Fast Fiction winners

Thank you all for the great entries in the Fast Fiction contest! It was fun, seeing them come in, and having so many evocative short – very short – stories to read!

I have consulted the Oracle… er, I mean, I invited the wonderful Valerie Parv to judge the entries and she has contemplated them and sent me her decision:

As you predicted, it was quite hard to separate the entries. In the end I looked for a complete story with a beginning, middle and end, and a sense of plot, a lot to cram into 55 words. I kept coming back to Shayne’s entry, Foiled, which satisfies all the above with a plot, intrigue, deception…and dogs. How can you not love a dog story?

Second is Jane’s Celeste’s Redemption, beautifully written, a little gem complete with yarn for Bron 🙂

Third is Sandra Harris’s topical Explosion, vivid, concise and exciting with a kick-azz heroine.

If we had a highly commended, it would go to Azteclady’s delightful non-entry. She could teach writers a thing about editing even at age three!

Congratulations, Shayne, Jane, and Sandra! And Azteclady, too!

Shayne, you get first choice and can pick one book from the prizes. Jane, you can make your choice from the remaining two, and Sandra, you’ll receive the third book. The prize books are:
Helene Young’s romantic suspense, Border Watch,  Joanna Sandsmark’s delightful The Wisdom of Yo Meow Ma, and my romantic suspense, Dark Country.

I wish we could give more prizes, as I thoroughly enjoyed reading all the entries. So thank you, again, to all the entrants.

Coming up in the next week or so, I’m planning to have two more special blog guests – Valerie Parv herself, an amazing woman who has written more than 50 romances for Harlequin/Mills & Boon/Silhouette, and is an international bestseller, as well as a wonderful mentor to aspiring writers. And I’ve also invited Joanna Sandsmark to visit – author, voice actress, musician, comedy teacher – Joanna has so many talents she is an inspiration. So please keep an eye out for the upcoming guest posts!