Week 495 of #ThursThreads had many fantastic tales. What an amazing feat we’ve pulled off. Nine years! If you’ve been doing it a while, thank you for coming back each week. If you’ve just found us, welcome! You’re in good company. May you come back again and write more great flash. A thousand thanks to Louisa Bacio for judging this week. Check out the #ThursThreads #flashfiction group on Facebook or the #ThursThreads Group on MeWe to keep up with news, etc.
Entries:
- Miya Kressin | @miya_Kressin
- Silver James | @SilverJames_
- Siobhan Muir | @SiobhanMuir
- Mark A. Morris
- Louisa Bacio | @Louisabacio
- Bill Engleson | @billmelaterplea
- Patty Dump | @pattydump1
- Catherine Verdier | @CatheVerdier
- Lexikon | @Lexikonical
- Mark Ethridge | @mysoulstears
- Teresa Eccles| @TeresaMEccles
- Eric Martell | @drmag00
- David A. Ludwig | @DavidALudwig
- Sheilagh Lee | @SweetSheil
- Kelly Heinen | @Aightball
- M.T. Decker | @mishmhem
- Josette Keelor | @josettekeelor
- Katheryn J. Avila | @katheryn_avila
Louisa says: What an amazing collection of tales this week. Thank you to Siobhan for hosting and to all who submitted. Congratulations on getting new words.
Note: All judging is subjective, and not just on taste but also mood. After judging ThursThreads at least twice a year, for a number of years, I found myself drawn to different voices this week. Overall, that’s a good thing.
Honorable Mentions
Bill Engleson | @billmelaterplea
Louisa says: There’s a noir vibe happening in “Furtive Frank.” Engleson’s piece contains a unique voice and generates questions on what the narrator wants to talk to Frank about. Plus, is the daughter helping or hindering?
Kelly Heinen | @Aightball
Louisa says: This short fiction contains poignant descriptions of the action and characters. Without outright telling the relationship between the daughter and father, we get it. The senses are engaged, and the dialogue rings true
Mark A. Morris
Louisa says: The voice and longing in the Morris’ tale grabbed me from the start. This description stood out: “My feeling being there’d be a crush of glaciers rolling across the Congo before we did this again.”
Ultimately, the reader is left to wonder: Is she really dead? We don’t actually get confirmation.
Special Mentions
Siobhan Muir | @SiobhanMuir and Mark Ethridge | @mysoulstears
Louisa says: Yes, I’m putting these two together because I definitely “heard” both writers through their writing.
For Siobhan’s story, the NSFW put me on edge, and she delivered. I loved the “Glory!”
Mark’s tale made me smile. The irony of the piece stands out. I totally saw “Dukes of Hazzard.” The repetition of the writing prompt proved to be effective. Some additional details such as the color of the truck would add to the piece. Also, watch its vs. it’s.
winner announcement
Week 495 Winner
Louisa says: Oh, what an intriguing tale! I started out feeling apprehensive. One of my triggers is harm coming to kids, and after the past few nights with my 15-year-old discussing too serious matters at the dinner table, I cringed.
As soon as Martell pulled out Eye of Newt, I was hooked. This flash fiction was a complete tale, and highlighted a variety of literary elements from foreshadowing to a structured pacing to keep the reader going.
“Joyriding”
I should’ve known by the silence that something had gone horribly wrong.
“Kids! Hey kids! You’d better not be getting into my stuff! You know not to touch Dad’s gear, right? Right?!”
More silence.
I groaned as I got up and made my way to the stairs. “Kids!”
I saw the flicker of candlelight as I made my way downstairs and, oh damn. No way to escape the smell of preserved Eye of Newt. They’d better have opened the cheap stuff. At $150/ounce, the other stuff was for special occasions, that’s for sure.
Before rounding the corner, I closed my eyes and took a breath.
I knew they’d get into the spell supplies one of these days. When they were little, the icky bottles and gross smells kept them away, but they’ve been getting curious. I should have increased the protection spells, but work, and the pandemic, and…
Stepping into the candlelight, I tried to moderate my voice. “Alex. Brittany. I know we’ve talked…”
They weren’t there.
The pentagram was there, drawn perfectly.
The candles were placed at exactly the right spots.
The cauldron was filled to the proper level and was simmering – not boiling.
But no kids.
“They’re Christmas shopping.”
“They’re what?”
My familiar landed on my shoulder, shaking his tail. “Shopping. What do you get for the warlock who has the power to create anything?”
“But where? No, they couldn’t have. Did they?”
“Yep.”
I sighed, then smiled, looking at the perfect pentagram. “They’re pretty good, aren’t they?”
~~~~~~~
Congratulations Fourteen Time Winner Eric, and Honorable Mentions Bill, Kelly, and Mark, and Special Mention Mark! Don’t forget to claim your badges and display them with pride. You certainly earned it!
Pass on the great news on Twitter, Facebook, MeWe, shiny mirrors, Morse Code, and signal flags. Check out all the original tales HERE. Thanks for stopping by and happy reading! 🙂
Wow, thanks! I originally was going to go dark when I wrote the first line, but then the rest of the story came to me as I went. 🙂
I like where it went. It was a great tale. Well done, Eric.