Archive for the ‘Fiction’ Category

Winners of the 55-Word Fiction Contest!

Sunday, April 11th, 2010

These are the Winners for 2009 as announced by David Martin:

First Place

The Truth

By Marc Magisana,    Omaha, NE

The cards said murder. The old woman’s tarot readings were never wrong. To win the contest, I would need to kill. Who? She pretended not to know. Enraged, I beat the truth out of her. Her murder made me a famous writer. Now I’m framed: “Winner: First Prize Fiction Contest” hangs on my cell wall. (55)

Second Place

In Montana

By Marge Barrett,    Minneapolis, MN

By campfire light near Many Glacier, she snaps, crackles, pops. He strives to snuff out the flames, steaming water, sifting sand. Like paint pots in Yellowstone, they bubble, sizzle, while cedars crash and swans soar. Yet as fields seared in the fall, they spring up renewed, sip Beaujolais, curled together in Rising Sun’s fireplace lobby. (55)

Third Place

Toddler Turnabout

By Alberta Lee Orcutt,   St. Paul, MN

Chubby fingers clutch the peach to her mouth. Juice trickles down her chin and wrist on its way to her elbow, sugary orange passing through yesterday’s scratch and today’s dirt, finally sticking to the squirming kitten trapped between her knees. Then – the bolt! And Huntress drops the hallowed peach to devotedly stalk her panicked prey. (55)

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55 Word Fiction Finalists

Thursday, January 21st, 2010

1

“Sweet Memories”

Edie Goodwin

word count: 55

He was a delightful, young man and so full of life. Blonde-haired and blue-eyed, he was the boy every girl dreamed about. They had great times together, full of laughter and love and hopefulness.

On one, bright, October day, he said, “Will you marry me?”

“Oh, sweetheart, I can’t,” she replied, sadly. “I’m your Grandma.”

2

“The Legacy”

Peggy Adair

word count: 55

He watched unnoticed from the shed as uniformed men with guns dragged his father away. He knew what to do. He found a shovel, trod silently to the meadow and dug a hole as deep as a 9-year-old can. He dropped the plastic-wrapped package in and filled the hole. The last banned book was safe.

3

“Coping”

Deborah Ramirez

word count: 55

I make wishes at 12:34 a.m. I tape fortune cookie slips to the refrigerator, read horoscopes, and cross my fingers at ATMs.

Laid off again at 50, there’s little work for island women. I avoid my overstuffed mailbox, because foreclosure notices haunt me.

Hopefully wine at Sack-n-Save is reduced-for-quick-sale, and my home is not.

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