#ThursThreads - Week 28 - Winners

Week 28 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. And it was great to have some new "faces" join us along with our returning regulars. Great thanks also goes to judge CR Moss for reading all the tales.

Entries:

• Angelique Rider | @Angelique_Rider
• Toni Wyatt | @Toni1777
• Jeffrey Hollar | @Klingorengi
• Siobhan Muir | @SiobhanMuir
• Rafe B. | @etcet
• Bethany Lopez | @BethanyLopez2
• Lisa McCourt Hollar | @jezri1
• Stacy Bennett-Hoyt | @Rowanwolf66
• Rebecca Kovar | @RRKovar
• Goran Zidar | @GZidar
• Sheilagh Lee | @SweetSheil
• Cara Michaels | @caramichaels
• Nellie Batz | @solimond
• David Ludwig | @DavidALudwig
• Kay Phoenix | @KayPhoenix_
• Rebekah Postupak | @postupak

CR says: Siobhan, thank you for allowing me to judge this week. I feel privileged to have read all these great pieces of flash fiction. Wow. So many good short stories! It made choosing a winner difficult.

Winners Announcement:

Honorable Mentions

Rafe B. | @etcet

  CR says: Time-slip -- The piece read like poetry, evoked feelings. Loved the last line. It reminded me of the literary works I enjoyed reading in and out of college.

Rebecca Kovar | @RRKovar

CR says: Origins -- Before I fell in love with the romance genre (no pun intended), I was into horror stories and dark fiction. I liked the characterization of the man and the background of the witches and children. The pacing at the end of the story was done well too. This short piece pulled me in and kept my interest.

Sheilagh Lee | @SweetSheil

CR says: Princess Emmeline's baby -- This, too, was a darker piece. I loved the fast pace of this story, the type of pregnancy, delivery and baby she had and what the other woman found in the way of food. I especially enjoyed the last couple of lines, which made my quirky sense of humor sit up and take notice.

Week 28 Winner

Nellie Batz | @solimond

  CR says: Sacrifice -- This piece fed my love of dark fiction as well. I chose this as the winner because the writer did a wonderful job, packing in so much description and depth into such a short space. There was some good world building done in the limited time as well. At the end I wanted to know more. I wouldn't mind seeing this made into a longer story. :)

Sacrifice

The body lay in perfect repose, the gauzy red fabric draping over top. Whoever had placed the body made sure the make-up and hair was perfect, manicured fingers folded atop each other on her stomach. Incense burners worked at pushing out the scented smoke, giving the room a hazy look. There were gifts around the alter. Flowers, fruit, bits of silver coin.

"They take this seriously." Marvin muttered to his companion, watching as an elderly man stepped through the doorway, holding out a platter that held a golden cup, liquid sloshing back and forth against the sides. "Wine?"

"Blood." Jenkins folded his arms, watching. The light reflected off his lenses as he lowered his chin. "To entice the senses for when she wakes up. They found out she was pregnant. Did they tell you that?"

Marvin gave him a startled look as his head shook side to side. "But…why did they do it then?"

Supposedly, the child will come back blessed. It was the sacrifice."

The other man gave another shake of his head. "How can a mother allow that to happen. That's just-just horrible."

"Different culture. They see some of ours as the same."

The old man put the cup down and bowed to the form before going out, nodding to them as the door was closed, sealing them in with the deceased woman.

"Now what, sir?"

"Now we wait and see if she wakes up at all and that she doesn't dine on the people in the village."

Congratulations Nellie, Sheilagh, Rebecca, and Rafe! 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 and I hope to see you all back next week for #ThursThreads. :)

All stories written herein are the property (both intellectual and physical) of the authors. Thank you.

#ThursThreads - Week Eight - Winners

Week Eight 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. And it was great to have some new "faces" join us. Huge thank you to judge Zee Monodee for reading through all of them.

Entries:

• Siobhan Muir | @SiobhanMuir
• Nancy Porter | @ModernBard1024
• Sheilagh Lee | @SweetSheil
• Toni Wyatt | @Toni1777
• Jeffrey Hollar | @Klingorengi
• @LupusAnthropos
• Greg Nance | @acenance
• Wakefield Mahon | @WakefieldMahon
• Charles W Jones | @ChuckWesJ
• J. Whitworth Hazzard | @zombiemechanics
• Ryan Strohman | @rastrohman
• Cara Michaels | @caramichaels
• Margaret McNulty | @charitygirlblog
• Kimberly Gould | @Kimmydonn
• Lisa McCourt Hollar | @jezri1
• Richard C. Hale | @Richard_C_Hale
• Robert Mahone | @Computilizer
• Miranda Gammella | @MLGammella
• Nellie Batz | @solimond
• Tom Keller | @dryadsgarden
• Aurora Lee | @AuroraLee
• Erin Ashby | @spoonflipper

Winners Announcement:

Honorable Mentions

Cara Michaels | @caramichaels

Zee says: Struck with me mostly for the effective world-building and atmosphere. The excerpt delves right into the action, without any fluff or padding, and the reader is roped in and involved without realizing. Also received the mention for the effective use of dialogue, especially for as a characterization tool. And that last line is a definite hook: "We've got three weapons, two people, and a prayer. We can't lose".

Miranda Gammella | @MLGammella

Zee says: Especially loved the building of the pace, from slow and shallow to fast and deep within a short span of words. There's time and opportunity to get into the storyline, get acquainted with the characters, but at the same time, the impending doom is rising crescendo as the intrigue, danger, and especially the prompt, are neatly and skilfully woven in.

Aurora Lee | @AuroraLee

Zee says: The last line is intriguing; it takes the story in a different direction from the actual murder, so while it uses the prompt, it strays from the beaten path to immerse the reader into the heroine's POV and make the reader care about the heroine's future.

Wakefield Mahon | @WakefieldMahon

Zee says: Special mention for making effective use of the prompt away from the literal meaning. While others have used this angle in their snippets, here the prompt and information are quietly and easily woven in, and the fresh and vibrant characterization, through the dialogue, takes the excerpt to an entertaining level.

Week Eight Winner

Nellie Batz | @solimond

 

Zee says: excerpt was interesting with a very good and unique paranormal twist. The short piece also conveyed the dark atmosphere and world succinctly, and the author managed to infuse humour, information reveal, and the plot without wasting time and/or words to place us in the gist of the storyline, not just the murder scene. The characterization of both Percy and her paranormal handler are also spot-on, creating a vivid picture already in the reader's mind.

The crowd whispered amongst themselves as Percy perched above them on the building, tapping one booted foot against the stone. She would have tried to get down there but there were too many people. She lost her chance and now she had to go lurk in the morgue.

Her nose wrinkled a bit. She hated going to the morgue.

“I don’t know why you dislike it so much. It isn’t like death should bother you.” The smooth voice intoned next to her as the suited man sat down, platinum blonde hair smoothed back from an impassive face. Ice blue eyes glanced down at the crowd. “You deal with the dead all the time.”

“I’m used to just going to the place where they live. There, it’s like a gathering. And the last time I went to a morgue, there were three of them and they kept arguing with each other until I threatened to send them on another path. You try dealing with a Jewish mother and an extreme Catholic. They expected to find their own personal nirvana.” Percy snorted, pushing hot pink bangs out of her face. “Anyway, down there, it’s going to be a while. No doubt, it’s a murder.”

“Hmm…no doubt. You still have a job to do and I want your reports sent in before the end of the week or I’ll have to speak to Management about it again.”

She stuck out her tongue as he faded away to air. “Yeah, yeah.”

Congratulations Nellie, Cara, Miranda, Aurora, and Wakefield! 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 and I hope to see you all back next week for #ThursThreads. :)