Photo by Billy Huynh, Unsplash
Sara based her prompt on the well-known picture ‘The Kiss’ by Gustav Klimt’ and following Sara’s excellent instructions, entrants were asked to write a story involving a kiss of some sort.
Sara wrote that she was “blown away by the creativity each writer employed to bring a unique kiss to the page.” Eventually, she chose the entry by Becca Carson, a writer from the USA as a winner. And what a co-incidence that this story, like Sara’s own win a few months back, was also titled, ‘Blue’, a title Sara said was perfect for this story. Becca wins £30, publication in our Festival Anthology, out early next year and the mug pictured, illustrated with the Klimt painting. We will add her bio details here shortly.
Sara’s comments:
Winner: ‘Blue’
This story of a grazing kiss between old lovers was an early standout with its emotionally-affecting prose and gorgeous, layered imagery. With impressive attention to sentence-level craft, the author skillfully juxtaposes prayer and yearning with unrequited coldness.
The runner up is ‘My Grandfather is Schrödinger’s Cat’ y by Jona Ray, a writer from India. (bio coming soon).
Jona will receive any one of the anthologies from the Ad Hoc Fiction series plus publication in the festival anthology.
Sara’s comments:
In this double list story, the kiss is a playful one shared between a doting grandfather and his granddaughter. It cleverly explores the dichotomy of character in regard to familial love: how those we hold dear can exist in two planes, simultaneously caring and monstrous.
Many congratulations to both writers and thank you to everyone for entering and Sara for judging. The next flash fiction festival day is on January 8th. As it is New Year, we will have two festival competitions then. Both with a prize of £30 plus a mug and publication And two runners up who will receive an anthology of choice and publication. Judges Karen Jones and Electra Rhodes, who will set one challenge each. There are still places if you would like to book up. And we also have a number of free places. Just contact us if your funds are limited.
