Flash Fiction Under 100 Words!
Now that's telling a super short story.
That was the challenge for our first Micro-Fiction Contest. And I was very pleased with the response. We had 34 entries, 23 of which are published in this issue along with some samplers by three of our six judges and a guest. First a word about the adjudication process and then I'll close with some "thank yous."
The Judgment: An impartial panel of 5 readers, plus partial me, read every story as an anonymous entry. I asked the panel to pick their top 2 favorite stories then categorize the next 15 in 3 groups of 5 - for Best of Show, Near the Top, and Honorable Mention. I did the same, after I tried to forget who wrote what (which was impossible in some cases, lol).
I then tallied the results, awarding 5 points to first, 4 points for second, 3 points for Best of Show, 2 points for Near the Top, and 1 point for Honorable Mention. This resulted in about 25 stories receiving votes. The Top 2 stories received votes from all six judges. But in all the other stories at least one judge didn't award any points. Because we had a number of ties I expanded the Honorable Mention category to 10 stories.
The Prizes & Thank Yous: Donna Sundblad was gracious to offer The Top 3 Winners two of her e-books, Windwalker to Dan and Pumping Your Muse to Alex and Stoney. Plus our 1st Place Winner, Dan Devine, made available to all participants his e-novella, War on the Blind Sea.
Of course, a nice prize in and of itself is to see your story "in print." So congratulations to all the finalists - you won some bragging rights and a conversation starter at your next visit to The Alien's Pub (which I hope to update soon! lol).
So, thanks again - readers and writers - for making this first contest a successful one. Feel free to send a submission (see guidelines) to lyn @ rightthinking . net any time. Oh, and before I let you go, here's one more story of mine that will appear Nov 29 in GWThomas.org's Flashshot. Enjoy!
THE RESIGNATION
by Lyn Perry
Dear Al,
I quit!
I’m sick and tired of being bossed around. We agreed on three wishes. But your last wish was always for three more. You could never quit. It was like a drug with you. "Your wish is my command." Yeah, right. My wish is my command now, baby.
Plus, you asked for impossibilities. Like wanting a plan for world peace. Or trying to understand the mind of a woman. You even wished for tasty jello. Unbelievable!
Al, from now on you'll be rubbing your own stupid lamp. I'm going into business for myself.
No longer yours,
Genie
© 2007 Lyn Perry
Lyn Perry is the publisher of Residential Aliens, a zine for speculative fiction with a spiritual foundation. He enjoys reading, writing, and arithmetic. Well, two out of three anyway.
