Week 667 of #ThursThreads was a success, and y’all never disappoint. Thank you to everyone who writes each week. You are why we’re still doing this, and why we’ve made it almost 13 YEARS!
If you’ve just found us, welcome to the crew! May you come back again and write more great flash. A thousand thanks to Jacob Summers for judging this week. Follow Siobhan Muir on Bluesky or check out the #ThursThreads #flashfiction group on Facebook or the #ThursThreads Group on MeWe to keep up with news, etc.
Entries:
- Richard Gibney
- Bill Engleson
- Siobhan Muir
- Eric Martell
- Miranda Kate
- Sheilagh Lee
- Silver James
- Mark Ethridge
- David A. Ludwig
- K.R. Van Horn
Honorable Mentions
Eric Martell | Website
Jacob says: Well DONE. I want to read this book. I want to know what happens to the people. I want to know how they got here. Without even listing a bunch of names or titles of worlds and characters, simply the action and the setting alone has captured my attention. PLEASE let me know if you make this a whole book. It was also ridiculously easy to follow with flow.
Miranda Kate | Website
Jacob says: Wow, there are some fun entries this week. THIS one was one of the ones I want more of. It feels rogueish and I think I know where this COULD be going, but it is setup for so many possible outcomes/scenarios. Even if it ends the way I think it does, I’d still sit along for the ride. Pairing this setting and action with some rather steampunk/YA style names was THE perfect choice in my opinion. It makes it so it feels like a time travelling adventure that is very self aware both in universe and in a meta way.
Silver James | Website
Jacob says: Ah, Silver. The way I read this so damned quickly. If this was a full book, I’d spend an entire Saturday or Sunday getting nothing else done til you got to a slower point in the book and I could take a break for air… or water. Just not the water coming down the tunnel. I like to grade these things on hook, style, flow, and my judge’s preference. And I think you nailed all four. I don’t remember from the previous entry if this is supposed to be a romance or not, but you’ve set this up to be either a romantasy or a straight up action fantasy, and either way I love it. Flow had me speeding through. The hook was subtle enough for it to keep me wanting to read, and the style was good but didn’t insist on itself. Well done.
winner announcement
Week 667 Winner
Jacob says: The absolute way the writing had me hooked from the beginning… not with a loud bang or a promise, but it was just so beautifully written. It had marvelous flow. The story has me wanting to know more, absolutely. But I feel like any story could be told if written like THIS and I’d listen to it just because of the grace with which it was written. This was the last entry I read, and I like to give each story a fair shot and not get burnt out by the end. But it didn’t need that grace on my part. I had to rearrange my whole order of judge’s preference after reading this. I am not even sure whether the larger story is something I’d typically read or not (hard to determine in so few words), but this would have me wanting to find out. Well done. Bonus points for “blabber-blurbing in the wind.”
– Proof of Work –
The sky scintillated with drifting orbs, floating ambitions destined for somewhere better. Balloons big and bitty, all scribbled with “I can” in hopeful, orange ink. Everyone tied their dreams to balloons in the town of Uply.
The Elders said they’d come true once they reached the Cloudkeepers. But no balloon ever came back.
Marla watched day after day from her perch on the edge of the world, clutching ancient star charts and flamingo feathers. She’d never released a balloon, not even when her mother threatened the corner. And so she spent hours of childhood staring at the wall, because she didn’t like “I can.”
But the time wasn’t idle. She was devising a plan. A blueprint. And from it, she built wings crude, clunky, stitched from silence and secondhand books, kite string and stubborn glue. Every night, she tested them in secret.
On the Day of Loft, when everyone launched their grandest balloons, Marla stepped onto the ledge, wind rushing like laughter in her ears. The townsfolk below paused, balloons tugging at their wrists.
Someone shouted, “Where’s your ‘I can’?”
Marla smiled. “Don’t need one.” She stuck a final flamingo feather into place.
She leapt.
Wings wobbled. Feathers flailed. The ground, a hungry blur.
She whispered, “This had better work.” Lips blabber-blurbing in the wind.
And then she was aloft. Floating.
For the first time in Uply’s long, floating history, someone rose. Not with a promise, but with proof.
Above the drifting balloons, she soared.
~~~~~~~
Congratulations Nine Time Winner K.R., and Honorable Mentions Eric, Miranda, and Silver! Don’t forget to claim your badges and display them with pride. You certainly earned it!
Pass on the great news on Facebook, MeWe, Bluesky, Mastodon, shiny mirrors, Morse Code, and signal flags. Check out all the original tales HERE. Thanks for stopping by and happy reading! 🙂
