Woohoo!!! That was so much fun, and such a great way to finish up two years as a flash fiction contest! Thanks and congrats to everyone who participated. I truly enjoyed reading your stories this week. But enough about me, go read them yourself here. Finished? Now to what the judge had to say:
A tale by torchlight by Jeffrey Hollar
A Scottish wedding is interrupted when the power goes off, and the Deaders threaten to attack. Luckily both father and daughter are well equipped to save the day, partially due to the fact that “what a Scotsman had beneath his kilt these days was likely to be a sight more than just his bollocks.” The story is well written, and the imagery is descriptive and clear. I learned a new phrase – “Ye mak a better door than a windae” [get the heck out of the way]. Fun mashup of Scots and Deaders that would be enjoyable to read more of now that I’ve got the lingo!
Die Nasty by Geoff Holme
This was an amusing whirlwind of a story – or should I say a ‘brief candle of wedded bliss?’ It seems Geoff managed to pack an entire novel into 500 words! The story line is jam packed with characters whom you actually love to hate, reminiscent of an episode of Dallas! Terrific plot that begs to be made into something full length – a movie? And do I hear an echo of Fatal Attraction here too?
Special Challenge Runner Up
Untitled by Sheba AJ
Did I ask for family drama? I certainly got it in this psychological thriller of a wedding gone terribly wrong. The story begins with what you may think is rock bottom when “suddenly he realized he had forgotten his bride’s name,” however that’s just the start. The complex twists and turns from the wedding to memories that were so hardwired into his brain, that the groom could not disassociate one woman from the other lure the reader into a state of psychotic horror. Horrible and dramatic, the image of “the nails on his face”, as well as the scent of the roses will stay with me too now, as I wonder what really happened in the end!
Special Challenge Champion
Alien Wedding by Dylyce P. Clarke
Language and story are used with surgical precision here - from “the bride’s leathery feather encased forehead” to the “squidjump,” we are seamlessly transported directly into the Walgreden gardens where a wedding would be taking place if it weren’t interrupted by invaders from another galaxy. The politics of the battle reminded me somewhat of the Russia/Ukraine situation, and the dilemma of the woman warrior, who is brave and strong but mustn’t let on, is an issue that many powerful woman struggle with even today! Kudos!
Grand Champion
Family Ridiculousness’s by Foy S. Iver
Delightfully magical tale with a surprise
ending.
The “ridiculousness’s” in the title already
hints at the strangeness to follow, where one of the guests is a Trilby
hat-eating goat. We feel for the protagonist, Elvira, who has her hands full
running the whole disastrous show. The reader is swept into an off balance
world where, from the bride’s razor sharp teeth to the groom’s twitching legs,
nothing makes sense until the very end where I could not help but laugh out
loud. Foy uses language playfully “Kabump”, “irascible stomach” – metaphors for
the childish yet serious play that this turns out to be. 
Congratulations to Sheba AJ, Dylyce and Foy.
ReplyDeleteThanks to judge Audrey Weinberg for taking the trouble to give feedback on all the entries. I imagine that everyone appreciated that; I know for certain that I feel very flattered by your kind words.
( I was actually thinking, Audrey, not so much of JR and Swellin' as Blake and Krystle; hence the title, a pun on the US pronunciation of 'Dynasty', but you got the right idea. And I hadn't directly considered the 'Fatal Attraction' aspect, though I had caught the end of the movie on TV a few days before, so I suppose I had it in my subconscious. Well spotted!)