I’m thrilled to announce that I have had a piece of flash fiction accepted for publication in the 2021-2022 Adults’ Edition of the The Next Generation, put out by Behind the Vision!
This interesting writing competition featured a selection of writing prompts covering both poetry and prose, requiring authors to write in a specific genre, from a specific POV, using a given word, and staying within a set length.
So check out my one-paragraph horror story featuring the word “butter” below, and make sure you pick up your copy of The Next Generation, 2021-2022: The Adults’ Edition so you don’t miss any of the other great writers I have the honor of sharing pages with!
Butter
by Michaelina Deneka
My body slammed down on an alien surface as hard and smooth as porcelain. I was almost grateful for the chill of the sterile white expanse after what I’d just endured: five agonizing minutes trapped in some form of torture device — a metal chamber where red-hot coils snaked up like fiery serpents on either side of me — then gobs of greasy, yellow lard slathered painfully across the blackened surface of my burnt flesh; the slimy salve had trapped in the heat, bringing up blisters like bubbles in a pan of sizzling butter. But this new place brought with it new horrors: the long, silver blade beside me, and two glass jars filled with dark, viscous fluids the color of coagulated blood. My captor snatched up the knife and hissed, with a stomach-twisting sweetness, “Strawberry or grape?” And that’s when I knew: I was toast.
