Welcome to the Fall issue of flashquake! My name is Debi Orton, and I'm proud to say I'm the publisher.

For the last ten years, I've been doing technical writing of various kinds, from letters and memos to software manuals and web site content.

Not so long ago, I decided to try my hand at doing some writing of my own for publication. I'd always loved "short-shorts," so when I ran across an announcement for an online workshop entitled "Suddenly, Flash Fiction" I signed up. That eight-week workshop was led by Pamelyn Casto and Geoff Fuller, and was one of the best experiences of my life. In eight short weeks, they led me from wishing I could write fiction to producing stories.*

Since that time, I've found a number of places on the web that were flash-friendly, but none that covered all the aspects of short literature. I joined other online workshops/listservs after Pam and Geoff's workshop ended, and found myself in utter amazement of the talented but unknown writers posting their work there.

After hanging around a while, I sent a note to Pam, the administrator of the FlashFiction-W listserv, asking her if she'd ever contemplated setting up a web site to show off some of the incredible stories submitted. We discussed it via e-mail, and for various reasons decided against it.

"But there's nothing stopping YOU from starting an online journal and asking people to submit to it," Pam said. With those fateful words, the idea of flashquake was born. There were editors to solicit, a domain and web hosting company to select, submission guidelines to write, and logistical considerations to analyze in mind-numbing detail.

We started with three basic principles:

1. We would pay as many writers as we could;
2. We would not accept advertisements; and
3. We would accept only the best work.

To show writers what they could expect if they trusted us with their work, flashquake's editors each provided some of their own work to prepare a demonstration issue. We publicized flashquake everywhere we could think of, and sure enough, the submissions started to flow.

This Fall issue is the result of the submissions we received. We think you will be pleased. We think you will want more.

Let us know if we're right (or wrong) by clicking on the "Comments" link below.

* See our links page for information on available workshops.

© by Debi Orton

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