Flash Pot Fiction Canada is the Canadian-focused speculative fiction imprint of Flash Pot Fiction — built for short, strange, and startling speculative stories from Canadian writers.
Jon and Steve are long-lost best friends, reunited after a desperate and desolate winter of ludicrous solitude. They founded Flash Pot Fiction to make the world a little better for the hero in all of us — and Flash Pot Fiction Canada exists to give that same mission a distinctly Canadian, distinctly speculative home.
They now reside in a mostly decrepit, only somewhat haunted mansion in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, alongside their (also fairly haunted) collection of typewriters and a toilet that nearly flushes (definitely haunted). This is where the editing happens.
A note for the record: Jon is happily married, so don't get any ideas. Steve, on the other hand, is game.
Speculative fiction in the flash format — science fiction, fantasy, horror, magical realism, and everything that reaches up with tentacles, claws, and digits from the cracks between. If it's short, strange, and Canadian, we want to read it.
We're building this in the open, right now — not only to give a taste of some of our weirdness, but also to show that we're part of what we believe in. That means starting with work from us.
Borrowed from our flagship site for now, until we have Canada-specific speculative selections of our own:
A surreal, tender fantasy about two people who don't fit the mold — originally published by Every Day Fiction.
Read the StoryOnce we open to outside submissions, our goal is to pay Canadian authors 15 cents CAD per word for first and anthology rights — well above typical guild minimums.
Beyond the flagship Flash Pot Fiction challenge, we plan to run occasional contests specific to Canadian speculative fiction — the exact schedule (annual, biannual, or quarterly) is still being decided. Watch this space, or check the FAQ on our main site.
Same motif as our flagship challenge: 50 cents of every entry fee goes straight into the prize pool, growing with every entrant, up to that cycle's cap.
Contest winners are compensated through the prize pool only — no additional per-word payment on top of winnings. The 12¢/word (.com) and 15¢/word (.ca) paying-market rates apply to non-contest editorial submissions to the magazine, not to contest prizes.