#ThursThreads - Week 49 - Winners

Week 49 of #ThursThreads had some great tales! Thanks to all who entered this week. I'm honored to see all of you and read your stories. It was great to have our returning regulars and some new faces. Thank you for coming back again and again to write. And great thanks go to Michelle Graham for reading the stories. :)

Entries:

• Kel Heinen | @Aightball
• Antonio Angelo | @AntonioAngelo21 (First Entry)
• Toni Morrow Wyatt | @Toni1777
• Antonio Angelo | @AntonioAngelo21 (Second Entry)
• Sheilagh Lee | @SweetSheil
• Sean Adams | @SE_ADAMS_
• Robin Abess | @Angelique_Rider 
• Wakefield Mahon | @WakefieldMahon
• @drmagoo
• Susan Hayes | @capricia13
• Cara Michaels | @caramichaels
• Mark Ethridge | @LurchMunster
• Nellie Batz | @solimond
• David A Ludwig | @DavidALudwig
• H. L. Pauff | @HLPauff

First of all, congratulations to everyone who submitted a story. I participated in my first Thurs Threads last week, and found out it's hard to tell a story in less than 250 words! And at the drop of a hat! You all did a great job, which made my job that much more difficult. The prompt this week led to a common theme throughout the stories - being alone. These tales contained a lot of loneliness, isolation, and despair - three things that set the stage for some fantastic story telling. After some painstaking deliberating, here are my choices:

Winners Announcement:

Honorable Mentions

 

  Kel Heinen | @Aightball

Michelle says: This one was heart-wrenching, and a poignant illustration of the reasons people are driven to substances. The main character has lost a great deal and is so overcome by his grief that he finds his solace in the drugs, rather than the person who loves him. It portrays the mind-set beautifully.

Sean Adams | @SE_ADAMS_

Michelle says: I liked how this story showed the human need for companionship, or at least for contact with other people. I love the line, "I long for someone I can hate being around..." Even the most introverted, anti-social members of society still crave the presence of others, even if it takes an apocalyptic event to realize it. The story was well-written, with great descriptive language.
 

Cara Michaels | @caramichaels

Michelle says: When I choose my own reading material, I tend to gravitate towards books with a strong heroine, the kind who takes charge of her own fate rather than waiting for a man to save her. Cara's story has just such a character! The banter between her characters is terrific and she writes with a great voice. Reminds me of my all-time fave authors: Kelley, Kim & Laurell.

Week 49 Winner

Mark Ethridge | @LurchMunster

Michelle says: The prompt this week screams for sad tales, but this one was very whimsical, while still using the theme of loneliness. I didn't get the post-script about too much Pixar until just now, because this story definitely reminds me of a Toy Story situation, except with electronics. And when the electronics have a party, it's just like your typical teenage get-together: you have the competitive types, the show-offs, the artsy types, and that one poor kid who doesn't seem to fit in at all. The writer's knowledge of computers and electronics made the narrative strong without getting the reader bogged down with technical terms. An excellent read!

On December 25th, at 0036 hours, the manager of the Best Buy turned on the alarm system and locked the doors. All the employees were spending Christmas Day with their families and friends.

At 0037 hours, the ASUS G75WW lit up. A few seconds later, it belted out, “All clear! Christmas Party time!” Every screen in the store lit up. Laptops, the all-in-ones, smart TVs, smart phones, tablets and music players.

An iPad Mini belted out, “Christmas Tree drawing challenge!” The Android tablets whined, “You have Retina displays!” The Asus Vivo’s answered back, “You don’t hear us whining!” The Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 proclaimed, “It’s about creativity, not pixel counts!", and commenced drawing a tie-died Christmas Tree.

The ultrabooks challenged the G75WW to a speed drawing contest. “We have solid state drives! And Core i7 processors! We’re faster than you!” The G75WW cranked up the volume on the Christmas Music from Pandora. “I got more horsepower than all of you!”. It rendered dazzling images of flowers, forests, waterfalls, and other stuff at staggering speeds.

Through it all, the Chromebook sat on its stand, A sad face on its display. Little pixilated tears tracking down its Google Blue cheeks. “I wish I could have fun with them,” it thought. “But I’m useless without the Internet." After a time the Chromebook thought, “Doesn’t matter. I’m the only one left. Thank God for Sleep Mode,” it thought, as it shut itself down.

Congratulations Mark, Kelly, Sean, and Cara! Claim your badges and display them with pride. You certainly earned it! :)

Pass on the great news on Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, shiny mirrors, Morse Code, and signal flags. Check out all the stories here. Thanks for stopping by and happy reading! :)