#ThursThreads - Week 146 - Winners

Week 146 of #ThursThreads had some terrific tales. I'm honored to see all of the returning writers and read your stories. It was so nice to see so many of you this week! Thank you for coming back again and again to write and for helping me celebrate these years of flash. Great thanks to Kirsten Blacketer for judging this week. Be sure to check out the #ThursThreads #flashfiction group on FB to keep up with news, etc.

Entries:

• Sandi Layne | @sandyquill
• Silver James | @SilverJames_
• Kelly Heinen | @Aightball
• Siobhan Muir | @SiobhanMuir
• Lizzie Koch | @Lizzie_Koch
• Mary Decker | @mishmhem
• A.J. Walker | @zevonesque
• Dolly Marionette | @UndeadNether
• Nellie Batz | @solimond

Kirsten says: I have to say, I enjoyed reading all your flash pieces. You all have some wonderful snippets here, and I am honored to be reading your work. :) Great job everyone and thank you so much for participating. Thanks for having me and remember to keep writing. I can't wait to read more from all of you.

Winners Announcement:

Honorable Mentions

Mary Decker | @mishmhem

Kirsten says: You did an amazing job tying in a lot of detail with a minimal word count. I could totally see this as a more in depth story, but it works as a short too. You focus on the details of the character's actions and their mission without compromising the quality of the piece. Great job. I would love to read more about this adventure.

Lizzie Koch | @Lizzie_Koch

Kirsten says: While I'm a little vamped out, I enjoyed your short. You tied in some fantastic imagery, and I got a distinct feel for the main character's emotions as he sat there with his cold beer watching the sky. I could see this being expanded into a longer story, if it isn't part of a longer piece already. You have a knack for painting a vivid picture, great job!

Kelly Heinen | @Aightball

Kirsten says: Action, tension, and emotion...pow! right in my face. I loved it. I appreciated the trigger warning too. (Not that I needed it, but it means you're aware of the material possibly being an issue for readers. Kudos for that.) I really enjoyed the dialog you had going on. It worked well for the story and had me hooked from the beginning. I'm actually kinda curious as to what happened next. :)

Week 146 Winner

A.J. Walker | @zevonesque

Kirsten says: This piece contained the perfect balance of elements to bring life to a story. The conflict and tension in the story were simple, yet realistic. I felt sympathy for the main character and also wanted to smack him. The descriptions were enough to bring an image to mind and yet leave me to paint in the voids. It was the ending that sealed it for me. That "aha" moment had me groaning out loud and wanting to throttle the main character. *claps* Bravo. This was truly a story in 250 words. While there is room for expansion, it ended in a way that left the reader satisfied. We all knew he was in trouble now for not following through...again. I can appreciate when a writer is able to adequately portray a self-contained story with such a limiting word count.

The Laughing Dog

Brian’s job description had recently been expanded to beyond acceptable.

After the side boob incident on the six o’clock news he’d been tasked with reviewing every little excerpt supplied from the multitude smartphone images rolling in from the public. It was impossible.

“Consider it a new KPI,” Marriot had said, “Zero side boobs - or cock ups - on the pre-watershed news and you may keep your job. Otherwise it’ll be your bits shown on the news the following day. Capiche?”

He couldn’t afford another default - but it was a hopeless task as every sad little clip got fired through to Brian for vetting.

Kate - his long term crush at work - sent him a video with a dog in it. It had four asterisks in the subject line suggesting it was important. He clicked on it straight away and there was the drooling dog nodding along with a song from One Direction. It was cute he had to admit, but it was not newsworthy, so he quickly exited and went on to the next useless footage (some cop shooting a gang banger - no-one would be interested).

Brian worried about his house. He picked his stories and emailed them through to the news desk. Shortly afterwards he received a text from Kate - ‘You watched it all the way through?’

He laughed. How much time did she think he had?

Come six o’clock and FAB News was the only channel not to feature the dancing dog suddenly being devoured by that hideous alien.

Congratulations Winner A.J., Mary, Lizzie, and Kelly! Don't forget to 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! :)