FLASH CHALLENGE: October '11

[kailhofer]

Murder Should Be Personal Challenge:



It is autumn in North America, so naturally people are beginning to think about murder.

Oh, people say they don't, but it's true. As the shadows grow longer and the wind colder, the dark becomes scarier. Innocent bystanders who in warmer times would just be people out walking their dog are now looked upon with suspicion. The lights are on at night, and parents keep closer watch on their children, even if they don’t admit it.

But inside the house, there's a horror movie on the TV. Personally, I hope it's a psychological thriller about that guy next door. Is it possible he could have killed that woman? It looked like it. Or were they seeing things?

Nothing bring out the goose bumps like a murder on a dark, cloudless night with the wind whispering in the willows. The funny thing is... people like to be scared, and I am no different from the rest of you.

I don't care for slasher movies because the killer has no personal touch. Don't disembowel someone with a chainsaw in the middle of the night. It will wake the neighbors, and that's just rude. Instead, find some way to do it with your own two hands. Don't wander into some random person's abode and start spraying blood everywhere—someone is going to have to clean up that mess, you know, and what if that random person doesn't have any loved ones to do it? Just another day for that poor, nameless soul who does crime scene cleanup, that's what. Make sure they have close relatives, first.

Guns? Lead sprayed from a distance isn't personal, it's the easy way out for those not bold enough to get innards under their fingernails. Plus, there's that noise to the neighbors again.

Murders, the best, most entertaining murders are personal. It should touch the lives of others. It should spread suspicion and create false suspects.


Your challenge this time is to tell the story of a killer struggling to find their own perfect, personal murder, one that would raise the hackles on everyone who hears of it, but, at the same time, is a murder he or she thinks they can get away with without being caught.


Happy Halloween, my murderous friends.


REQUIREMENTS: (1) Your story must tell the tale of a living, human character struggling to create a perfect, personal murder; (2) 1,000 words or less, not counting title, byline, or "The End"; (3) The characters, setting, and story must be fictional and not previously published, even in these challenges; (4) One entry per author; (5) Give your story a title and a byline; and (6) Keep it clean. Rated 'PG-13'. (Basically, think, "Could I see this on CSI?" That allows a lot, really.)

CHARACTERS & SETTING: No copyrighted characters or settings, or references thereto. Famous, non-copyrighted fictional characters like Santa Claus, or religious figures such as the Devil, named angels such as Gabriel, or gods like Thor, etc. as supporting characters at best and at my discretion. The Wicked Witch and Dracula may be in the public domain, but don't expect me to allow them. No person that was ever a "real life" human being may be used as a character, but can be referred to, as in "President Kennedy had declared it would be so." Except as noted above under non-copyrighted fictional persons, character names may not be copied from fiction or real life, even if changed, i.e. Char-les Darween. All non-copyrighted settings are ok. Famous, unique sites like Stonehenge may be used over and again. No fan fiction or sequels, so don't bother putting your story in the Land of Oz or that great place you thought up two challenges ago.

DISQUALIFICATIONS/REFUSALS: If, in my judgment, any requirement or rule is missed, I won't post the story for voting, but authors are free to resubmit with changes until the deadline. Should a story be initially accepted and posted in the challenge, but then later judged by me to be in violation, the story may be disqualified and removed from contention at any time before contest end. Authors who feel a story may be in violation should send me a PM and state their case.

HOW TO ENTER: Stories must be sent by PRIVATE MESSAGE, and NOT posted into a thread. Just click the 'PM' button at the bottom of this post and paste your story in the message. You are responsible for doing your own formatting, and leave an extra line between paragraphs, just like when you see them in the 'zine. I will allow different colors, but not changed fonts or sizes, artwork, or any other embedded or external links.

DO NOT send a regular email to me.

Stories will be posted "blind"--without the author's name on them. All the story titles are literally tossed into a pith helmet and chosen at in random order. When the poll closes after the voting week, I'll post a list of the stories and who wrote them. All entries will then be reposted in the Flash Archive with the author's byline.

Entries from new authors are strongly encouraged. C'mon. Give it a try!

NOTE: ONLY REGISTERED MEMBERS who have posted at least one message may submit a story. Without that one post, the system will not let you send a PM.

DEADLINE: Stories should be in by 9 p.m. Central Standard Time (GMT-6), Sunday, Oct. 23, 2011. The stories will then be posted for voting at 10 p.m. Voting will close on Sunday, Oct. 30 at approximately 9 p.m., GMT-6.

NEW! VOTING: Voting this time will again with the new system. However, if the numbers of voters does not significantly increase, this will be the last time for the new system. Voters will be provided a list of the stories that are entered in the challenge. Voters will rank the entries from best to worst and send the ranked list to me via PM. A point will be awarded to each story for whatever position they are given. The winning story will be the one that received the fewest points.

For example, three stories are entered, (called A, B, & C for this example) and are ranked by a voter. That voter gives story A 1st place, Story C second place, and story B last place. A gets 1 point. C gets 2 points. B gets 3 points. The next voters will do likewise. The lowest total score wins.

Every effort will be made to keep the voting fair. In the past, some voters have abstained from voting for some of the stories while voting for the others. Since total points scored decided the winner, this put the stories that weren't voted on at a disadvantage. Therefore “skipped” stories will be given marks equaling whatever the story's average is at the time of contest close. A challenge entrant who does not vote for the other stories will receive a 30% increase in their own score at the time of contest close, and the other stories will be given marks equaling whatever their story's average is at the time of contest close. Authors may not rank their own story.

If more than two stories are tied at the end of voting, there will be a succession of one-day runoff votes until a single winner is chosen or the number of winners is reduced to two.

WHAT YOU WIN: Writers get improved short fiction skills, increasing their chances in the marketplace, without the lengthy investment in time a longer story would take. That, as well as bragging rights and pride--there is stiff competition each month amongst some great stories.

LEGAL STUFF: I'll try to do my best lawyer impersonation: By entering this challenge you are technically granting Aphelion: The Webzine of Science Fiction and Fantasy perpetual electronic rights only to post and archive your challenge entry. Aphelion would rather not lay any claim on them at all, but by posting them on a public site, they'd legally count as being published no matter what.

Ok. A real lawyer would have been less interesting. I tried.

[Megawatts]

I love the intro, a very nice preamble taking us into the darker side of weather. Fall, less light, with more ghostly shadows following along streets and alley-ways that seem to aid and abet the shadows’ movements by staying fixed while light dances along walls and windows, off cars and even displays in those windows, and hides for a moment before another shadow chases it away!

Yes, early sunsets and cooler evenings, but still the day has twenty-four hours in which we, at work and play, are bound by life’s struggles that must be answered or else we perish. Or worst yet----get divorced!!

This one isn’t Sci-Fi but it is horror--not unlike Edgar Allen Poe's writing which in my mind always bordered just below the surface of consciousness yet above dreams.

Nice challenge!!!

[kailhofer]

Thanks.

There was an old album by Alfred Hitchcock called Music to be Murdered By in which he'd give short, bemusing narrations about murder in between classical selections. I remember listening to it when I was a youth, and thinking it was awfully clever, or cleverly awful... or something like that.

It was the inspiration.

[Lester Curtis]

I'm surprised at myself -- I'm actually getting an idea for this one -- inspired by a picture I found on the 'net, which I've been mildly obsessing about -- problem: it's a pornographic image.

That doesn't sound good, does it? Obsessing over porn . . . but actually, it's the facial expressions of the subjects that got me so intrigued. And now, I guess I'll have to explain all that, after the stories are voted on.

[Megawatts]

I haven't came up with anything yet, but many ideas are flashing before me. And I don't have any wine sitting upon my work-space.

I"m thinking of Edgar Allen Poe and what he would come up with. Of course he didn't have lap-tops, a cellphone or even an old computer at his leisure---just an oil-lamp, desk, paper and pen.
Probably, the ficking from the oi-lamp had something to do with he writing!

I was thinking about getting light-bulbs that flicker like an oil-lamp does and see where that might take me!! You make your environment and your environment can make you!

Anyhow, I"m going to experiment with a similar setting that Edgar Allen Poe must have had and see what happens!

I would use an oil-lamp---the smell would irritate my wife, I'm sure--but I might use candles instead of a flickering light.

Anyhow it will be a nice lab-experiment coupled with an Einsteinian thought-experiments!

[Lester Curtis]

Well the way you describe your inspiration it can't be porn. It may be off color, suggestive but I would suggest, that there is a quality of art to whatever it might be that led you to this spot.

A CHILD IS BORNE was completed when I looked at a Japanese SHUNGA etching. It was lovely and loving, and it inspired my ending. Worry not. Art come in various sizes and shapes, and from the mud and shit too!

RT

Thank you, Rick. That helps, it really does. The image is definitely porn, though; it's quite explicit. Still, a lot of viewers would stop there and not notice the rest, maybe go,"Yee-hah" or something, but if I thought I could find the artist, I'd really love to discuss the image. It's a fantasy illustration, and though I usually don't care to use the term "art" to describe what's there, it definitely does have a "quality of art," as you say. Deliberate, as well; the illustrator put all the best detail into the expressions, so he/she was feeling something, and I felt it too, and it's definitely bigger than the general subject matter of the picture.

I just wish I knew what it is . . . the one subject's expression and action don't make sense in context, and that's the part that has me going. Once the challenge is done, I'll post more about it, maybe a sanitized clip or two of it and some of my thoughts. Can't say more now; don't want to influence the contest.

[Lester Curtis]

I kind of wanted to do a particular thing, but it involved non-human characters . . . I might get flexible enough to adapt it, though. We'll see.

[kailhofer]

2 accepted so far...

[kailhofer]

Sounds like fun, can I play?

Certainly! Welcome to the forum, and our tiny corner of the net. Please feel free to check out the stories from this issue or previous issues and comment on them if you are so moved--the more the merrier, when it comes to author feedback.

Again, welcome.

[kailhofer]

Now four accepted. Looking good so far.

[Megawatts]

Well, got mine in!

[Lester Curtis]

Scroll up a ways, and you'll see some posts by me about an image . . . I've decided to move the conversation to the Writers Workshop forum. I'll link back to here from there.