Flash Flood Fiction--some links

As I mentioned yesterday, I'm taking part in Flash Flood Fiction Day which is now live. Every ten minutes or so a new story pops up. I've been dabbling mainly at random and have been enjoying the stories very much. But in case you don't feel like wading through the so far 128 stories, here are couple I've run across which knocked my socks off:

"Grizzly" by Angela Readman

"The Devil's Blessing" by Johnny Heriz-Smith

A funny one:

"Two Clones Walk Into a Pub" by Lance Cross

Or of course you could always read mine:

"The Rival" by Seana Graham

Or just head on over and choose something at random. There's pretty much every kind of story there, they're short, and it's fun.

No, really--DON'T try this at home.

M.O. "Wishful Thinking" results and Flash Flood Fiction Day

(Reposted from Confessions of Ignorance)

Sorry to be straying so far off track here these days, but I thought I'd mention a couple of things that I actually know something about. The first is that the results of the M.O. Wishful Thinking contest have come in, and though I didn't win I still enjoyed the process and am glad I took part. I'll post a link to the winning story here I think on the 10th, but if I get sidetracked you can always check in over there.

Meanwhile, though, a friend happened to mention the Flash Flood Fiction Day coming up on Saturday (tomorrow) at Flash Flood Journal, and I somehow managed to write something up quick and get it in in time to be published there. They tell me it ought to be up at about 2 PM British Summer Time (BST) or 6AM California time, as near as I can reckon. So look for "The Rival", or just check out the website and see what everyone's come up with. I know that's what I'll be doing. The maximum word count is 500 words, so these will be short pieces for your delectation.

Kids, don't try this at home.

made the M.O. shortlist

I have a story that's made the short list over at The M.O. , which is the contest section of Criminal Element. I was pretty excited about just getting to be a contender, as I'd tried once before and didn't get that close. I sent in the bio and photo for the Rogues Gallery yesterday, but hadn't heard that the shortlist story beginnings had gone up on the website. So the first news I had of it was when someone I don't know found my email, presumably through my blog, and took the trouble to tell me that someone else was doing a good job of promoting their story, and then went on to tell me that I didn't stand a chance of winning.

Well, I never thought I had a great chance of winning. But if the whole contest is really about how large a pool of people you draw in to vote for you through social media, then what's the point of winning? It doesn't mean anything about your story, it just means that you're a good marketer.

So my request to you is to head on over to read the opening paragraphs of the stories in the contest and do what the contest asks of you: vote for the story that you most want to read the rest of. Seriously, it doesn't have to be mine. After all, I  won't be voting for it. I already know the ending.

Oh, and here is the winning story from the last round: "Fix Me" by S.W. Lauden. However it rose to the top, it's a pretty great story.