Hello and welcome to MC65. Yes, here we are at the end of the first quarter of Year Two of Microcosms! Time moves on so swiftly – it’s already British Summer Time in the UK, and the five hour difference between here and New York has been restored. But rest assured: whatever time of year it is, you will always have 24 hours to craft a coruscating masterpiece of flash fiction for us. Let’s not waste another second!
I thought about basing this week’s contest on the most momentous event in the UK this week: the delivery, on 29th March, of the letter from our Prime Minister, Theresa May, to Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council, triggering Article 50 – the formal process of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, popularly known as Brexit.
Instead, I went with the fact that today, 31st March, is the anniversary of the death in 1981 of poet, author and playwright, Enid Bagnold, best known for the 1935 novel ‘National Velvet’ – filmed in 1944, and featuring a 12-year-old Elizabeth Taylor in her first starring role.
During WWI, Bagnold became a nurse, but wrote critically of hospital administration, and was dismissed. She acted as a driver for the rest of the war years.
In 1920, she married Sir Roderick Jones, chairman of Reuters. They had a house in Rottingdean, near Brighton, which had previously been home to the pre-Raphaelite artist, Sir Edward Burne-Jones. The garden there was the inspiration for her play ‘The Chalk Garden’ (1955).
Enid Bagnold’s great-granddaughter, Samantha Cameron, is the wife of Britain’s former Conservative PM, David Cameron. He had backed the call for the June 2016 EU referendum, the result of which led to Brexit… and the triggering of Article 50!
Geoff
(If YOU have an idea for a future contest and would like to be guest host, please contact us.)
Our contest this week begins with THREE things: character, setting and genre.
We spun, and our three elements are – character: Driver, setting: Racecourse, and genre: Tragedy.
Write a story using those OR feel free to click on the “Spin!” button, and the slot machine will come up with a new set – you can keep clicking until you have a set of elements that inspires you.
*** HEY! Remember to include which THREE elements you’re using AND a title for your entry. ***
- Nurse
- Driver
- Horse Rider
- Disturbed Teenager
- Artist
- Prime Minister
- Field Hospital
- WWI France
- Racecourse
- Country House
- Sussex Village
- Brussels
- Tragedy
- Crime
- Romance
- Horror
- Memoir
- Comedy
Judging this week is Microcosms 64 Judge’s Pick, Firdaus Parvez.
All submissions should be a maximum of 300 words in length. You have until midnight, New York time (EDT) to submit.
*** If you are new to Microcosms, remember to check out the full submission guidelines. ***
All being well, results will be posted on Monday.
Optional photo prompt:

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