Six Hundred Sixty Six Bottles of Blood on the Wall: Drabble Winners

First of all I want to thank everyone who submitted to the drabble contest a few weeks ago. I read some cool, fun, creepy ass stories from writers I’ve heard of and even got a submission from someone who said that this drabble was the first thing he ever wrote. That’s pretty cool.

I knocked the names off of all the stories and put them in a word document to make it as fair as I could. I cannot imagine running a press and reading for anthologies. Just judging from this small pool of short, short stories was tough. I can’t imagine it in a pro pay market with hundreds and hundreds of submissions. Yowza.

Although I did correct the one thing that a few publishers do that drives me crazy. I did this and please if any of you editors/publishers/etc. out there are reading this please, I’m begging you SEND OUT CONFIRMATION EMAILS. I don’t care if it just says “Got it.” That’s fine, that’s good enough. This is extra important if you don’t allow simultaneous subs. If that’s in your guidelines, at least have the courtesy to tell me that you’ve got my story. Can you tell that I just found out that a story of mine slipped through the cracks after 5 months of waiting? It wouldn’t be one of my blogs if I didn’t find a way to vent a little bit right? I’m done, but I’m serious.

Presses, Publishers, Magzines, Everybody! Confirmation emails, send ‘em. Pretty please.

This has been an interesting experience. For the first time in my writing career, I’m the one making the decisions, picking the stories and sending the rejections. Stu helped me out too and picked his favorites. We shared very similar tastes when picking the winners. Actually out plan was to only pick three, but I couldn’t resist adding a fourth.

Also, like I said, I’ve never done this before, so if I screwed something up, let me know, and I’ll try to fix it next time. Drop me a line at [email protected].

We’ll probably do this again sometime, at least I hope so. It’s been fun.

Instead of writing about writing for 1,500 words this week I’m taking a break. Let’s get to the stories. The top prize, an ebook copy of Under the Knife from Cruentus Libri Press, a medical themed horror anthology featuring a freaky ass story by some clown named Kerry G.S. Lipp goes to:

The Deal

By Donald Jacob Uitvlugt

Leaves rustle.

“Most unusual.” Northrop touches the knot. “The sap looks like…blood.”

The bark-covered pustule oozes, coating Northrop’s fingers. He can’t pull them away.

“Denis, a little help.”

The sap burns. The knot sucks down his hand to the wrist.

“Denis!”

“Sorry, professor. Had to get a shovel.”

As Northrop turns, Denis bashes his head in. It takes him the rest of the afternoon to dismember the body and bury it at the base of the tree. He wipes his brow and looks up to the topmost branches.
“One more and you let my brother go, right?”

Leaves rustle.

Shiver, shiver. Nice work Donald. And we’ll call the following a 3 way tie for second place. In no particular order, here are our other 3 favorites.

The Trees

By Reed Beebe

Years ago, the man had done terrible things in those woods, outside town. But the authorities had never caught him. He was careful, above suspicion. He died in his sleep, a rich old man.

When he awoke, he found himself in a dark, humid forest, with no company, save the ghosts of the children he had abducted and murdered in the woods. The children did not speak to him, but they smiled, and their teeth were sharp.

The damned man turned and ran eternally through the woods, and on those occasions when he stopped, his screams echoed from the trees.

The Hunting of the Shrikes

By Ben Kasson

Strolling through a simply enchanted meadow, Thomas took up a symphony with the local birds whilst whistling a merry tune. Feeling invigorated as they swirled and swarmed about him, Thomas became the very eye to their storm of movement. Soon, with each little shrike tugging at his clothes, he was hoisted into the air. Yipping with glee, Thomas soared to new heights in delight while looking down upon the forest. Suddenly, he felt the birds’ abrupt release and gravity took hold of him once more. Plummeting towards a tree, like a target towards an arrow, Thomas became impaled upon it.

“Apples”

By David Greske

“I see you finally caught the thieving bastard,” the oak said, staring at what was bound to the apple tree’s trunk.
“Yup, just in time, too. Damn near picked me clean.”
The oak bent forward. “They certainly are curious creatures, aren’t they? Human beings.” The tree straightened. “Now that you have him, what’re you gonna do with him?”
“Give him a taste of his own medicine. See how he likes it.”
A twisted branch of the apple tree reached around and cupped the naked man’s genitals.
“For such a large human,” the apple tree scoffed, “he has such scrawny apples.”

Booya.

Alright folks, thanks again for submitting. Stay tuned as we’ll probably do something like this again in the future. I’ll be back next week talking about whatever I’ve got to say in the world of writing. As always, I’m open to suggestions. Swing by my FB author page New World Horror – Kerry G.S. Lipp or send me an email and I’ll try and tackle it. Hell you can even tweet me @kerrylipp. I suck at Twitter, help make me better.
April is halfway over. Are you going to make your deadlines? GET BUSY!

Ps. This was my first time writing rejections, damn. Even though this is a small contest for tiny stories, I still felt like a dick. I tried to be supportive to y’all that didn’t make it. If it didn’t come across that way, I’m sorry.

Keep reading, keep writing, and keep it real,
KGSL