A Heart Full of Love: Dark Fairy Queen Writerly Bridal Shower

In the wake of the terrible news from Boston, I almost didn’t write this post. And then I realized, what better time to celebrate the slender yet sweet threads that connect us?

I hope that everyone who reads this will accept all the love and good intentions here, the genuine attempt to overcome the sad with the beauty.

Hello, my name is Anna. I’m a Dark Fairy Queen.

No…not really. I’m actually just a young woman with an overactive imagination, a passion for writing and for coalescing my own wishes.

I have run several notable flash fiction competitions. You may have heard of one or more of them (Fairy Ring, Once Upon a Time Writing, Faerypin, and Behind the Curtain).

Or, you may have seen me on Twitter, creating havoc with my wombat cannon and my absurdly long and peculiar hashtags (#whozadarkfairynow, #cannibalismforfunandprofit, etc.)

Or you may have seen me on Facebook, flouncing around, caterwauling about one wonderful indie author or another.

Anyway, in the last few years, the aforementioned activities have drawn a little bit of notice from other authors in social media. Many of these people have become dear friends of mine. The catch? I have never met a one. Not one.

I used to angst about this (does this mean we’re really friends? does it matter they don’t know I love Cinnamon Toast Crunch and cold skim milk?). I don’t any more. I accept it for the gift it is. I have friends all over the world: most of the States, Canada, England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France, Holland, Greece, Australia, South Africa, the Philippines, and who knows where else.

These people know strange trivia about me that my nearest and dearest may not know, such as my propensity for megalomaniacal laughter. Wait…my nearest might know that.

Gradually, many of these people have become my dearest and not so nearest. To me, that’s a kind of magic. Someone that I would never ever in a hundred years have met in the natural course of history knows me and likes me and laughs at my goofy jokes and understands my writing angst.

I shan’t name names. You know who you are.

Anyway, on to the Dark Fairy Queen Writerly Bridal Shower or #DFQWBS.

You may say, WHUZZAH? In short, a flash fiction celebration of weddings in general and, um, I guess me and my sweetie in specific.

I point you this-a-way: Dark Fairy Queen Writerly Bridal Shower for the official theme and rules page. You can use my Pinterest page for inspiration. And join the madcap Facebook group.

I am not reading any of the entries till they are officially presented, but it is my understanding that they range from tales of unicorns to assassins to “twue wuv”.

If you write, I hope you will consider joining my sweet friends who have already written. You can also include a short toast at the end to my groom and I.

I should add, this whole thing has overwhelmed me to an extent that I’m hardly able to verbalize this entry, so if I degenerate into emotional gabbling at this point, you must forgive me.

I’ve never met any of these people, yet they each reached into their creative selves and pulled forth a tiny literary gem to place at my feet.

As much as I act the egomaniacal goofball, this touches me and flatters me and bewilders me and fills me with great rapture.

The first night, as the entries started piling up, I fell asleep in something of a happy fugue. I felt like I could reach over the seas with my fingertips and touch the fingertips of one of my fellow writers and they could reach beyond their shores to someone even further away. (No, it wasn’t the sinus meds)

Thank you so much to those who choose to participate. I am more honored than you can ever know, both at your participation and your friendship. Also, a thousand thanks to the #DFQWBS hard-working hostesses, Rebekah, Laura and Miranda.

Just goes to show, even a Dark Fairy Queen can learn to be a good friend.

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FIRE THE WOMBAT CANNONS!

Behind the Curtain Flash Fiction Contest

In vain have I struggled, but it will not be denied. I swore 9 times sideways of Tuesday that I would not run another flash fiction contest. After Fairy Ring, Once Upon a Time Writing Contest AND Faerypin, I vowed I was done with contests for the year.

#lies

Instead, I found myself awake at midnight AGAIN with a brain buzzing with suppressed creativity. And then someone must have cried havoc and let slip the dogs of war. Not one or two but over a half-dozen of my friends started poking and prodding me about when my next contest will be. So you have Ruth Long, Kern Windwraith, Jo-Anne Teal, J.B. Lacaden, Jeff Tsuruoka, Angela Goff, and Lillie McFerrin to blame, along with the countless other Fictionlings who’ve been baying for another chance to enter one of my eccentric pen-fests.

So be it. Too late to back away now. #MOOGHOOHAH

Methinks this contest needs a darker twist, a jagged edge, a crooked seam to counterbalance the beauty and light of the other contests.

My friends, it’s time to go dark. All Hallows Eve is nearly upon us. A chill wind blows, dead leaves rattle past, and good people everywhere lock their doors and light a candle against the dark.

Hear that distant music playing? It’s time to go Behind the Curtain.

Behind the Curtain Flash Fiction Contest

Greasepaint and floodlights and cheerful music out front, but behind the curtain sometimes darker dramas unfold. Whether theatre or circus, pantomime or ballet, there is the world presented…and then the world hidden.

Too often, a gorgeous, painted stage facade conceals dry rot and warped wood. The clown’s smile wipes away to reveal bitter rage. The ballerina’s twisted foot, the leading man’s alcoholism, the abuse of performing animals, all carefully hidden from the audience. For the price of just a ticket, the artifice is yours.

Yet I challenge you to pull it aside, to peek behind the curtain. Who do you see, what do they feel, and most importantly what do they hide?


The prizes are better than ever and will be announced later. Gotta keep you reading, don’t I?

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Blog Flash 2012: A Furry Friend

Okay, so I managed Day 1 of the Blog Flash Challenge yesterday and Day 2 today, so now I am only *counts on fingers* four days behind. At least I can twist this prompt to my whim, as I’m not much of a warm and fuzzy story person.

I apparently have a fix on plague doctors lately. I did a bit of flash for the #Faerypin contest here, on a plague doctor.

If you enjoy this one, you might check that one out too. 

DAY 2: A FURRY FRIEND

I press my hand against his brow. The pustules bubble up and break. His lips move in life’s pantomime, though the soul has fled. I close his eyes.

I mark the door with a scarlet ‘X’, a house of contagion, paint pooling on the sill like blood.

People move away, crossing themselves.

Once I arrive at the wharf, I pull from my cloak the seed of my vengeance. His red eyes glare into mine, reflecting the black mask.

“Go forth, my friend, and show them the way.”

The rat scampers up the chain and into the bowels of the ship.