Wonder what it says about a person who likes her fiction fast and furious, with a bit of a twisty-twist at the end? Kind of like Johnny Depp, as the barber Sweeney Todd…I’m sure there’s some deep and creepy psychological reasoning, just below the surface, that explains my bent towards that kind of writing. Best not to look too closely at that.

But you can look closely at MysteryAuthors.com, where you’ll find my flash story “Resolution” in the holiday issue of the webzine. “Resolution” is a little something I cooked up last December, but never sent out. So when I saw this opportunity, I was all over it like Sweeney on a beard.

The editor publishes a quarterly issue of flash stories, and hey, a little bit of Fame is better than nothing. Which is what you’ve got with a story sitting around in a Document file. So dust something off and send it in. I like to read flash as much as I like to write it. And I’ll finish reading all the other Minute Mysteries as soon as I’m done with Johnny D.

Usually when I win a contest I do a little “Yay! I won! I won! I won!” Fame and Fortune dance. The house shakes (a little), Sally barks likes a maniac (To be fair, anyone would bark at my dancing), and the beneficent Mr. Hall makes me buy my own gas for a week.

But something about this win leaves my dancing feet cold.

I had sent a story to Whim’s Place, a website that sponsors a flash fiction contest. And tonight I received an e-mail confirming a payment had been sent to me. “Wheeee,” I thought. But then I wondered why I hadn’t received a nice, congratulatory e-mail. (Generally, the polite thing to do for a winner). So, I checked the website. To find an “Effective 11/28/07 notice: Whim’s Place Flash Fiction Contest will no longer run…stories won’t be posted…the upcoming anthology (which I also had a story appearing in) will not be published…”

I think the notice said something about “unfortunate circumstances” which, let’s face it, sounds ominous. Maybe tonight I’ll say an extra prayer for the folks over at Whim’s Place.

And thank you, Lord, for the cash. (I knew that was a good story!)