by Sandy Skoglund

Sandy Skoglund’s images are so creepy because she actually made all of those foxes and created a real scene for her photographs. They look so real and fake at the same time. Her choice of color adds to the surrealism. She’s done many images like this such as green cats and swarming squirrels. If you’re interested in seeing more of her work and work of other great photographers, she’s included in the book Focus: Five Women Photographers: Julia Margaret Cameron/Margaret Bourke-White/Flor Garduño/Sandy Skoglund/Lorna Simpson.
This image makes me think of The Fox And The Hound because the foxes look so playful, but it also makes me think of Zoo by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge which has been turned into a TV show Zoo: Season 1. In Zoo, the animals of the earth “change”. They become violent and start to exterminate the humans. I could see these foxes suddenly turning on those diners and having a nice meal of their own.

So what are these foxes up to? Did they change like in Zoo, or are they a new mutant species? They might have recently arrived from another dimension, perhaps a land like Narnia or Oz where animals can talk and the foxes are the bad guys. They might be aliens that arrived from another planet and took the form of the last thing they saw. Maybe they see color differently on their planet and thus can’t replicate color correctly. That could make replicating disguises pretty funny.

#vss very short story

When the first fox ran into the restaurant and jumped on the table, she thought it was fun and extraordinary. When the restaurant was full of red foxes, her soup didn’t sit well.

edited to fit in a tweet: A fox ran in & jumped on the table. She thought it fun and extraordinary. Now the room is full of red foxes. Her soup doesn’t sit well. #vss

#OctPoWriMo

Today’s theme is Nothing Remains the Same

I think today’s image goes a lot better with the theme Fox and Foxy from day 19 and since I didn’t get a chance at the form prompt Florette (due to power outage that day), I think I’ll try it now. A Florette has a rhyme scheme and meter rules with a combination of both in the fourth line of each stanza. It should be a good challenge for the story of the invading red foxes.

Bad Date

When fox first approached, he was shy
He crept up close then hopped up, spry
He sniffed the plate then stole a bone
We thought he was a scout alone, but fox was sly

He wouldn’t look me in the eye
Rubbing his tail against my thigh
I bit my lip, began to suck
I swear he winked at and stuck his nose in pie

Then it came, his announcing cry
A thousand responses pitched high
The room flooded with fluffy tails
My date’s pallor sickens and pales, absent any lie

The fox, it stole his favorite tie
Another ate his last steak fry
“If we’re quiet they’ll let us be”
But we are far from being free “We are about to die”

Note: As with all of the poem-form prompts, this was a fun challenge. I did a mind map for Fox and Foxy and found the connections interesting. I also used the rhyme one rhyming dictionary for “sly” and found inspiration there. I love how the #Writober images combined with the #OctPoWriMo prompts have me writing story poems that I wouldn’t usually write.

#FlashFicHive

graphic by Anjela Curtis

I have managed to finish a few of my #Writober stories this week which is exciting. So today may be a good day for hashtag games. Let’s see what’s on for Saturdays.

graphic by Mica Scotti Cole

Themes:

#SciFiSat: No theme, but jfx mcloughlin @SciFiPrompt did put up the #Writober Day 1 image and I finished that story, so that’s convenient.
#SlapDashSAT – Any Lines/ No theme
I looked at a couple more and it looks like Saturday is a themeless free-for-all, so sharing lines entails picking the best lines. Nice.

I found a hashtag not on the list: #storysaturday and the theme is GHOSTS!

Happy Reading and Writing!