Winners Announcement
Greetings, flash fiction friends! We are pleased to announce the winner(s) of Microcosms 206!
This week, we are pleased to continue with “The Karen Cox Prize for Entertaining Short Fiction”, brought to you by Alert Terminal Warehouse.
For transparency’s sake, I was sick all week and didn’t give poor Geoff a chance to judge. So judging is on me this week, for better or for worse. Hopefully Geoff can join us for judging another time.
And holy guacamole was this hard. Please read my comments. 🙂
-KM
Announcement
Be sure to check out MC 100micro1 – our first ever quarterly contest! Submissions are open through 30 September 2023.
MC 206 Winners!
And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for… Without further ado, it’s time to announce the winner(s) of MC 206!
Community Picks
It was really, really close, but we have a double dipper!
Judge’s Pick
And the Judge’s Pick, and winner of this week’s $25 Karen Cox Prize for Entertaining Short Fiction, is:
Drumroll, please!
Congrats, Eryn! Please contact us for instructions on how to accept your prize and also let us know if you’d like to judge MC 209!
Here’s what judge KM had to say:
Oh. My. Goodness. I truly loved each and every entry this week. And I’m not just saying that. There were so many that were incredibly clever or sweet. I really enjoyed reading them. I will try to go back and leave comments when I’m feeling better, because I was really blown away.
In the end, I kept thinking about this story because it was just so darn cute. It takes a lot to melt my cold, dead heart nowadays, and this reminded me what it feels like to fall in love.
-KM
Apologies again, Geoff. Appreciate your understanding.
Judge’s Pick Entry
As a reminder, here is the story that won over our judge!
Romance Sucks
Ru sighed. Another Monday! The shop was empty, again. He wondered if he should just do a demo to the other vacuums, to stave off the boredom.
But the floor was clean, hoovered the day before, and he had no spare crumbs to use.
Inspiration struck. When Craig arrived he could nip out and get breakfast, then use the debris for a demo. That would work. He always liked when Craig was on – it helped that he was easy on the eye.
At last he arrived, bleary-eyed and unshaven. Yum.
The sandwich shop was empty, so he was back with two steak sandwiches in no time. Craig was inspecting his nails and humming.
“Here. Brunch!”
“Breakfast, actually. I’m still hungover!”
He sounded it, a little gravelly. He didn’t hate it.
Ru opened his sandwich eagerly. It was hot, and smelled fantastic. Craig was inhaling his, eyes half shut. A little sauce wobbled at the side of his mouth.
“You’ve got a leak, Craig,” he said, gesturing.
“What? Oh. I’ll leave that for later. What are you, the King?”
Ru laughed and threw an onion at him, laughing harder when it stuck to his cheek. Craig let out a mock roar, pulling the end of his sandwich and throwing it back. It missed.
“I’ll have you, you wee bastard!”
He pulled out the crisps, crumbling them in his hand, and rubbing them hard into Ru’s hair.
“There. Now you look as ridiculous as me!”
They were close, at last. Ru smiled. “Ridiculous but attractive as hell. I’m into sauce.”
Craig grinned. “Is that right? Well, lets make more mess then, shall we?”
The crumbs danced their way to the floor, followed by the sandwich bags as they shared a kiss, witnessed only by the vacuums waiting for their show.
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