https://www.jamesmontgomerywrites.com/about daily 0.75 2025-03-15 https://www.jamesmontgomerywrites.com/accolades daily 0.75 2025-07-11 https://www.jamesmontgomerywrites.com/stories daily 1.0 2025-07-11 https://www.jamesmontgomerywrites.com/stories/only-way-make-sense monthly 0.5 2022-04-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62101d3c3512224d00d378f4/b148dbde-a4f0-4a19-9f24-5b2febe44e87/RS51682_shutterstock_730413586-lpr.jpg Stories - The Only Way I Can Make Sense Of The Word 'Recovery' Is To Smash It Into Pieces - Retreat West - THE only way I can make sense of the word ‘recovery’ is to smash it into pieces rec (noun, informal) a recreation ground ‘It’s dark when we walk, hands clasped, past the rec to our home.’ Read the full hermit crab micro in Retreat West. This flash was nominated for Best of the Net and won the Best Micro Fiction Prize at the 2021 Retreat West Awards. https://www.jamesmontgomerywrites.com/stories/waste-management monthly 0.5 2022-04-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62101d3c3512224d00d378f4/0135f589-b69a-4a09-84b6-54af44a70e7a/iStock-1240093000.jpg Stories - Waste Management - Truffle Magazine - Waste management - truffle magazine When I open the wheelie bin, there she is: my wife, chin resting on drawn-tight knees, on top of black bin bags. Read the full story in Truffle Magazine https://www.jamesmontgomerywrites.com/stories/her-five-layers-whittled monthly 0.5 2022-04-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62101d3c3512224d00d378f4/1fdaee0d-57c2-4931-ac54-c624219b7faf/iStock-1159173249.jpg Stories - Her Five Layers, Whittled - Retreat West - HER Five Layers, whittled The woods had walked her out, and she’d snapped. Her (bark) is worse, he tells their friends with a laugh that whittles. whit-whit-whit-whit-whit This flash was shortlisted in Retreat West’s monthly micro competition. Read it here. https://www.jamesmontgomerywrites.com/stories/yours-is-the-one-with-the-chip monthly 0.5 2022-04-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62101d3c3512224d00d378f4/83ad7bd0-0850-4f95-8e14-1c65b3bf97ed/shutterstock_456736924.jpg Stories - Yours Is The One With The Chip - The Hungry Ghost - yours is the one with the chip You’ve left your mug in there. In the sink, again. It’s dusty pink, a little nick on the rim. There’s the milk foam stain, that tiny mud puddle at the base. I can see where your lips have been. This flash was included in the inaugural issue of The Hungry Ghost Magazine, with all profits going to Big Issue North, a UK-based charity supporting homeless and vulnerably housed vendors. You can purchase the magazine here. https://www.jamesmontgomerywrites.com/stories/lost-at-sea monthly 0.5 2022-04-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62101d3c3512224d00d378f4/7918485c-8c17-4963-9aae-f04bc834e4ee/imagination-gc5ee0af43_1920.jpg Stories - Lost At Sea - Ellipsis Zine Ten - Lost at sea ‘We’ll see it all,’ his boyfriend promised, so Robert splashed out on an antique globe bar to map out their future. This micro was selected for Ellipsis Zine Ten, with stories in the collection inspired by the objects found in antique and collectable shops, and the people that visit them. You can buy it here. https://www.jamesmontgomerywrites.com/stories/seed-root-shoot monthly 0.5 2022-04-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62101d3c3512224d00d378f4/c11840d7-55d8-4239-85ed-54a4197f8cb8/art-g541aea824_1920.jpg Stories - Seed, Root, Shoot - Janus Literary - Seed, root, shoot Soon enough, there’ll be time for twelve red roses. A carnation wrist corsage. Homemade Christmas wreaths hung from her own front door. Mason jars and glass vases crowded with tulips, just because - she’d have whole bathtubs full if she could. Read the full micro in Janus Literary. https://www.jamesmontgomerywrites.com/stories/words-i-sign monthly 0.5 2022-04-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62101d3c3512224d00d378f4/06f04757-704f-4eef-8bbf-9928187ebe90/iStock-1043110458.jpg Stories - Words I Sign To My Five-Year-Old When They Stop Our Power - Retreat West - Words I SIGN TO MY FIVE-year-old when they stop our power Electricity / trigger fingers collide Off he buzzes. In the fading half-light, he live-wires the living room, charging into a dead TV, lifeless lamps. I, too, crackle with static at what’s to come. This story was shortlisted in Retreat West’s monthly micro competition. You can read it here. https://www.jamesmontgomerywrites.com/stories/cow-tree monthly 0.5 2022-04-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62101d3c3512224d00d378f4/f4a439c4-0fa6-4345-997b-c6d67370dada/tree-gf2823b467_1920.jpg Stories - Cow Tree - Gone Lawn - COW Tree ‘See? There’s the eyes, nose, horns.’ We mooed at it - listened close to hear it moo back. We were like sisters, you and I. On weekend adventures, doubling in denim dungarees, we were two zookeepers. Our zoo was the local woods, and it was ours to keep. With jelly sandals suck-slapping or wellies suck-squelching, we skipped past knobbled stumps, all frog-eye bulging. Raced round oaks as resolute as bears. Waved at the swaying aspen, arms flailing in the breeze, orangutan-free. Herded journeys of giraffe - or paper birch, as we later learned they’re more commonly called. But it was Cow Tree we adored. Read the full flash, which was nominated for the Pushcart Prize, in Gone Lawn. https://www.jamesmontgomerywrites.com/stories/sebbys-rocket monthly 0.5 2025-07-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62101d3c3512224d00d378f4/984f9690-d8f2-4ec4-8b79-a10ae6a88f6e/iStock-1010501332.jpg Stories - Sebby's Rocket - Ellipsis Zine - SEBBY’s rocket Look, I know it ain’t much, a bottle of fizzy pop, nabbed after last night’s shift at the Golden Dragon, but your mom’s got foil… This micro was originally published in Ellipsis Zine, and re-printed in FlashFlood for the 2025 National Flash Fiction Day. https://www.jamesmontgomerywrites.com/stories/when-daddy-last-came-home monthly 0.5 2022-05-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62101d3c3512224d00d378f4/b7a4fa3c-1d9c-473b-94c0-8530c2a5d7ec/When+Daddy+Last+Came+Home.jpg Stories - When Daddy Last Came Home - FlashFlood Journal - WHEN DADdy last came home He bought me a unicorn. I said it was a stupid horse, but he showed me the horn and all. Said only those who believe can see it. Then he kneeled down and said something like sorry, but I was too busy feeding it magic dust. Read the flash in full in FlashFlood Journal. https://www.jamesmontgomerywrites.com/stories/911-whats-your-emergency monthly 0.5 2022-06-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62101d3c3512224d00d378f4/9326572a-c2f5-4467-b10b-4fb7fbd0dafd/911.jpeg Stories - 911, what's your emergency? - Maudlin House - 911, what’s your emergency? You’ve got to help me – I think I’m in love. Sorry, sir, did you say love? Love. Sir, this is 911, what’s your emergency? Love. It zaps you. … Like electricity. This number’s for emergencies only, sir. But this is an emergency, it won’t stop following me around. Sir, are you saying you’re being stalked? That’s why I called. Are they there now? It never leaves. Are you being threatened? In a way. Where are they? Well, inside me. Inside you, sir? Yes. …are we still talking about love? Yes! I need your help. Read the flash in full at Maudlin House. https://www.jamesmontgomerywrites.com/stories/a-grand-jete-is-a-split-in-the-air monthly 0.5 2024-06-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62101d3c3512224d00d378f4/c5324287-170d-4b43-b82d-eac39a8dc7b0/A+Grand+Jete.jpg Stories - A Grand Jeté is a Split in the Air - Micro Madness 2022 - A grand jeté is a split in the air It’s in her breath-blood-bones but she knows only too well that plié also means to bend, dégagé, to disengage, brisé, to break. This micro was shortlisted in the Micro Madness 2022 competition, part of the celebration for National Flash Fiction Day New Zealand. You can read it here. https://www.jamesmontgomerywrites.com/stories/latched monthly 0.5 2023-01-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62101d3c3512224d00d378f4/4a4bfc9d-592d-4b9e-8981-108f9ac5b285/Latched.jpg Stories - Latched - Twin Pies Literary - latched Still, the bairn fattens. Read the full micro in Twin Pies Literary. https://www.jamesmontgomerywrites.com/stories/boys-in-boxes monthly 0.5 2025-07-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62101d3c3512224d00d378f4/b260afc8-ddfb-446f-a86d-f118f97d34e4/BoysInBoxes.jpg Stories - Boys in Boxes - Fractured Lit - boys in boxes The men are dying. We’re the boys who see them. In tabloids, on news bulletins. Faces pocked with purple lesions, bodies ravaged by weight loss. Their abandoned eyes, their hollowed-out stares, hold us. We’re told it’s a plague of our own making. Our fathers – both Holy and holier-than-thou – say it’s unnatural, say their boxes are wired wrong. We sit to these comments daily; as everyday as pouring the last remains of dust from a cereal box. This flash was originally published in Reflex Fiction, and re-printed in Fractured Lit. https://www.jamesmontgomerywrites.com/stories/trashed monthly 0.5 2023-07-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62101d3c3512224d00d378f4/1683910099578-AD2PT74BJ6VVFKIDAMQ2/Trashed.jpg Stories - Trashed - FlashFlood Journal - trashed Dean is home alone and his phone pings are you alright sweetheart and I’m worried about you because his mum’s in London for a conference overnight… Read the full story, which was nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best Small Fictions, in FlashFlood Journal. https://www.jamesmontgomerywrites.com/stories/diamonds-in-the-earth monthly 0.5 2023-12-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62101d3c3512224d00d378f4/8a1efbf4-de9d-489f-9909-d877483b84df/Diamonds+in+the+Earth.jpg Stories - Diamonds in the Earth - Bath Flash Fiction Award - diamonds in the earth The bat splinters, the crowd roars, and the boy’s held fast by the arc of the baseball, blitzing a course straight at him, a mere speck in the outfield, twin eye black smears masking each cheek… This story was highly commended in the Bath Flash Fiction Award, and was nominated for the Pushcart Prize. https://www.jamesmontgomerywrites.com/stories/susie-was-a-scrunchie monthly 0.5 2023-12-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62101d3c3512224d00d378f4/7403a14c-20ce-483a-9fe9-9f93306a15d3/Susan.jpg Stories - Susie was a Scrunchie - Pokrass Prize - susie was a scrunchie More rough than ruff, a rain cloud with a topknot of hair, forever following us around. The girls and I used to say, ain’t no way to twist that one pretty. This flash won the 2023 Pokrass Prize. https://www.jamesmontgomerywrites.com/stories/cold-case-files monthly 0.5 2023-12-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62101d3c3512224d00d378f4/893efad7-f4ae-450e-8503-22ab3042a61c/ColdCaseFiles.jpg Stories - Cold Case Files - Awakenings Anthology - cold case files There was no blood, but a toothbrush was clamped in the boy’s right hand. His mouth frothed with toothpaste. Forensics discovered the boy’s gums had been rubbed raw. Published by ELJ Editions, Awakenings: Stories of Bodies & Consciousness is an anthology of short essays curated by Diane Gottlieb, documenting what it means to live in a body. The anthology won the 2024 IndieReader Discovery Award. Find out more. https://www.jamesmontgomerywrites.com/stories/respair monthly 0.5 2024-01-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62101d3c3512224d00d378f4/1701583844544-2KFIIT16TBTXLHZQ7H4H/xander-ashwell-bhTjAUHHvSg-unsplash.jpg Stories - Respair - WestWord - respair Like the old tongue, we retreated to the wilds. The full micro, which was nominated for Best Small Fictions, can be read in the fourth issue of WestWord. https://www.jamesmontgomerywrites.com/stories/big-field-heart monthly 0.5 2024-02-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62101d3c3512224d00d378f4/1706104390493-QMN3CQPK9AXM1104PZF4/BigFieldHeart.jpg Stories - Big Field Heart - Flash Fiction Festival Anthology - BIG FIELD HEART Me human stink. All day on couch. No walkies, less talkies. Lots days now. Me bring lead. Human say no. Me zoomy-zoom round couch. Me bored now. Ever since man came round. The full flash can be found in Flash Fiction Festival Six, the latest anthology from Ad Hoc Fiction that brings together stories written at the 2023 Flash Fictional Festival. https://www.jamesmontgomerywrites.com/stories/the-man-in-citron monthly 0.5 2024-03-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62101d3c3512224d00d378f4/559010ea-2e19-4744-9957-0f3cbf9707c6/TheManInCitron.jpg Stories - The Man in Citron Dances the Ice with the Lightest of Ease - Flash Fiction Festival Contest - THE man in citron dances the ice with the lightest of EASE He circles the frozen lake, einmal, zweimal, dreimal… the local townsfolk looking on. He’s only half there, on the ice, one foot breezing the other, his mind having drifted to where he was mere hours before… Using Dörte Clara Wolff’s Eislaufkunst painting as a prompt, this flash won first place in the January 2024 Flash Fiction Festival contest, and will be published in the next Festival anthology, Volume 7. https://www.jamesmontgomerywrites.com/stories/stars-and-stripes-1945 monthly 0.5 2024-04-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62101d3c3512224d00d378f4/1710588764594-BE72CJW5WQTLB5OEOFH6/Stars%26Stripes1945.jpg Stories - Stars and Stripes, 1945 - National Flash Fiction Day Microfiction Competition - STARS AND STRIPES, 1945 Tomorrow, we’ll dance to the devil’s piano. But tonight, we’re a chorus line of brothers in arms. This micro was highly commended in the 2024 National Flash Fiction Day Microfiction Competition, from over 400 entries, and will be published in the 2024 National Flash Fiction Day anthology. Read it now. https://www.jamesmontgomerywrites.com/stories/i-love-the-bones-of-you-mum monthly 0.5 2024-06-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62101d3c3512224d00d378f4/1714220767365-K6N9LSTV3DYBYDAEXP7F/ILoveTheBonesOfYouMum.jpg Stories - I Love the Bones of You, Mum - Splonk - I Love the bones of You, mum But lately they only make you groan. So, I pop them on a delicate cycle, before drying them in the sun. This 100-word micro was included in issue 11 of Splonk, the title’s fifth anniversary issue. https://www.jamesmontgomerywrites.com/stories/ordinary-miracles monthly 0.5 2024-06-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62101d3c3512224d00d378f4/1719252842413-IWIPQQXM1RGX8LGQMDMR/OrdinaryMiracles.jpg Stories - Ordinary Miracles for a Good Christian Boy - FlashFlood Journal - ORDINARY MIRACLES FOR A GOOD CHRISTIAN BOY Perhaps it was the parade, how it glittered, with its floats, floating? Or the cheers of the rainbow-clad crowd, who raised their flags and placards, reviving your downtrodden spirit? Perhaps it was when Mother Mary, in transcendent wig and rhinestone-studded robe, read your mind: ‘First time, kid?’ This flash was included in FlashFlood Journal to mark the 2024 National Flash Fiction Day. https://www.jamesmontgomerywrites.com/stories/the-days-the-cartoons-crept-out-the-tv monthly 0.5 2025-03-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62101d3c3512224d00d378f4/1719253372642-AP7QKGSK3C98PTEPFS46/TheDaysTheCartoonsCreptOutTheTV.jpeg Stories - The Days the Cartoons Crept Out the TV - Micro Madness 2024 - THE DAYS THE CARTOONS CREPT OUT THE TV Elton watches his mother, zonked in her dirty pink dressing gown, a halo of yellow canaries dizzying her head. When the rabbit asks the doctor what’s up, she stirs. Motions him close. This 100-word micro was awarded second place in the 2024 Micro Madness competition, judged by Christopher Allen, editor-in-chief of SmokeLong Quarterly, and James Norcliffe, acclaimed poet, novelist and short story writer. https://www.jamesmontgomerywrites.com/stories/artemis monthly 0.5 2025-03-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62101d3c3512224d00d378f4/1742032968955-I1K27O24ORESMXHG0J3W/Artemis.jpg Stories - Artemis - Emerge Literary Journal - artemis She kneads and kneads, for 12 years that cat kneads, until the tumour in her throat—discovered 12 months earlier—can be contained by steroids no longer. This CNF was published in Emerge Literary Journal. https://www.jamesmontgomerywrites.com/stories/in-which-kai-stages-a-christmas-coup monthly 0.5 2025-03-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62101d3c3512224d00d378f4/1742033184562-PHRN1SWSEZQQTTULGPLI/Kai.jpg Stories - In Which Kai Stages A Christmas Coup - The Failing Writers Podcast - in which kai stages a christmas coup Leonard practically spits out his dentures at the sight: his great-grandson—adorned in brown tights, pink Marigolds on his feet, a cardboard beak tied with elastic about his face—gobbling and clucking and hurling a fistful of feathers into the air… This story was awarded second place in The Failing Writers Podcast’s Christmas-themed flash fiction competition, judged by award-winning writer, teacher and editor Emily Devane. https://www.jamesmontgomerywrites.com/stories/we-built-a-time-machine-in-your-ward monthly 0.5 2025-03-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62101d3c3512224d00d378f4/1742033587571-CG10JGBLUNE36DXID4L4/TimeMachine.jpg Stories - We built a time machine in your ward - The Welkin Prize - we built a time machine in your ward Monitors beeped, digits flashed, numbers spun. We brothers ruled the earth, evading the jaws of tyrannosaurs, exploring ancient Egyptian tombs, battling gladiators before Caesar. This 100-word micro was shortlisted in the 2025 Welkin Prize, organised by writer, editor and teacher Matt Kendrick, and was named one of the People’s Prize winners.