The 2026 Bumblebee Flash Fiction Contest Closes Soon!

Flying Away

Attention all writers of short forms! Our 2026 Bumblebee Flash Fiction Contest closes to entries this Sunday, February 15th, 2026! Get your best, previously unpublished flash fiction of up to 750 words in before the deadline for a chance at the $300 prize and publication in Pulp Literature Issue 51, Summer 2026.

All entries include a 1-year digital subscription to Pulp Literature, and for those who would like some feedback on their work, we also offer editorial critiques from our Pulp Literature editors. Find all of the details, along with the contest guidelines, on this page.

We are also thrilled to welcome back flash fiction master Bob Thurber as the Bumblebee’s final judge! You can read his most recent story, ‘The Crabapple Incident’, here in Issue 94 of The Cafe Irreal.

For all the details, and to enter, visit the Bumblebee Contest page!

Bob Thurber grew up ‘dirt poor’ but taught himself how to write short fiction. He’s now a major voice in microfiction, with a long list of nominations and awards, and his widely published work has been selected for countless anthologies. He is the author of If You’d Like to Make a Call … Please Hang up, Paperboy, In Fifty Words!, and other books and stories. His work appears in Pulp Literature issues 3, 6, and 12. For more of Bob’s work and his writerly insights, visit his website.