After Happy Hour Contest Issue #4

For the 4th annual contest, After Happy Hour asked contributors to bring us a feast of words--and they delivered! This issue contains the winners and honorable mentions from the contest, along with some of our other top choices from among the contest entries, for a total of 4 stories, 3 essays, and 9 poems that all take their own unique take on "Food".

The works published in this issue include this year's prize winners:

Contest #4 Poetry Winner: "Nana and the Squirrels" by Christine Potter

Contest #4 Prose Winner: "The Pickle Factory by Delaney Phelps

Contest #4 Honorable Mentions:

• "We Ate Sand for Dinner" by Jonathan Chibuike Ukah
• "Confessions of a Vegetarian Ranchwife" by Michelle Nicolaysen
• "Mexican Heaven" by Ren Koppel Torres

...along with some other fantastic poetry and prose submitted during the contest reading period:

"Here We Go Again" by Ashleigh Adams

"Caught" by Camille Capasso

"I'm Craving Crunchwraps" by Ariel Hemloch

"The Little Dog with the Stick" by Charles Huysman

"The Pretzel Problem" by Justin Kolber

"Don't Blow Up This Spot" by Parker Logan

"Would you believe I love the way" by Christine C. Rivero-Guisinga

"Dream Where I Intervene in Climate Change" by VA Smith

"Tamalero" by Ren Koppel Torres

"Seed dispersal of fleshy-fruited invasive plants by humans" by CX Wang

"Reistomate" by John Wojtowicz

Jess Simms is a freelance writer from Pittsburgh, PA, where they're a co-founder of Scribble House and the managing editor of After Happy Hour Review. They are the author of the flash fiction chapbook Cryptid Bits (Last-Picked Books, 2024) and the micro-chap Shapeshifter Diaries (Rinky Dink Press, 2023), and have published stories and essays in Mythaxis, Orca, SLAB, Atlas Obscura, and elsewhere. Find them online at https: //jesssimms.com.