Thanks to all of you who joined the St Patrick’s Day parade and submitted a story to Round 63. We had a total of 12 entries this week.
Apologies for the much-delayed posting – it seems our judge’s busy schedule took priority. 😀
Please keep returning to Microcosms, and retweet / spread the word about this contest among your followers and friends.
Don’t forget that Microcosms exists primarily to provide a platform for the flash fiction community to hone their skills, and secondarily to give entrants a chance of receiving an accolade from that week’s judge. We also have the vote button for anyone – not just fellow entrants – to register their favourite/favorite(s) and thus establish a Community Pick.
Remember, you can reply with a comment to any and all of the entries AT ANY TIME: It’s good to have feedback.
Many thanks to Nthato Morakabi for judging MC 63. Here’s what he had to say:
Judging Microcosms has been quite an interesting experience this time. Building a world, character and story in 300 words is a challenge in itself, and the elements to draw these from are never easy. Nonetheless, entrants have once again masterfully concocted great stories for me to judge. It never gets easier.
Nthato
Favourite / Favorite Lines
Nicola Tapson – Psychedelic colors popped out.
Alva Holland – The entire Eye Pod was silent for the remainder of the journey.
Angelique Pacheco – He tells tall tales while slurring his words.
A J Walker – It’s about time I saw that tart’s sly grin everyone talks about.
Holly Geely – Detectivus poked the protruding foot with one sandal.
Steve Lodge – Then you can show me your new rat juggling act.
Bill Engleson – Another exhibition of American excess despoiling the Old World.
Geoff Le Pard – Patrice watched the sails shrink into the horizon; what, he wondered, would be the greater tragedy?
Steph Ellis – Working quickly, he manipulated her jaw, gazed once more on the insults within.
Stella Turner – I remember now I called her A because she kept saying, ‘It’s Aileen, not Eileen!’
Sian Brighall – A swathe of grey later, he stopped as a shadow fell across the canvas.
Geoff Holme – You have risen to your current position due to a large amount of hot air.
Special Mention
Alva Holland – Silencing The Pod
So many puns, so little time.
Runner-up
Steph Ellis – Smile
It’s horror, so I may be slightly biased. Also, I don’t know how proud Da Vinci would have been with lips pursed from stitching.
And now, without further ado, we present the winners of Microcosms 63.
(insert drumroll here)
Community Pick
Alva Holland – Silencing The Pod
295 words
Detective; London Eye; Comedy
‘Aye, aye, and what have we here?’
‘It’s an iPod, sir.’
‘An Eye Pod? Sure, can’t I see that for myself, boy. Are you trying to be funny? We’re all in this Eye Pod together, looking down over the Thames and across London as far as the Eye can see.’
‘Yes, sir. If you say so, sir.’
Clearly, the young boy thought the trench-coated old man a tad weird, if not a little threatening. Burying his nose in his screen, he fixed his earbud air-pods firmly into his pink-tipped ears and sidled closer to his mother.
Trench Coat settled on his next victim. ‘Like peas in a Pod, we are,’ he said to the old lady sitting minding her own business on the centre bench looking like she was about to throw up. She too wore a trench coat, turned up at the collar over which her grey curls tumbled in ringlets young women would give their Eye teeth for.
‘Peas in a Pod, I said,’ the old man shouted this time.
In the second it takes to split a pea, the old lady turned and whacked him with her handbag which made a swoosh as it flew and a whack as it landed in Trench Coat’s stomach. He doubled over and toppled to the side, shoving the young earbudded urchin into his mother who lurched into the two young lovers, canoodling and taking selfies against the glass. We all glared at Trench Coat who was ruining our London Eye experience.
I approached him as he sat, alone on the bench now, everyone avoiding him.
‘Excuse me,’ I whispered. ‘I’m a P.I.’
‘You can Pee Eye off, you dirty git. I’m not interested.’
The entire Eye Pod was silent for the remainder of the journey.
Judge’s Pick
Stella Turner – It’s in the Eyes
A really well-written piece, capturing a real tragedy. I loved the build-up as well, capturing the life – both before and afterwards – of the detective, all wrapped up nicely in 287 words.
287 words
Detective; The Coliseum; Tragedy
When he said they were sending me to The Coliseum, I automatically thought of the bar in Connor’s Walk. God! Memories fighting to be remembered! That girl, what was her name? I’d dated her on and off for weeks. She’d give me free drinks providing the manager was looking the other way or give me change for a ten pound note when I’d given her a fiver. Now that was a long time ago. I must have looked a doughnut when the Super asked if I had a passport. I nodded like a right plod.
He told me to read the file and come up with a strategy. I presume he either couldn’t be bothered or had no idea. Incapacity always brought promotion so I’d already decided I’d be a humble DC until suspension or retirement.
An Irish girl had fallen to her death on the steps and the Italians were saying it was accidental. Her family were accusing the bloke she was travelling with. All round it was a tragedy. It was the girl from The Coliseum. Aileen Doherty. I remember now I called her A because she kept saying, “It’s Aileen, not Eileen!” I should have told the Super I knew her, but I didn’t. I owed her. She pointed me in the direction of my final career choice when the manager got done for having an illicit still in the basement and the bar closed down. I was so incensed that she suggested I got my own back. If you can’t beat them, join them. So here I am on the plane having a Guinness on St Patrick’s Day. It was the boyfriend that did it! I could see it in her dead eyes.
Congratulations, Stella. As this week’s Judge’s Pick, you are invited to judge Microcosms 64! Please let us know whether or not you are interested ASAP!
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