Wordsmoker

It’s that time again! After a tumultuous two weeks, Micro-fiction Roundup is here once more to make everything better, from saving radioactive jellyfish to providing child sociopaths with lighters and directions to the nearest church. No, micro-fiction will not accept your gifts of appreciation, no matter how many piles of cocaine you offer up in adoration. Yep, Micro-fiction is just that classy. As you know, last week’s topic was Hit Men. We had thirteen entries for our dear judge, Skahammer, to choose a winner from. Quick recap of the submissions:

• Josiegroper – untitled piece
• The Pish – Just Another Day
• Chillbear Latrigue – Satisfaction Guaranteed
• Skahammer - The MILFSassin
• Chillbear Latrigue – Confederazzi
• MilitantRubberDucky – Plan B
• Perverseus – Journal Entry #77
• Lonely Girl - untitled piece
• The Pish - Infamous
• Latterday Lenin - Timmy Thompson: Child Assassin
• Skahammer – Career Opportunities
• Chillbear Latrigue – Kitty Assassins
• Tristantzara – The Killer Can’t Sleep

Sadly, Tristantzara’s piece was submitted after the deadline and was ineligible for consideration.

It was Skahammer’s turn to judge this week:

I’m picking as my winner Perverseus’ ”Journal Entry #77” — the ”Project Tarzan” story. In the compact form of a Micro-Fiction, it’s often useful to deploy familiar characters and situations as shorthand — so you don’t have to spend precious words establishing a setting or character. Within its familiar setting, however, Perverseus’ effort still manages to be bracingly original and to cover — or at least sketch out — quite a bit of narrative ground. (Who doesn’t find themselves, two-thirds of the way through the story, considering the details of those ”encouraging noises” made by ”the woman”?) Well played, Perverseus.

Way to go, Perverseus! Here’s the winning piece in case you missed it:

Journal Entry #77

Cheetah took it well; he knew he had crossed the line. He accepted his fate with that goofy smile of his and died without a struggle. I’m not sure who the family will insert in his place. My recommendation would be a female. That should avoid further problems with the woman. I understand his urges – she’s very attractive, frequently naked, and makes encouraging noises when she lays with the man – but we can’t let on how much we know. We can’t compromise the mission because of a primal urge to inject Jane with a banana smoothie. Project Tarzan is too important.

Wonderful piece, my dear Perv. Based on the winning entry, this Micro-fiction’s topic will be The Jungle. Hot and steamy, dark and deadly – I expect a boatload of entries.

Rules

Your entry must be 101 words or less; if you choose to title your piece, the title will not count against your word count; there is no limit on the amount of entries you can submit.

1. You will have two weeks to submit an entry; the deadline will be Tuesday nights at midnight. This will give the judge 48 hours to submit his or her selection to me by Thursday night at midnight (That’s the midnight that leads into Friday, not the midnight that leads Wednesday to Thursday. You’d think some [read: me] would know this. You’d be wrong though.). The deadlines were originally Wednesday and Friday, respectively, but I goofed and now it’s fixed to give the judges and me (mostly me) time to get up the new topic.
2. If I don’t receive the judge’s selection by one of the established methods (e-mail, Wordsmoker messaging or Facebook private messaging) I will be forced to make the selection so as not to delay the next week’s competition.
3. The winner of Micro-Fiction Roundup automatically assumes the responsibility of judging the next week’s competition. Obviously that person can still submit writing, but can’t pick themselves as the winner. Otherwise we could end up with some sort of ridiculous perpetual judge situation.
4. In the interest of keeping tradition, I will try to select themes based upon the previous week’s submissions when possible.
5. REMINDER: You are allowed and encouraged to submit multiple entries.

Here’s a little music to get you in the mood: