⚡ Our next two issues [3 and 4] will focus on new works and will include fewer pieces; plus, our scope in terms of genres represented will shrink significantly. We hope these changes will help limit the length of the second volume of the printed KYSO Flash Anthology, which is scheduled for publication in November 2015.

(Details about the first volume)

⚡ For Issues 3 and 4 of our online journal (which are scheduled to launch, respectively, on the first of June and October, 2015), we are looking especially for haibun and tanka stories. But wait! If you write in neither of these forms, please bear with me...

As I was saying, we’re looking for haibun stories and tanka prose that include more fictional elements than “factional.” In other words, embellished or imagined realities, but using techniques of haibun and/or tanka.

If you write prose poems and/or micro-fictions, then you may also want to try haibun stories as well. Before you start experimenting, please note that haibun are not simply prose poems with a haiku or two tacked on like extra appendages. Please peruse the examples and resources we provide at Special Call for Submissions, familiarize yourself with a few basic techniques and conventions—and then have fun creating something singular, maybe even magical. We look forward to reading your creations!

We hope you will be fired with enthusiasm for these centuries-old Japanese forms. They are relatively new in English practice, about fifty years; Jeffrey Woodward, editor of Haibun Today, has called them “terra incognita—vast and only marginally explored.” Which for me makes them all the more exciting and intriguing.

Depending on volume and quality of submissions received, we will print a special-edition anthology of haibun stories and tanka prose in November. Monetary prizes also may be awarded, in addition to the payment authors receive for rights to publish their work(s) in our online journal.

⚡ As with our first two issues, we have modified the pay rates for our next issue as well. For publishing rights for new, original works, we will pay a flat rate of $30 USD for works up to 500 words long; and six cents per word for pieces from 501–1,000 words long. Plus, we will reduce our submission categories from three to two. Details are available in our Submissions Guidelines.

⚡ The best news last: Poet and playwright Jack Cooper joined KYSO Flash as Contributing Editor in November [2014]. And his guidance and support are deeply appreciated. Not only does a range of his works (commentary, fiction, plays, poems, and prose poems) appear here in Issue 2, but also works by several other fine writers are included based on his astute recommendations. Thank you, Jack!