In Search of Perdition

And so we approach that annual witching hour that we call Halloween where spooks and spirits seek to suck our souls to hell (depending on what beliefs you subscribe to). Me, I see this as a gloriously wonderful time of year where the scary gets celebrated and we get the chance to see some glorious tales to chill our very cores. I'm hoping that the Predictioneers will all rise to the challenge this week and give me something with a ghostly tinge to honour this time of year. But before then I am sure you want to know who the winner was from last week. After much deliberation I have decided that my winner is......RR Kovar with Impact. Rebecca - this is a tale which I confessed in my comments that I didn't grasp at first (my dimwittedness rather than your writing) but when I understood the fullness of it, boy was I blown away. Clever, clever stuff which I would encourage everyone to go back and read. My runner-up this week is Matt Farr with his two takes on Only the Mundane V...

Hello all, my apologies that this will be a brief piece from me this week. Sadly my grandmother died recently and I have been away for the funeral which was later in the month than anticipated. Therefore I hope you forgive me my lack of commentary this time and I will post pictures of Lily and I plus review of FantasyCon next week when normal service will resume. My winner this week is Matt Farr with In the Midst of Death. Matt - as I said in my comments, really good imagery and some emotionally charged stuff to boot. I loved the concept that the devil's playground is the war ravaged plains of Earth rather than some subterranean cavern deep below. Runner-up is Sandra Davies with her two latest installments of The Blacksmith's Wife. Sandra - you left me shell-shocked at the end of both pieces and I doubt there was any other reader who didn't feel the same way. I fear for our heroine and yet am desperate to see what happens next (peeking from behind my fingers). Congrat...

This weekend I am off to brush shoulders with some of the great genre writers of our time at FantasyCon in Brighton. I shall also get to meet the wonderful Lily Childs in person for the first time. I shall be sure to send her love and warm feelings from The Prediction gang.   Now, how the hell do I judge last week's offerings? Each one would normally have been a winner in its own right on any other week but it seems that the changing of the seasons has inspired you all into even higher levels of literary excellence. So a winner there must be and that winner is....   .... MuckieDuckie with Riven . MD - you tugged on my heartstrings here to great effect. So much heartache throughout this piece, touching pieces of sentimentality littered throughout that work so well, and that final line just had me welling up. I will hug my son hard tonight. A well deserved win for an intense tale.   And my runner-up is, well I have two. Firstly Antonia Woodville with...

It's that time of year when the leaves are changing colour, the nights are drawing in and we're all asking ourselves what happened to summer (well those of us in the UK, I hope the sun is shining on our international friends). I hope that the beauty of the season will inspire you all in your writing endeavours. Now before I announce the winner this week, I just wanted to highlight a query that came up in last week's comments. Is it ok to promote other writing sites on here? Absolutely, as long as they are reputable sites then plug away. I very much see this site as a place for everyone to support each other and have some fun writing. So please feel free to let people know about any writing opportunities that are out there - I know that I'll be following up on them! Now, onto this week's winner. After much deliberation, the person who stood out for me this week was.... ..... Marietta Miles with Forgiveness . Marietta -  this piece s...

So, after several weeks and a multitude of time zones, I find myself back here at Phlambler's World judging the latest Prediction entries. In my travels I have stood atop volcanos, seen near extinct species flocking and watched mighty beasts breaching from the ocean, yet I am still amazed by the quality of writing and the diversity of imagination from amongst the Predictioneers.   It was great, and possibly worring for my exalted position, to see The Prediction continue to run so smoothly in my absence [even with some generous interpretations of the word swag into swagger along the way ;-) ] and I offer my thanks to my guest judges Matt, Rebecca and William for keeping this ship afloat.   Well, it's been a while since I've said this but my winner for this week is........   .....John Xero! John stunned me with the beautifully crafted Crepuscular. It painted a vividly bleak future for mankind. The way you created such a fully formed world and brought Carla to...

And here we are into the final week before I can give my time back to judging your entries.   Now, if everything went to plan then we had a winner announced for last week. If said writer would be so kind, do let everyone know who you thought was the outstanding entry this week. As I said last week, no obligation but would be nice if you could.   If we had no winner announced then such is life and you shall still have your new words. The winner for this week will not have to judge the coming entries. Normal service will resume and I shall be announcing winners on Thursday night.   We're now into the third week of our leather clad beast's rampage and reports of another victim abound. He was found babbling in the bushes, repeating the same words over and over again: Eclipse Stiff Dangle   The usual rules apply: 100 words maximum, excluding the title, of flash fiction or poetry using all of the three words above in the g...

Why, hello again. More words from the past coming to greet you. Hope that everyone enjoyed the bank holiday weekend and that you were able to have some fun with 'squid'.   Now, if everything went to plan then we had a winner announced for last week. If said writer would be so kind, do let everyone know who you thought was the outstanding entry this week. As I said last week, no obligation but would be nice if you could.   If we had no winner announced then such is life and you shall still have your new words.   Further to last week's newspaper stories about a strange beastie causing havoc on the moors, there are unconfirmed rumours of an actual attack! Etched into the victim's body were three simple words : Post Shield Immoral   The usual rules apply: 100 words maximum, excluding the title, of flash fiction or poetry using all of the three words above in the genres of horror, fantasy or science fiction. All variants ...