When the gauntlet was thrown we had to compete against one another and write seven sinister stories â€” each based on one of the seven deadly sins: Envy, Gluttony, Greed, Lust, Pride, Sloth and Wrath.

Each story also had to be written in flash fiction: fiction of extreme brevity!

With a rush of adrenaline, a flurry of words was forced onto our computer screens â€” some in a less than gentle fashion. Soon our creativity was polishing the sentences and we hoped the paragraphs told each story in a manner unique to its author. Some stories revealed the entrapment in a single scene, others exposed the charactersâ€™ fall from grace over a longer period of time.

Over all, these short stories accomplish their mission and show off the seven deadly sins in a style that is easy to read and hard not to enjoy.