Monday, May 21, 2012

Flash Fiction Blogfest: Lighting Flashed!



Last year in May, Cherie Reich hosted a Flash Fiction Blogfest. She enjoyed it so much, she decided to host it again this year.

Here are the rules:

1. Entries must begin with the two words: Lightning flashed.

2. Entries must be 300 words or less and be in prose. I'm not versed enough in poetry verse to judge it properly.

3. Entries must be posted on your blog between May 21 - 23.

4. You must sign up in the linky on her site.

On May 25, she will announce the six finalists and open voting through May 28th.
On May 29th, Cherie's third year blogversary, she will announce the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners as well as a random winner selected from the participants list. All ties will be broken by Random.org.

Now what are the prizes?
First place - $25 gift card from Amazon
Second place - $20 gift card from Amazon
Third place - $15 gift card from Amazon
Random prize - $10 gift card from Amazon


My entry: Captain Wrath Goes Camping

                Lightning flashed. Captain Wrath, aka Douglas Cranton, cursed loudly to satisfy his paying passengers, and then stumped over to his tent. Galaxy Cruise Lines had decided in their universal wisdom to add an overnight excursion to the Western Edge tours. In addition to the garish costume, foul makeup and other discomforts lavished on Douglas by his employers, the whole Smuggler’s Cove Excursion on the newly synthed Looter’s Island had nearly forced Doug to break his employee contract.
                Thankfully, Doug had wrangled a few perks out of management, like his Captain’s tent placed on the best campsite under a large canopy tree. In rotten weather like this, he could slip into the large tent and hope that the company didn’t spring any surprise excursion adventures upon him.
                A shrill scream interrupted his momentary hope.
Doug drew his pistol-blasters and threw open the tent flap. The lanterns in the camp were all out, and only the wind driven rain greeted him. With the moon hidden behind the thick clouds, he couldn’t see anything.
                Doug stepped away from his tent, not wanting the light to make him a target. In the shadows of the canopy tree, he listened carefully for sounds of his crew. A silky murmur emanated from the tree behind him, and slender hands ran down his back.
                “What the devil!” Doug shouted, jumping away from the hands.
                A beautiful Dryadarian barely covered in brown bark smiled seductively at him. “Don’t you want to have a little fun, Captain Wrath? Your passengers are all taken care of . . .
                With a flick of his thumb, Doug changed the cartridge in his pistol, and shot her with universal sleeping gas.
                She crumpled to the ground, and he stepped into the dense foliage.
Time to rescue his passengers again.
               
author note: I had so much fun with Captain Wrath for a previous blog challenge, that I decided to use him again. If you want to read my original Captain Wrath story, go here: The Identity Crisis of Captain Wrath
100 Days of Revision, Day 21
Had a bit of slow down this weekend - my Sundays have been incredibly fun and busy lately, but I'm back into it today. This process isn't quite what I had planned for it to be; I'm spending a few hours at it on some days, and short bits of time on it on other days, but I'm trying to keep this in the forefront of my writing time.

56 comments:

Tara Tyler said...

again?! love it! souns like the first page of a new novel! amazing!

Angela Brown said...

As soon as I started reading I couldn't help squeeing like a glee-filled jelly roll. Captain Wrath was back!!!

And I love this piece. So much fun :-)

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Captain Doug returns! Awesome.

Tyrean Martinson said...

Tara - Wow! Thanks! (blushing) I had no intention of writing about Captain Wrath more than once, but the guy just keeps popping up and making me laugh now and then. I think (maybe) when I get my current WIP whipped into shape, I might give him his own book.

Angela - Thanks bunches for your enthusiasm for Captain Wrath!

Alex - Thanks!!!

StratPlayerCJF said...

LOL! I enjoyed this! I don't blame the Captain. You really can't mess with those Dryadarians -- their bite is much worse than their bark...

Nice work, Tyrean!

Tyrean Martinson said...

Chris - "their bite is much worse than their bark" :D Thanks!!!

Summer Ross said...

Great job, I liked the ending-

Tyrean Martinson said...

Summer - Thanks!

Luanne G. Smith said...

Ha! Love it. I think I need one of those pistols.

Tyrean Martinson said...

L.G. - Thanks! Yes, the pistols with rotating cartridges are kind of nice . . . so Captain Doug can use the ammo needed for the situation.

Cherie Reich said...

Thank you for entering my 2nd Annual Flash Fiction Blogfest! The six finalists will be announced on Friday, May 25th. I will further comment on your entry on Thursday.

Anonymous said...

That was such fun. You created some great atmosphere in such a limited amount of words.

Susan Kane said...

Sounds like a great start to a bigger project!

M said...

This one was a lot of fun to read! The kind of story I want more of!

~MPL, PepperWords

Leovi said...

A story that meets the standards in a wildly imaginative.

Anonymous said...

"cursed loudly to satisfy his paying passengers"

I don't know why, but this phrase jumped off the page for me. It's only 7 words, yet it seems to have a deeper, hidden meaning behind it...the marks of a good writer. :)

Anonymous said...

Good luck with the revisions and glad to hear you're also having fun. Gotta have that balance in this life!

mshatch said...

I think I like Captain Wrath - reminds me a little of Mal from Firefly :)

Tyrean Martinson said...

Cherie - Thanks!!!

Laura - Thank you. It's hard to fit a story in less than 300 words.

Susan - unintentionally yes!

M Pepper - Thanks! I plan to spend a little more time with Captain Wrath/Doug in the near future.

Linda - glad you liked it. For me the deeper meaning is that although Doug may play the part of "Captain Wrath" for his job, he's really the "good" guy with extremely high standards.

Stephen - Thanks! I agree. Balance between fun and work is necessary.

mshatch - Interesting. I hadn't put that together, but yeah . . he's a little like Mal . . .and Han Solo, and all the scoundrels with hearts of gold out there.

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Oh I loved that! So much delightful personality in that short piece.

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Lol, that's awesome. Loved your flash fiction and Captain Wrath.

Heather Murphy said...

FUN and exciting! I think I need to go back to read your other material about the Captain :)

Andrea Teagan said...

I loved captain wrath.. hes a great character. This was a lot of fun to read :)

Andrea

Crystal Collier said...

Hee hee. Again. The plucky hero sets out to save the world. =) Fun stuff.

Nicole Zoltack said...

He reminds me Han Solo. :)

Tyrean Martinson said...

L. Diane - Thank you!

Lynda - Thanks!!!

Heather - Thank you.

Andrea - Thank you.

Crystal - Thanks!!! He's sort of a reluctantly plucky hero.

Nicole - Good :-) . . .as long as he's still his own character too.

Unknown said...

I like Captain Wrath!

Brinda said...

You sure pack a lot of characterization into a short passage. I enjoyed reading it!

Unknown said...

Wow! This is a compelling world. What a great idea! Cruise trips with a huge difference. You're onto something there - keep it!

Dani said...

Stunning writing! Felt like I was there the whole time.

Julie Dao said...

Go Doug! What a hero! Your descriptions are so vivid :) I'm loving all of the entries I've read so far for this blogfest!

A.L. Sonnichsen said...

I love his response to the bark-clad woman. Ha ha ha! Very nice story. Captain Wrath's personality really comes through. :)

Mary Maddox said...

Wouldn't mind being a paying customer on that excursion.

Nephy's World said...

This was so funny. I loved the last lines. I agree that it sounds like the first page of a novel and it's one I'd like to read

Christine Rains said...

This is wonderfully written and original. Not what I expected to happen at all. Bravo!

Julie DeGuia said...

Seems like Captain Wrath has some admirers... Fun story and great ending!

Allison said...

ha! Fun story. Captain Wrath sounds like an interesting character.

Allison (Geek Banter)

Charity Bradford said...

I love Captain Wrath! You should really write a book of his adventures. We need some fun loving adventures.

farawayeyes said...

I'm with Nicole,he does sound a lot like Han Solo. fun post. Great job.

Tyrean Martinson said...

Brinda - Thanks! I appreciate your specific comment - characterization is something I "worry" about when writing.

Susan - Thanks!!! I started with the idea of a disgruntled Space Navy Captain who'd been kicked out and had to find work . . .where? A cruise line.

Danielle - Thank you!

Julie - Thank you for the specific feedback!!!

Amy - Thanks!!! I was afraid the whole "shooting her with sleeping gas" thing might be a problem.

Mary - I know what you mean . . .except this particular cruise company likes to surprise it's passengers.

Nephylim - Thanks! I hadn't planned on it being an opener, but it just ended up that way.

Christine - Thanks!!!

Julie - Thank you! He's a character that just recently popped into my imagination, and I'm finding him a bit distracting.

Leovi said...

I love the slowdown in the days of rest.

nutschell said...

cool flash fic! love the word Dryadarian:)
Nutschell
www.thewritingnut.com

Tyrean Martinson said...

Leovi - me too.

nutschell - Thanks! It's my odd mix of fantasy and scifi . . . in my last "WRath" story there were some mischief making leprechanarians.

Anonymous said...

That was a very fun flash!

I surfed by your blog yesterday, and got so excited about the blogfest that I rushed off to sign up and start writing before reading and commenting. So now I'm back. :)

I loved the cynical internal monolog that contrasts with the persona the captain has to keep up for 'customers', and the reference to a Dryadarian.

Misha Gerrick said...

Hahaha Captain Wrath sounds awesome. :-D

Unknown said...

Captain Wrath sounds like a fun and cool character. It's awesome you've used him before and hopefully he'll make his way to the page again. Very nice!

Tyrean Martinson said...

kelworthfiles - wow! thanks!!! and thanks for the specific feedback on the story!

Misha - Thank you!

Michael - Thank you! I've had a lot of fun with him as a character, so I don't think I can give him up.

Mina Lobo said...

I heart that he shouted, "What the devil!" Fun piece! :-)
Some Dark Romantic

Unknown said...

This is my first encounter with Captain Wrath, but he's an awesome character :)

Tyrean Martinson said...

Mina - Thanks!!!

Jamie - Thank you! He's been fun to write.

Sylvia said...

Oh that was awesome. I hope you are going to expand on that, because it deserves a novel :)

Cherie Reich said...

I love how this went from seemingly ordinary to the extraordinary. Great job!

I'll announce the finalists tomorrow.

Tyrean Martinson said...

Sylvia - Thanks! I plan to . . .but for now Captain Wrath is just getting short spurts of "borrowed" time while I work on a revision of my WIP

Cherie - Thanks!!! I'll check in tomorrow.

Unknown said...

Well done! Captain Wrath seems like a fun character to write.

Tyrean Martinson said...

Jenn - Thank you!

Anonymous said...

I'm glad he resisted temptation. Great writing and characterization.