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tcstu · 4 years

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Ekphrastic Fiction Contest (January 2020)

This month’s feature is a digital painting titled, “They are coming back to life” and it was created by Virginie Juteau @hydraart. If you’ve been following this contest for a while, you may notice that this is a returning artist. I know I recommend a lot of artists on this page, but Virginie Juteau’s work is so incredible, you really do need to check it out. Not only are these pictures incredibly realistic, but there are constantly new pieces to see!

If you would like to see previous contests that featured this artist, you can do so here:

May 2019

January 2019

Basic Directions: Create an original fictitious piece based on the artwork above.

Length: Your entry does not have to be long! It can be as short as one sentence or one paragraph. Entries must be shorter than 500 words.

Deadline: All entries must be received before January 25th. The winner will be announced January 31st.

How to submit your entry: Once you have written your Ekphrastic Fiction piece, you can enter this contest either of these ways:

1. Fill out this form to enter the contest.

2. Reblog this post with your story attached.

You can do either one of these to enter the contest. You do not need to do both.

Contest Prize: I will feature the winning piece on my blog and link directly to the writer’s page in order to promote his/her/their work. The winning piece will also have a permanent spot on my contest page. This gives writers a chance to have their work shared and seen by others. Sorry, but at this time I am broke, so no cash prizes will be given.

WTF is Ekphrastic Fiction? Ekphrastic Fiction stories are short fictitious pieces inspired by a work of art. To see some of my Ekphrastic Fiction pieces, click here.

Will there be any future contests? Yes! As long as there is enough interest, there will be a new contest, and a new piece of art work, posted every month. Check out my page on the 1st of each month to see the new contest.

I am an artist. How can I have my work used for this contest? If you have art work that you would like used for this contest, you can read my post for artists here, and fill out this form.

I can’t wait to read your submissions!

@actualpieceofwhitebread-2 @alexfireon @alinakerrin @baerlii @bookbreak @books-and-left-behind-journals @brynprocrastinates @bunn1k1ng @burningemberjade @collapsedkaleidoscope @create-and-procrastinate @dantedwards @demighosty @dhill2000 @dikris-g @drawingpuddle @dreamsofbooksandmonsters @electricarmchair @elliebrie @emilyelizabethfowl @evanthenerd83 @federsteinmask @halfbloodlycan @hellhound-stays-dead @joeys-piano @jonathan-lockheart @journalisticroman @kibberswrites @lady-redshield-waits @laurelemoeba-art @l-exists @loafofbook @lost-in-the-silver-raindrops @luxlacrimosa @marigoldwrites @mbovettwrites @miistical @minusfractions @moonlightchess @palxeye @perfectlyscarredandbruised @queenlyquotes @raiswanson @ridinwonderland @saxoniowrites @scribble-dee-vee @seducemewithcherrycandies @semicoolgal @shameen-kashif @stickynotedoodler @stripeyghost @taohuawrites @the-ellipses-in-this-reply @tlbodine @to-kill-a-procrastinator @twoplumsandapeach @unendingballofstress @voby33 @wemitodd @whitandwy @writerlyclaire @writersung

#writing contest #January contest #writeblr #writing community #January writing #ekphrastic fiction contest #ekphrastic fiction

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tcstu · 4 years

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January’s Honorable Mentions

The truth is any of these entries could have won. They are all incredible. Sometimes I hate having to choose a winner. I love how unique each writer’s style is and how they each took a completely different take on this piece. If you like one of the entries below, please let the writer know. I am sure they would appreciate the feedback. :)

As a reminder, this month’s feature is a digital painting titled, “They are coming back to life” and it was created by Virginie Juteau @hydraart. If you’ve been following this contest for a while, you may notice that this is a returning artist. I know I recommend a lot of artists on this page, but Virginie Juteau’s work is so incredible, you really do need to check it out.

These entries are listed in the order they were received and do not reflect any system of ranking.

Submitted by: @evanthenerd83

“The Hope (And Death) Of A New World”

A year passed. The fires waned, then flickered out.

A decade. The fog was whipped away from the bosom of civilization.

Centuries fell like sand in an hourglass. Grass hid the skeletons of giants, and vines were woven into a carpet. Scabs that covered old wounds.

The world moved on. Life overthrew the tyranny of extinction, oppression. Bugs crawled. Serpents slithered.

And then, just as the apes crept from the mouths of steel caves, monkey-brains blinded by burning light, it happened.

The fog came.

The death came.

And this time, there would be no survivors.

Submitted by: @wemitodd

“Origins”

After waking to another quiet morning, Lou quickly wrapped their wrist and grabbed their long staff and broad hacking knife - necessities on Nowhere - as they ducked out of the little hovel they had claimed in the rocky plains.

Once outside, Lou was greeted by the sun’s warmth and blinded by its light. After their eyes adjusted, Lou could see the towering figure of the Elder stretched across miles and miles, motionless and silent. Up close, the Elder’s body looked like piled ash, as if one touch could make the beast crumble. Though, when Lou’s hand had touched the Elder, the creature felt warm and sturdy, hopefully, warmed from the sun. Lou liked to believe the creature was dead, mainly because they’d been stuck on Nowhere for a little over five years, and the beast hadn’t moved. If for any reason, it was still alive Lou didn��t want to know what it was capable of.

Remembering the reason they ventured out, Lou set off away from the Elder in search of food. Unfortunately for them, however, food was rarely in their plains. Food on Nowhere was hardly scarce, but it never made itself easy to be found. Recently, Lou hadn’t been lucky in their usual hunting spots, so they had to wander out farther than they would’ve liked.

It takes about an hour to get anywhere promising, but that’s usually par for the course on Nowhere. Everything is big and far apart and hot. Lou wiped their brow and sighed, almost missing the small tumble of rocks behind them.

Unlike them, nothing made noise on Nowhere.

Lou spun around, almost swinging their staff into the person sneaking behind them. As they jumped and their eyes went wide, Lou noted their clothes were similar to but where Lou kept up their hood, the stranger had long, pulled-back hair.

“Hello,” the stranger called, “Are you looking for food?”

Lou narrowed their eyes. They didn’t - couldn’t - speak, but they did hesitantly nod.

“Come with me.” The stranger started walking, and after a moment, Lou followed.

It took a while to get where they were going, but eventually, they got to a small cave opening and Lou again followed the stranger into the caves.

“It’s the easiest place to find anything.”

They pressed their hand against the wall as a guide, pressing into the dark. Lou followed carefully. The halls were long and dark but something felt… alive about them. “I usually hunt closer to the cave’s opening, but there’s been less activity there,” the stranger said.

It was when the sound of the ground became more metal than earth that Lou stopped, before even the stranger. They jumped as an alarm blared. A voice rang out in a language that Lou didn’t know. The earth rumbled and groaned, and above them, the ceiling shook. Horrifyingly, a leg smashed through the ceiling, a long grey leg. Lou was filled with terror as the stranger screamed. The Elder was awake.

Submitted by: @triggerman-gray

“The Cloudstrider Titans of Icarus VII”

The cloudstrider's spindly pseudopods make it seem frail, the tremors felt with every "step" say otherwise, the sea of mist below it whirling around each tendril as they are dragged through the gaseous mixture that rests above the ground. It's gait more of a groping crawl than a walk, it's abdomen filled with gas that keep it suspended in the sky, keeping it safe from the hypertrophic hellscape that exists below, but in danger of the shrieking winds that the legendary storms on Icarus VII can cause, knocking them over or dragging them miles away from their migration paths.

The death of a cloudstrider is a very important ecological event akin to a whale corpse collapsing to the sea floor on Earth or Europa, it's colossal size making predation on it impossible, at least by any creature observed by the colonists.

Sometime after more settlements were built on the planet, they discovered a subspecies that possess thicker hides and muscles that release high intensity pulses of electricity, scarred titans covered in wounds that would have felled their thinner skinned relatives. The lack of sightings would suggest their natural predator has been in steady decline or nearly extinct, as the only evidence of it's existence is battered cliffsides, toppled monoliths and century old wounds on ancient cloudstriders, yet still their herds are culled and their migrations left unfinished as they begin to reside near the nutrient rich runoff pumped out of settlements. Makes one wonder what will happen once the colonies become another hunting ground.

(Note: It seemed Google Forms deleted the line breaks on this last entry. I am hoping I did it justice and inserted the breaks where the author intended.)

#January's Honorable Mentions #honorable mentions #January contest #writing contest #ekphrastic fiction contest #ekphrastic fiction #writeblr #writing community

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tcstu · 4 years

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Ekphrastic Fiction Contest Winner (January 2020)

The winner for this month’s contest is Henri Hunter @henri-chloroplast ! Congratulations!!! You can read the winning submission below and then make sure to check out Henri’s page to see more work from this writer!

I really hope all of you will also read my “Honorable Mentions” post that will go up later today. Each of the featured writers captured an incredibly different perspective on this piece and I think you would enjoy seeing how different writers interpret the same piece of art.

As a reminder, this month’s feature is a digital painting titled, “They are coming back to life,” and it was created by Virginie Juteau @hydraart. If you’ve been following this contest for a while, you may notice that this is a returning artist. I know I recommend a lot of artists on this page, but Virginie Juteau’s work is so incredible, you really do need to check it out. Not only are these pictures incredibly realistic, but there are constantly new pieces to see!

Now without further delay, there is the winning entry:

Atop my perch I see you there,

Once so rare.

Sentinels of these vast dunes.

A return shown through bygone runes.

Poached for status no longer,

Now your kind are stronger.

Stride proud above the sands,

Keystone of thy lands.

Atop my perch I see you there,

This life we were meant to share.

Risen with the dawn,

Our hope is no longer gone.

Conservation is vital for wildlife.

They are coming back to life.

#January contest winner #ekphrastic fiction contest #ekphrastic fiction #writeblr #writing community #writing contest #January contest

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tcstu · 5 years

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Ekphrastic Fiction Contest (May 2019)

The artistic piece for this month’s contest is a digital sketch by Virginie Juteau @hydraart titled “Nightmare Fuel.” You may recognize this artist from my January contest. Virginie Juteau has some pretty amazing work, so if you like this piece make sure to check out this page to see more!

Basic Directions: Create an original fictitious piece based on the artwork above.

Length: Your entry does not have to be long! It can be as short as one sentence or one paragraph. Entries must be shorter than 500 words.

Deadline: All entries must be received before May 25th. The winner will be announced May 31st.

How to submit your entry: Once you have written your Ekphrastic Fiction piece, you can enter this contest either of these ways:

1. Fill out this form to enter the contest.

2. Reblog this post with your story attached.

You can do either one of these to enter the contest. You do not need to do both.

WTF is Ekphrastic Fiction? Ekphrastic Fiction stories are short fictitious pieces inspired by a work of art. To see some of my Ekphrastic Fiction pieces, click here.

I am an artist. How can my work get used for these contests? If you have art work that you would like used for this contest, you can read my post for artists here, and fill out this form.

I can’t wait to read your submissions!

@bookbreak @lady-redshield-waits @marigoldwrites @raiswanson @mbovettwrites @twoplumsandapeach @burningemberjade @brynprocrastinates @drawingpuddle @wemitodd @create-and-procrastinate @miistical @writerlyclaire @dreamsofbooksandmonsters @semicoolgal @whitandwy @dikris-g @dhill2000 @loafofbook @elliebrie @halfbloodlycan @unendingballofstress @demighosty @evanthenerd83 @palxeye @tlbodine @baerlii @to-kill-a-procrastinator @actualpieceofwhitebread-2 @alexfireon @alinakerrin @collapsedkaleidoscope @dantedwards @emilyelizabethfowl @federsteinmask @joeys-piano @kibberswrites @laurelemoeba-art @l-exists @moonlightchess @perfectlyscarredandbruised @ridinwonderland @shameen-kashif @stripeyghost @taohuawrites @the-ellipses-in-this-reply @voby33 @writersung

#May contest #ekphrastic fiction contest #writing contest #writing community #writeblr

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tcstu · 5 years

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Ekphrastic Fiction Contest Winner (May 2019)

Wow, this was a difficult month to judge!!! Each of the entries I received for this contest took a completely different approach to this piece. However, a winner must be chosen. So, without further adieu...

The winner for this month’s Ekphrastic Fiction Contest is Ana Gardner! (@whataremetaphor) Congratulations! You can read the winning piece below and visit this author’s page to learn more about this writer.

If you would like to see some of the other entries, check out my “Honorable Mentions” post. It will go up later today.

Do Not Operate in the Dark

The installation techs had left behind only one instruction. Do not operate the microscope in the dark.

They printed it in black ink on thick plastic, and taped it to the scope table. You could see the writing ten yards out. Do not. Operate. In the dark.

The Omikron MX-4000 Photonscope took up half the table, a wide yet sleek device in dark-silver. A ten-inch screen sat at the top, to project the image of whatever samples were placed inside the vacuum-chamber that made up the bulk of the machine. The world’s most powerful microscope—so cutting-edge, it had managed to look inside an electron, the smallest particle known to science.

The news had circled the world, when the Okinawa Institute for Advanced Physics had announced the discovery. Months of clamor and suspense had followed: what was inside an electron? After a year the research team revealed a photo of fat little seeds clumped inside a circle, like the cross-section of a pomegranate. New particle names were bandied about. Twitter polls taken. At last the team named them therasons: the new, smallest building blocks of the universe.

But the research stalled: the Okinawans stubbornly resisted pressure from the international science community to share their methods, until finally, after years of negotiation, the newly open Greenland branch of the Max Planck Institute obtained the MX-4000 technology, and with it, its sole instruction.

Do not operate in the dark.

Prof.Dr. Hilda Majen and her star graduate student regarded the instruction with bemusement. Perhaps a joke by the installation team? After all, there was no light in the vacuum chamber: only a glass plate and a stream of bouncing electrons.

They looked at a gold atom, first, and joked about alchemy. They zoomed to its electrons, and at last, inside the electrons, to the beautiful therasons plump and shiny like pomegranate seeds. But Dr. Majen had loftier goals: her team would be the first to see inside a therason.

They tried two years, running through grant funds and public patience, but the therasons refused to break. The failure defied logic: by all expectations, the resolution of the MX-4000 was enough to split them. Yet every experiment failed.

Perhaps, the student guessed, therasons truly were the smallest particle, impossible to break down.

But to Dr. Majen, impossible meant only that your methods were faulty. She had the MX-4000 inspected, and found a photon trapped inside the vacuum chamber. One photon, messing with their image resolution. A fabrication error, from the Okinawans. No wonder their research had failed.

Dr. Majen ordered the photon removed.

A new student pointed jokingly to the metal plate screwed to the table. Do not operate in the dark. Photons were what light was made of, after all. Without it, the vacuum chamber would be truly dark.

Dr. Majen flushed the chamber, to remove the photon.

Do not operate in the dark.

Then, they looked again inside a therason.

And from the darkness, monsters looked back.

#Ekphrastic Fiction Contest Winner #May contest winner #Ekphrastic Fiction Contest #writing community #writing contest #writeblr

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tcstu · 5 years

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May’s Honorable Mentions

I was truly impressed by the variety of unique stories that were created using this month’s piece by @hydraart. First, I would like to thank Virginie Juteau for allowing me to use another one of his pieces for this contest. I hope anyone who sees this will take a few minutes to read the stories below and appreciate the incredibly different perspectives writers can have on a single piece of art. That is, after all, what this contest is all about.

As a reminder, this digital sketch is titled, “Nightmare Fuel.”

(These entries are presented in the order I received them and do not represent any type of ranking system.)

Untitled

Contributed by: Emily Elizabeth Fowl @emilyelizabethfowl

The darkness held none of its usual comfort.

Instead it resonated with guttural growls following the monsters as they circled their prey. “We shouldn’t have came here!” Derek whispered furiously, correcting his grip on the slipping sword. “Going towards suspicious sounds at night is never a good idea!”

Shane didn’t respond. His eyes were focused on the three beasts and nothing more, his leather gloves squelching loudly.

One of the monsters turned around, snarling at them threateningly before going back to their prey.

“Please, let’s just leave,” Derek took a step back, but the shining orb above their heads didn’t move. Usually having a mage provide the source of the light was advantageous, but not when said mage refused to move.

Neither Shane nor the beasts paid him any mind, instead focusing on the bloodied creature lying in the middle of the clearing.

The mare was clearly dying.

“Monsters,” Shane grunted through clenched teeth. “Murderers.”

The growls rose in volume and frequency.

“Let’s go before they murder us!”

The growls cut off with no warning, as if sliced with a blade. The beasts turned around and left with not a single glance back.

“Come on,” Derek tugged at Shane’s arm. The monsters obviously weren’t going to leave their prey laying in the middle of the forest.

They would come back for it, and Derek wanted to be very far away from the clearing when that happened.

“I will finally avenge my mother,” Shane grunted, ripping his arm out of Derek’s grip. “I’m not going to allow them to continue killing everything in their sight!”

“They didn’t kill you,” a new voice said from behind them.

A witch pushed past them before they could turn back, going straight to the mare.

“And they won’t get another chance!” Shane took a step forward. “I won’t let them-!”

“I’d rather you didn’t kill them.”

That was enough to bring Shane’s temper down somewhat.

“My father saw them kill my mother. And we just saw them kill that mare! Are you saying they shouldn’t pay for their crimes?”

“Did you really?” the witch looked at them and tilted her head, her hand never stopping petting the horse’s mane. “Or is that what you want to believe?”

“We followed the noises and found a bloodied mare being circled by three beasts. What else could it have been?”

“Did you see them attack?”

“No,” Derek offered. “But the mare was dying, we saw its last breath.”

“Or did you?”

The mare’s eyes opened.

Slowly, it stood up, stumbling a little.

It neighed quietly, shook its head and trotted away, leaving only blood and crumpled grass behind.

“But... My mother?”

“Sometimes the wounds are too grave to heal in time,” the witch stood up and dusted off her knees, walking back in the same direction she came from. “But no matter how monstrous they may seem, the unicorns will always try their best to help.”

Untitled

Contributed by: @shydragonrider

They could smell it, their natural enemy. Its rancid scent filled the nostrils of the collective pack. The Guards hissed in dismay, and circled around the pregnant Queen. A much deeper growl reverberated through the otherwise silent night. Their enemy was still in the shadows, invisible, with its dark hide. The lead guard snarled, and a subordinate reluctantly stepped forward, hissing and whining, another bark from the guard and it lunged into the darkness. There was the sickening sound of flesh ripping, but it was quickly drowned out by a gurgling scream. The scent of blood mingled with the stench of the assailant, the remaining guards readied themselves as the very embodiment of terror stepped into the range of their night vision…

“On The Back Road, Watch Out For Traffic”

Contributed by: @evanthenerd83

“Don’t worry,” Jeffrey heard his father whisper. “They won’t hurt us.”

The boy sighed, and released his grip on the door handle. He was relieved. And a little embarrassed.

It should’ve been obvious. While they were big, large enough to dwarf the truck, cowhelians were also herbivores. They had no interest in the dealings of humans. A field of bladdelions, maybe.

Fallen tree limbs, sure.

But not a six-year old boy and his father.

“In fact,” his father continued.

Jeffrey could see the creatures in the eerie glow of the headlights, their eyes like moon-dishes, and smiled.

They were chewing.

Staring, dumb and impenetrable.

Just then, a billowing cry split the silence of night. The sound echoed through the darkness. It slipped between the trees. And Jeffrey felt it in his bones.

But the cowhelians felt it in their souls. They stopped chewing. They dropped gnarled twigs and turned away, their great hoofs batting the Earth like a drum. A stampede.

Jeffrey only wished that he could’ve gone with them.

He glared at his father, fully prepared to wring him dry. Why the horn? Why didn’t he just turn the headlights off?

But he stopped.

And he felt that shock from earlier, that fear of teeth and blood and the black sweeping gulfs of death, resurface.

His father had his hands on the wheel.

But not on the horn.

Not on the…

Outside, the sound came, it came close and closer and closer.

The crashing of trees.

Untitled

Contributed by: @coin-sith

I can hear something in the woods behind my home. It’s been there for days now, a low whining that almost sounds like an engine, or perhaps some strange bird.

But it is not, I know. I have seen them, eyes reflecting the shine of my torch before blinking out of sight again. They slink back into the forest as soon as light touches them, melting back into the darkness like the shreds of a bad dream.

I am not afraid of them. I have sturdy walls and locks on the cat flaps. And afterall, animals are always more afraid of you than you are of them. But I keep a gun beside my bed. Just in case.

Tonight was another such night. The strange whining woke me in the early hours after midnight. Involuntarily, my heart beat faster. They were so quiet. Carefully, I got up from my bed, carefully I tiptoed over to the window, lifting the blends just a crack. Afterall, I wasn’t afraid.

They were stalking around the edge of my barn, sniffing and whining in that awful pitch. Thankfully, I had barred the stable doors that evening, but I could hear the horses shifting nervously in their stalls, even from across the yard. One kicked its walls, and alm the creatures froze. They had this strange way of moving in sync that was incredibly unsettling to watch. But it didn’t scare me.

After a moment, they began moving again, noiseless as ever. The whining seemed to wind to a higher pitch, until one crept forwards from the rest, staring as if inspecting the door.

And then, to my horror, it reared up on its hind-legs and grabbed the heavy beam across the barn doors. Two more came to its aid, and it went thudding to the floor with a dull thump.l, and they went rushing inside.

The first scream unfroze me. I grabbed the gun leaning beside my bed and rushed out of my door towards the stables, hastily loading cartridges. In my mind, the frantic thump of my heart held rythm with my frantic thoughts. They were just animals. They shouldn’t be able to do that. Right?

As I approached the open barn doors, they were there, nearly bowling me over and dragging the limp corpse of a grey colt. For a terrifying moment, I saw sharp fangs in an oddly horse-like face, pale hairless skin, and hands so very like a human’s, before they were past me, leaving only a dark bloody trail leading into the forest.

I was lying when I said I wasn’t afraid.

Untitled

Contributed by: Peculiur @peculiurperennial

"Hey, Lucy? I think I found your horse. Looks like something else might've found it first, though..."

#writing contest #may contest #honorable mentions #ekphrastic fiction contest #ekphrastic fiction #writing community #writeblr

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tcstu · 5 years

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Ekphrastic Fiction Contest (January 2019)

The artistic piece for this month’s contest is a digital sketch by Virginie Juteau (@hydraart) titled "It wasn’t that long ago, apparently." Please visit this page to see more incredible work by this artist!

Basic Directions: Create an original fictitious piece based on the artwork above.

Length: Your entry does not have to be long! It can be as short as one sentence or one paragraph. Entries must be shorter than 500 words.

Deadline: All entries must be received before January 25th. The winner will be announced January 31st.

How to submit your entry: Once you have written your Ekphrastic Fiction piece, you can enter this contest either of these ways:

1. Fill out this form to enter the contest.

2. Reblog this post with your story attached.

You can do either one of these to enter the contest. You do not need to do both.

WTF is Ekphrastic Fiction? Ekphrastic Fiction stories are short fictitious pieces inspired by a work of art. To see some of my Ekphrastic Fiction pieces, click here.

I am an artist. How can my work get used for these contests? If you have art work that you would like used for this contest, you can read my post for artists here, and fill out this form.

I can’t wait to read your submissions!

@bookbreak @lady-redshield-waits @marigoldwrites @raiswanson @mbovettwrites @twoplumsandapeach @burningemberjade @brynprocrastinates @drawingpuddle @wemitodd @madeofinkk @create-and-procrastinate @miistical @writerlyclaire @dreamsofbooksandmonsters @semicoolgal @whitandwy @dikris-g @dhill2000 @loafofbree @elliebrie @halfbloodlycan @infinitebadashianqueen @unendingballofstress @demighosty @evanthenerd83 @toast-de-papel @palxeye @tlbodine @rainingcaffeine @baerlii @to-kill-a-procrastinator

#ekphrastic fiction #ekphrastic fiction contest #writing contest #january contest

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tcstu · 5 years

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Ekphrastic Fiction Contest Winner (January 2019)

This month’s contest was incredibly difficult to judge. I received some fantastic entries, so please look for my “Honorable Mentions” post later today. Thank you to those of you who participated and came up with such incredible entries!

Now for the winner.....

The winner for this month’s Ekphrastic Fiction Contest is Emily Fowl @emilyelizabethfowl Congratulations! You can read the winning piece below and visit this author’s page to learn more about this writer.

The artistic piece for this month’s contest is a digital sketch by Virginie Juteau @hydraart titled “It wasn’t that long ago, apparently.” Please visit this page to see more incredible work by this artist!

Entry 137

Any thoughts I could have possibly had today disappeared with the howling wind almost as soon as they formed.

My dog stopped dead in her tracks, refusing to take another step, forcing me to leave both her and most of my supplies behind. The rations will last for a couple days more, if I’m careful.

I don’t know if I can be careful.

The cold is getting worse with every minute, sinking deep into my body despite all of the layers.

It makes me wonder if it would be better if I left the clothes behind. Would it make me move faster? Reach my goal sooner?

Time is getting abstract. I no longer know the date. According to my watch, it is three days ago.

But I do know that I’m getting close. I can feel it, in my bones.

They’re Calling to me. Guiding me through the never ending expanse of the snow, like a lighthouse guiding lost sailors.

The blizzard became too strong to keep moving. I don’t want to waste energy, moving in circles.

I set up my camp between some boulders. At least I am semi-protected from the snow, if not the cold.

Entry 138

I slept. For a long time, if I can trust the weariness in my body.

The watch now shows a date from five days ago, I believe.

It keeps snowing. I decided to stay where I am.

The Call is strong, but it lets me remain.

Entry 139

I keep falling asleep. The blizzard remains strong. I try to portion the rations, but it’s hard when I can’t feel hunger.

I don’t want to starve.

I can’t starve.

I need to find them. I hear their Call, it’s what keeps me alive.

Entry 140

Snow. All around. It’s so cold. I can barely hold my pen. I’m scared.

Entry 141

I think it’s finally stopping. The snow, it’s slowing down.

The food ended sometime ago, but I will keep going.

They’re close, I swear. The Call is getting clearer with every second.

Entry 142

I found them.

They were always so close.

They’re- They’re magnificent.

Stunning.

Incredible.

Dead.

Well, you can’t have everything.

The boulders, those were no boulders - those were bones.

I slept between their bones.

And I had no idea.

I’ve seen them. I’ve touched them.

I can die in peace.

Entry 143

I can hear the Call so loudly.

I said I could die in peace, but… I want to find the source.

The source of the Call.

It wants me to find it.

It needs me to find it.

Entry 144

I am… So tired… So cold… If I could just… Rest…

But the Call...

Entry 145

THE QUEEN

IT WAS THE QUEEN

AND HER CHILDREN LIVE ON

Entry 146

UNDERGROUND

Entry 147

THE QUEEN’S CHILDREN ARE HERE

#January contest winner #ekphrastic fiction contest winner #ekphrastic fiction #january winner #writing contest

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tcstu · 5 years

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January’s Honorable Mentions

I receive incredible entries for this month’s contest, so I definitely have to share these. I really want to thank the writers below who took the time to participate. Each one of them had a completely unique take on this piece of art and I think they all deserved to be read. I hope you will enjoy reading them as much as I did. :)

As a reminder, the artistic piece for this month’s contest is a digital sketch by Virginie Juteau @hydraart titled “It wasn’t that long ago, apparently.” Please visit this page to see more incredible work by this artist!

FYI - These entries are listed in the order that I gathered them and does not reflect any particular ranking.

Untitled

Written by: Ellie Brie @elliebrie

It wasn’t that long ago that the beasts had walked the land.

Grandpapi had always said that they were so freshly in the ground that the ground ain’t ate them up yet. I never believed his innane ramblings—no one did. He was old, the eldest of our compound, and he was forgetting himself. One thing that stayed true were the ramblings, though.

“Swear to you, boy,” he had told me one quiet evening when I was putting him to bed. “West of here, along the Table Plains, you’ll see—it’s a big blotch on the horizon. It looks close enough to touch—but that’s only because of the size.”

His words had stuck with me, even if he had been eaten by the ground this last spring. So when I turned of age, when the snows had melted enough that travel was able, I took a job out towards Huddard, past the Table Plains.

Grandpapi had been right. Seeing that thing up close chilled me to the bone, worse than the winter storms that came through Hubbard, and I knew I would never go back.

I couldn’t stand the feel of the beasts eyeless sockets. It may just be a splotch on the horizon, but I knew better now.

“From Hibernation”

Written by: @evanthenerd83

Something entered the territory.

The predator could see. Its optical-processors had been assaulted, blasted by snow, but the shape was still visible. If not somewhat muffled.

A thought passed through the wires that ran from its processors to the bank of circuitry. It didn’t know why or how. Rats had chewed them up. Over time, some functions had been lost.

But the predator could still think.

And if it could think, it could recognize the shape.

And it did. The shape was bipedal, two arms raised in a protective stance. A singular head tilted back.

Familiar.

Prey.

Another thought. Instantaneous as internal-memory awakened.

Purge.

Motion-oriented circuits engaged. Onboard commands were sent, relayed to lower level mechanisms. The psychosonic incapacitator reved up.

And the predator began to—

Scream.

Ashes remain.

Written by: @littlewriterling

Ashes to ashes, they said.

The Holy Fire is supposed to consume everything, wood and metal and wind, blood and bones and skin. It’s supposed to eat through dragon scales as well as mountain sides, through everything, alive and dead.

It’s supposed to destroy and leave nothing behind.

This isn’t nothing.

Ma'lee stands there, eyes burning with tears, in her mouth the acrid taste of smoke, her clothes covered in white-flaked ash.

The Holy Fire failed.

It was supposed to save them.

Instead it took and took and took and left behind what should have been gone.

She looks up at the creature, the monster. The one great enemy.

Ashes to ashes, they said.

It looks like it’s immortal now.

Ma'lee wraps her coat tighter around herself, to protect against the wind that still bears the heat of the Holy Fire, that will from now on always carry it in its breath. Shudders, bites her lip. Blood joins smoke, a tang of rust and death.

She steps closer, and her feet make no sound. She doesn’t want to think about just how thick that layer of ash has to be now, doesn’t want to think about what it once was, what it once belonged to.

Doesn’t want to know if it used to belong to the whiskers of a cat, the bark of a cherry tree, or maybe the hair of her own mother, the cinder that landed on her cheek just now. Or if maybe she’ll get to be closer to whatever it was if her tears mix with the ashes now, as they slip along her cheek, a mockingly clean trail through the dust on her face.

Another step.

She banishes her thoughts.

They have no place here, in that strange land of things that have been, that never will be again.

Holy Fire is supposed to erase every last bit of it. It was supposed to be controllable.

Ma'lee was supposed to be able to control it.

A moment of distraction has been enough to negate that, to ruin everything.

A split-second of wondering if there’s really no other way. If what she’s doing is right.

And the Holy Fire has taken the chance to show her that it’s only ever been wrong.

The last step now. Her boots feel heavy, filled with lead.

Her heart beats steady in her chest.

She’s not angry or scared or nervous, not anymore.

She’s just curious.

She reaches out her hand.

Close enough to touch it.

Curls her fingers.

The creature’s skin feels rough under her fingertips, just for a moment.

Ashes to ashes, they said.

They weren’t lying.

And Ma'lee is alone.

Something Lived Here

Written by: Stress Ball @unendingballofstress

There used to be something here

Something big

And old

And powerful

Something

That towered to the sky

Something

That lived among the clouds

Something

That inspired fear and awe

Something

That left nothing behind but bones

And mysteries

There used to be life here

Now its just snow

And ash

#writing contest #ekphrastic fiction contest #ekphrastic fiction #aren't all of these amazing #january's honorable mentions

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