Prediction Winner

I love the diverse use of the words this week. Let's quickly summarise, and see which entry won...

• Chris throws an ace card at Milton and Blackwood as the crime-beating duo discover another murder(er) in Coming Up Trump
• Steven's manic pseudo-surgeon gets off on gore in the blood-spattered Rupture.
• Antonia's narrator has enough of her date, however 'ace' he thinks he is, in Escort Duty.
• Amber's dancer almost falls victim to the psychological damage of her defiler's Unwanted abuse, but catches herself just in time.
• AJ exposes the horror of starvation and neglect in a very unbalanced world in Dying Away.
• Aidan brings The Ossuary back to our plates with invitations by the Bone Mate to sculpt and worship skulls.
• Kim puts the homeless Out With The Trash to suck on rats until Death whisks the poor man away.
• Phil delivers a bliss of birth as Rhechévah releases her offspring in Flash.
• William falls foul of his Toxic Girlfriend 1993 as she tears at his soul in an attempt to bring him down to her desperate level.
• Paul's old butcher wins the game and sets up the twisted vic for hungry William in his untitled piece.
• Kallandra freezes our perceptions as the PI grasps the evidence in this untitled thriller.
• Jack chucks a pie at the slimeballs as The Flaming Ace's waitress knocks her abusers dead. (Good riddance).
• My tale shows we shouldn't mock the tarot - or, at least we shouldn't try to hide the message. Love, Ill-Dignified. 

With a brilliant title and a fantastically crafted, caustic poem - the winner this week is William Davoll with Toxic Girlfriend 1993. Congratulations William!

My runner-up is Phil Ambler with his beautiful 'portal to the imagination' Flash. Very well done Phil.

Loved them all; everyone should be very proud.

Advance notice: the winner of the next challenge will get to judge the following Prediction. Ooh!

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How does a bit of Thrillers Killers 'n' Chillers grab you?

It's my pleasure to announce that I have been approached by the Editors of the wonderful Thrillers Killers 'n' Chillers to give them a helping hand. After a long and painful deliberation (5 seconds and a few chocolate hobnobs) I accepted!

If you want to know more about my role as Guest Editor - or in the highly unlikely event that you're not familiar with TKnC - hop on over to take a look at what's already on offer as well as what's coming up.

I'll be adding a bio to Ye Olde Editors page on TKnC as soon as I can remember anything interesting about myself. Most importantly, I'll be dredging through any stories still lingering in the basement to see if I can help bring everything up to date.

So to my good friends and inspirational TKnC editors and authors Thriller Dude Matt Hilton, Crime Dude Col Bury and Horror Dude Lee Hughes - thank you so much for inviting me in. It's going to be a pleasure.

x

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Thrillers Killers 'n' Chillers is currently open to submissions (until 15th July). Check out the Guidelines here.

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Lily's Friday Prediction

Friday - you are so welcome. May you bring peace and creativity in equal measure.

Well done to last week's Prediction winner Michael Solender for No Abdication, and runners-up Aidan Fritz for The Shaking of the Ossuary and Chris Allinotte's U.D.D.D.

Anthology Latest

Did I mention I've finally collated all the entries from the first year's Prediction? The anthology will come out at around 60,000 words if everyone agrees to be included. What a prolific bunch of talented writers you are! I've got the spreadsheet of dates/words/authors/entries on the go now so (I know I've said this before, but dammit - life gets so busy sometimes) don't be surprised if you hear from me individually soon.

Words for 8th July 2011

Tasty words this week...

• Crust
• Ace
• Incision

For new contributors, you can use the root of these words in any form; noun, verb, adjective, adverb. For example crusty, incisor, but you must use all 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 all week until 9pm UK time on Thursday 14th July to enter.

Winner will be announced next Thursday or Friday. If you can, please tweet about your entry, using the #fridayflash hashtag, and blog if you feel like it.

What magic do you hold up your sleeve? Prepare to reveal yourselves...

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Prediction Winner

The cat's come over to help me judge tonight. Her name's Lily too and she's getting on a bit; keeps forgetting who she is. That's what I'm scared of - somehow I think it's inevitable.

Summary time - a quickie.

• Michael: No Abdication. Empirical turmoil with monarchic spite.
• Me: An Eye for an Eye. A queenly exchange of eyeballs.
• Sue: One For The Road. Perfect spies and conspiracy theories for the almighty Strachan.
• AJ: Blood in the Water. Imperial Rome arrives with bloody Caesar's dictatorship.
• Nina: What Were YOU Thinking. An optical illusion disguised in doctor's clothing.
• William: #1 Where's the Fox PT2. Sellings and Tench get a lot more to go on, via Huxley.
  #2 The Real Guy Fawkes. Final moments of madness through torture.
• Phil: Revolution? Hunters become the hunted and revolution turns the world upside down.
• Chris: U.D.D.D. Flashing memories haunt the alleged traitor as he breathes his last breath - and swings.
• Paul: #1 The Museum of Treason. All-seeing statues paralysed in innocent poses.
  #2 Untitled. Grandma Graves is a wily manipulator; the 'eyes' have it.
• John: CyberOptical Illusion. Live visual attacks create distorted conceptions.
• Aidan: The Shaking of the Ossuary. Bones and flesh intermingle in this battle to save Circe, and lives.
• Asuqi: Perfect Shot. A golden-haired model twists to make the photographer sit up and take notice.

Straight to the point. My winner this week is Michael Solender with the powerful and disturbing No Abdication. Frightening, familiar and memorable. Congratulations Michael.

Two runners-up - Aidan Fritz' mad The Shaking of the Ossuary. Bizarre and wonderful. And Chris Allinotte's U.D.D.D. - a terrifying finality. Well done both.

I'd also like to make special mention of newcomer Paul/Crimson Archer's entries. Very promising - do stay with us Paul.

Am I really going to get to bed before midnight on a Thursday for once? Let's see... Back tomorrow, with Guest Judge-time news.

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Interlude by Lily Childs

Do you remember the Dressing Up Box demon? It's found itself a plaything - just for this evening...

Interlude

I hold her, cradle the trembling head between clawed hands and wonder at her beauty.

Eyes wide she stares up at my face. Does she recognise her own image? I stole it when I rebirthed her – she should be grateful.

A song sings, muffled behind the ribbons of satin at her mouth. I have woven them into multi-coloured braids. If she uses her tongue she will find a way out, a release for the nightingale in her throat.

We are naked, she and me; but we differ still. Her mane of gold now pours from my own scalp, studded in swathes and streaked vermilion with my old blood. I take a handful of the fine hair and use it as a paintbrush, dipping it in and out of the open slices at her belly. The thick fluids coagulate almost before I can apply them to my chest where I have tattooed her name. But all is well, the holes overflow with her juices and she is sealed to me forever.

It won’t be long. I reach down to gather the nest from between her legs. Humming an aria I sprinkle the wiry threads into a keepsake box with her brows and eyelashes.

Her last breath’s a pretty one. I help by biting the strap from her lips – I have caught her gasp before she can take another one and I hold her tight as she dies in my mouth.

It’s a hollow death. No shame in that.

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Lily's Friday Prediction

Where does the time go? I mean - really? Did someone steal it when I was sleeping? They took a lot more than they were entitled to, that's for sure. Seems only moments ago I was posting about John Xero winning last week's Prediction challenge with his beautiful Poet... and indeed it was. Congratulations John.

Words for 1st July 2011

These could be interesting. What do you think?

• Treason 
• Optic (optician, optical etc - all OK) 
• Pose

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 all week until 9pm UK time on Thursday 7th July to enter.

Winner will be announced next Thursday or Friday. If you can, please tweet about your entry, using the #fridayflash hashtag, and blog if you feel like it.

Throw your words at me; make me swear with horror and delight. I'm ready...
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Prediction Winner

I've got a double-judge wig on tonight (and very scratchy it is too). The marvels that are this week's Prediction entries sit before me - blooming with dark petals of talent. Over at the UK's Writing Magazine online forum Talkback, there are some gorgeous pieces of prose and fiction on the theme of Rapture that I need to make a decision on. Prediction's first; so here goes...

• Nina, there is real anger to Esmeralda in Skinned Alive; her revenge - bloodied with joyous satisfaction - had me grinning, somewhat dangerously perhaps. Most amusing and well-written.
• Aidan, a cheeky little noir you've thrown at us this week with The Missing Page. I can't get that clock out of my head; bizarre it certainly is.  
• William, oh yes; The Publisher - a great name for a serial killer. Such a sensory piece, wickedly described. Where's The Fox needs to be full-length. Get to it!
• asuqi, a frighteningly stark poem stabbed with loneliness. Reloaded reveals the author in many of us; all AND nothing at the same time. Clever.
• Erin, Mr Jack lingers in many a Brit's psyche, a Victorian legacy of which we are ashamed but morbidly fascinated by. You capture the media horror perfectly here and I can visualise the drawings you have made with words in The Whitechapel Murderer.
• Chris, kinder indeed! I don't think Master Class is a lesson in romance though, I believe it's an imminent seduction that you're exposing us to and that Amanda Darling is very, very naughty. An intriguing write.
• AJ, you perfect beauty whilst carving words of horror onto screens and onto skin. Six Letters equals poetic, hard revenge - beautifully crafted.
• Phil's a comedian this week. I liked Type O negative - 'drape and pillage' me laugh out loud, as did that final line. Great fun; wish I had the same wit.
• Antonia, A Bee's Life is just gorgeous. I have huge respect for these incredible creatures whose hum and travail epitomise the arrival of summer. I adore this eulogy in their honour.
• Reba, I love your strumpet; desperate measures. "The skirt barely hid her petals as he nosed his way upward" is a brilliantly written, grubby little line. I think your Heroine's series will be bestsellers.
• My untitled piece was a condensed version of a ghost story I wrote a few years ago and never sub'd anywhere. Glad Danny showed his face eventually, poor lad.
• Inimitable David Barber dialogue in So, You Want Realism? What sent the chill down my spine wasn't so much the forthcoming 'hunt' but the thought of a publisher wanting my unfinished novel - in just two months. Terrifying. Thanks Dave.
• St. Force - Flowers on a Guillotine, such an exquisite title. It totally deserves to be draping itself over a full-length novel - and from what you've give us, I think you've got the concept already. Very interesting.
• John, I have no words - because you have used them all, my favourites all played out and placed with precision yet with the illusion of tumbling pretty prose. Poet is truly gorgeous.
• Thomas, your untitled murder story teases on so many levels. Intriguing in itself as a stand-alone tale with a twist it also squeezes our paranoia pulse with corrupt publishers and deranged fans; crafty writing Mr Pluck.
• Steven, very generous to reveal one of your diary entries. :) I love how it's the door and the lock that are swaying - not Lisher. I’ll tell you when I’ve had enough is the great mistake - do tell me it really happened? Thanks for making me giggle.
• William, On Forbidden Love is a lovely yet tragic poem that trips off the tongue when read out loud (and I did, you know). What is sadder or more cruel than betrayal of the heart?
• Zaiure, lots of Twists in here. Publishers are becoming more scary by the minute with their vicious seductions and desperate plans - on here at least. Poor Petal never stood a chance.

We have been veritably treated with different styles and emotions this time around. It has all made for very interesting reading - and a judging challenge. But I do have a winner - just the one. It's John Xero with the beguiling Poet. Absolutely beautiful. Congratulations John.

Very well done to everyone for such great writes; as always I'm looking forward to the next round.

And now I'm going to watch a bit of Medium and slope off to bed. A demain...

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