Trifextra: Week Fifty-Two

We had a record-breaking number of entries this week.  Most of our time-honored favorites returned to bitch about one thing or another, and our lovely tricycle button lured in some new Trifectans who also had a few grievances to air.  It was Tara who first publicly recognized on Twitter that we are a bunch of "potty mouths."  I say there's a time and a place for everything, and that every word was invented for a reason.

First place this week goes to One Starving Activist who gave us Abattoir, a vividly disgusting tale.  Some people may find it off-putting, but we're celebrating it for its tight, descriptive language.

It was dark in there, as always. My portable oxygen was full and my mask was fully functional: when I opened the door I automatically started breathing through my mouth, despite the mask; some habits are hard to break, especially for those of us who had this detail before all this fancy equipment. My historical (hysterical?) memory helped me taste the smell in this shit hole anyway. As my eyes adjusted, I remembered just how much of a bitch it was to be on clean-up detail. I mean, no part of the job was cake but coming in here after the deeds were done was still, in my opinion, so much worse than starting the thing. Clean-up detail requires that we swab the floors and walls, get the spare parts in the incinerator, and make the place tidy so the next batch won’t know where they are when they get put in here. I tap the light on my helmet twice to get it to go panoramic; I need to see wall to wall because I pride myself on not tripping on spare parts or slipping in spilled blood when I clean. I want to make sure everything is good because I am training a new recruit. 

I see him coming: new recruits are easy to spot because they are always jumpy. I try not to remember their names since most don’t last long. I still get a kick out of how green they go when they first step in the room and I always make sure they start on parts. If you can hold your vomit while picking spare parts, you’ll make it in this business. This one’s already gagging and he hasn’t touched anything. I turn him toward the floor incinerator and hand him the rake; must have been a small batch this morning because there are only a couple of fingers, a short length of intestine, and blood. It might be an easy shift after all.

Second place goes to Told From Within who gave us Dream Weaver.  Cue the music; we loved it.  Pretty writing in a fantastical space always makes us think a bit more creatively.

Rounding out the winners circle is People Do Things With Their Lives (a blog handle that always makes me feel a little shiftless) with Self-Awareness.  Steph accomplishes here what is difficult for me many other writers--she includes details that help set the scene of her story without getting bogged down in them.  Nicely done.

Congratulations to all three of our winners this week, and a big thanks to all of you who took the time to link up.

Before we move on to the weekend challenge, we wanted to let you know that nominations are currently open for the 13th Annual Bloggies.  Trifecta was shortlisted last year for Best New Blog, and this year we are shooting for the win in the Best Topical Blog category.  If you so desire, we would love a nomination from you.  Nominations close on Sunday.  Thank you for your support in helping Trifecta get the readership and attention your writing deserves.

Also, be sure to hop over to our Featured Trifectan tab to get the scoop on the newest highlighted member.  It sure is fun getting to know you guys one by one.

And now on to our quick weekend challenge.  This weekend, we're sending you back to English 101 to revisit the concept of literary devices.  We want you to give us a 33-word example of personification.  Wait.  What?  You forget what that is?  It's the practice of attaching human traits and characteristics with inanimate objects, phenomena and animals (http://literary-devices.com).  It's when the wind howls, the car door grunts, and the front porch shrugs its shoulders under the weight of its own history.  Remember?  For some writers, it's the backbone of their art.  This weekend, we want you all to give it a whirl, and we can't wait to see what you come up with.  Good luck!