#ThursThreads - 2nd Anniversary Week 104 - Winners

Week 104 TWO YEAR ANNIVERSARY of #ThursThreads had some terrific tales and a great turnout. I'm honored to see all of the returning writers and read your stories. Thank you for coming back again and again to write and for helping me celebrate to great years of flash. It was also wonderful to have some new folks stop by. Welcome! Great thanks to Cara Michaels for judging this week. :)

Entries:

• Eric Martell | @drmagoo
• Rafe Brox | @etcet
• Mark Ethridge | @LurchMunster
• Rebecca Brennan | @bexbrennan
• Jeff Hollar | @Klingorengi
• Anna Lund | @AnnaLund2011
• Sheilagh Lee | @SweetSheil
• Siobhan Muir | @SiobhanMuir 
• Wendy Strain | @WendyStrain
• Silver James | @SilverJames_
• Lizzie Koch | @Lizzie_Koch
• Ruth Long | @Bullishink
• Kelly Heinen | @Aightball
• Nara Malone | @nara_malone
• SJ Maylee | @SJMaylee
• Nellie Batz | @solimond
• Jessica P West | @West1Jess
• Cate Derham | @Cate_Derham

Cara says: Great batch of stories this week, ranging from historical intrigue to loads of magic to a futuristic robots and space flight. Thank you all for writing!

Winners Announcement:

Honorable Mentions

Mark Ethridge | @LurchMunster

Cara says: Poor Beamer and those pesky calculations. I love the concept of this story and the interactions between Beamer and Bobby.

Silver James | @SilverJames_

Cara says: Crisp and well written as always. You establish emotional depth very quickly and those final sentences are heartbreaking.

Ruth Long | @Bullishink

Cara says: LOL! Tender bits, jiggly bits, this conversation cracked me up. Weasel is a great character and this moment really zings.

Week 104 Winner

Jeff Hollar | @Klingorengi

Cara says: When the shit hits the fan, lol. What an opener. Your integration of the prompt into the story is my favorite. It’s smooth and fits perfectly in the moment. Love the snarky tone to this entire piece. Is it an inner monologue? Some sergeant’s idea of a pep talk? I could see it go either way in a bigger story, and it’s great.

Apocalypse Options

When the feces make contact with the rotating oscillator and you’re up to your armpits in undead annoyances, your options are somewhat…limited. You can’t run away screaming like a little girl. Well, okay, you can but that’s not gonna work. Sure, the bastards are pretty damned slow; that’s not the issue. The problem comes in where do you run to and what do you do when you get there? If you head back to the base camp and the best story you got is everybody got killed and you didn’t have any choice…that may just work.

More likely than not, though, just about the time you get a cold shower and some colder food inside you, things will get real interesting. One of the guys you threw to the metaphorical wolves will come stumbling back in, covered in gore and screaming out what a punk you were to abandon them. If that’s how things go down, trust me, you’d have been better off to have just stayed out there, plopped down with an apple in your mouth, and let the walkers serve you up as a tasty entrée. That’s not a real appealing option either, by the way.

No, what happens is you knuckle down and fight like a sumbitch. You need to focus on making every shot count and making sure you always keep one in reserve in case…aww, let’s face it, for when things get terminal. Life…it’s a game nobody wins anyway, so good luck with that, eh?

Congratulations Three Time Winner Jeff, Mark, Silver, and Ruth! Don't forget to claim your badges and display them with pride. You certainly earned it! Jeff, PM me your email address for your gift card. 

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! :)

#ThursThreads - Week 98 - Winners

Week 98 of #ThursThreads had some terrific tales. I'm honored to see all of the returning writers and read your stories. Thank you for coming back again and again to write. And it was wonderful to have some folks we haven't seen in a while. Welcome back! Great thanks to J. Annas Walker for judging this week. :)

Entries:

• Sheilagh Lee | @SweetSheil
• Rafe Brox | @etcet
• Lisa McCourt Hollar | @jezri1
• Silver James | @SilverJames_
• Kelly Heinen | @Aightball
• Siobhan Muir | @SiobhanMuir 
• Eric Martell | @drmagoo

J. Annas says: This was a tough call. I had to read and re-read these several times to choose a winner. I love Siobhan's work. I hope the snippet I read is part of an upcoming project! Let me say how entertaining these were with so much intrigue jammed into only a few word. Great job everyone! I hope to read more from everyone next week!

Winners Announcement:

Honorable Mentions

Doris O'Connor | @mamaD8
J. Annas says: Rafe has clearly sat is some hellish traffic. Haven't we all given a moment's thought to just hitting the pedal at an inappropriate time? The description of the doomsday soothsayers is something straight off the front page a tabloid. But what if the tabloid story is standing in the street yelling at you stuck in traffic? Interesting notion. What would you be tempted to do?

Silver James | @SilverJames_
J. Annas says: Silver James did a bang up job. The setup for a gut wrenching internal struggle was nice. I don't know enough about the gypsy girl to know whether or not the feel sorry for her, but she's clearly going to change the course of the story.
 

Week 98 Winner

Lisa McCourt Hollar | @jezri1

J. Annas says: The heroine's anger and passion is very tangible. There's a good sense of both an immediate conflict and of a sub-plot conflict. I get the idea that the couple already had an uphill battle before the bodies littered the scene. Our hero gets to be calming logic, but he delivers it with the threat of a future reprisal. This would make a great story.

The Harbinger of Death

“Georgina, wait.”

Stephen stood between me and the door. I pointed the dagger at him. My words were measured as I tried to contain my anger. “Get. Out. Of. My. Way.”

He stood his ground, refusing to move.

“I won’t let them get away with this!”

He put his hands on my shoulders. “I promise you, their reckoning will come.”

“When?” I asked. “They do what they want, take what they want.” I turned and gestured towards my family. Their bodies still smoldered on the pyre, where they had been staked. “They are dead because the Council decreed it? Because they stood up to them? And I may die to, but I won’t go alone.”

“I said they would answer for what they have done, and they will. But you must be patient. Their reach is far.”

“I don’t care,” I spat. “If it takes my death to avenge theirs, than I will die.”

“And what of the child that grows in you?”

I felt the baby stir inside me. He was the reason for the decree. My vampire family… Stephan’s family, had refused to give me up. A human mating with one of theirs wasn’t forbidden, but bringing a half breed into the world was.

“You have to live. For our son.

“They will never stop hunting us,” I said.

Stephan touched my belly. “They fear our child for a reason. It’s been prophesized… their end will come... and our son will be the harbinger that brings it.”

Congratulations SIX TIME Winner Lisa, Rafe, and Silver! 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! :)