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And now for our nominations for the last anthology award of the year, the venerable Best Small Fictions contest. We published eleven qualifying stories in 2025, so it kills me to have to weed out six of them—all excellent pieces in their own right—to select the five nominees. That said, if you get a story published in The Disappointed Housewife, you have a very good shot at getting nominated for one of the annual competitions. Just sayin’.

Here are the five stellar stories Dottie and I are sponsoring for the 2026 anthology:

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Abandonware ~ Sarp Sozdinler

Saint Joan ~ Angela James

Having Weight ~ Cate McGowan

Palahniuk ekphrasis ~ Natasha Mihell

It’s Not a Pyrrhic Victory If We’re Paid Shitloads of Money ~ Ya Lan Chang

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All of these stories are representative of the aesthetic of The Disappointed Housewife, but above and beyond that they’re just terrific writing and all five deserve to make the cut. Best of luck to the writers!

Kevin Brennan
Editor
The Disappointed Housewife