In addition to my short and full-length fiction books, I write flash fiction. Descriptions, cover images, and links to read them are below, or you can find them at madelinewalz.com/flash-fiction.

"We only take the best of the best!" An unnamed narrator has applied to work at a company called Nova. Whether selected for the position or not, the decision will have life-changing repercussions.

Read it here.

You think you know the world? You have no idea. There is another world, hidden, alongside Earth. Few know it exists. Now it is in danger, and that danger could affect the world you know. Are you ready?

Read every Otherworld flash fiction story for free here.

ESL (Otherworld book 0.5)

You Never Really Leave Home Behind (Otherworld book 0.6)

It’s James Rochester’s last day in Savannah before leaving for college in Michigan.

No One (Otherworld book 1.1)

Eight-year-old Arkeda has been on Earth for five weeks but still misses home.

Professor King (Otherworld book 1.2)

James really doesn’t like his history professor but at least they’ll never see each other again after this class ends, right?

Partivan (Otherworld book 1.5)

A man travels through a blizzard to find a woman he's never met.

Worlds Collide (Otherworld book 3.1)

James Rochester has a chance encounter with an alien shapeshifter from Egyptian mythology.

A summer camp is looking for a new lead counselor for archery. At the tryouts, Christine thinks she's got the position no problem until a new camper makes an impossible shot.

Read it here.

In Locksley: Part 1, Rob Locksley makes an impossible shot at the summer camp archery counselor tryouts. In Part 2, his co-counselor Christine is determined to find out how he did it.

Read it here. It is also included with Otherworld book 4, Gateway.

Aldebaran, an alien from the planet Pleioné, is on his way to Earth, searching for an artifact his people hid there five thousand years ago.
      Set before the events of Aldebaran, The Journey introduces you to a divided planet whose conflicts shaped the events of both the Otherworld series and the larger world of Heart of Darkness.

Read it here.

Julia invited Eric Brooks to Helen's Halloween party. Without Helen's permission. If it had been anyone else she wouldn't have minded, but there's a problem. Eric isn't there for the party. He needs help from Helen, the only person who knows his secret.

Read it here.

This has been expanded into a full book, Anathema. While this scene is included, there are significant changes. You can still read this flash fiction story on its own, though it won't tell you much about what's coming in Anathema! Cover image by Steve Halama on Unsplash.​​​​​​​

National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, is an annual writing challenge that takes place every November. The goal is to write a 50,000-word novel in thirty days. Because of the massive amount of time required for that, some writers choose instead to do a thirty days of flash fiction challenge. Each day in November has a different writing prompt, which is used to write a flash fiction story. This is what I did for NaNoWriMo 2020. Read them all here.

Please note: there are a few days that I have chosen not to release. This is usually because that flash fiction story will be incorporated into one of my larger manuscripts.

• Day 1: A written walk down the street to your favorite place through the eyes of somebody else.

  Description: Take a walk down Broughton Street to the Funky Brunch Café with James Rochester from Beneath Which Sky.

  Cover image by Fotoluminate LLC on Shutterstock.

• Day 2: Imagine that your protagonist has just turned into a statue. Describe his or her thoughts.

  Description: This one is connected to my flash fiction story, Eternal. It will not be released yet. More details here.

  Cover image by Steve Halama on Unsplash.

• Day 3: Turn a tweet into a haiku.

  Description: Not flash fiction, but still fun!

  Cover image from tweet.

• Day 4: Your character meets somebody new on the bus. His or her opinion about the person is changed by the end of the bus trip. How did this change occur?

  Description: A chance encounter on a bus.

  Cover image by Ant Rozetsky on Unsplash.

• Day 5: The last thing you touched (other than the keyboard, mouse, screen, etc.) is trying to kill your protagonist. Explain why.

  Description: They were just going to explore the house, but now it's trying to kill them.

  Cover image by Ján Jakub Naništa on Unsplash.

• Day 6: A magic trick involving cards has gone horribly wrong. What are the consequences?

  Description: What happened to his card trick? A story in 85 words.

  Cover image by Marius Teodorescu on Unsplash.

• Day 7: Free write about your first protagonist (from Day 1) meeting a new character.

  Description: James Rochester from my Otherworld series meets a shapeshifter from my sister's Age of the Immortals series.

  Cover image by Jeremy Zero on Unsplash.

• Day 8: Your character’s skeleton is trying to escape his or her body. Describe what happens.

  Description: What does the doctor's hanging model skeleton think about?

  Cover image by Mathew Schwartz on Unsplash.

• Day 9: One of your characters has been mistaken for somebody else. Write what happens next.

  Description: My first attempts at a six-word story.

  Cover image by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash.

• Day 10: Your character picks up a locket or a frame. Explain its contents and their significance.

  Description: Eight-year-old Arkeda has been here for five weeks but still misses home. Connected to Beneath Which Sky.

  Cover image by me.

• Day 11: Write your own myth to describe what happens to people when they die.
  Description: What might heaven be like?

  Cover image by Rod Long on Unsplash.

• Day 12: Write a list of the streets in your neighborhood. Use those to create five character names.

  Description: What character names can you make from your neighborhood?

  Cover image by Aaron Burden on Unsplash.

• Day 13: You're standing with a gun in your hand. A man is lying dead on the floor. What happened?

  Description: What's going on with Susan and Jeff?

  Cover image by Melanie Wasser on Unsplash.

• Day 14: A woman walks into the ocean in a red ball gown.

  Description: A photo shoot on the beach.

  Cover image by Joeyy Lee on Unsplash.

• Day 15: You are on a train, travelling at the speed of light to one hundred years in the future.

  Description: Next stop, March 11, 2120.

  Cover image by Robin Schreiner on Unsplash.

• Day 16: A small ship has only the captain and one passenger at a time. Who are these people?

  Description: A new passenger at each port, to pass the Olympic torch.

  Cover image by Pat Whelen on Unsplash.

• Day 17: A chance encounter at a cemetery.

  Description: Like Day 2, this one is connected to my flash fiction story, Eternal. It will not be released yet. More details here.

  Cover image by Alexander Andrews on Unsplash.

• Day 18: "I think I'm in the wrong room."

  Description: Easter or Christmas?

  Cover image by Anna Shvets on Pexels.

• Day 19: What 30 things are on your bucket list?

  Description: This is one I'm not going to release.

  Cover image by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash.

• Day 20: Google “weird news” and write the first story that comes up.

  Description: A barista gets creative.

  Cover image by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash.

• Day 21: Write a road trip story.

  Description: Ever take a long drive with kids? A series of six-word stories.

  Cover image by Taylor Deas-Melesh on Unsplash.

• Day 22: Write a story set in outer space.

  Description: An alien and a hunt for an ancient artifact. This is a sneak peek at my work-in-progress story, Aldebaran.

  Cover image from Freepik.

• Day 23: Rewrite a fairy tale from memory.

  Description: A retelling of Little Red Riding Hood.

  Cover image by Marek Szturc on Unsplash.

• Day 24: Write a story that involves magic.

  Description: You think you know the world? You have no idea. Find out what's coming in Otherworld book 4!

  Cover image made by me with FontForge, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe Photoshop mockup from Nina Shaw on Behance.

• Day 25: Write about leaving home.

  Description: Leaving for college.

  Cover image from my family's photos.

• Day 26: You wake up with a key gripped tightly in your hand. How did you get this key?

  Description: Oops, did it again!

  Cover image by Ivan Shemereko on Unsplash.

• Day 27: The horrible secret the grocery clerk was hiding.

  Description: Last night's dinner guest...

  Cover image by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash.

• Day 28: You ask a stranger to tell you one thing they have never told anyone. What do they tell you?

  Description: Asking a random stranger a personal question.

  Cover image by Christopher Burns on Unsplash.

• Day 29: “Smoke hung so thick in the library’s rafters that she could read words in it.”

  Description: The library's burning, but she refuses to leave yet.

  Cover image by Yuri Efremov on Unsplash.

• Day 30: A language class for aliens.

  Description: Arkeda Mothran's ESL class. Connected to Beneath Which Sky.

  Cover image made with SmartMockups.

NaNoWriMo 2020 ended on November 30, 2020. Read it here!