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Wordstock Flash Sledgehammer 36-Word Writing Contest, Part 2

Posted on October 17, 2013 by writer

There is usually only one winner of our Mini and Flash Sledgehammers, but our judges were so taken with another entry to the Wordstock Flash Sledgehammer that we decided to award a second place to Kaitee Steiert. She’ll receive 15% off an Indigo service. Congratulations, Kaitee!

Incorporating the prompt free-for-all, Kaitee wrote this piece of flash fiction:

It starts perfect. A smile, a free-for-all with the air. Next: pain, eating dirt, that stubborn horse wondering why the hell I did something like that. She won’t be broken after all.

©2013 Kaitee Steiert

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Wordstock Flash Sledgehammer 36-Word Writing Contest, Part 1

Posted on October 17, 2013 by writer

Congratulations, Eric Butler, winner of a one-hour consultation with an Indigo editor!

Incorporating the prompt free-for-all, Eric wrote this piece of flash fiction:

The meeting adjourned, the doors opened, the free-for-all began. I moved a moment too late, and found myself shut out. Their conversations were walls against me; how strange to have no audience in a crowded room.

©2013 Eric Butler

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“Flipping the Bird” by Writers with No Name

Posted on September 24, 2012 by writer

Character: Police station clerk
Action: Tightening a knot
Setting: A meeting for a subversive group
Prop: Decorative songbirds made from vinyl records

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Flipping the Bird

by Writers with No Name

“So,” Cliff picks up a molded vinyl Chickadee from a long row of metal shelving and flips it in the air. “What’s with the fucking birds?”

Howard slumps in his metal chair. “My wife made them. It’s why I called the meeting.”

“Jesus, Howard, you want me to buy some birds, all you got to do is fucking ask. Why you got to bring me here off-hours?”

Cliff swings his head to take in the long rows of neatly tagged and bagged evidence. Darryl picks up one of the decorative songbirds and turns it over, scanning it in silence. Like ebon origami, the bird is a delicately folded and stretched vinyl record, softened in boiling water. The label – Charlie Parker with String – is somehow still intact.

Continue reading →

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“Hypnos” by Team WonderBra

Posted on September 24, 2012 by writer

Congratulations to Team WonderBra for winning the 2012 Readers’ Choice Award!

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Character: Police station clerk
Action: Tightening a knot
Setting: A meeting for a subversive group
Prop: Decorative songbirds made from vinyl records

***

Hypnos

by Team WonderBra

I can’t stop kicking the leg of my chair under my seat.  The clock says 2, and it’s the first moment today I’ve noticed the time at all. I can’t remember how many hours it’s been since I sat down in this chair. Hell, maybe it’s been minutes.  Maybe the junkie sitting across from me has been here for days, drifting in an out of a fitful sleep as he pulls at his tattered Batman t-shirt. Maybe he knows the secret of rewinding time back to yesterday, and if I shake him hard enough and plead with him enough and tell him what a terrible and unfair thing has happened, his glassy eyes will soften and he will look at me with understanding and oblige me. But he only stares at me, letting me know he hasn’t slept for days and wants things to be normal too.  I keep kicking back and forth into the chair leg, wanting it to punish me back.

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“The Princess and the Hobo: A Portland Fable” by Skinner and Sinner

Posted on September 24, 2012 by writer

Character: Police station clerk
Action: Tightening a knot
Setting: A meeting for a subversive group
Prop: Decorative songbirds made from vinyl records

***

The Princess and the Hobo: A Portland Fable

by Skinner and Sinner

I wondered whether flesh was under the fabric of the two forms approaching as I slumped against Skidmore fountain. In a way, they were angels completing our circle of protection.

“Dan, how’s Sarge?” asked Hank, rubbing between furry ears.

Sarge’s steel collar tinkled like a music box over the bubbling fountain. His tongue lagged out too big for his mouth.

Pat revealed a bottle inside his jacket.

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