Rachel O’Cleary
Rachel O’Cleary is an American writer who is currently living in Ireland with her partner and three children. She writes mostly very short fiction. She loves the experimentation and impact of flash fiction, but still aspires to one day sit down for more than fifteen minutes at a time to write a novel…or a novella…or even just compile her stories, some of which you can find at the links below.
Forthcoming Publications in:
TBA
Published Work:
“Angela Expects an Earthquake”
Lost Balloon
March, 2023
“The Astronauts Meet for a Picnic on the First Thursday of Every Month”
Bath Flash Fiction Award
Highly Commended
February, 2023
“If a Tree Falls”
Reprinted in:
Fuel: An Anthology of Prize-Winning Flash Fictions Raising Funds to Fight Fuel Poverty
February, 2023
“Mirror, Mirrror“
Wade, and other Myths, Legends, & Fairy Tales
Ellipsis Zine # 12
October 2022
“Cold Comfort”
Fractured Lit
3rd Place: Ghost, Fable, & Fairytale Prize
October 2022
“Flight Reflex”
Smokelong Quarterly – Issue 77
September 2022
“What She Would Rather Tell A Stranger”
Readers Digest
First Prize: 100 word story contest
September 2022
“A Celestial Map of the Human Heart”
Reflex Fiction
Longlisted
July 2022
“Hungering”
The Forge Literary Magazine
July 2022
*Nominated for a Pushcart Prize
“What We Did When We Knew it Was the End”
And We Lived Happily Ever After
2022 National Flash Fiction Day Anthology
June 2022
“The Invisible Woman”
Milk Candy Review
May 2022
*Nominated for a Pushcart Prize
“Why I Hate, and He Loves, the Original Ghostbusters Movie”
Wrongdoing Mag
May 2022
*Nominated for Best Small Fictions
“Eleanor Undomesticated”
2nd Place
WOW! Women on Writing Fall 2021 Flash Fiction Contest
Feb. 2022
“The Impenetrable Boundaries of a Temporal Loop”
And If That Mockingbird Don’t Sing: Parenting Stories Gone Speculative
Jan 2022
“Call Him Home”
Sledgehammer Lit Mag
Dec. 2021
“Fight, Flight, and Freeze“
First Place
Free Flash Fiction Competition 6
Nov. 2021
“The Four Simple Reasons Why I Used to Wish Bob Ross Was My Dad“
Longlisted – Reflex Fiction Autumn 2021
Nov. 2021
“Night is an Unbroken Line”
Highly Commended
Free Flash Fiction Competition Five
Sept. 2021
“#MedusaToo”
Reflex Fiction
Aug. 2021
“He May Be Human, But I Am Not Divine”
Janus Literary, Issue 4
June 2021
“Six Ways to Start Something, and Five to End it”
Ellipsis Zine
May, 2021
“When Dad Came Home, But I Couldn’t See Him Anywhere”
Growing Up Lifespan Vol. 2
April, 2021
“Because Mom Went to Night School, Once”
Reflex Fiction
Jan. 2021
“Susan Is There”
2nd Place, Round 6 Microfiction Competition
Mum Life Stories Micro-Fiction, Vol. 1
Nov. 2020
“How Hungry I Was”
Battery Pack IV
Neon Lit Mag
Nov. 2020
“If a Tree Falls”
First Place
Strands International Flash Fiction Competition
Oct. 2020
Rachel O'Cleary 