Announcing the Winner of the WU Flash Fiction Contest, Round 2

Thank you to everyone who participated in the second round of the 2015 Writer Unboxed Flash Fiction Contest!

Once again, the entries were of an incredibly high calibre, and were a joy to read. Remember last month when I said it was nigh on impossible to choose just one winner? It was even harder this month. So much so that, after much deliberation, we’ve decided to name TWO winning entries.

But before we get to the grand announcement, allow me to congratulate February’s honourable mentions:

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

Marta (“They told her every dream she’d ever had rested on the other side of the door.”)

MJL Brassard (““I just can’t handle it Jo,” said Angie. “I’m sorry.””)

WINNING ENTRIES

And now, allow me to introduce the two winners of round two:

Kate Magner with Resistance. Here it is, in an encore appearance.

Resistance

“We don’t have all night.” Adi’s pacing blocked the door, the knob, and the keyhole view of little girl we’d locked inside.

I dipped my pen and finished the letter’s last line. “How do you want it signed?”

“The Resistance.”

“We hardly make a resistance.”

“More will join us.” When Adi rolled the signet ring she’d been clasping onto the table, I tried to ignore the blood dotting the golden crest. “Sign it. Seal it.”

Gathering her coat, she buckled sword-belts and ruffled through saddlebags, double-checking she had what she needed to deliver the ransom note.

Photo by Rebecca Pagel

Another pair of eyes, ones big and brown, watched me add the looping signature to the bottom of the parchment. Through the keyhole, she followed the wax nub to the candle, saw it melt, saw me smear it onto the folded page, and press down with the ring we’d stripped from her mother’s limp hand.

I dusted the imprinted crest of manacles and a hooked anchor, the grooves shallow compared to the ones around my wrists.

Adi plucked the letter from my hands. “Three days.”

I don’t think she saw my nod as she swept into the briny night. Wind gusts and the surf’s constant surge vanished behind the slammed door.

“What happens in three days?”

I hunched over the table’s clutter, burdened by my acts and the little girl’s whisper. “That’ll be for your uncle to decide.”

“What happens now?”

“Now?” I snuffed the candle, leaving us to the fireplace’s embers. “We wait.”

We loved this story for its world-building, and the broad-brushstroke clarity of the scene, and hope you do too. Want to know a bit more about its author?

Kathleen Magner write urban, historical, and traditional fantasy novels with strong female protagonists, mainstream short stories, and the short fiction viewable on her blog. With a passion for history, travel, and sports, she endeavor to incorporate the past, vibrant settings from across the globe, and high action in all of her work

Pauline Yates with Toil and Trouble, Boil and Bubble. Enjoy!

Toil and Trouble, Boil and Bubble

Witch Wandita hurled the Book of Mythology across the dungeon.

“Bah,” she cursed. “Gods? Wizards? Hairy toed Hobbits? Witches should rule the worlds. Without our cunning and intellect, they’re nothing. Nothing.”

She shuffled across the stone floor, reached for her potions bible and flicked through the tattered pages. 

“Ah,” she exclaimed. She jabbed her bony finger at a potion then collected bottles from a shelf and poured the contents into a large cauldron. As she sniffed the sulphuric fumes, she checked the ingredients list.

“The key to the universe.” She plucked a brass key from her cloak pocket and dropped it into the bubbling concoction.

“A drop of blood from Snow White’s dear mother.” She cackled manically and tossed the vial into the brew.

She ripped a cord from her neck and rolled a ring between her fingers. “Oh, so Precious.” She dropped the ring into the liquid. It sizzled, melted and turned the mixture fire red.

Wandita cackled again.

“A stone to call the ghosts of the dead. The hide of Aslan stirred in with a trident.” She reefed a rug from under her feet and swirled it through the potion with the golden prongs.

“And now. The final ingredient.” She hobbled across the dungeon and stopped at a locked wooden door. “A pinch of knowledge from the universe. Then one sip and I shall be ruler of all the worlds.” She cackled then reached into her cloak pocket.

“Drat,” she muttered. “Now where did I put that key?”

We loved this story for its clever humour and its twist at the end, and hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. And now, time to learn a bit more about its author.

Pauline Yates lives at Ocean view, Australia, where you can see the ocean on a clear day but only if you stand on the top fence post of the property with a good pair of binoculars. Surrounded by family, pets and the tranquillity of the mountains, she spends her ‘supposed to be sleeping hours’ working on her debut novel and penning short stories to hone her writing skills. When she does sleep, she is woken by her cat, who demands breakfast before the sun comes up or he’ll die of starvation.

 

Congratulations, Kate and Pauline! You’ve earned yourself a place in December’s final round of the 2015 WU Flash Fiction Contest. 

Readers, ready for Round Three? It’s coming up in another hour, so stay tuned…