Writers! Rev up your aethereal engines of imagination, and use the image above as a prompt to create a microfiction of one hundred words or less!
Anything that fits under the umbrella of speculative fiction — science fiction, fantasy, horror, supernatural fiction and more — is welcome to be shared as a comment to this post. I will select my favorite very short story from those submitted… and turn your words into a fully polished and credited presentation (in the style of my Aethereal Musings) to be featured on an upcoming Thursday on the blog!
BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!
If your piece is selected to be featured, you will be in the running to win the 2019 AETHEREAL ENGINEER WRITER SUPPORT PRIZE PACKAGE!
This mysterious box will be packed with all sorts of wonderful goodies catering to your authorly needs, all hand selected by yours truly! At a total estimated value of at least $100, you could brag about receiving one of the highest per-word payouts for any submission, anywhere!
How might you win such a fantabulous treasure?
The featured Thursday posts for Aether Prompt winners (not the initial Wednesday prompts) will receive a score. Each “Like” on a post will grant one point to the author’s score, and each unique WordPress reblog will grant three points. The author of the piece with the most points by December 1st, 2019… WINS!
I reserve the full and unquestioned right to break any ties, disqualify entries if shenanigans are suspected, and declare a winner with absolute and final authority. If you win, I will require your physical address to ship your prize to you (with standard shipping included free of charge).
So what are you waiting for? Write to get your creative engines going today! Write for the glory! Write for a chance to win a fantabulous prize!
But whatever you do, just keep writing. :-)
Take care everyone, I look forward to your creations!
~Jason H. Abbott
Aethereal Engineer 
The fires rose around us by the hands of red fleshed devils, dancing to a slave’s tune.
The crew’s sunburnt skins lent themselves to my fevered dream. Thier futile screams for full pales and god’s forgiveness were the chorus and melody.
They clung to their piracy like every sinner did their last vice, with a sober drunkard’s grip. But the black trumpets had blown. Our sails- the seals- were broken.
I knew not of god, but country and her blood coated angels… would surely send us to hell.
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Mysterious and dark. This is very intriguing and would be a killer opening, Scribe! As usual when you don’t win, your submission duked it out with the winner as a strong contender. I always enjoy reading your stuff. :-)
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Thanks so much! I figured a reference to red coats taming the seas could be cool. (The pirates of the Caribbean movies were some of my favorites, lol)
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Here’s my take on the prompt:
https://thedarknetizen.wordpress.com/2019/03/15/microfiction-flaming-galleon/
Happy reading! :)
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Nice twist as usual! I imagined their opponent as a ghost ship akin to the Flying Dutchman.
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Here’s mine! https://lunasonline.wordpress.com/2019/03/16/cephas-revenge/
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Congratulations, Chris, you’re the winner of the March 13th, 2019 Aether Prompt!
I liked this a lot. I’m a sucker for sea monsters, but I liked how you worked motive neatly into mystery and let the reader fill-in the murky glimpses of whatever moved dark tentacles through the water. This would also set a great introduction for an antagonist or anti-heroine, I’d read more! Well done!
Your winning entry will get a featured post tomorrow on Thursday, April 11th, and that also puts you in the running for the WRITER SUPPORT PRIZE PACKAGE being given out in December! Wowsers!
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What is the required word count?
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The maximum is 100 words, as is stated in the post’s first paragraph. There is no minimum.
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K! Thanks! I found it before your comment tho.
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Edmund Karik gripped the splintered wood as the ship shuddered.
Edmund fell, and he glimpsed a lantern fall splaying burning oil over the floor of the ship.
Edmund stumbled away from the fire, leaning over the edge of the ship. Squinting, he saw the pirates, cheering. All of this just to see if his uncles dumb journals were really true. There are no such thing as “The Old Ones.”
Edmund stopped as a tentacle reach out from the sea and gripped the opposing ship. The cheering turned to screaming as the tentacles continued to rise, pulling the ship.
“They’re real…”
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Oh the folly of men. Their civilization just moment between gods dreaming darkly…
Nice one. :-)
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