiction 2021
Short stories about love, life, and sandwiches It doesn’t sound like much, but writers can do a lot with 55 words. They can kill someone, love someone, and surprise someone. And this year, yes, people from around the world submitted stories about the Trump administration, discrimination, and COVID-19. Some were cheesy, some were mushy, and […]
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55 Fiction 2020
Our annual short story contest winners include tales about death, money, and love It doesn’t sound like much, but 55 words can cover a lot of ground. The shortest stories in the universe tie up lose ends, surprise people, kill people, and love people. This year’s stories were cheesy, mushy, dark, funny, and sad—some talked […]
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55 Fiction 2019
Brevity is the soul of our annual 55 Fiction short-story contest, and we invite readers from far and wide to pick up their pens to submit their tiny tableaus. Our judges this year—including Arts Editor Caleb Wiseblood and Senior Staff Writer Glen Starkey and Staff Writer Karen Garcia from our sister paper, New Times—read through […]
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55 Fiction 2018
You can say a lot in 55 words. You can kill someone, love someone, or save someone. Tell stories about torture, divorce, or family drama. Make political statements. Riff on societal issues. But there are only a select few who can do it well enough to get published! For the last three decades, the Sun […]
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55 Fiction 2017
Tales of murder, intrigue, and scandal—short and sweet at 55 words each It’s here again, like clockwork. For the last 30 years, around July 4, the Sun and New Times has brought you reader-submitted short stories for the annual 55 Fiction contest. Death, love, disgust, and fear all make appearances, and 2016-17 even brought out […]
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We like short stories and we cannot lie: This year’s 55 Fiction winners
For the second year in a row, we invited guest judges to wade through the stacks of 55 Fiction entries and impose order on chaos, selecting the very best to print in our annual 55 Fiction issue. The judges were San Luis Obispo County District 3 supervisor and former Cal Poly English lecturer […]