Congratulations to Greg Doolan, winner of the 500-word ‘hero’ challenge with the poignant innocence of Mother’s Little Superhero.
Greg wins a copy of Stephen King’s On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft.
Thank you to all who entered this round. Many thanks also to our guest judge this month, Julie Hosking, editor of The West Magazine.
Julie was given only the titles and text of each entry, without author names, and agreed not to read the posted versions so was not aware of ‘likes’ or comments. See below for her thoughts on this round.
A reminder that the May 500-word challenge is currently open. Write up to 500 words around the theme ‘water’ and send them to waxings.blog@gmail.com by midnight, 4 June 2011 (AWST, GMT+8). The winner will receive a copy of Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury.
Judge’s comments:
The stories were all very different and each had appeal but this won me over with its natural simplicity.
The author evokes an image of this boy and his strange yet somehow painfully ordinary world within a few short sentences.
We can see Peter’s face, his home, his situation, and instantly empathise with his desire to create an alternative reality where superheroes, even in the guise of a small, alienated child, reign supreme.
I also like the sparse use of language. So much is conveyed, for example, about Peter’s situation in this one sentence: “Mother cried for weeks, but while Peter noticed his absence – the way his father had filled a room – beyond that, it didn’t bother him.”
And what’s not to love about a child seeing off an adult who is clearly less than desirable? Superhero indeed.
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Death Anthology
One of the more interesting links on Twitter recently has been this call for submissions of stories up to 5000 words for inclusion in Danse Macabre: Close Encounters with the Reaper.
The closing date for ideas is 1 June 2011 and deadline for the actual story, 15 December 2011. More details are available here.
If you want more of these kinds of links, faster, follow @waxings on Twitter and/or ‘like’ Waxings on Facebook, where I share these bits and pieces as soon as I spot them.
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Latest Posts
We have three new short stories: My Future Husband Will Not Be Coming Home…Ever (Reflections of a Bru Woman) and The Story of Dung and Hot Stuff…Parents of Nước Hoa by J Gavin Allan, and The Path of Least Resistance by Mark Cunningham.
The authors would appreciate your constructive feedback. And, as always, I look forward to reading and posting your words.
Waxings 
Stephen King’s On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. A cracker of a read. High recommended!