Friday 13 April 2012

Lily's Friday Prediction - and an Announcement

My dear Prediction friends, it is with regret that I must announce the imminent demise of Lily's Friday Prediction. It is only fair to give you some notice - the final challenge will be posted on Friday 11th May.

Since I started the Prediction Challenge back in May 2010, the Feardom's corridors have throbbed with horror, crime and beauty. An entire community has grown up around the weekly fiction and poetry fest, and I'm so proud that a regular dangle of three little words has been enough to prompt and inspire writers to develop their drabbles and poems into much longer, successful pieces.

My decision has been a long time coming, and my reasons are as follows:

  • I love supporting writers here and on other platforms but I've barely written a word myself since early February. I need to write. I want to write. And I am serious in the desire to complete my first two novels as soon as possible.
  • I am Horror Editor at Thrillers Killers 'n' Chillers. I haven't been able to dedicate the time I need to do this to my own satisfaction.
  • Ebook promotion is incredibly hard-work and time consuming. Although I intend seeking an agent in the hope of going down the traditional publishing route for my novels, I will still be releasing short story collections as ebooks and need to be able to do this properly.
I am sorry if anyone feels let down or disappointed by my decision, but I hope you respect my reasons.

If anyone would like to take the Prediction on as a project on their own blog or elsewhere, please email me or fill in my contact form.

It has always been my intention to collect Prediction entries and publish them in a series of ebooks, as long as the authors are willing. I'll be in touch as soon as this becomes a possibility.

Thank you, one and all for your incredible words over the last two years. It's been an honour.

Winner of Last Week's Prediction Challenge

The Easter fortnight has been busy for us all and the number of entries dropped accordingly - but the quality didn't.

My winner is Aidan Fritz AGAIN with the incredible flip from the domestic to the horrific in the botanical terror that is  Seeds. Congratulations Aidan, this blew my mind.

Runner-up is AJ Humpage with Last Hiding Place. A heart-breaking glimpse at Anne Franks' final hope that had me holding my breath. Well done Ally.

Words for FRIDAY 13TH, 2012

My old book is falling apart, with some pages stuck together but it still lets me perform a little bibliomancy. Let's see which words it will allow us to (ab)use:
  • Commit
  • Barrel
  • Courage
Good luck with these three!

Rules

The rules are: 100 words max flash fiction or poetry using all of the words above. Please add your entries in the Comments box below. You have until 9pm UK time on Thursday 19th April 2012 to enter.

The winner will be announced on Friday 20th April. If you can, please tweet about your entry, using the #fridayflash hashtag, and blog if you feel like it. Do give feedback to your fellow Predictioneers - we all appreciate it.

If you are afraid of Friday 13th, twist that fear and put it into words. We want to read them...
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Lily Childs is a writer of horror, esoteric, mystery and chilling fiction.

If you see her dancing outside in a thunder storm - don't try to bring her in. She's safe.