Flash fiction for your listening pleasure!

Just me [Daizi] this episode, bringing you my unique flash fiction story Karma, written around this episode's writing prompt: The Scam. Plus, April and I have chosen Gerry O'Keeffes story from the submissions folder as a stand out winner that we wanted to share with you as well. 

April sends her apologies for her absence in this episode, she's bogged down in technical difficulties that have rendered her internetless :( 

Download and listen. Let us entertain you in true Bare Book's style. Maybe you'll be tempted to write a flash fiction story of your own. The next writing prompt is Dirty Weekend, 500 to 1000 words if you are feeling compelled to put pen to paper. 

Get writing and be a part of this season's flash fiction, you'll find the writing prompts on our social media along with the deadlines for submission. You could guest host on a future podcast with your own flash fiction story.

You can find our flash fiction anthology on Amazon.

Submit your book for a possible future review to [email protected]

Big thanks to Sydney Strong for the musical interludes. Find them on Instagram @syd_extinction

Bare Books presents Ending Samara by J W Voyce and read by Daizi Rae.

Find out more about J W Voyce here >> http://jwvoyce.com/

Part Two - Chapter 6: After a Cycle is Broken [The Final Chapter]

'Marcus was eager to hear any guidance Sam might offer. Aside from being without question the wisest person he’d ever known, and an impenetrable vault of discretion, she was also gloriously idiosyncratic—blessed with the virtue of viewing problems from angles that no one else could see. An overwhelming urgency to meet her was also fuelled by his longing for Mathilda to finally see, first-hand, the relationship between them for what it really was.'

You can find our flash fiction anthology on Amazon.

Submit your book for a possible future review to [email protected]

Big thanks to Sydney Strong for the musical interludes. Find them on Instagram @syd_extinction

Bare Books presents Ending Samara by J W Voyce and read by Daizi Rae.

Find out more about J W Voyce here >> http://jwvoyce.com/

Part Two - Chapter 5: After a Cycle is Broken

'While many of Samsara’s encounters seemed to tax her emotionally, in ways difficult to identify, the constant travelling carried straightforward fatigue. And this was worsening year by year. She’d started to perceive jetlag and chronic neckache as essential penance, perhaps in response to the guilt of an unfavourable carbon footprint. There were several orders of business to attend to in the UK, and her aim was to stay there for at least a fortnight. The first stop was Scotland. Funerals were for the living, she knew. And although she recognised that attending this one in particular did little to fulfil any altruistic aims, she wouldn’t have dreamed of missing it.'

You can find our flash fiction anthology on Amazon.

Submit your book for a possible future review to [email protected]

Big thanks to Sydney Strong for the musical interludes. Find them on Instagram @syd_extinction

Bare Books presents Ending Samara by J W Voyce and read by Daizi Rae.

Find out more about J W Voyce here >> http://jwvoyce.com/

Part Two - Chapter 4: After a Cycle is Broken

'Placating the authorities back in England was far easier than Marcus had expected. In a series of phone calls they both clung firm to their story of merely wanting to go off the grid, and this was accepted with little suspicion—although one investigator declared that it was selfish of them not to keep certain family members in the loop (namely Tild’s brother, Jay, who was apparently sick with worry). In his account, Marcus had stated that they’d left England over a month ago, citing ambiguous family difficulties. When asked what they’d done for money, they’d alleged to have used Mathilda’s savings—the last of a large inheritance she’d received from her grandmother.'

You can find our flash fiction anthology on Amazon.

Submit your book for a possible future review to [email protected]

Big thanks to Sydney Strong for the musical interludes. Find them on Instagram @syd_extinction

Bare Books presents Ending Samara by J W Voyce and read by Daizi Rae.

Find out more about J W Voyce here >> http://jwvoyce.com/

Part Two - Chapter 3: After a Cycle is Broken

'Still in Florida (and still unmoved by her serendipitous and interlacing universe), Sam returned to Memorial Hospital and another person’s bedside. Although this time it was not only the patient she was visiting. “Tiwari,” Cee greeted her in the corridor. “Seedy!” On first learning Sam’s surname, and mentioning how beautiful she’d thought it was, her friend had insisted on only referring to her as Tiwari. While Sam, like many, had been amused by Cecilia’s marital name. You know, of all the words I could use to describe you, she’d once quipped, I wouldn’t have picked Seedy.'

You can find our flash fiction anthology on Amazon.

Submit your book for a possible future review to [email protected]

Big thanks to Sydney Strong for the musical interludes. Find them on Instagram @syd_extinction

Bare Books presents Ending Samara by J W Voyce and read by Daizi Rae.

Find out more about J W Voyce here >> http://jwvoyce.com/

Part Two - Chapter 2: After a Cycle is Broken

'Four and a half thousand miles across the North Atlantic Ocean, Marcus and Mathilda ate breakfast in silence. The greyness outside imbued the tired dim bistro with an added air of dreariness. Since they’d read their names in the newspaper over two weeks ago, their prevailing desire had been to recapture the light-hearted apathy with which they’d entered France. Such denial could only be sustained for so many hours at a time, however, and their wilful ignorance suffered regular bouts of disruption. Cold, inescapable reality emerged either in the form of an inexplicable argument, or spells of pensive silence—as experienced this morning. Marcus was most inclined to stay quiet this morning; he sensed the likelihood for casual conversation to descend into apparently irrelevant nit-picking...

You can find our flash fiction anthology on Amazon.

Submit your book for a possible future review to [email protected]

Big thanks to Sydney Strong for the musical interludes. Find them on Instagram @syd_extinction

Bare Books presents Ending Samara by J W Voyce and read by Daizi Rae.

Find out more about J W Voyce here >> http://jwvoyce.com/

Part Two - Chapter 1: After a Cycle is Broken

'On an aesthetic level, hospitals varied so much from place to place. And Sam had visited some truly appalling ones in her time (rarely on her own account). From state-run institutions in developing countries, however, to the finest private facilities available, she was of the mind that each building seemed to yield the same universal energy. This indefinite, ineffable quality was generally not propagated by the staff (although at times they too exuded an echoing form of disquiet). No, the energy she couldn’t help but consume—being a highly sensitive empath—seemed to arise exclusively from the patients and visitors. A veritable cocktail of hope and despair, relief and loss; the joy brought by the welcoming of new life, and the sadness of final goodbyes.'

You can find our flash fiction anthology on Amazon.

Submit your book for a possible future review to [email protected]

Big thanks to Sydney Strong for the musical interludes. Find them on Instagram @syd_extinction

Bare Books presents Ending Samara by J W Voyce and read by Daizi Rae.

Find out more about J W Voyce here >> http://jwvoyce.com/

Chapter 30: A Lie About a Liver

'Jordana could not pretend that the media at large had not taken a huge ethical nosedive in her lifetime—or even during the briefer period she’d been truly cognisant of current affairs. Undisclosed agendas and collusion from special interest groups had made the landscape of journalism quite unrecognisable from what it had once been; there now appeared to be a pervasive erosion of professionalism and integrity in her field. Whether she chose to remain wilfully ignorant to this was almost irrelevant. But at present, she’d be hard pressed to defend the accusation that she was a key contributor in this deliberate and systematic demobilisation of the quest for truth. Over time, she’d undoubtedly started to place two things higher than any noble consideration: money and prestige.'

You can find our flash fiction anthology on Amazon.

Submit your book for a possible future review to [email protected]

Big thanks to Sydney Strong for the musical interludes. Find them on Instagram @syd_extinction

Bare Books presents Ending Samara by J W Voyce and read by Daizi Rae.

Find out more about J W Voyce here >> http://jwvoyce.com/

Chapter 29: One Person's Meat is Another's Saviour

'Cee slid her tongue over her teeth, grimacing at the furry texture. She hadn’t brushed them in at least a day. She’d worn the same oversized t-shirt and gym leggings for three, and she could not recall the last time she’d even washed her hair. Although she’d been Face Timing them at regular intervals, she felt guilty that she hadn’t been with her boys. Almost as guilt-inducing was that Jeremy had been left alone with them for the duration. The idea of leaving Tami’s side for even a second was unthinkable, however.'

You can find our flash fiction anthology on Amazon.

Submit your book for a possible future review to [email protected]

Big thanks to Sydney Strong for the musical interludes. Find them on Instagram @syd_extinction

Bare Books presents Ending Samara by J W Voyce and read by Daizi Rae.

Find out more about J W Voyce here >> http://jwvoyce.com/

Chapter 28: A Misread Message

'“I’m just saying, Tommy Boy. Two poxy gigs in… how many?” “Thirty-nine,” his manager responded without missing a beat. “There we go, Thirty-nine.” Zach smiled his pearly-white smile. “I’d say we’re doing all right.” Tom rolled his eyes. “You do realise you’ll basically be performing at Chicago and Newcastle for free?” “You keep trying to say that. But I’ve seen what that festival incident did to my record sales.” He studied his friend’s reaction; the man flinched as expected and Zach grinned. “Yeah, thought that little fact sailed by me, didn’t you? The old adage is right on the nose, eh? —No such thing as bad publicity.”'

You can find our flash fiction anthology on Amazon.

Submit your book for a possible future review to [email protected]

Big thanks to Sydney Strong for the musical interludes. Find them on Instagram @syd_extinction