Stories by
Ben White (@benwhitemd)

As we inch toward the end, the next several stories come from students! I love when teachers use Nanoism as a writing class exercise.

January is the month of Galef, featuring stories from son and father Daniel and David Galef.

For our November spotlight series, we’ll be featuring stories from the esteemed Sean Vivier.

October is an author spotlight month: four stories by the esteemed R. Gatwood (@iwantanewhead), one each Wednesday.

In 2009, I started this unusual digital literary publication. It was called Nanoism because we (that’s an editorial “we” because this has always been a one-person shop) published “nanofiction,” a play on the more common (but still niche) conventions of micro- or flash fiction. In our case, that was (and remains) stories that fit in the size of an original tweet on Twitter: 140 characters (including spaces).

This was/is the description from our about page:

Shorter than traditional flash fiction, it’s both a challenge to write and quick as a blink to read. Call it nanofiction, microfiction, twiction, twisters, or tweetfic—it doesn’t matter: It’s the perfect art form for the bleeding edge of the internet revolution.

We’re not just catering to the 21st-century attention span, we’re publishing flexible fiction: stories that you can read on your computer or cellphone, stories that fit in the cracks of your day.

Nanoism wasn’t the first “twitterzine” in the world (that would be the long-defunct speculative fiction account @thaumatrope), but it was one of the first, is by far the longest continuously running, and remains the only paying venue for literary/nongenre stories of this extremely tiny size.

Over the past thirteen years, we’ve published 948 standalone tweet-sized stories, multiple longer serials, ran contests to raise money for charity, been on NPR, and had stories featured in best short fiction anthologies and books on craft. On a personal note, I got married, finished medical school, finished residency and fellowship, and had two kids. I did a lot of blogging and less and less fiction. Such is life. I’ve been an overscheduled and generally poor steward for the form and this venture, but it’s been a lovely little journey.

Now, I believe we’re reaching the end. I think that our 999th (or maybe our 1000th?) story would be a nice number to complete the collection. With our current weekly schedule, that means Nanoism will cease publishing new stories around April 2023 after 14 years of continuous operation.

Writers, thank you for giving me the honor of reading and sharing your work. Please, please do send me your submissions until the final story goes up. I have a large slush pile of contenders, but I’ll be picking everything from this point forward as we go.

(Sorry that was far longer than any of our stories, but thank you for indulging me).

June will be another author spotlight, a special month featuring five stories by R. Gatwood each Wednesday.

Another year and it’s time for another author spotlight. Check out four weekly stories from Daniel Galef.

It’s our first featured author month in exactly twelve months: for the month of July, 4 weekly stories by the most excellent R. Gatwood (who was also featured last May).

July is another featured author month, this time showcasing Derek Dexheimer (@dex3703).

This is Derek’s second round in the spotlight. He was also featured in September 2016, so if you needed an excuse to peruse the archives, now you have one.

Back in 2016, Stephen Orsloke (#590) was anthologized in Best Small Fictions 2015. It was even discussed and read out loud on Radio New Zealand (with an awesome accent, naturally). Saladin Ahmed (592) was a finalist.

Then M. J. Iuppa (#641) was a finalist in Best Small Fictions 2016.

This year, Emily Bowers (#698) was another finalist for the forthcoming Best Small Fictions 2017.

To all readers and writers, it’s a privilege to read and publish your work.