Monday, August 26, 2013

Gone Fishin' Writing Contest results!

The last contest of the summer brought out some great entries!

Herewith the results:


Special recognition for winning the 2013 Claymore Award at Killer Nashville for best unpublished manuscript (which has nothing to do with this contest but is nonetheless VERY cool!)
Terri Lynn Coop



Special recognition for a clever use of one of the words:
JD Paradise 10:17am Queensrÿche
Madseasongirl 8:32am  deification




Special recognition for use of "reticule" not to mention the wonderful "iSpell"
Kate Higgins 10:22am


Special recognition for failing to observe an ironclad rule of novel writing:
Do.Not.Kill.A.Cat
donnaeverhart.com 10:44am



Special recognition for minimalism:
Colin Smith 11:45am  "Beautiful rental cat. Downtown Queens"


Special recognition for a great line:
Brian Wethington 12:19pm
The Prince of Darkness stopped typing and peered over his glasses at Stan

k.kellie edwards 1:08pm
Six foot four and wrapped in white satin, shouldered that cat like a damn mink stole.


Gammerlo 3:54pm
I picked up the cat I had leased from Schrodinger's Rental

Carolynnwith2ns 4:32pm
I took Beretta, my beautiful best friend with me



Special recognition for a great setup:
Elissa Hunter 12:35pm
It took Derek a few weeks before he realized that the beautiful women swanning around downtown NYC weren't women at all. It was even longer before he realized he was one of them.


Entries that cracked me up completely:
Just me 11:48am


Not quite a story but a great set up for one:
Scott G 8:56am


Not quite a story but just glorious imagery
Madeline Mora-Summonte 2:42pm
LynnRodz 6:49am



Not quite a story, but holymoly talk about evocative
Debra Giuffrida 6:26pm
Shaunna 1:04am
Fiercely Yours 3:29pm

Always great to learn new words!
Kathryn Leonard-Peck 5:15pm   clowder of cats
CED 7:21pm  pelagic, catafalque


Special recognition for particularly mortifying  "been there, done that"
Tanisha Payne 5:31pm
Holy crap, I’ve been salivating after a priest.


Special recognition for one of the most disturbing entries in the history of this contest (and I mean that in the best possible way)
Lenny Liang 2:41pm



And here are the seven finalists:


(1) Steve Forti 10:08am
The staging looked great. Very pricey, but the rented furniture gave the house a beautiful upscale look. Lots of natural light, manicured lawn, just blocks from downtown. This place should sell no problem.

Lucy paced a final walkthrough. Oriental rugs, plush black leather couch. Antique cherry desk dominating the office. California king in the master, queens in the other two bedrooms. Hardwood floors downstairs. Tasteful paintings arranged on the walls. Hell, even the rental cat purred softly on the window sill.

Yes, this place looked great. Now if only she could get rid of all the blood.

And the poltergeist.



(2) JD Paradise 10:17am
Maria had parental aspirations. Downtown hipster single mommy swaddling her lovie in a strictly-ironic Queensrÿche tee. Two against the world, no-one else admitted.

Beautiful dream, right? Beautiful fucking dream.

Reality was a hideous hairy bundle of caterwauling outrage spewing shit six times a day. Barely stopped screaming long enough to suck her boobs flat. Forget work. Dating. Life. Everything was Oscar.

Maria tried ignoring him. Starving him. Beating him.

One day she just walked. Dumped him in the trash. He's lived there ever since.

Scratch that.

I've lived there. Me.

And you wonder why I'm grouchy?

You fucking Muppet.




(3) French sojourn 11:18am
NASA projected the point of impact to be downtown Cairns in Queensland, Australia. Unfortunately the asteroid flattened its trajectory and lit up the atmosphere like aurora borealis on crack… one last beautiful sunset for humanity.

When the asteroid broke into thousands of guided meteorites, the results were catastrophic…all the major cities were razed. Then… they attacked...hell bent from above.

Mortally wounded, Mother Nature capitulated… giving up her parental obligations to a godforsaken planet.

Eve and I escaped to Red Rock One and watched, on the lone satellite feed, as they harvested everyone, except us.

Then they left…so we’re starting over…again.




(4) Artie Beltza 1:47pm
“I don’t watch much on the tv, you know? Life’s short, know what I mean? I go more for the PBS. You know, like the Downtown Abbey.”

“Downton,” she said, finally looking at him instead of the line for the ladies’ room or her own finger tracing the rim of her highball.

“What?”

“It’s Downton.”

“Beautiful,” he exhaled. “Fuck.”

This was going about as well as a catamite interviewing to be a queen’s consort. He wondered if the tux place would give him some sort of partial discount on an early return of his rental.




(5) Jared X 2:18pm
Stay behind me. Walk where I walk. Downtown is treacherous after dark. It’s also strangely beautiful with the right guide.

Say nothing.

See that calico near the hydrant? Ever seen a stray so clean? See how she watches us
, not the rats feasting in the street like kings and queens? That’s no cat. They know you’re here. Let me guess: you charged your rental car. Nobody listens. We need to get inside. I have a loft here, upstairs. Wait outside while I scout the lobby.

Okay, this is where we part ways. Retrace our steps. I’m sure you’ll be fine.


(6) Lance 4:59pm
“Dan, I have four queens, and you’re down to your last sock.”

An argyle sock slumped around the beige, plastic ankle.

“I know, Rachael. You’re good at poker. And beautiful, too.”

“Show me your cards, and let’s take this thing downtown.”

“How do you like my new leg? It’s a rental until I make up my mind.”

“It’s great. Are those cat scratches on it?”

“Well, Bugsy likes it, but those are knife scratches.”

“Knife scratches?”

“Yeah. The side here has a neat little slot for a knife. It blends right in.”

“Can I see?”

“I thought you’d never ask.”


(7) Myra King 6:06pm
I live downtown next door to an extreme cleaner. OCD, not commercial. Sadie Badenoch. Sadbad we called her at school but she wasn't bad. And before the gunman came she was cat sleek beautiful.

My rental-room looks into her kitchen. Six a.m. I see her cleaning to Queen's music. Mercury rising. Her house gleams like the stars.

Ten a.m., safe behind my impenetrable screen, I watch her prepare for outside. Living in the real world.

Keys jangle. Her hands dart round, up and down her front door's frame. Her ritual protection. Takes two hours before she leaves.

Wish I could.





And the winner is Myra King 6:06pm. One of the things I love about this entry is that it works on several levels.  I read it at least five times and each time found something new to admire.


Myra, drop me an email (janet @ fineprintlit dot com) and we'll figure out what kind of prize to send you.

Thanks to all the writers who took time and creative energy to enter the contest.  I loved reading what you wrote (even you Lenny!)

Congrats to all the winners.


This is the last contest of the summer.  I've got a week's vacation coming up, and then it's back to work for the fall season.  


21 comments:

Madeline Mora-Summonte said...

Congratulations, everyone!

And thank you, Ms. Reid, for the recognition! I'll take "glorious imagery" any day. :)

Enjoy your time off!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations Myra!

Lenny Liang - you're story gave me chills.

Ms. Janet, these have been so much fun, and I will miss doing this! I've learned a lot about word economy and thinking outside of the box from all the others out here. Thank you for the special recognition and for taking the time to do these. Enjoy your vacation!

french sojourn said...

Congrats Myra!

Thank you for the amount of time you put into these flash fiction contests. I will miss looking forward to the writing puzzles, and reading the submittals. This group has taught me so much, thanks to you all.

Now chase down Reacher and enjoy your vacation.

Congrats also to TLC, always have enjoyed your submissions...conga line of black suburban's has inspired me for a while.

Madseasongirl said...

Congrats to Myra and everyone else! I'll miss these contests but I hope you enjoy your vacation J Reid!

Colin Smith said...

First, huge congrats to Terri! I have to say, I'm not surprised. Reading your entries to Janet's contests over the past few years, it's clear you're a talented writer. May many great things come to you from this award!

Congrats, Myra, and well done to the other finalists. And thanks for the special recognition, Janet. OK, I confess, it's been a goal of mine to use all 5 words consecutively, so even though I didn't win, I'm pleased. And it's icing on the cake that you made mention of it! :)

I hope you enjoy your time off. Don't leave it too long before the next contest! :)

Terri Lynn Coop said...

Myra! Superb! A couple of weeks ago I was involved in a discussion about the aftermath of school shootings. Your tale nailed it to the wall with extreme prejudice.

Superb entries. Lenny, yours was a master of slow burn.

And thank you for the shoutout. I've just now got the feeling back in my feet. Couldn't have done it without the Shark. Here's to some extreme vacationing.

Terri

JD Paradise said...

Nicely done, Myra!

Enjoy your vacation, Janet! Thanks so much for giving us a space to play. :)

Lance said...

Congratulations, Myra! What a tale. Thank you, Ms. Reid, for this great series of contests. I am honored to have been included in this talented group. Enjoy your vacation. And way to go, Terri. Knocking them out in Nashville.

Claire G said...

Well done everyone! Thanks, Janet, for running these contests- enjoy your break. And thanks everyone else for all I've learned just reading your stories. There's crazy talent here.

french sojourn said...

Forgot to congratulate Amy on the "Janet came early....contest"

Nice job Amy, well done.

Lenny Liang said...

Congratulations to Myra and all the finalists! Thank you for the "disturbing" recognition. I really appreciate these contests, as they've really forced me to dig deeper as a writer. I've learned so much in such a short time just by studying everyone's work.

I was curious...would it be inappropriate for me to ask for people's twitter handles. I've grown to respect the work of many of the writers on here, and would love to be able to follow them further. For example, I was looking for JD Paradise the other day and couldn't find him. I was blown away by his entry this week.

Debra Giuffrida said...

Congratulations Myra! Love the story! Thank you Janet for the recognition! These were fun, sad I was a Johnny-come-lately...enjoy your vacation and can't wait for more contests!

Christine Finlayson said...

Congratulations to all the finalists and those receiving special recognition! I'm always amazed by the talent and creativity found in 100 short words. Congrats to JD Paradise, too, for making me laugh hard on my own Oscar-grouchy morning. Janet, hope you have a fantastic vacation.

KarinB. said...

Congrats Myra, your entry was thoughtful and thought-provoking. Enjoy your break Ms. Janet. Haven't had the time to participate much, but love to come back for the read and the results. JD Paradise's Sesame Street prequel so creative, blame the mother... LOL

Cindy C said...

Congratulations Myra and all those mentioned. Also, congratulations to Terri--that's a great accomplishment, and well-deserved.

Thanks again for these contests, Janet, and have a great vacation.

CED said...

Sweet! I've been working on my vocabulary. :)

Congrats to all the mentionees and especially the finalists and Myra. I'm amazed at how much complexity can be created within 100 words, and someday I'll figure out how to do it too.

Thanks, Janet, for running these contests and for everything else you do for the writing community.

Carolynnwith2Ns said...

Thanks for the mention.
I had fun with this one. I mentioned each word 3 times and one word 4 times.
Ha...what a blast.
Congrats to all and have a
WONDERFUL VACATION.

Myra King said...

Wow, just woke up to a lovely surprise. I honestly didn't think I would win. There were such great entries, I feel really honoured (Australian spelling). Congrats to everyone and thank you Janet for this wonderful opportunity.

Steve Forti said...

Congrats! And super congrats to Terri - I always search the entries for a few people's, and yours is one of them. So I'm sure it's a killer piece.

Go enjoy some vacation, Snookums!

LynnRodz said...

Congratulations Myra for the win!

Great job, Terri, congratulations to you as well!

I just have to mention, donnaeverhart, loved your sad tale. I thought about it several times after I read it because, unfortunately, it happens way too often.

I'll echo Madeline's comment and say thank you, Janet, I'll take "glorious imagery" any day and wish you a wonderful holiday!

Christine Finlayson said...

Don't know how I skipped right over that first paragraph announcing Terri Lynn Coop's win for best unpublished manuscript. Awesome news! I, too, have enjoyed your 100-word stories and will look forward to reading your book in the future!