• ABOUT
  • PUBLICATIONS
    • Fiction
    • Nonfiction
    • Interviews and Reviews
    • Collaborative Writing with Kim Magowan
  • BOOKS
    • THERE’S SO MUCH THEY HAVEN’T TOLD YOU
    • SHAPESHIFTING
    • THEY KEPT RUNNING
    • DON’T TAKE THIS THE WRONG WAY
    • Anthologies, Etc.
  • OTHER
  • CONTACT
  • ABOUT
  • PUBLICATIONS
    • Fiction
    • Nonfiction
    • Interviews and Reviews
    • Collaborative Writing with Kim Magowan
  • BOOKS
    • THERE’S SO MUCH THEY HAVEN’T TOLD YOU
    • SHAPESHIFTING
    • THEY KEPT RUNNING
    • DON’T TAKE THIS THE WRONG WAY
    • Anthologies, Etc.
  • OTHER
  • CONTACT

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MICHELLE ROSS

Fiction

  • “Babe, My Sweet, My Love” West Branch forthcoming
  • “Two Fish, One Fish, No Fish” Pithead Chapel forthcoming
  • “Shadowboxing” SWING forthcoming
  • “Thing Remover” Quarterly West forthcoming
  • “Path Blazer” BULL forthcoming
  • “Treadmill” Ghost Parachute 2026
  • “I Mistook a Fly for My Cat” Ghost Parachute 2026
  • “Childhood” Citron Review 2026
  • “Because the Bike, Because the Coffee” Moon City Review 2026
  • “Novices,” “The Idea,” and “Labor Division” Frigg 2026
  • “Pockets” The Greensboro Review2025
  • “Transmogrification” Gooseberry Pie 2025
  • “People in Elevators” New World Writing 2025 (awarded a Pushcart Prize; will appear in 2027 Pushcart anthology)
  • “The Same Impasse” Ghost Parachute 2025
  • “A Certain Idea of Myself” Monkeybicycle 2025
  • “Buckets” The Masters Review 2025
  • “Simulacrum” Shenandoah 2025
  • “Fiction Writing” Fractured Lit 2025
  • “Analysis” Flash Boulevard 2025
  • “Original” Flash Boulevard 2025
  • “Long Game” jmww 2025 (selected for Best Microfiction 2026)
  • “Directions” matchbook 2025
  • “Heartburn” Bellingham Review 2025
  • “The Problem with Plants” Ruby 2024
  • “Romantic Weekend” Ruby 2024
  • “Detachable Arms” Pithead Chapel 2024
  • “Extinction” Ark Review 2024 (originally published in Milk Candy Review)
  • “Conspiracy” Centaur Lit 2024
  • “Breakup Story” HAD 2024
  • “Cold Fish” swamp pink 2024
  • “Kira Kira” Fictive Dream 2024
  • “How Regular People Talk” Ghost Parachute 2024
  • “An Awkward Shape to Carry” Cutleaf 2024
  • “The Maternal Instinct of Snakes” The Cincinnati Review. 2024
  • “Little Pig, Little Pig” Colorado Review 2024
  • “Some of the Things That Attract Bears” Laurel Review 2023
  • “Low Class” Laurel Review 2023
  • “Message in a Bottle” Wigleaf 2023
  • “Extinction” Milk Candy Review 2023
  • “Pinch Hitter” The Sunlight Press 2023 (winner of The Sunlight Press 2023 flash fiction contest) (longlisted for Wigleaf Top 50)
  • “Animals in Confinement” The Forge 2023
  • “Stupid Motorist Law“ Journal of Compressed Creative Arts 2023 (longlisted for Wigleaf Top 50)
  • “Counting” MoonPark Review 2023 (selected for Best Microfiction 2024) (longlisted for Wigleaf Top 50)
  • “Corkscrew” Ghost Parachute 2023
  • “Game Over” Bending Genres 2023
  • “Domestic Fiction” Pithead Chapel 2023
  • “Useful Skills” Flash Frog 2023 (longlisted for Wigleaf Top 50)
  • “My Sister’s Monkey” Laurel Review2022 (selected for Best Small Fictions 2023 and selected as one of ten spotlighted stories)
  • “Survival Training” Five South 2022
  • “Crossing Guard” The Journal 2022
  • “Pleasant Female” Fictive Dream 2022
  • “Forty-one Jesuses” Hunger Mountain 2022
  • “The Classification of Living Things” Outlook Springs 2022
  • “Squash” The Forge 2022 (selected for Best Microfiction 2023)
  • “Sugar” Ruby 2022
  • “Marching Season” American Literary Review 2022
  • “What I Owned” Monkeybicycle 2022 (selected for Best Microfiction 2023)
  • “The Contents of My Exes’ Refrigerators” Cleaver Magazine 2022
  • “Fake Fruit” Cease, Cows 2022 (longlisted for the Wigleaf Top 50)
  • “Bristles” Nurture 2022
  • “Creation Myth” On the Seawall 2022
  • “The Real Marcia” Ghost Parachute 2022
  • “Keeper Four” Emrys Journal 2021 (winner of the 2020 Sue Lile Inman Fiction Prize)
  • “Hand-Me-Downs” Zizzle 2021 (winner of the 2021 Zizzle Literary Flash Fiction contest)
  • “What People Do” The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts 2021
  • “Play It Safe” Cream City Review 2021
  • “Paula Watt” Witness 2021 (received special mention in the 2023 Pushcart Prize anthology)
  • “Costs” Juked 2021 (selected for the Wigleaf Top 50)
  • “Duck, Duck, Owl” X-R-A-Y 2021
  • “Sowing” Fractured Lit 2021
  • “The Special” Tiny Molecules 2020
  • “Mirrors” New World Writing 2020 (selected for Best Microfiction 2021)
  • “Confession” Pithead Chapel 2020
  • “Windows” Monkeybicycle 2020
  • “The Natural Order of Things” Another Chicago Magazine online. 2020
  • “Cake or Pie” Wigleaf 2020 (selected for Best Small Fictions 2021)
  • “A Gray Inchworm on a Gray Sidewalk” 100 Word Story 2020
  • “Experiments with Living Subjects” Nashville Review 2020
  • “Doing Something is Better Than Doing Nothing” BULL 2020
  • “Eden” MoonPark Review 2020
  • “Swarming” The Forge 2020
  • “Dendrochronology” FlashFlood (originally published in Scoundrel Time) 2020
  • “How I Learned About Evolution” Okay Donkey 2020
  • “A Girl Scout is Useful, Thrifty, Cheerful, Courteous, Clean in Thought, and Above All, Loyal” DIAGRAM 2020
  • “Breath Versus Sound” On the Seawall 2020
  • “Fishbowl” Moon City Review 2020
  • “Impulses” Tiny Molecules 2020
  • “Hostages.” Ghost Parachute: online. 2020 (longlisted for the Wigleaf Top 50)
  • “Snapshot.” Atlas and Alice: online. 2020
  • “Story #2: Sketch.” Queen Mob’s Teahouse: online. 2020
  • “Debbie’s Parents.” Cease, Cows: online. 2019
  • “Snow White with Goats.” Wigleaf: online. 2019
  • “Barrel Cactus,” “Common Denominator,” and “Dead Plant.” FRiGG: online. 2019
  • “Resurrection.” The Southeast Review: online. 2019
  • “Gestation.” The Pinch Journal: print. 2019
  • “Palate Cleanser.” Bending Genres: online. 2019 (selected for Best Microfiction 2020)
  • “Knife Rules.” Coffin Bell Journal: online. 2019
  • “Life Cycle of an Ungrateful Daughter.” New South: print. 2019
  • “Three-Week Checkup.” Alaska Quarterly Review: print. 2019
  • “Dollhouse Furniture.” The Nottingham Review: online. 2019
  • “Dendrochronology.” Scoundrel Time: online. 2019
  • “Fertilizer.” Pithead Chapel: online. 2019 (selected for Best Microfiction 2020 and longlisted for the Wigleaf Top 50)
  • “Dwellings.” New Flash Fiction Review: online. 2019
  • “Bargain.” Litro: online. 2019
  • “Migration.” Fictive Dream: online. 2019
  • “Deposition.” Milk Candy Review: online. 2019
  • “Manhandle.” Jellyfish Review: online. 2019 (longlisted for the Wigleaf Top 50)
  • “The Sand and the Sea.” Greek translation, Planodian: online (originally published in SmokeLong Quarterly) 2019
  • “How We Got Here.” BULL: online. 2019
  • “Dee Bukowski.” Epiphany: online. 2019
  • “No Knees.” Journal of Compressed Creative Arts: online. 2019
  • “The Pregnancy Game.” Fanzine: online. 2019 (reprinted in Flash Fiction America, 2023)
  • “Sockets.” Gone Lawn: online. 2019
  • “Muscle Memory.” Hobart: online. 2019 (Finalist and Highly Commended Story, The Forge 2018 Flash Fiction Contest)
  • “Things My Son Knows.” jmww: online. 2019
  • “The Tasters.” Queen Mob’s Tea House: online. 2019
  • “Frogs in Captivity.” Spelk: online. 2019
  • “Binary Code.” Monkeybicycle: online. 2019
  • “An Arm or a Palm Frond or a Boot.” Pidgeonholes: online. 2018 (longlisted for Wigleaf Top 50)
  • “Carrot.” formercactus: online. 2018
  • “Tea Kettles.” Okay Donkey: online. 2018
  • “A Mouth is a House for Teeth.” Colorado Review: print. 2018 (Finalist for the 2018 Lascaux Prize in Short Fiction)
  • “Night Bloom.” The Forge: online. 2018 (also available on Read with Audrey)
  • “Cubist Mother.” 100 Word Story: online. 2018
  • “The Point.” Longleaf Review: online. 2018
  • “The Sand and the Sea.” SmokeLong Quarterly: online. 2018
  • “My Husband Is Always Losing Things.” Cleaver Magazine: online. 2018
  • “I’m Just Talking About Water.” Occulum: online. 2018
  • “The Funny Thing.” Nashville Review: online. 2018
  • “High Ground.” New World Writing: online. 2018
  • “The Easy Way.” New Flash Fiction Review: online. 2018
  • “Safeway.” Tahoma Literary Review: print. 2018
  • “One or Two?” Passages North: print and online. 2018 (selected for the Wigleaf Top 50)
  • “Before After.” Five:2:One #thesideshow: online. 2018
  • “Return.” New South: online. 2018
  • “Before and After.” Fanzine: online. 2018
  • “If My Mother Was the Final Girl.” Electric Literature’s Recommended Reading: online. (originally published in Gulf Coast) 2017
  • “Men Decide They Want Something.” Hobart: online. 2017
  • “Why Science Lessons That Involve Potatoes Give Me Grief.” Threadcount: online. 2017 (Finalist in 2018 Best of the Net Anthology)
  • “Predators.” Synaesthesia Magazine – We Are Women Issue: print. 2017
  • “A Treatise on the Broken Heart Idiom.” Spelk: online. 2017
  • “Business Enough.” Knee-Jerk: online. 2017
  • “Kong’s Dream.” TriQuarterly: online. 2017
  • “The Difference Between Me and Everyone Else.” The Forge: online. 2017
  • “Fish Story.” New World Writing: online. 2017
  • “Killer Tomatoes.” Corium Magazine: online. 2017
  • “Parts We Can Live Without.” Arroyo Literary Review: print. 2017
  • “Glow.” Arroyo Literary Review: print. 2017
  • “When the Cottonmouths Come to Feed.” Cream City Review: print.
  • “An Impromptu Lesson on Black Holes.” The Indianola Review: online.
  • “Accomplice or Hostage.” Jellyfish Review: online.
  • “What We Expect to See.” Paper Darts: online.
  • “The Scream Queen Is Bored.” Angels Flight literary west: online.
  • “Winkelsucher.” Storm Cellar: print and online.
  • “Feng Shui.“  Bodega: online.
  • “Tobe’s Baby.” Jellyfish Review: online.
  • “Tina’s Herculean Labor.” Broad!: online.
  • “Hail Satan.” Hermeneutic Chaos: online.
  • “Galactagogues.” Necessary Fiction: online. (also available on Great Jones Street)
  • “Phainopepla.” Cease, Cows: online. (longlisted for the Wigleaf Top 50)
  • “Stories People Tell.” Superstition Review: online.
  • “Pam’s Head.” The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts: online.
  • “Rattlesnake Roundup.” Moon City Review: print.
  • “Lessons.” Cleaver Magazine: online.
  • “Virgins.” Arroyo Literary Review: print.
  • “Three Ways to Eat Quince.” Word Riot: online.
  • “If You Were a Serial Killer.” The Adroit Journal: online.
  • “Prologue.” Gravel: online. (finalist for the 2017 Lascaux Prize in Flash Fiction)
  • “Key Concepts in Ecology.” The Common: print and online. (reprinted in Craft)
  • “Like Pulling Teeth.” Necessary Fiction: online.
  • “Unit 7: Exploring Fossils.” Synaesthesia Magazine: online.
  • “Sex Ed.” Bird’s Thumb: online.
  • “Atoms.” Hobart: online.
  • “Of All the Animals in the Aquarium.” SmokeLong Quarterly: online.
  • “Kinetic Theory.” Fiction Southeast: online.
  • “Transactions.” Fiction Southeast: online.
  • “Cinema Verite.” Sixfold: online. (winner of Sixfold 2014 Winter Fiction Contest)
  • “The Nature of Light.” Blue Lake Review: online.
  • “Alien Eye.” The Nervous Breakdown: online.
  • “How Many Ways Can You Die on a Bus?” Slower Traffic Keep Right, a Main Street Rag Publishing short fiction anthology: print. (winner of the Main Street Rag 2005 Fiction Contest; reprinted in Great Jones Street)
  • “Ventriloquy.” Pebble Lake Review: print.
  • “Dear Chester.” Faultline: print.
  • “If My Mother Was the Final Girl.” Gulf Coast: print. (winner of the Gulf Coast 2002 Fiction Contest; reprinted in Great Jones Street)

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