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 
Hey Jason! :)
Here’s my take on the prompt:
https://thedarknetizen.wordpress.com/2019/04/10/microfiction-gorgeous/
Happy reading! :)
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Executed with great, virtuosity. The parallels to online gaming are obvious, but I was most reminded of the 2009 film, “Surrogates”. Nice piece.
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Thanks so much, Jason! :)
Drew this one out from MMORPGs..
Surrogates was a nice movie! :D
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Bells.
I heard chimes of the kind played with by wind sprites, over porches and rocking chairs. Imagined, surely, under the dull ring of the empty air that crawled to my ears and told me that even the stone beneath her feet refused to whisper her presence.
She paused.
Was she listening to the same dream chimes, the ones that danced in a future we might have lived- had she been less and I been more?
Bells again as she left.
Life returned to the air. The last were a church’s tolling.
For a future, in its grave, was rolling.
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Very, aethereal. ;-) Dreamlike and rolling in waves of mystery. I enjoyed this.
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Thanks so much. The softened art style brought it on. Glad it was enjoyable.
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Her knees bent and she landed. Her voice blathered foreign noises which my helmet translated, “Are you human?”
Clumsy in low gravity, I failed to stick my landing. My broken translator only worked one way, so I said nothing and lowered my visor to show my human face.
She cackled. “You’re cuter than the prophecies said.”
Prophecy? Her colony *had* been lost a long time.
“Come to my village,” she intoned as she beckoned me come, “My father will kill the fatted calf for us.”
I followed, but should I have asked if she was human, too?
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Congratulations, H.R.R. Gorman, you’re the winner of the April 10th, Aether Prompt!
I liked your science fiction styled take on the image, it was a unique approach. And your setup of the situation in the vignette moved it along briskly and said a lot in your 97 words. Well done!
Your winning entry will get a featured post on Thursday, May 9th, and that also puts you in the running for the WRITER SUPPORT PRIZE PACKAGE being given out in December! Wowsers!
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Woohoo! I’ll have to reblog that post! :)
Because I’m not sure, I think a lot of my other comments/stories are being eaten by your spam filters. Just thought I’d let you know!
Cheers!
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You were right, and I am so sorry! They were certainly not “spammy” like the copious other real spam I get, and usually my filter is quite good on what is real commentary and what isn’t.
I’ve restored all comments you’ve made that were stuck in the filter, and now that I’ve approved you that shouldn’t happen again. Once more, congratulations!
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Thanks! :)
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