Week 546 of #ThursThreads, and y’all never disappoint. We’re in Year 10 and that’s an accomplishment in itself! Thank you to all y’all for coming back to write for all these years. I couldn’t have done it without you. If you’ve just found us, welcome to the crew! You’re in good company. May you come back again and write more great flash. A thousand thanks to Lexikon 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:
- Silver James | @SilverJames_
- Mark A. Morris
- Bill Engleson | @billmelaterplea
- Siobhan Muir | @SiobhanMuir
- Mark Ethridge | @mysoulstears
- Eric Martell | @drmag00
- Kelly Heinen | Aightball
- David A. Ludwig | @DavidALudwig
- Clay | @eight_clay
- Patty Dump
Honorable Mentions
Clay | @eight_clay
Lexikon says: Another pull on the heartstrings in this tale! There seems to be a definite melancholy across a lot of the entries but this one stood out for me. You know from the off something is wrong, something is hurting the character but the announcement that Eric didn’t come back is so simple and then the text moves on: no weeping declaration, no shouting, just a weary continual search that will never end for the character. The decay of the park mirrors the decay in the memories, how the character used to think of this of a place of fun and colour and now it is a grey, miserable place that haunts him. And I really want to know what the car reminded him of…
Another subtly crafted tale that stuck with me when I came back to take a second pass at the stories.
Mark Ethridge | @mysoulstears
Lexikon says: This is haunting. The machines are looking after her but are they doing it for her or in spite of her. The power of machines and machine intelligence is always a topic that interests me and this story takes it in an interesting way. They want to preserve her people but why? Sunshine’s pan and torment is clear in this one, as is her resignation that the machines will not let her make her own choices. The contrast of the hope of the machines that her race survives and her hopelessness that she has to go own was very moving.
winner announcement
Week 546 Winner
Lexikon says: The last line in this story really sold it for me. I think in that one statement Grissom was really encapsulated and I understood exactly who she was and I liked her. There were some simple little lines slipped in that told you much more about the situation, or at least give hints that there was more going on that was very subtly done; for example the line about ‘it making it easier to commit the unthinkable.’ Grissom seems like a positive, happy leader in the face of adversity but clearly there’s more than meets the eye. What has she had to do exactly? This story did not go over-heavy on painting a Mad Max style description yet still managed to create a whole world clearly separate from our own allowing the imagination to clearly see what you were being led to. I thought this story showed clear skill in the small word count, knowing how much to give to create a world without being pure action or pure description. Would love to read more Grissom in future!
Grissom hung back. She had the same under-nourished look as all the men, but she hadn’t been beaten. So long as she had a view of their future and a breath in her chest, she’d resist.
And if she died, she wouldn’t die alone. She’d take as many blue Rigellians with her as she could.
“What do you say?” she said. “Does anyone here feel like shenanigans?”
A few of the men still in the undercroft groaned. They’d already been involved in some of her raids, many nursing wounds they’d gained in action. One or two would never fight again, their injuries too severe for them to rejoin the combatants, but others were still able enough to throw an improvised grenade or to drive a stolen car at the alien soldiers. It didn’t take much to be able to make a difference; it was a war of attrition as much as anything else.
When there was nothing left to lose, it made it easier to commit to the unthinkable.
“What about the armour they’re now wearing? Bullets bounce off them. What are we going to do about that?”
Grissom noted the man. He was a new one. They’d picked up a ragtag collection of vigilantes in the last town, but few had been tested in conflict. They’d mostly looted as they’d run from each skirmish, recovering weapons from the dead and the dying.
“We aim for their heads,” she said. “And if that doesn’t work, I’ll think of something else.”
~~~~~~~
Congratulations THIRTY-THREE TIME WINNER Mark, and Honorable Mentions Clay and 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! 🙂
