Fiction Winner: Sue Fondrie
“Cheryl’s mind turned like the vanes of a wind-powered
turbine, chopping her sparrow-like thoughts into bloody pieces that fell onto a
growing pile of forgotten memories.”
Crime
Winner: Mark Wisnewski
“Wearily
approaching the murder scene of Jeannie and Quentin Rose and needing to
determine if this was the handiwork of the Scented Strangler--who had a twisted
affinity for spraying his victims with his signature raspberry cologne--or that
of a copycat, burnt-out insomniac detective Sonny Kirkland was sure of one
thing: he’d have to stop and smell the Roses.”
Historical
Fiction Winner: John Doble
“Napoleon’s
ship tossed and turned as the emperor, listening while his generals squabbled
as they always did, splashed the tepid waters in his bathtub.”
Purple Prose
Winner: Mike Pedersen
“As
his small boat scudded before a brisk breeze under a sapphire sky dappled
with cerulean clouds with indigo bases, through cobalt seas that deepened
to navy nearer the boat and faded to azure at the horizon, Ian was at a
loss as to why he felt blue.”
Romance Winner: Ali Kawashima
“As
the dark and mysterious stranger approached, Angela bit her lip anxiously,
hoping with every nerve, cell, and fiber of her being that this would
be the one man who would understand—who would take her away from all this—and
who would not just squeeze her boob and make a loud honking noise, as all the
others had.”
Sci-fi Winner: Greg Homer
“Morgan
‘Bamboo’ Barnes, Star Pilot of the Galaxia (flagship of the
Solar Brigade), accepted an hors d’oeuvre from the triangular-shaped platter
offered to him from the PrincessQwillia—lavender-skinned she was and busty,
with two of her four eyes what Barnes called ‘bedroom eyes’—and marveled at how
on her planet, Chlamydia-5, these snacks were called ‘Hi-Dee-Hoes’ but on Earth
they were simply called Ritz Crackers with Velveeta.”
Vile Puns
Winner: Joe Wyatt
“Detective
Kodiak plucked a single hair from the bearskin rug and at once understood the
grisly nature of the crime: it had been a ferocious act, a real honey, the sort
of thing that could polarize a community, so he padded quietly out the back to
avoid a cub reporter waiting in the den.”
Western Winner: Graham Thomas
“The
laser-blue eyes of the lone horseman tracked the slowly lengthening lariat of a
Laredo dawn as it snaked its way through Dead Man’s Pass into the valley below
and snared the still sleeping town’s tiny church steeple in a noose of light
with the oh-so-familiar glow of a Dodge City virgin’s last maiden blush.”
Dave and I crying with laughter... we too are at a loss as to why Ian feels "blue"...
ReplyDeleteSo bad they are so good. I was looking into journalism and got sidetracked by these. Just had to post them. They are fantastic.
ReplyDeleteYou'll never again be able to hear someone ask "Why so blue?" without laughing.