Janet Flash: Colin In Heaven

by Michael Seese

The author community, though naturally HUGE, still manages to find small pockets of intimacy here and there. So it was with the group of writers to took part in Rebekah Postupak's now-defunct weekly Flash! Friday. And so it is with the folks who haunt contribute to Janet Reid's blog. Even though I've never met any of my literary brethren face to face, I do feel as though I know many of them.

One fellow devotee of Janet The Wonder Agent is Colin Smith, a fine writer and a good cat overall. Check out his work here.  

He recently paid a visit to Janet's office -- aka The Shark's Reef -- the other day. Janet, of course, decided to memorialize the event with a contest. Examine the pictures below, then in 50 words say what happened next. 

 
 



Focusing on the second, I wrote "Colin In Paradise."


A chipper BING BING signalled his arrival in Eden.

Like all prophecies, Janet's message had been cryptic.

"I want to discuss a book deal."

Spying the agente provocatrice, Colin's heart raced ahead to greet her.

"Yes, Janet?" he stammered.

"I’ll pay you $20 to shelve these books. Alphabetically, by author." 


What do you think happened?

Flash! Friday: A Beautiful Girl Lived Here + Feeding The Imagination

by Michael Seese

I like the word "penultimate." But not when it comes to Flash! Friday contests. I'm still going for that elusive win #6, which would put me in some pretty select company with the great writers who practice their craft there.

This week, we were given this photo:

 

and asked to include a dragon. (For some reason, Rebekah has an abnormal obsession with the big green critters.

I started first on "A Beautiful Girl Lived Here," but actually finished it second.

The plaintive words painted on the sidewalk never faded in the sun, never ran in the rain. 

A beautiful girl lived here.

Abigail always hated the past tense; it came burdened with an inescapable sense of finality.

She read yet again the stark white letters and thought about all the "finals" associated with that day, so long ago.

"I’m going out!" The final time she screamed at her father.

"No you’re not!" The final words he would ever say to her, practically breathing fire as he spat them out.

"I am!" Her final act of defiance.

The backhand across her face. The final time he hit her.

The sickening sound the bones in her neck made when they snapped. That was a first.

Her father’s anguished wail. Another first. 

A beautiful girl lived here.

"I still live here," she whispered, bringing another flood of tears from the eyes of a man wracked with guilt. "You just can’t see me, Daddy."

Then I wrote "Feeding The Imagination."

"Mommy? Are dragons good or bad?"

Amanda’s mother smiled, seeing the spark once again in her daughter’s beautiful eyes. For too long they’d swirled with dark storm clouds. Petey’s death hit her hard. The melancholia lasted months. Perhaps she was breaking free of the fugue.

"Both, I suppose. Dragons, like people, can be either good or bad."

"Don’t dragons kill people?"

"Some do, I imagine. Maybe they’re bad. Or just scared. I know I would be scared if I were resting comfortably in my nest, and—"

"Cave," Amanda broke in.

"Pardon?"

"Cave. Dragons live in dark places, like caves or—"

"Amanda," her father finally huffed. "I’ve had enough of this nonsense. This fantasy world. The swords and sorcery. Dragons are not real. Say it with me. Say it!"

"Dragons are not real," Amanda repeatedly obediently. 

Tell that to Timothy’s parents, she thought. They’re probably still looking for him. But they won’t find him. After all, dragons do have to eat.

 
Not to boast, but I'm pretty happy with both. But as always, it's the judges' call.

Now on to my Janet piece...

Warmup Wednesday! eX-Man

by Michael Seese

Apparently, one weekly contest wasn't enough for Rebekah of Flash! Friday fame. So she created Warmup Wednesday! Same basic idea, though our stories have to be exactly 100 words.

This week, we had to include a superhero, and use this picture.

 














Here is "eX-Man."

I hate my job. Crawling up buildings. Hopping across rooftops. And for what? To rid this city of pests.

Things sure changed around here when Peter and Mary Jane got married. You'd think, for obvious reasons, that they couldn't have kids. They sure proved the entomologists wrong. And, unfortunately, the spider that bit Peter Parker was a from the Argiope family. They can have up to 1,500 eggs.

At least it keeps me employed.

I had just settled down to watch a movie when I heard a scream.

OK, I'll say it. This looks like a job for eXterminator Man.

See you on Friday.

Flash! Friday: Lions

by Michael Seese

Flash! Friday hostess Rebekah served up a few changes this week. You can read it all here. But in a nutshell:

1. "This coming year we’ll focus on the primary elements of story: character, setting, plot, and theme. We’ll rotate through these four in a well-behaved, orderly fashion."
2. We have been allotted 200 words, +/- 10, up from 150.

So this week, the character is a janitor. And this is the photo.

Even with the extra 50 words, I had to work to winnow down "Lions."

A janitor is a lot like air. You don't give a second thought to the presence of either. But you sure as hell notice their absence.

Joseph was grateful for his job at the Federated Church. It afforded him shelter, security. Alone, in his small apartment in the basement, he would drink in the peace. Growing up, silence had been a commodity as rare to him as the luxuries Westerners took for granted. He cursed those who allowed hate to poison the once-pristine well of religion. Too many friends had died at the hands of those who saw their way as the only way.

He had prayed for guidance, for strength. Finally, he was granted both. He celebrated by smoking a cigarette, inhaling the freedom which comes with conviction.

Watching the Sunday parishioners file in this snowy morning, Rev. Holt felt his janitor's absence, as a slushy, slippery mess began accumulating just inside the door.

Where in the world is Joe? he wondered. Rev. Holt never would have imagined his janitor was huddled in the apartment, preparing to make his presence felt.

Yussef looked at his comrades, and dramatically slapped the clip into his AK-47. "My brothers, the time has come. Today, we throw these Christians to the lions."

You wondered where the Colosseum would fit in, didn't you? Feel free to share your thoughts on "Lions."

Flash! Friday "My Dresden"

by Michael Seese

Another three-hankie effort for Flash! Friday. Since this is Rebekah's "Flashversary," it's a special two-step process. You can read all the details here. The quick and dirty: from yesterday's (and today's) entries, the top 25 will be chosen. Those authors will write another story. The top ten will be picked and voted on by the folks at Flash Fiction Online, with the winners announced December 16.

Here is the photo:

 





















Here is "My Dresden."

The war is almost over.

I stand among the ashes that once were my future, and ask the questions that don’t want to be answered.

Why?

Why me?

Iron vultures circle overhead, ogling their target. The bombardment leaves me blind, deaf, and tasting steel. Wave after wave have made me weak, numb, tired.

So tired.

There is no pain greater than watching, helpless, as your childhood crumbles. But I no longer possess the strength for depression. Anger bled from me long ago. I’ve come to accept that the world has given up on me. It’s moved on. I should do the same.

My parents call me their “brave little soldier.” They don’t understand how the chemotherapy turns my insides to mush, and the radiation treatments set my brain on fire. So I say I’m doing fine. For their sake.

The war is almost over. I look forward to the surrender.

The contest is open until 11:59 tonight (Saturday). So if you have an inkling to write, now is the time.

Flash! Friday: Long Train Running Away

by Michael Seese

Another creepy entry from me for Flash! Friday. This week's winner in "Finish That Thought" used a second-person POV. (And I've used it once before, in a short story.) So I thought I would try it here, as that perspective can be quite effective.

We needed to work off this picture.

But we've been encouraged to think outside the box and not use the photo literally. So here is "Long Train Running Away."

You look at the train cascading away into infinity and have only one thought. Escape. Escape from life, from this life. Escape from the future, the future you dread, but whose script already has been penned. In blood.

You look at your past. Town to town to town. Mistake to mistake to mistake. You wish you could get on the right track. But that train derailed long ago.

You look at the gallery of faces… radiant, expectant. They beam like suns. You see only an eclipse. Look happy. They came to see a wedding, not a funeral. They’ll see a funeral soon enough.

You look at your maid of honor—your latest maid of honor—with your face of detachment as she gathers your ironically white train and gushes, "You look beautiful." Perhaps, some day, her too.

You look at your next victim, blissfully naive on this, the happiest day of his life, and tell him, “I do.”

Brrrrrr! Agree?

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to write 100 words for Janet Reid.

Here I Go Again

by Michael Seese

Come with me, dear readers, into the WABAC machine. If you'll recall, last October, I undertook a tremendous effort. To submit something, somewhere, every day for the whole month. "Something" could be... well, anything involving words. And "somewhere" could include:

- Contests
- Literary agents
- Magazines
- Online publishers (for example, Readwave)

It did not include blogging or tweeting.

Well, October is just around the corner. And I plan to repeat this asinine and painful challenging and fulfilling effort.

Actually, I think this time around it will be easier. Specifically, because I've found three weekly flash fiction contests:

- Flash! Friday, hosted by Rebecca Postupak
- Indies Unlimited
- (one I just learned of) FINISH THAT THOUGHT, by Alissa Leonard.

So those three alone take care of 13 days. I've already got four existing short stories which I plan to submit to anthologies / contests I found on HorrorTree. I have two other stories in the works, one for another HorrorTree find, and one for MASH stories. So I'm up to 19 days.

** Since I know that I will have some days which might be crazy, I'm "allowed" to submit two "somethings" one day, and then skip the next. But I'll try not to.

To quote James Brown, I feel good.

Who's with me? Who's up for the challenge?

Flash Friday: "Happy"

By Michael Seese

Win or lose, I'm really proud of my entry in this week's Flash! Friday.

Here is the photo we worked with.

And here is "Happy."

Burial mounds are never merry places. Except for today.

The denizens of the small town in western Ayrshire County arose in collective joy, as if under the spell of magic. Even the newborns saw fit to exchange their colicky cries for contented squeals.

The bells of the church, normally reproachful and condescending, rang gaily this morn. The parishioners filed faithfully into the nave and settled into their favored spaces. The priest rose, gazed upon his flock with loving eyes, and delivered his sermon with a single word.

“Happy.”

Then the preparations began. Homes were tidied, picnic lunches were prepared, hearth fires were extinguished, and affairs were put in order.

Hand in hand, with voices in collective harmony, they marched to the glen. There, the witch directed them to the shallow sepulchres she had impelled them to dig a fortnight ago. Still singing, they stepped in and began burying themselves alive.

And thus was “born” the appropriately named town of Beòcairn.

Wish me luck. And let me know what you think.

Passengers

by Michael Seese

Friday dawned, and sitting there in my inbox was another Flash! Friday challenge. Remember, I'm trying to defend my crown as two-time champion. (I may have to talk to Pat Riley about three-peat.)

The last two, "The Farm" and "Alone" I really felt good about. I'm not as sure about "Passengers." We shall see on Sunday.

Here is the photo. 

It's the splashdown of the Gemini 5 capsule in 1965. And here is "Passengers."

The two grown men splashed like giddy boys at summer camp. They would hold onto this memory, that of cool water.

“After six months on that barren rock, this is a dream come true!”

“Lieutenant, you and I just lived the dream of every American.”

But dreams sometimes can go astray…

“The first men to walk on Mars. I think that merits the cover of Newsweek.”

“Personally, I think it merits a date with a centerfold. Don’t tell my wife I said that.”

“Need to know basis, Colonel. Speaking of ‘the equipment,’ thank God the recovery ship is here. I need to GO!”

“You have permission to evacuate your bladder, Lieutenant. I don’t think the ocean will mind.”

Had he known Lt. Gage’s blood was teeming with an alien microbe that would voraciously consume the planet’s water, Col. Hart might not have been so cavalier with his assessment, sparing Mother Earth the fate suffered long ago by her red sister.

Feel free to share comments.

Two In A Row

By Michael Seese

First the commercial:

I recently published a long short story, Rebecca's Fall From... to Amazon. Tomorrow (Wednesday) it is free. (Otherwise, it's $0.99.) If you've got a few minutes, PLEASE download a copy. Truthfully, I would love to hear your feedback.

Why is it free on Wednesday, you ask? 

Because I am celebrating TWO WINS IN A ROW!

I didn't get a chance to post my latest Flash! Friday entry on Friday or Saturday, because we took our trip to the Century Inn for the music party. (Loads of fun.) By the time we returned on Sunday, I learned my short story, "Alone" had won. I am only the second two-in-a-row winner.

This is the photo we worked from:

Here is "Alone."

They’re all dead. And it’s my responsibility. Mine alone. I am the Captain, after all.

The scalding sands -- and the memory -- may well have been the fires of Hell. With no clouds above, the sun is a relentless, yet honest, adversary. I wondered if I had erred. Should I have done otherwise?

When setting sail, some of the more superstitious men voiced concerns.

“Trafficking is wrong.”

“They’re just children.”

“Using them like that is against the laws of man. And God.”

But lucre has a way of muting morality.

As the storm turned their ship into kindling and their bodies into chum, the crew looked to me for guidance. They prayed I would help. I turned a blind eye. Indeed, not only did I ignore their pleas, I doubled my vengeance. Because they were right. Their actions were against the laws of man.

And God.

Such is the burden I bear as the Captain of all men.

And here are the comments of judge Aria Glazki.

Where do I even start with this story? It stayed with me as I read the others, which may say it all. “Lucre has a way of muting morality” is a very strong center for this piece — that awareness of man’s fallibility, while also a distance from understanding that draw of riches, highlighting the difference between man and God, in a story that on the surface only likens the two.

The initial misdirect of the Captain’s involvement that makes such perfect sense in retrospect; the repetition of the line “against the laws of man. And God,” coming first from the doubt of those involved in a heinous choice, and second from the weary resignation of the one charged with being the “Captain of all men”; the chilling and poignant message of the burden inherent in being God; the pain and the solitude of being the one responsible… Overall, there’s just so much in these few words.

Was the Captain arrogant in creating man? Were the men arrogant in praying to the Captain while knowing they broke those aforementioned laws? Is the very expectation of them being good, and the vengeance that follows when they’re not, also arrogant? An answer isn’t simple in this incredibly complex, thought-provoking story.
 

My interview will be posted here tomorrow.

And as always, feel free to share your thoughts on "Alone."

 

Always A Bridesmaid...

By Michael Seese

OK, if you'll forgive the sexist remark, I'll move forward.

By my count, I've entered 15 of Rebekah Postupak's Flash! Friday contests.  And 15 times, I did not win. One of them, "Big Sister," did earn an honorable mention. But otherwise... nada.

Until this week!

(Cue angelic choir.)

I'm pleased to announce that "The Farm" took home the coveted "Dragon Award."

Here is what judge Betsy Streeter said.

This story does a masterful job of moving between two realities while flipping them on their heads. At first, it’s just an anxious band of humans. And, I love the sentence, “False hope is cruelty.” But then, you pull out to see an insect and the whole description shifts to a new language. Clicking mandibles, hatchday. And you realize, the humans are the scurrying, terrified bugs, and the bugs are amusing themselves without a care. The statement, “They are so cool!” conveys just how the bugs see the humans. Which is just the way humans see bugs. This is a great one to look at for examples of how simple word choice draws such a vivid picture – and how vocabulary can also create contrast.

And the cherry on top: my very own "Sixty Seconds With" interview.

Yaaaaay!