Second 30-Day Flash Challenge

My Favorite Twelve Stories

On June 30, 2022, I completed my second 30-day flash fiction challenge. Here are my twelve favorite stories produced during this challenge.

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Day 2 – The Ladder in the Box (a dream) –

I love the imagery in this story and it was honestly something I dreamt of one night.

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Day 5 – Loopers –

I’ve rewatched Palm Springs probably eight times in the last three months. I love the movie. Yes, it borrows (!) heavily from Groundhog Day, but at the end of the day, it has gifts of its own and is worthy of your consideration. I chose a darker direction to proceed with my version of a couple stuck in an infinite-time loop situation…, which you may have heard of.

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Day 8 – Biryani –

This story originated from the prompt: “The date started out well. He showed up with a rose and cartons of Indian takeout. After we ate, he withdrew a stone from his pocket, and asked, “You trust me?” I’m happy with how it turned out. I hope you enjoy it half as much as I enjoyed writing it and reading it.

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Day 20 – A Familiar Face –

When I land on something I like (a movie like “Palm Springs” or in this case the song “Somebody That I Used to Know” by Gotye) I usually watch or listen to it repetitively. This is a ghost story tribute to the heartbreaking song.

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Day 22 – Classroom –

Murica and mass shootings! What an awful state of affairs we’ve come to allow in this country. Not to get political, but it’s deeply tragic and it seems to be an entrenched, untenable problem. We are a divided nation. This story asks the question, what happens to the ghosts of the victims? It was one of my most-liked stories of the month.

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Day 23 – Louisa’s Story –

This is a continuation of “Classroom.” It closes the loop on what happened to the missing student, Simon’s twin, Louisa.

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Day 25 – Come and Get Me –

This story was created from the prompt: “She stood shivering knee-deep in the surf and laughed. “Come and get me,” she called out. The waves heard and came galloping to meet her.”

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Day 30 – A House of Sun, Sky, and Sand –

This one is a bit of a cheat. It isn’t a flash story; it’s too long. Nor was it written within a single day. I outlined and toyed with this one for a few weeks. It was always somewhere on my mind. The prompt was: “An artist’s studio, a stolen disc, grit.” I’m a writing prompt addict now. My imagination was fired up when I read that. I think this story turned out pretty well. It will be the title story for my sixth collection of short stories which I will publish early in July 2022.

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Day 11 – What to Expect When You Can’t Remember a Meat –

This story was written on the prompt: “Other pregnant women craved pickles, fries, and Mexican food. Me? I craved my next-door neighbor. He looked me up and down and smiled back, inviting me in.” It’s dark, obviously.

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Day 17 – Donated to Science –

This one is all me. I like the story. There’s no real plot. It simply paints a hellish, horror image of what might happen to you if you donate your brain to science.

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Day 21 – A House with Enough Space –

I’ve long been a fan of Mark Danielewski’s “House of Leaves.” A topological anomaly: a house that is larger on the inside than the outside. Oh, yeah. This is my attempt to flash-ify a version of such a house. I like the idea even if the execution is flawed. Hey, it’s flash!

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Day 30 – Flight 497 –

I’m shifting away from horror stories to ghost stories, I hope. Ghost stories can be subtle, sweet, haunting, and literary even. (And no, I’m not for an instant claiming to be the L-word! That’s the goal, but I’m only at the beginning of that journey.) I am proud of this ghost story.

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Thanks to all my readers who read, clapped, and commented. Your appreciation and support mean a lot to me!

Read these stories soon if you wish. I’ll probably be unpublishing some or all of these since I will be including them in my sixth book: “House of Sun, Sky, and Sand.”

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