The first Friday of every month is Furious Fiction Friday! This is a 500-word writing-prompt challenge with a prize of $500. Today’s blog post is a little different. Rather than post MY entry to the competition, I’m posting my husband’s entry!
The competition is hosted by the Australian Writers’ Centre and they provide a prompt and a deadline. This month’s prompt was that the story must:
- begin with the line “A long time ago”
- include the words:
- star(s)
- war(s)
- force
- and feature something that flies.
The competition has caught the imagination of my entire family! Last month my 10-year-old daughter wrote an awesome 300-word story that was filled with suspense, rising action and a nail-biting climax.
Read my entry to last month’s competition, The Elephant In The Room here.
This month, my husband has decided to get in on the action. He’s a print journalist with more than 20 years’ experience and while that may appear to give him a bit of an advantage in the writing stakes, in actual fact it doesn’t. Writing for newspapers is a very specific, disciplined activity that is a completely different beast to the specific discipline of fiction writing. Added to the challenging conditions is the fact that he doesn’t read fiction novels at all. At. All.
In the 22 years we’ve been together, I’ve known him to read three fiction books, and he didn’t even finish Catcher In The Rye, so just two-and-a-half really.
However, the competition is so much fun, he couldn’t resist getting involved. The kids have been learning about the elements of story and gave Nick some tips about conflict. I gave him a tip about a character’s internal vs external struggle – needs vs wants. And off he went.
So, without further ado, Nick’s satirical Furious Fiction entry, “A ray gun, rocket and revenge”. Just a quick tip, as you read it, if you are good at spotting words that have been written backwards you’ll get some additional value from this yarn.
A ray gun, rocket and revenge
By Nick Moore
A LONG time ago, when gnol rats roamed The Oga, and the fur planet Emit still had 13 moons, young warrior-priest Ecrof Starboom was in a stolen Nif fighter racing through space towards revenge, the pain of loss so very raw.
Starboom had snatched the Nif from his military-religious order’s War Fleet hangar on Yakcam. It wouldn’t be the last sin the freshly ordained Idej monk intended to commit today. Nor would it be the worst.
He had knocked out a hangar guard with a silent but savage roundhouse kick to the face, just like the seminary had taught him. In millennia to come, across the stars a million light years away, it might be described as Chuck Norris-like.
The sensation of moon boot smashing jaw had made him feel good … and that made him feel bad. Trained killer or not – he was supposed to be a holy man.
Just ahead was the planet An-an-Ab and, on it, the object of Starboom’s rage – the dreaded Ced Lit. He must die for his crime, a furious Starboom vowed again.
But Starboom had devoted his young life to the virtuous Idej. He’d been tapped for greater things. Some even prophesied he was The Foretold One who would save the galaxy. But, after this, he could never go back.
Wheee-yaarrr!!! Wheee-yaarrr!!! The alarm wailed at Starboom.
“Dammit! I’m outta Space Juice and flying on vapour. I’m not going to make it!”
But he was so close to Lit’s lair. He would need to summon The Power with all his Idej might. He closed his eyes and concentrated his soul – like he’d been taught – and as the Nif looked certain to crash, an invisible force took hold and lay the ship gently down.
Starboom bolted from the landed ship, towards Lit’s mansion. A few roundhouse kicks later he found Lit asleep, sharing his bed with pleasure droids made to look like himself.
The monk raised his Space Blaster.
“This is for Mel, you bastard,” he whispered as he began to squeeze the trigger. Starboom’s eye flicked to the tattoo on his gun hand. The mark they give Idej. It combined the Yakcami symbols for strength, and forgiveness …
Next morning, the events on An-an-Ab dominated the Space News channels:
“The infamous Ced Lit was the victim of a home invasion last night during which several of his security team were roundhouse-kicked in the face,” the newsreader said. “Lit himself was unharmed and nothing was stolen.
“Ced Lit, the ‘nasty judge’ on Yakcam’s Got Talent, became the target of a ferocious backlash when he ejected contestant Mel Enium, a Space Magician who’d captivated the galaxy with her heartwarming backstory and Ewok-out-of-a-hat trick.
“Space Police have no suspects.”
Back on Yakcam, a shamefaced Ecrof Starboom switched off the news and vowed to free the galaxy from the evil grip of reality TV.
We now know he failed badly, so turns out he wasn’t The Foretold One. Thanks a lot, Space Loser!
-The End-
So, there you have it! My husband, Nick Moore’s FIRST attempt at fiction! Check back tomorrow for my submission to the competition. Nick would love to hear your thoughts on his debut effort, so please leave a comment below!
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