Hook, line and sinker

Some  weeks, either because I have been particularly impressed with a way of incorporating prompts or there are several on a similar theme of, say, werewolves (and the only ones of those I’ve ever got excited about were Glen Duncan’s) – anything, in fact which makes my picking a winner more rational – I can pick a theme and assure myself I’m judging ‘fairly’.

 This week I know my choice is entirely a personal response, and is connected with a conversation I’ve been having elsewhere on the subject of the necessary qualities of opening lines. My comment, on first reading the opening line of John’s  ‘Texas hospitality’ –  “... so often your first lines instil a sort of greed for more” stemmed from an instant, gut-felt revelation which encapsulated what we’d spent several weeks trying to define. So, for me John is this week’s winner. As ever, though, the standard was high and armadillos in particular, inventively incorporated – thank you all.

Words for next week: celery local syringe

Entries by midnight Thursday 3rd May winners and words posted Friday 4th

Usual rules: 100 words maximum (excluding title) of flash fiction or poetry using all of the three words above in the genres of horror, fantasy, science fiction or noir. Serialised fiction is, as always, welcome. All variants and use of the words and stems are fine. Feel free to post links to your stories on Twitter or Facebook or whichever social media you prefer.

Buds and birds and crooked contrails

Several pieces this week filled with excellently depicted world-wide horror, but it is the tiny, personal ones I especially liked: Patricia’s ‘Cornus Rosea’ with its beyond terrifying theme of child abduction and murder, and newcomer Terri’s beautifully-expressed observations on the travails of writing. Which is not to say I didn’t immensely enjoy the others. Thank you all for both posting and so diligently commenting.

Words for next week: armadillo cheer theft

Entries by midnight Thursday 26th April winners and words posted Friday 27th

Usual rules: 100 words maximum (excluding title) of flash fiction or poetry using all of the three words above in the genres of horror, fantasy, science fiction or noir. Serialised fiction is, as always, welcome. All variants and use of the words and stems are fine. Feel free to post links to your stories on Twitter or Facebook or whichever social media you prefer.

An insufficiency of cigarette papers

A week of richness, of  fat stories threaded with slender, insidious horrors (some of which simultaneously invoke guilty laughter). I love to read them as they trickle in but on Thursday, when my initial shortlist includes everyone, I know I’m in trouble. This week’s final, post-my-bedtime  spurt of offerings doubled that  trouble. Not that I’m complaining but I am acutely aware that to pick one winner, apart from being near impossible for me, appears to suggest others were in some way lacking – not true!

But choose I must ... and it is Jim’s ‘As always’ which, so very marginally, takes the top spot. And my thanks to you all.

Words for next week: dog opportunity ridicule

Entries by midnight Thursday 19th April winners and words posted Friday 20th

Usual rules: 100 words maximum (excluding title) of flash fiction or poetry using all of the three words above in the genres of horror, fantasy, science fiction or noir. Serialised fiction is, as always, welcome. All variants and use of the words and stems are fine. Feel free to post links to your stories on Twitter or Facebook or whichever social media you prefer.

Mops, buckets and disinfectant

For reasons I am unable to fathom, and  despite such innocuous words, several of last week’s entries had a high level of nastiness, reaching unanticipated depths. I thank you all for your enthusiasm and confess to a small amount of trepidation as to what those for next week will bring.

My favourite of the week, however, has to be R J Wayne’s for the action- and detail-packed account of a simple murder.

Words for next week: destination plug surreptitious

Entries by midnight Thursday 12th April winners and words posted Friday 13th

Usual rules: 100 words maximum (excluding title) of flash fiction or poetry using all of the three words above in the genres of horror, fantasy, science fiction or noir. Serialised fiction is, as always, welcome. All variants and use of the words and stems are fine. Feel free to post links to your stories on Twitter or Facebook or whichever social media you prefer.