Ferryman
Raggedy doll, found.
He finished his cigarette,
lifting yellow tape.
----
A mixture of Noir, Horror, Horrible Noir, and a dash of dirty
November 2024 Drabble Challenge: Tell me about your favorite pet
I lost the best dog I've ever had this year on Dios De Los Muertos. I'd like to think there's a cool symmetry in that, and maybe a few stories in my future, but right now, I'm pretty well just mourning the fuck out of my loss. She was awesome. She'd sit next to me in my recliner, upright like a little person, and watch movies with me. So tell me about your favorite pet in a drabble, how bout it? Winner gets a prize. Rules: exactly 100 words using standard grammar, spelling, and punctuation, prose only please. Don't tag me, I'll read all the entries and pick a winner in early December.
Ends December 1, 2024 • 12 Entries • Created by Ferryman
$2.00
October 2024 Drabble Challenge: Spooky
Halloween is upon us. Give me a spooky prose story in exactly 100 words using standard English, punctuation, and spelling. Stretch those flash-fiction claws and rake them across the screen with a gut-wrenching tale of woe and horror.
Please do not tag me, I'll read each entry and select a winner in early November. There is a HUGE CASH PRIZE of two hundred pennies for this amazing competition!
Ended November 1, 2024 • 23 Entries • Created by Ferryman in Horror & Thriller
$2.00
September 2024 Drabble Challenge: A Day in the Eighties
Using exactly 100 words, tell me a story inspired by the phrase, "A Day in the Eighties." You don't need to use the exact words, just launch into a flash fiction piece that goes wherever your imagination leads. I ask that you use standard spelling, punctuation, grammar, and prose construction to spin this yarn. Are we talking about a decade? Temperatures? Old age? You decide. Please don't tag me, I'll read all the entries and pick a winner sometime in early October. Winner gets two whole dollars!
Ended October 1, 2024 • 13 Entries • Created by Ferryman in Flash Fiction
$2.00
August 2024 Drabble Challenge: First Day of School
Tell me a story in exactly 100 words using the prompt, "First Day of School." Take it in any direction you want, you don't have to use the exact phrase or keywords or anything, but do draw us in with a return to school as your theme. Please use standard punctuation, grammar, and spelling to spin a prose tale for a chance to score a whopper of a prize: TWO WHOLE DOLLARS! I'll pick the winner in early September, no need to tag me with your entry.
Ended August 31, 2024 • 24 Entries • Created by Ferryman in Flash Fiction
$2.00
July 2024 Drabble Challenge: In Dependence
Using prose and exactly 100 words, tell me a story about a dependency. Interpret how you will, but please use standard punctuation, spacing, grammar, and spelling. Winner gets a little prize; I will read all entries and choose a victor in August. There is no need to tag me. Let's see some creativity!
Ended August 1, 2024 • 27 Entries • Created by Ferryman in Flash Fiction
$2.00
June 2024 Drabble Challenge: Get mad, Max.
So I went and watched Furiosa and lemme tellya, I thought it was cinema gold. Absolutely a wild, fun ride. With that in mind, this month's word play is "Get mad, Max." That's your prompt. You don't need to use the phrase at all, just let it inspire you to tell me a prose story in exactly 100 words. It can be Mad Max related, or something angry, or crazy, or post-apocalyptic. Hell, steal some go-juice and head off to Bartertown to duke it out in the Thunderdome. Or not. Whatever. Blow my mind with something epic, but do use standard English and punctuation or honestly I aint even gonna read it. Not that that probably matters to you, but there is a little prize involved. Everybody likes prizes. I'll pick the winner sometime in July, no need to tag me.
Ended July 1, 2024 • 16 Entries • Created by Ferryman in Flash Fiction
$2.00
May 2024 Drabble Challenge: "Sprung"
Using exactly 100 words, tell me a prose story. This month's interpretation is wide open, but somehow stick to the topic / idea of "Sprung." Spring, sprung, hung, bouncy, end-of-wintery, whatever. Horror? Sure, ok. Porn? Hell, let's see what you got. Mechanical mania, machines awakened by the passing of an infectious comet? Overdrive it, baby, to the maximum. The only rules here are standard English grammar and punctuation and a word count of exactly 100 words. I'll pick a winner sometime after June 1 and before July gets here, probably.
Ended May 31, 2024 • 16 Entries • Created by Ferryman in Flash Fiction
$2.00
Drabble challenge April 2024: ARISE
Spring has sprung and it's the Easter season. (Yeah, yeah, it was in March, but just go with it, eh?) This month's drabble challenge is THE UNDEAD. Give me a 100 word prose story, using standard English and punctuation, that tells a tale of the restless dead, arisen from their eternal slumber. Zombies, Vampires, Wights, Revanants, you pick it. I'll pick the winner sometime around the first of May.
Ended May 1, 2024 • 10 Entries • Created by Ferryman in Horror & Thriller
$2.00
March '24 Drabble: Lucky Duck
Write me a prose story in exactly 100 words, using standard spelling and punctuation, on this topic: Luck. Good luck, bad luck, no luck, hard luck, whatever. It's supposed to be the month celebrating the Luck of the Irish, but anybody who has studied history can tell ya...luck is really, really subjective. I'll pick the winner in early April, unless I forget until mid April.
Ended April 1, 2024 • 11 Entries • Created by Ferryman in Flash Fiction
$2.00
February Drabble Challenge: "Love and Hate"
Well, it's Valentine's Day time, so let's get cliche. Write me a prose story in exactly 100 words tying into the theme of love or hate or Valentine's Day. Any genre, but horror has a special place in my heart. Winner gets a pair of George Washingtons, baby. Wanna win? Stick to prose using standard rules of grammar, spelling, and punctuation. I'll choose the winner in early March.
Ended March 1, 2024 • 20 Entries • Created by Ferryman in Flash Fiction
$2.00
January Drabble: "Some would say your life was sad,
but you lived it anyway" lyrics challenge
Incorporating lyrics from the song, "Far Behind" by Candlebox, tell me a story in exactly 100 words. Stick enough of the lyrics in your drabble to make it obvious you're following the challenge goals, but you don't have to copy/paste big chunks. I'm curious to see what y'all can do with prose on a song lyric challenge; my last lyrical prompt generated some STELLAR stuff. Get after it! Winner selected by me sometime in early Feb, entries need to be written as prose following conventional spelling, punctuation, and grammar to be considered eligible for a win or honorable mention. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHi8bwGsaKE
Ended January 31, 2024 • 10 Entries • Created by Ferryman in Flash Fiction
$2.00
December Drabble Challenge: The best gift
Write a drabble (a story of exactly 100 words) with the theme of "The Best Gift." Was it something you received? Something you gave? A state of being? Use your imagination, spin a flash fiction yarn. Please stick with prose using standard punctuation, spelling, and grammar. Winner gets a whopping TWO DOLLARS to spend on a GIFT OF THEIR CHOICE! I'll pick a winner sometime in early January.
Ended December 31, 2023 • 17 Entries • Created by Ferryman in Flash Fiction
$2.00
As sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti
Using lyrics from the classic song by Toto, "Africa," give me a short story of less than 1000 words. You aint gotta use ALL the lyrics, but somewhere in the prose, slide in some recognizable references. Any topic. Go with prose using standard accepted spelling, punctuation, and grammar. Poetry will be mocked and set afire.
$2.00
November Drabble: NO THANK YOU
It's now Thanksgiving season, but let's mix this up a little. Give me a drabble incorporating the phrase "No thank you" in some way. Break it up. Use it all at once. Whatever. Just put "No" "Thank" and "You" in there somewhere. Wanna win? Here are the rules: Exactly 100 words using conventional spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Prose only. Poetry will be mocked, cussed, and set afire. I'll pick a winner sometime around December 2.
Ended December 1, 2023 • 26 Entries • Created by Ferryman in Flash Fiction
$2.00
October drabble challenge: OH, THE HORROR!
Spooky season celebration! Give me exactly 100 words of HORROR fiction. Please use standard punctuation, spelling, and grammar to craft a prose tale of exactly 100 words. Gimme something that reads like a scary story to send chills down my spine. I'll pick the winner and read all the entries somewhere near Nov 1.
Ended November 1, 2023 • 36 Entries • Created by Ferryman
$2.00
September Drabble Challenge: Heroic
Tell us a 100 word PROSE story (using standard grammar, punctuation, and spelling) about something heroic. Super hero? Sure. Real life hero? Okay. Fictional heroic act? Right on. Tie it in to the theme "hero" in some way. Winner will be decided by me in early October
Ended October 1, 2023 • 10 Entries • Created by Ferryman in Flash Fiction
$2.00
August Drabble Challenge: MURDER!
Tell me a story using good, solid prose in exactly 100 words. This month, tie it in to MURDER. Not necessarily the act itself, but that'll be fine, too; use your imagination. I want a super short story somehow related to doin' murder. No need to tag me, I'll read all the entries in September and select a winner.
Ended September 1, 2023 • 40 Entries • Created by Ferryman
$2.00
July Drabble Challenge: MURRICA
Tell me a story tied to the USA in exactly 100 words. Winning entry will be selected by me and will be a prose, not poetry, submission. Wow me with your lean, mean, American tale in honor of the Fourth of July. Take it in a patriotic direction, an ironic spin, tell a war story, or examine the modern United States with a critical eye (or all of the above). Tie in to the theme in any creative storytelling way you can. I'll read and judge the entries in early August.
Ended August 1, 2023 • 20 Entries • Created by Ferryman in Flash Fiction
$2.00
June Drabble Challenge
Write a tale in exactly 100 words. For this challenge, I'll use a thematic prompt, and the winner has to tie in to it somehow. THE PROMPT: write a drabble that somehow, someway connects to Pride Month or coming out. Get creative, just stick to 100 words of prose. I'll post the winner sometime in July.
Ended July 1, 2023 • 15 Entries • Created by Ferryman in Flash Fiction
$2.00