Flash Fiction Friday
Summer Stolstice
The official start of summer in the northern hemisphere is just ahead! What do you do to celebrate? Or what activity do you consider summer is incomplete without?
For me, the summer officially kicks off when the Del Mar Fair (“San Diego Fair”) begins. In my hometown, we have a massive and beautiful celebration of summer that’s always whimsically themed. This year’s theme is, “Once Upon a Fair.”
The fair takes over the Del Mar horse race track, where the surf meets the turf, and is right on the edge of a stunning beach. When you first walk up to the fair’s tall gates, the scents of salted, caramel kettle corn, hay, and freshly sprayed sunscreen greet you. The sounds of grills sizzling countless lines of bacon-wrapped turkey legs, distant screams of people riding dubious carnival attractions, and the muffled rumble of thousands of spectators surround you. Excitement and adrenaline fill you with every step as you stroll along between pins holding chickens, sales people offering anything from sparkling jacuzzis to timeshares in Palm Springs.
Although we missed it last year, my husband and I are frequenters of the fair and I cannot wait to go!
As an English Literature teacher, summer’s eve for me is when school lets out for summer break. The school at which I work has officially been off for one whole week, though we had graduation last Friday, so I’m getting into the groove of rest and recovery season, which means I’m settling into my role as a Dungeon Master playing D&D with a group of my fellow teachers.
We all recharge differently.
To be completely honest, last week was one of the most insanely busy of my life. Following StokerCon, I had those two requests for full manuscripts of my gothic & feminist horror novel Hoard, so I spent every waking hour possible sprucing up the novel and adding in the last details before hitting submit to both of the houses 🥳. This was a HUGE deal and I am so proud of the novel I wove together and, while it is a standalone (a complete story line), I would love to expand the idea into a series on the Seven Deadly Sins.
Hoard is the first full-length piece I have ever written in first-person. This novel would not have been possible without the research assistance provided by two of my sisters who have lived or currently live within the east-Texas where Hoard takes place. I cannot wait to share this story with you, so please keep those fingers crossed that one of these houses will pick it up!
And if they don’t, that’s ok too. I have my query and pitch ready to go, so I will be revisiting Query Tracker if need be.
If you’re curious about the adventure to land an agent, check out the series I have curated on how to prepare yourself and your work to be reviewed and received by an agent or editor. Now, keep in mind that the editor in this context does not mean someone who checks for grammatical errors in your story; this is the person who curates pieces for a publication house.
So now that I’m done working on Hoard for now, here are the writing projects I have ahead for summer time:
Finishing edits and collect blurbs for my short story collection Tiny Dreadfuls, launching August 1
Resuming writing my romantasy Spellbound
Creating a mini-course on Mastering the Art of Analyzing Literature 👀
“Wait! What’s that last one?” you say.
Well, more details will follow, but as a high school teacher, I see the consequences of the summer learning slump only too often. As such, I’m creating a mini-course for my students to supplement their learning over summer, which I will also have open to anyone who would like to learn how to read literature more deeply and how to apply that knowledge to writing, either as a non-fiction analysis (which will be the part one) or as a tool to strengthen fiction writing (which will be part two.)
I spent Tuesday designing the first mini-course and now need to channel the strength of Thor to hammer it out ⚡️. I’m hoping to launch part one in July and the second by the end of August. At that point, I will be back in school both as a teacher and as a student, which means the time for creating projects will be at a pause until winter break.
Flash Fiction Friday
Which brings us to this week’s edition of Flash Fiction Friday!
In last week’s edition, I was so creatively-burnt out I did not have an opportunity to edit the 100 word short story I had ready to go for the post. (Something had to give). But I have now gone back and added the short story to the post, which you may check out by clicking here. It’s called, “Stay out of the Woods”.
Prompt 1: School’s Out
AND/OR
Prompt 2: Summer has Arrived
Pick whichever you would like, blend, or disregard. If you decide to play along and write a drabble or a short piece on your own, please leave a comment below or tag me in your post so we all may cheer you along!
Here’s to the authors who participated in the last two Fridays of fun:
As always, if I missed anyone, PLEASE let me know and I will add you. Your creativity deserves to shine!
Here is my offering for this week’s adventure: “Summer’s First Kiss” by Sarah Faxon.
Boiling hot sand blisters the bottom of my feet. Shuffling through the mounds, I hop and dance, run and leap to free my burning soles. Cool, sparkling sand soothes my skin like aloe.
White feathered gulls squak an bark overhead. They circle above for the snacks wedged in my bag between my towel and beach read. I glance down - white zinc oxide is smeared across my book's cover like paint. I roll my eyes and tally onward.
Rolling, hissing waves run toward my toes. I freeze and brace myself for the impact - the first cool kiss of the season.
© 2026 Sarah Faxon
And to close us out, here is a picture of a naturalistic aquarium I helped set up for a friend this past week. See, I really do have relaxing-ish activities! The tank was still a little cloudy from the set up, but I love this glory shot of “Baby M” taking in his beautiful, new home.
That’s all for now, folks! I hope you have a wonderful weekend and I look forward to reading your short stories!
Cheers, dears!
-Sarah
My last effort took days because the heat sapped me like Dracula. But here it is.
https://wendycockcroft.substack.com/p/the-mercy-seat?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=7vbsc
I have to ask for clarification for Summer's First Kiss. Did sunblock fall on the book cover, or was it seagull manure? I'm assuming the former because your character shrugged it off pretty quickly, which, if it were me, I would've been pissed if a bird crapped on me. Yet I couldn't help but think that way, given that the birds were flying over your character in the same paragraph. If it were the latter, then it gives summer's first kiss a whole different meaning 😅. Regardless, I loved your flash fiction.
Anyways, here's my silly little flash fiction.
https://substack.com/profile/344170010-gabriel-pena/note/c-281449100