A Very Special FWO Weird #Christmas
(Beth Turnage Blog)
From time to time at Fantasy Writer dot org we have submission challenges were we challenge each other to submit en massé to one publication to see how we fare. At Christmas, we participate in the Weird Christmas Flash Fiction Contest,where Craig, the owner of the site, chooses a few winners and a bunch of honorable mentions who record their stories for his podcast. Alas, none of us made the cut this year, but we wanted to record our stories, so I offered to host the recordings. In no particular order, here are flashes of 350 word weird Christmas goodness.
Winning Winifred’s Love
by Ingrid Thornquest
The Story: Bradley Bevinstock-Brown would do anything for that ‘yes’ from his love Winifred, even allowing her witchy friends to bless him.
Bio: Ingrid Thornquest has always been interested in exploring new perspectives from which to understand the world. Born in London, she immigrated via her father’s suitcase to Australia, where she reached the dizzy heights of snooping on kangaroo’s personal lives. Naturally, this led to choreographing contemporary dance in Sydney, and thence the need to improvise through dance in Indonesia and Europe. After living in her birth city for seventeen years, she departed to live with Bliss, her partner, on the lower slopes of the Massive Central in France, where five cats are endeavoring to train her in the way of the cat. Along this journey, she collected a few letters after her name and writes a romance ghost-writer and is an active member of Fantasy Writers Organization.
Briefing: Gorblactan Fleet, Date 9102.21.22
by Nyki Blatchley
The Story: Good morning, agents. This will be your final briefing for your crucial mission in the campaign to conquer the planet, Terra.
Bio: Nyki Blatchley is a British author, copywriter and part-time dragon. He lives in Hertfordshire (just outside London, if you’re not familiar with the UK) and besides reading enjoys singing, percussion instruments, fell-walking and incinerating pesky knights. But not devouring maidens.That’s just slander. Note by Beth Sure, Nyki, sure.
Nick Not
by Andy Clark
The Story: Nick Not is a story of a wish Santa couldn’t fulfill.
Bio: Andy Clark lives in Richmond, Virginia, USA with his wife, son and two grand-dachshunds. He works for the state as an IT Manager and has been writing for fun and the opposite of profit for fifteen years. He hopes you enjoy the story.
The Christmas Weeds
by Beth Turnage
The Story: Danger comes from the least likely places.
Bio: Born in a century far less progressive than how her brain is wired, Beth engages in occupations considered less than reputable, one of them being a ghostwriter of erotic and romance fiction. Since time travel is not an option, in her off time she contents herself with writing about people and places in a far distant future with the twists that only come with traveling to the stars.
Christmas, It Creeps In
By E. N. Dawson
The Story: Up on the rooftop with a twist.
Bio: E. N. Dawson lives in Slidell, LA (slightly north of New Orleans) with her husband and two children. She has been writing since elementary school, hopefully having improved since then, and studied creative writing at Southeastern Louisiana University.
Humans Call It Christmas
By Karen Jones
The story: Even demons celebrate in their own way. They just have a different name for it.
Bio: Karen Jones is a writer currently living in Florida. With a degree in creative writing (40 years ago), she finally got around to the writing part. She hopes you will enjoy her offering.
Letter to Santa from a Budding Mad Scientist
By Daniel Ausema
The Story: The title says it all. Run. Now.
Bio: Daniel Ausema’s fiction and poetry have appeared in many publications, including Strange Horizons, Daily Science Fiction, and Diabolical Plots. He is the creator of the steampunk-fantasy Spire City series, and his novel The Silk Betrayal is published by Guardbridge Books. He lives in Colorado, at the foot of the Rockies.
And that’s it, folks. How did you enjoy our Weird Christmas Tales?
Published with permission from the authors. All copyrights remain with the authors.
This is great, folk! Do you mind if I share it? I still loved all of these stories, but with over 600 entries, the competition was fierce.
Craig
Sure, go right ahead.