In the last week (while I was busy getting un-busied in the sunny south) I received a couple awards from my fellow bloggers. At first I was on the fence about posting another award after getting my first just last week (I wouldn’t want to water it down, right?) but I really appreciate these votes of confidence, so I’m going to knock these both out right quick! Read the rest of this entry »
Archive for May, 2012|Monthly archive page
Five Sentence Fiction: The calm after the storm
In Writing on May 30, 2012 at 10:04 pm…
The battle was a blaze in his memory, a single burst of fire, all shrapnel and blood and smoke and noise. Now all was quiet, and the dead were everywhere, some stacked and gathered, others strewn lonely in the field. Somehow the silence beat a rhythm within itself, like the memory of a heart gone still, like drums only almost struck.
Grammar’s forces had moved on, north probably, toward the river and the mill and the stores beneath Pa Conner’s shop. Caleb had glimpsed the map only in passing and only in the uncertain light of the Captain’s low-burned taper, but he had a fair idea of where the men were headed.
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This is my response to Lillie McFerrin’s Five Sentence Fiction prompt. This week’s prompt: SILENCE. As you can tell, I’ve decided to make a series out of these, continuing the story from last week. If you missed it, give it a read — and be sure to check out all the other responses on Lillie’s blog!
As always, constructive criticism, destructive praise, and general commentary welcome below!
Excused Absence
In Travel, Writing on May 27, 2012 at 1:21 pm
I realize I haven’t posted in a few days, and I was sorry especially to miss the Friday Fictioneers prompt this week, but this view, from my hotel balcony, is my excuse. Let’s just call it inspiration or research or…whatever, I don’t care, my drink has arrived!
See you all next week!
Julian’s Final Draft
In Writing on May 23, 2012 at 2:11 pm
The flame flickered before the door had even opened, as if some spirit had run ahead to warn of Gael’s approach. When the insolent tongue of fire was still again, the room was nearly silent.
Nearly, for Gael’s consumptive breaths now rattled in the hallway.
“Is it ready, Julian?”
The voice was weak but impatient, and no less cruel. Julian replaced his quill and gathered his papers from the desk.
“Soon,” he said quietly.
Gael shook his head as the flame writhed once more, announcing another visitor.
“It would be irresponsible to die without a will, Julian,” Gael said.
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This is my response to the 100 Word Challenge for Grown Ups. This week’s prompt: write a piece to include the phrase …The flame flickered before... Follow the link to read the other responses and submit one of your own.
Comments and criticism more than welcome! (That goes for the rest of my fiction, too).
Nom, Nom, Nomination
In Writing on May 22, 2012 at 8:38 amI’m posting a big thank you to Laura Lee Anderson today for nominating me for the Kreativ Blogger Award. You can trust her judgment: her first book, Bleeder, has a pretty awesome pitch, and it’s safe to say she knows a thing or two about creativity. I highly recommend you check it out! Read the rest of this entry »
Five Sentence Fiction: In search of spoils
In Fiction on May 21, 2012 at 1:50 pmThe fog crept across the plain, wispy and wavering like a line of ghostly scavengers stooping low to inspect the dead. Caleb felt the dew it had deposited on his eyelids – cold, liquid coins — and awoke, sorely disappointed to find that he was still alive.
He sat up and peered through the mist. A few yards distant, the white shroud was wrapping some fortunate soul in its folds, hiding from view the open eyes and slackened mouth and hollow cheeks, making dark shapes of the bodies that lay farther afield in the grassy muck.
Theirs is the glory of war, he thought bitterly as he got to his feet, and now the task is mine alone.
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This is my response to Lillie McFerrin’s Five Sentence Fiction prompt. This week’s prompt: FOGGY. Check out the other responses on her blog!
Constructive criticism, destructive praise, and general commentary welcome below.
Wake Up Where?
In Fiction, Writing on May 18, 2012 at 8:20 am
“What song is this?” I ask, but the big man only smiles. His ukulele, playfully played, turns one chord over into the next.
The sun is strong here. The land spills eastward in emerald slopes to a line of trees, where colors stripe the overhanging mist and mourning doves call from the shade.
I remember nothing from before but I am not sad, only calm, and when I see a movement at the tree line, a figure slowly walking, I start downhill.
The big man sings and the mournful birds echo his melody.
It is a good song.
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This story is my response Madison Woods’ Friday Fictioneers prompt (the picture, from her blog, is the prompt). Check out the other stories (including Madison’s) and submit your own on the comments page!
Feedback and other stories welcome below! Please feel free to check out some of my other fiction — I’d love the feedback!
Five Sentence Fiction: 48 Sombreros
In Fiction on May 16, 2012 at 8:18 am
48 Sombreros
“Why didn’t we just take a taxi?”
“You wanted an authentic Mexican experience, remember?”
“I meant tequila… sombreros… siestas… girls in bikinis…girls without bikinis — not getting stuck in a P.O.S. Fiero in the middle of the goddam desert.”
Craig opened his door and stepped out to inspect the ditch where they’d come to rest, certain that, wherever they were, it was miles from the nearest beach, miles from the salt-rimmed sea, and miles from the sun-kissed torsos he’d been promised by the brochure.
When he saw the boots — dozens of pairs straining to contain swelling feet, toes pointed to the turquoise sky — he stopped cold.
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This is my first try at Lillie McFerrin’s Five Sentence Fiction prompt. This week’s prompt: SOMBRERO. Check out the other responses on her blog!
Constructive criticism, destructive praise, and general commentary welcome below.
The Family Business
In Fiction on May 15, 2012 at 2:56 pm
“I’m not at liberty to discuss the specifics, suffice to say the board requires your immediate removal. Sorry.”
Thomas blinked. The empire he’d built, brick by brick, was crumbling, exposing to the corrupting air the bodies he’d piled up for its foundations – the enemies and friends he’d crushed in his ascension – and all this yellow-eyed parasite could say was ‘sorry’?
“You’re making an enormous mistake,” Thomas said.
“Yes, well, the only mistake the investors care about has already been made.”
The boy smiled, taking an apple from the desk, testing its skin.
“The student becomes the teacher, you see.”
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This is my response to the 100 Word Challenge for Grown Ups. This week’s prompt: write a piece to include the words LIBERTY EMPIRE APPLE YELLOW and ENORMOUS. Follow the link to read the other responses and submit one of your own!
Comments and links more than welcome below.
The Screamer
In Fiction on May 14, 2012 at 2:20 pm
The museum filled the sky behind me like some giant bird of prey, swooping down to snap at me with its stony beak, to shred me with its marble talons. I turned, startled, to find it standing still, entombed in shadows.
How securely entombed? I wondered. How completely dead?
I heard someone yell, a voice echoing from behind the columns, and I stumbled away lest the bird should suddenly awake.
In the park across the way the gray had leeched out of the water, onto the grass and up the trees – a symptom of the waning daylight. The geese were folded up, the flowers shuttered for the night. Clouds hung fat in the sky, lit from below by vicious oranges and reds.
Again I heard the voice call to me from across the road.
They know I’ve gotten loose, I thought, and I quickened my pace.
The realization of who you are – what you are – can destroy you, body and mind, if circumstances are right. When I reached the benches I realized I had no legs, so I collapsed. Looking out over the lake I saw the burning clouds descend and set the water alight, and I realized my eyes could not see.
The voice shouted to me once more, from without and within, and suddenly I realized I had no voice — so I screamed.
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This is the fifth and final post in the series of writing challenges that I’m calling Stolen Identities Week. This one is by far the most abstract of the bunch, and maybe one of the more abstract pieces I’ve done, but hopefully I’ve carried it off at least somewhat competently.
Leave your feedback below and be sure to check out the others if you’re in the mood for something a little more grounded!
