Flash Fiction?

Last weekend I had a great two-and-a-half hour Skype session with Cristian Mihai. We covered many topics including blogging, writing in general, fiction writing, and things I can do to improve my blog. Cristian provided me with several great ideas. One of them was to try my hand at flash fiction. I was not really sure what that was, so I did a little research. I learned that the object is to tell a fictional story from beginning to end in a limited number of words. Some articles talked about 100 words, others 500 words.  I’ve never tried anything like that before. Novels have many chapters of many pages to develop your story. It sounding intriguing. I decided to give it a whirl.

So, without further gilding the lily …

Here is my first 100 word  attempt.  I call it …

Tiger Tale

Damn, it was dark.

PFC Shelton desperately wanted a cigarette. He knew the damned VC could smell a burning cigarette a mile away, even smoking under his poncho. Shifting, Shelton reached up to pluck a wriggling leech from the back of his neck. Sixty-three days and a wake up … Charlie could have his jungle.

Fuck a listening post, fuck Vietnam …

What the hell …?

Shelton’s grip tightened on his M-16. The black jungle exploded in a snarling rush of savage fury, hot fetid breath … and one blood-curdling scream.

His platoon found the tiger’s tracks in the morning.

Well, there it is in all it’s glory.  I have no idea whether it is good, bad, or ugly!  Opinions and  suggestions are welcomed.

Freebie reminder …

Just a reminder. I am giving away free Kindle versions of my novel, Serpents Underfoot, on Memorial Day weekend in honor of those who sacrificed so much to keep our country free. The giveaway begins at midnight on Friday, May 26th and ends at midnight on May 28th. I hope you will download a copy. There are no strings attached. However, if you read it and like it, I would not object if you wanted to leave a review on Amazon.com. Just saying …