Picturesque (pɪktʃəˈrɛsk), adj - visually attractive, especially in a quaint or charming way.

Picaresque (pɪkəˈrɛsk) adj - relating to an episodic style of fiction dealing with the adventures of a rough and dishonest but appealing hero.

This week on Thunderdome I'm looking for crime fiction. Specifically, feel-good crime fiction. Heists, capers, that kinda thing. Gentlemen thieves, cat burglars, and dashing rogues with hearts of gold who manage to elude the authorities while taking their villainous victims down a peg. But I'm looking for a little more than that. I want vibrant locations and colorful characters. I want settings that pop and feel like they're a member of the cast. You can take your disaffected loners, your hard-boiled tramps and dingy street gutters and stick 'em where the sun don't shine. Bulldoze that squalid, back-alley speakeasy and replace it with a glittering casino with an ocean view. But most importantly, have fun. Your stories should make me smile.

And don't think you're clever for sneaking in some ham-fisted, barely-restrained socio-political commentary on the the effects of late capitalism on the lower class, I want guilt-free escapism. Also if you try to ironically subvert anything I've asked for here and expect to be rewarded, you're gonna be disappointed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRpiBvwKX6c

Here are the rules, bucko.

• You sign up, you start off with 777 words. On the house. If that's all you think you'll need, great; you're good to go.
  
• You can wager "Double or nothing!" to increase your word count to 1,554 words, but you will be slapped with a tricky flash rule of some kind. If you fail to incorporate this flash rule, your story will be disqualified even if it is good. Even if you wrote the best story of the week.
  
• Alternatively, you might be the sort to say "I lay my life on the line" to increase your word count. You won't have to face down a flash rule, but you will need to toxx.
  
• You can also just request a flash rule just in general, if you want. If you're feeling frisky. You'll likely get something less punitive, more inspirational - you know, like a character or a complication.
  
• The usual cavalcade of banned items are still banned. If you write fanfic, erotica, or thinly-veiled political treatises, I will hate you forever.

Alright, that's probably enough. I think it's time to blow this thing, get everybody and the stuff together.