Happy Labor Day weekend to our American friends! A holiday weekend is a great time to celebrate–and read!–some great short fiction. Today we announce the winners of our August “Encore: Vice & Virtue” flash fiction writing contest. Havok publishes a free flash fiction story every weekday, and our editorial judges select the strongest story from each of our five genres as the winners for that month.

Havok’s five daily genres are: Mystery Monday, Techno Tuesday (science fiction), Wacky Wednesday (humor), Thriller Thursday, and Fantasy Friday. The winning stories will be included in our next seasonal anthology, Encore!, to be released next spring in both ebook and print formats (paperback and hardcover for our year-long seasons).

The Winning Stories

Drumroll, please! If you’re a Havok member, tap or click the image to read the story. (And if you’re not, sign up here to get a whole year for less than the cost of a beverage at the cinema!)

Mystery Monday

Techno Tuesday

Wacky Wednesday

Thriller Thursday

Fantasy Friday

Congratulations to all the winners!

WRITERS NOTE: If you’re a writer, head over to our Season Themes page to see the latest contest details. We’d love to see you submit a story to the contest!

P.S. If you are a winner listed above and didn’t receive the notification we sent via email, please check your junk mail folder and whitelist @gohavok.com

In Other News

• The Multiversal anthology is scheduled to be released September 30! This marvelous volume contains not only the winning stories for the 2025 season, but also the character profiles that inspired the stories, and the winning art from the character art contest.
• See our social post for clarification regarding social posts that may have been labeled as “likely AI”.
• A merch fundraiser featuring designs celebrating the Multiversal theme is coming soon. Watch our socials for updates!