April 2018 Flash Contest - The Voting

[Lipinski]

Nice to see the choices and increase in authors. One of them reminded me of Lester's style. And they all are interesting to read.

Read them all a couple of times and will do so a couple of more times before casting da vote.

[Lipinski]

Vote(s)? I only have one vote and I have it currently sitting on a shelf waiting to be used. I dust it and when the time is right I'll send it in. Now, if I had a lot of vote(s) I'd just keep them in a burlap sack by the door and dole them out like dog treats.

Getting closer though to picking a story

[Megawatts]

Interesting batch of stories and I must say I liked them all.

[Lester Curtis]

Congrats to Sergio and Robin; your entries stood out among the group.

I voted for Sergio's story because of its tantalizing, ambiguous ending.

It wasn't an easy choice, though; I also favored Robin's story for the very clever angle of the killer and victim being separate personalities in the same body. I can imagine this causing some serious philosophical debate. Ironically, we'll probably never get to know if this has ever actually happened.

Nice detail, too, about the water dripping at the arson scene.

[Megawatts]

Great bunch of stories and congrats to the favorites! Here's my critiques:



Something’s Burning by Twilight Zee 7


Dynamic beginning--- like that. Like how she used italics for emphasis in her internal thoughts, and the use of quotation marks around word for a more subtle emphasis. Sometimes too much use of italic and quotation marks can dilute their effect but in flash fiction we needed it more then in a short story. Nice job.


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Stone Cold Beth by Jolene Wilkerson 5

Following the theme of this flash fiction and has a good intro that catches one’s attention. Writing is good in this one and the ending I didn’t see coming.



Revenge is a Dish Served with a Bang by Jim Harrington 5

Good intro. I like how Janice got close to Karen in the restaurant. Researching someone can intimidate them, and that is often enough revenge: Knowing that someone is watching you, and they prove it. That can be scary in itself.

Janice blows up Karen’s house and Karen is left with nothing.

Nice.



Mission of Mercy by Jim Statton 7

Traveling over 80 mph in a red corvette gets one’s attention. I had a red corvette once—427, 1968 convertible.

The rape scene came alive to me especially when henry walked over with the handle end of a plunger. That nailed the scene.

Good us of sensory inputs—“-permeated with sewer odors” helped us to empathize Vic’s house.
We can see that Alyssa is on a mission, and how she killed Vic seals the fates of all the others.



Two To Tango by Robin B. Lipinski 6

A short but interesting one. I like how the story played out in a revered order. I don’t think that I every read a story were the mind or soul still functioned and was in the body after death. And a twin there too. Very different and creative thought. Nice.



A Matter of Attraction by Sergio Palumbo 8

This story follows the theme of this flash fiction, and it certainly gets us involved as the story unfolds. Julia is quite the resourceful killer: Able to disable the brakes on a motorbike, loosen the wheel on a skate board and time it to the correct event, and knife one boy in the back late at night I assume. The last one, Mark? Well, just like a cat plays with a mouse, Julia is going to play with him—but just a little.


Nice

[Lipinski]

It was a nice lot of stories to read. There was one story here that really gripped the revenge side of humanity and that is the one getting my vote.

Thanks for the kind words Lester. Got a chuckle about Twilight's style. Almost as many italics as you use from time to time. But like Magawatts said, flash is short and more is needed to get the bang to get the flash.

Nice to see more entries and writers.