Flash Fiction Challenge: The SubGenre Blender Spins Again
IT IS TIME ONCE AGAIN. We shall force subgenres to have little story babies.
I will give you 20 subgenres. You will pick two from the list either using a d20 or random number generator (or use tea leaves or badger guts or something), then you will write a short story that mashes up those two subgenres.
Length: We’ll say 2000 words.
Due by: Next Friday (8/12), noon EST.
Post at your online space.
Link to it in the comments below. So we can all read it!
THE SUBGENRE LIST:
- Kaiju
- Cli-Fi (Climate Change Fiction)
- Gothic
- Shapeshifter
- Weird West
- Fairy Tale or Fable
- Body Horror
- Sword & Sorcery
- Whodunit?
- Military Sci-Fi
- Comic Fantasy
- Creature Feature
- Superhero
- Bodice Ripper
- Heist / Caper
- Magical Realism
- Parallel Universe
- Noir
- Time Travel
- Musical
Melissa A. Graham
August 5, 2016 at 12:32 PM //
I don’t believe I’ve ever hear of bodice ripper before. Intriguing…..
Melissa A. Graham
August 5, 2016 at 3:50 PM //
So is there a maturity limit to this because I have ideas for the bodice-ripping shapeshifter story but there’s only one direction it’s going in my brain xD I’ll place a warning on my link
persimmonromance
August 5, 2016 at 12:46 PM //
Creature feature musical. I don’t know about that. It might be a cute movie, but as a story…
persimmonromance
August 5, 2016 at 12:53 PM //
I tried again. Now I have time-travel musical. Totally works as a concept, but musical? As short fiction?
thelonelyauthorblog
August 5, 2016 at 12:48 PM //
You have genres I never even thought of on this list.
jack lee taylor
August 5, 2016 at 1:30 PM //
Body horror and shape-shifter. Holy hell. David Cronenberg? I’ll give it a shot.
Jemima Pett
August 5, 2016 at 1:46 PM //
Cli-fi Musical. Sounds right up my street 🙂
Ouranosaurus
August 5, 2016 at 2:01 PM //
Kaiju whodunnit. Um, okay.
Mariah Avix
August 5, 2016 at 3:37 PM //
Fairy tale + parallel universe. The princess and the pea goes searching for a good mattress across universes. (I wonder if I can get Casper mattresses to sponsor it…hm…)
Mariah Avix
August 6, 2016 at 12:30 PM //
http://insani-x.com/2016/08/06/the-perfect-mattress/
Who wouldn’t want the ability to switch between worlds for a nap? Just me?
Eva Therese
August 7, 2016 at 9:30 AM //
I read the last sentence and my mind immediately went “Casper mattresses, the online retailer that gives you premium mattresses for a fraction of the cost… etc.” I listen to a lot of podcasts. 😀
Mariah Avix
August 7, 2016 at 12:24 PM //
I may…or may not have been listening to a podcast with a Casper mattresses ad while thinking this story up.
I didn’t go with Casper. I think I lost my sponsorship opportunity.
Mozette
August 5, 2016 at 11:02 PM //
Time Travel + Parallel Universe… yep, I got mine going well. A little sad, a little happy… and a little different.
http://youcantgoback-andotherimpossibilities.blogspot.com.au/2016/08/the-ring.html
enjoy!
jackmdavenport
August 7, 2016 at 1:27 AM //
Random number generator gives me Cli-fi & heist/caper…’kay.
Fred G. Yost
August 7, 2016 at 4:15 PM //
Shapeshifter military sci-fi . Hm. I think I could work with this.
Fred G. Yost
August 9, 2016 at 10:43 PM //
Whelp, here goes nothing. I went with ‘werewolves in space!’ kind of theme. Think it worked.
https://fredgyost.com/2016/08/09/flash-fiction-challenge-trial-by-moonlight/
debscarey
August 12, 2016 at 7:08 AM //
Love it! What a rattling great yarn.
The NoteBook Blogairy
August 7, 2016 at 4:45 PM //
Musical/Bodice-ripper. Holy hell. Uhm. Think it’s time to go back to the drawing board!
The NoteBook Blogairy
August 7, 2016 at 4:47 PM //
Fairy Tale/Time-travel. Think I can work on that mashup!
Vicente L Ruiz
August 7, 2016 at 5:54 PM //
Well, I went to random.org and got “Superhero Bodice Ripper”. I wasn’t exactly happy with that result, so I cheated and “rolled” again, and I also got “Kaiju Whodunit?”. I was going to roll again when an idea hit me, and I started working on it.
Here’s the result (a bit over 2000 words, I’m afraid): “Deceiving Appearances”.
https://medium.com/@VicenteLRuiz/deceiving-appearances-ef23986f1527
debscarey
August 8, 2016 at 8:45 AM //
Oh, oh, oh. That’s beautiful and sad.
Vicente L Ruiz
August 8, 2016 at 12:21 PM //
Thanks!
S. Nathan
August 12, 2016 at 3:03 AM //
Okay, that hurt at the end. Well done.
Vicente L Ruiz
August 12, 2016 at 7:48 AM //
Thank you!
shelton keys dunning
August 8, 2016 at 1:12 AM //
Military Scifi, magic realism. Hmm. Not sure 2k is going to be enough…
debscarey
August 8, 2016 at 8:23 AM //
Whodunnit + Musical isn’t a bad combination and means I didn’t have to look up Kaiju. Of course I did look it up, but only to avoid ignorance … Time for tea and inspiration.
Eva Therese
August 8, 2016 at 9:24 AM //
I got noir and heist/caper and decided to pull up an old idea. https://evathereseebert.wordpress.com/2016/08/08/the-subgenre-blender-spins-again/
debscarey
August 12, 2016 at 7:14 AM //
Oh nice closer!
Mark Gardner
August 8, 2016 at 10:54 AM //
#13 & #18 – Superhero Noir: http://wp.me/p4le2s-1Ew
debscarey
August 12, 2016 at 7:24 AM //
Loving how this story continues to unfold.
Mark Gardner
August 12, 2016 at 10:39 AM //
Thanks, Bunny! I’m burned out on writing lately, so I’m glad you’re enjoying the story.
chelsearthompson
August 8, 2016 at 12:08 PM //
Welp. Gothic kaiju. This should be interesting. See y’all Friday.
C. Rasmussen
August 8, 2016 at 12:50 PM //
Cli-Fi Noir. Here is The Artist: https://comradecharlie.wordpress.com/2016/08/08/the-artist/
debscarey
August 12, 2016 at 7:23 AM //
Oh so delectably creepy.
C. Rasmussen
August 12, 2016 at 12:17 PM //
Thank you very much. 🙂
Christopher Slagle
August 12, 2016 at 12:05 PM //
Wow, brutal. Very nicely done.
C. Rasmussen
August 12, 2016 at 12:18 PM //
Thank you. 🙂
Andrea Juhász
August 12, 2016 at 12:22 PM //
So creepy!! What a seamless mashup! Well done!
C. Rasmussen
August 12, 2016 at 2:08 PM //
Thank you!
Surya
August 12, 2016 at 12:53 PM //
That was horribly good and creepily written. I loved it.
C. Rasmussen
August 12, 2016 at 2:09 PM //
Thank you, kindly. 🙂
Violet Graves
August 12, 2016 at 3:31 PM //
Wow, that is an excellent execution of the pairing. And, yes, creepy as hell.
Lou Cadle
August 8, 2016 at 1:53 PM //
Cli-fi (yay) plus fable (not so yay, but a writer has to stretch from time to time)
http://www.loucadle.com/2016/08/short-story-wendigs-flash-fiction.html
debscarey
August 12, 2016 at 7:31 AM //
Excellent fable.
Christopher Slagle
August 12, 2016 at 12:21 PM //
Beautiful story, Lou. Thank you.
Violet Graves
August 12, 2016 at 3:07 PM //
That was lovely!
themightiestpenblog
August 9, 2016 at 11:05 AM //
Comic fantasy and heist/caper. I wrote a not-so-subtle parody and turned my characters into thieves.
bookautopsyblog
August 11, 2016 at 5:39 PM //
Got superhero and kaiju. This thing writes itself.
Andys
August 11, 2016 at 10:17 PM //
I got whodunnit and creature feature, and that, combined with me feeling unwell, led to this. But really, there’s hardly an excuse for it: http://andreaspeed.com/2016/flash-fiction-challenge-mad-monster-sleep-over/
Violet Graves
August 12, 2016 at 3:12 PM //
I love the throne of ants image!
Matthew X. Gomez
August 11, 2016 at 10:25 PM //
Weird West/Shapeshifter.With some body horror and creature feature (probably) thrown in for good measure. https://mxgomez.wordpress.com/2016/08/11/what-price-a-brothers-blood-a-chuck-wendig-challenge/
Funny story, this is actually my second attempt. My Gothic Sword&Sorcery went way over the limit and into proper short story territory so… thanks!
Christopher Slagle
August 11, 2016 at 10:37 PM //
Fairy-tale/noir, “Payback for Fay.” I had a lot of fun with this one! https://christopherslagle.wordpress.com/2016/08/11/flash-fiction-payback-for-fay
Violet Graves
August 12, 2016 at 3:16 PM //
I laughed out loud when I got the punchline. That was fun to read!
Christopher Slagle
August 12, 2016 at 4:26 PM //
Thanks! So glad you enjoyed!
Rebecca Douglass
August 12, 2016 at 1:52 AM //
Creature Feature and Sword and Sorcery. Almost not a mashup at all, really.
http://www.ninjalibrarian.com/2016/08/friday-flash-some-heroics-required.html
debscarey
August 12, 2016 at 7:01 AM //
Getting in just under the wire again, here is my Whodunnit + Musical genre mash-up called, originally, Whodunnit, the Musical!
http://www.bunnyandthebloke.com/blog/flash-fiction-whodunnit-the-musical
S. Nathan
August 12, 2016 at 9:47 AM //
‘A Present for Amy’. Fairytale/Fable and Magical Realism. Not too much of a mashup, but it was fun. http://bit.ly/2bcMOXq
ToniJ
August 12, 2016 at 10:08 AM //
Kaiju + shapeshifter? Sure, sounds fun. https://tonij.com/2016/08/12/the-kaiju-curse/
Andrea Juhasz
August 12, 2016 at 10:22 AM //
“The Creature”. My attempt at mixing body horror and creature feature. Definitely a challenge!
http://thescifinovel.com/blog/the-creature
Violet Graves
August 12, 2016 at 3:03 PM //
I did roll an extra time to get out of body horror because the idea that popped into my head threatened to ruin my appetite and I was hungry. So I ended up with Creature Feature and Gothic.
https://violetgraves.com/2016/08/12/managing-the-monarch-a-terrible-minds-flash-fiction-challenge/
Alice E Keyes
August 12, 2016 at 3:09 PM //
http://aliceekeyes.blogspot.com/
mash up between Comic Fantasy and Magical Realism genre – this is just the start of a story
Keith Gapinski (@keithgapinski)
August 12, 2016 at 4:26 PM //
I’m totally late…but in my defense, I started late, and there was laundry, and ants. And that all ended up making this turn out way darker that I hoped.
Super-hero / Parallel Universe
http://gappage.com/flash-fiction-captain-viridian-and-the-alternate-reality/
Violet Graves
August 12, 2016 at 4:59 PM //
Oops. Missed the EASTERN noon deadline. Bummer! Well, I did have a good time writing the story.
Patrick
August 12, 2016 at 8:23 PM //
I posted this yesterday, but don’t see it now. “Josie’s Whale,” a weird west creature feature,
https://justanordavgguy.com/2016/08/11/josies-whale/
Henry
August 12, 2016 at 11:02 PM //
Hours past deadline, but I like this one. Noir meets body horror in: “Ricky’s” Shell Game
https://fistfulofwits.com/2016/08/12/flash-fiction-rickys-shell-game/
The NoteBook Blogairy
August 13, 2016 at 2:36 AM //
Yep, I missed the deadline, too. But wanted to share anyway…
Jack, Some Cows, a Giant, and, Oh yeah…a Beanstalk:
https://thenotebookblogairy.wordpress.com/2016/08/13/short-reads-jack-some-cows-a-giant-and-oh-yeah-a-beanstalk/