Hope is not the lack of darkness but a defiance of it. It is the mote of light we fix our gazes on as we struggle through the dark world of our reality and what dwells within us.
There have been no lack of submissions of speculative stories depicting the hopeless gray of what our world is and can seem. To shake things up, we asked writers to send us flash fiction stories that depicted all of this but also brought that mote of hope. After all, we cannot dream of a better, more fantastic world without light to reach for.
Below are the top three stories from this special contest. As a bonus, we have included an interview with the first place winner, Brigs Larson, as they discuss their relationship with speculative fiction and how they depict “hope” on the page.
The Fantastic Other 