Flash Fiction Festival
A Geiger-counter-toting scientist glares at the invisible smolder of a sample of oganesson. The first flutter of a mayfly's delicate wings which disrupts a dewdrop from a reed. A top spinning along the edge of a kitchen table. The aroma of opening a new book for the first time...
Like a shipbuilder who pops a mast only after sliding the hull into a narrow bottle, can you unfurl a wind-blown message within the confines of shrinking brevity?
Saddle the horse that best catches your fancy, msg your colors in order to ante, and race your story like a masked vigilante.
Whether sowing the furrow or chomping the bit,
the furlongs will flash by as a sprightly spring sprint.
Harvest those sour fruits before the sweetness of tomorrow,
mop the soul off your brow, and wring out mercurial memories and marrow.
Where will your horse take you?
ratsastaa hevosilla
The Rules
Reserve your place in the Cup by msging myself with your desired horse and what coloured silks you will be riding in. This step is first claimed, first awarded on basis of time stamp if two noders are competing for one title. Enter Prosenoder's Cup 2019 by submitting a work of flash fiction to that node AFTER the contest has officially opened at midnight server time March 1st. The title of your work must be the name of one of the horses below (please make your title bold and aligned left at the beginning of your entry). Your entry may be of any genre desired, but is limited by design to be 300 words or less. This is flash fiction in the poetic sense of the word. Stories should flash like ancient camera background lights; stories should simmer like sublimating ice. See also: postcard fiction.
Note: All entries will be posted within the node Prosenoder's Cup 2019.
The Race
The contest is officially open March 1st, at zero hour server time (entry will be open until March 15th midnight, giving two weeks and a day of community judging). The gap between this announcement and the contest opening is to give all participants plenty of time to prepare their submission, as ideally all entrants will be posting sometime early in the month. The first writeup of the Prosenoder's Cup 2019 node will be 1) a reference guide for readers, sharing knowledge of the rules 2) a starting gun for all eager racers. Do not post a writeup before this definition entry, we're trying to keep the air time of all writeups as equitable as possible, with no false starts.
Speaking of we, the just and benevloent Tem42 has agreed to bestow honours to the most deserving of word jockeys:
All entrants will be judged based upon their net reputation at midnight server time March 15th (15 becoming 16):
Winners' Circle
Show: 400 gp!!
Place: 1,000 gp!!
Win: 2,000 gp!!!
Bonus awards
Most C!s: 250 gp
Highest Goodness: 250 gp
Per C!: 10 gp
Per Net Reputation: 1 gp
Per Entrant: 1 egg
Remember - this is not a contest about telling horse stories. This is a contest about riding stories like horses.
Write light, write fast, and be sure to lean into the finish.
ajaa sanoja
The Rides
Note: This festival contest is a race, upon a racetrack. The authors are, for a little while, riders and their titles their steeds. Ymmärrätkö? Let's begin.
Potential Title by
YOUR NAME HERE, riding in
adjectives.
- Phoenix of Spain, by Auspice, riding in crimson.
- Gunmetal Gray, by lizardinlaw, riding in bright pink and silver.
- Circus Maximus, by Jet-Poop, riding in steel and silk and gold.
- Make Happy, by Zephronias, riding in an empty barrel
- Power of Now, by The Custodian, riding in Vantablack and gammashine
- Johann, by Silverai me, riding in uncertain certainty
- Complexity, by Serjeant's Muse, riding in orbital cloud probabilities
- Network Effect, be legbagede, riding, not drowing
- War of Will, by mjijm, riding in rock and sweat
- Broome, by VicimusGegan, riding a white stag on an azure field
- Anador
- Bankit
- Boitron
- Cape of Good Hope
- Code of Honor
- Derma Louvre
- Gal Vihara
- Game Winner
- Gray Attempt
- Hog Creek Hustle
- Improbable
- Japan
- Kingen
- Knicks Go
- Long Range Toddy
- Magna Grecia
- Maximus Mischief
- Mind Control
- Mohawk
- Mount Everest
- Mucho Gusto
- Nova Lenda
- Our Braintrust
- Plus Que Parfait
- Romantico
- Royal Marine
- Signalman
- Sovereign
- Sueno
- Sydney Opera House
- Tight Ten
- Victory Command
- Western Australia
2019 Kentucky Derby