Tuesday 31 August 2010

Kids, who'd have them?

Hologram

 

It wasn’t the ghost or the Hal-like computer that annoyed him but the ‘Alcohol Banned’ notice – this was one bad nightmare. He must have left the holoset controls open for the kids to break again. As a punishment, he’d switch them off and play on-line with his real children.

 

 

 

Random Word: Annoyed


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The trial of Black Heart Sam

Pirate

 

 

 

‘It wer his tea-chest. I wanted bad.’

‘But I put it to you that you then cut his gizzards out.’

‘Me thirst wer awful and he said drink rum.’

 

Random Word: Chest

 

 

 

 


Monday 30 August 2010

Death's a sad bone; bruised, you'd say

Hollow man

 

Hospitals in suburbia with neat gardens and coffee morning nurses disgusted him. Liam so wanted the guts and pus of street medicine. Where to heal gave a life some meaning. Here he just re-fitted bodies long after any reason for living had died. Making a funeral, a long rehearsed prayer.

 

 

 Random Word: Suburbia  


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Saturday 28 August 2010

Six Word Saturday#24

Describing your Saturday life or thoughts on Show My Face at the moment of writing in a phrase using just six words.

Bank Hoilday

Bank holiday weekend…and its raining.


Friday 27 August 2010

The marrow belongs to me

Allotment wars

 

Len rattled the garden gate. To beat Roy, he needed his prize seeds. Roy, who'd read Machiavelli, heard the rattle, and sprinkled the decoys.

 

Random Word: Haggard

 

 


Got your photograph but it don't kiss back

Visit Mr.Knowitall to post your own Friday Flash 55 word story or poem!

The autumn leaves
changed colours
but you were springMan and Baby
with its hopes
not a misty regret
of winter
shivering
by a log fire
alone

Looking back
I still dream
although summer
with gentle walks
along green riverbanks
picking wild flowers
never came
but you gave our child
her own seasons
as I wait
for you

Random Word: Autumn Leaves


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Thursday 26 August 2010

It ain’t always the money

Ark

 

El's well business made him rich but his son baulked at the gold thrown at the crazy boat builder. Once the rain stopped, he’d pull the job.

Random Word: Impecunious  

 


And it stoned me

The reporter pressed, ‘Do you believe in God.’

He thought, on the walk to the fish at Ballystockart, I got awful thirsty but at an auld stone house, a dark weather-beaten man offered me water. I drank and then the silence came and held me.

But answered, ‘Only in music.’

 

 

 

 

 

 

Random Word: The Blues 


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Wednesday 25 August 2010

Leadership is more then the rewards of office

auidioboo

 

 

‘Sire, the Vampires will forgo the blood fee for sea access.’

The Duke distracted with bosoms, said,‘So be it.’

‘Sire, what of the Harvest ships,’

The Duke weary of responsibility dismissed him.

The Minister’s solution was a personal sea voyage with a letter that offered the Duke as blood fee.

 

 

 

Random Word: Harvest


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Wortharead Wednesday #16

These are the Twitter (#vss) stories that caught my eye mainly over the past 7 days. Click on the image or name if you want to visit the story site. Or on the date stamp to go direct to the story.

Every time he overheard someone saying "I could never live without my...", he would steal it to see if they were lying to themselves. #vssWed Aug 18 14:55:27 via web


It just didn't seem right, dumping a body in the middle of gods nowhere but then why should I care? Its not like we were friends.Thu Aug 19 07:05:57 via TweetDeck


Extremely tired of her husband’s snoring, she dropped a bit of long lasting glue on his lips and then gently closed them. #vssFri Aug 20 04:19:27 via web


Albert never went back to that clothing store again. The shirt did not, in fact, flatter his chest. #vssSat Aug 21 03:24:43 via web


They did not march in wearing jackboots. They came quietly in Gucci loafers. But they were the same men with the same agenda.Sun Aug 22 12:49:13 via web


Tuesday 24 August 2010

2010 Reading

Slow this year as just finishing my creative writing course but it should start to pick up

Current Read: Cloudstreet by Tim Winton

140 Characters: A Style Guide for the Short Form by  Dom Sagolla

Arthur and George by  Julian Barnes

A Question of Upbringing by  Anthony Powell

Britain Since 1918: The Strange Career Of British Democracy by David Marquand

Dear Fatty by Dawn French

How Do You Want Me? by  Ruby Wax

I'm a Stranger Here Myself by  Bill Bryson

The Commissariat of Enlightenment by  Ken Kalfus

The Long Goodbye by  Raymond Chandler

The Other Side of the Dale by  Gervase Phinn

The Unseen Academicals by  Terry Pratchett

Tickling the English by  Dara O Briain

White Teeth by Zadie Smith


If its looks too good to be true…

It was the merry month of May
along a lonely country lane
that he did spy
her breasts so soft
She smiled, he thought,
so rushed across,
his weapon to hand,
least it be wanted.
So did not see the scythe
Until she sliced,
he screamed,
and woke,
he hoped.

Random Word: Attention


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Asian Handicap

Gambling Addict

 

 

Al finally admitted his gambling problem when the plane engine caught fire and he texted his bookie for the best long odds on surviving.

 

 

 

Random Word: Croupier



Monday 23 August 2010

Dear Fatty - Dawn French (2008)

Dear Fatty

 

 

Epistolary biography with strong depiction of her comedy roots. Puzzling thankful account of Lenny( Marriage ends months later-hmm.) But powerful accounts of two fathers tragic deaths – her own and a boyfriend’s. Also interesting was reading the sheer haphazardness of her career start and the direction it could have gone.

Amazon_4_star: Good - read it again and loan it out or give to friends when shelves full.

 

 


Thinking is the enemy of creativity.

Tantrum

‘I’m sorry but it’s too representational.’ The cloud scene had bothered him all morning.  ‘I wanted authenticity.’

The artist glared, and then went to the Director’s car, which he smashed through the wall, creating a sky view. Staggering out, he said, ‘I’m calling it Cloudburst, is that bloody authentic enough.’

 Random Word: Director


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Saturday 21 August 2010

Six Word Saturday#23

Describing your Saturday life or thoughts on Show My Face at the moment of writing in a phrase using just six words.

A first always means a last**

Trying to give my elderly in-laws a last chance to stay at their beloved seaside flat.  He has had a stroke and so is now confused and unable to speak and she is severely senile. They need 24 hour care so I'm typing this as I watch over them on their morning snooze. My wife has snook out for a well deserved swim to clear her head. When they leave here it's to a nursing home and the end of an era for them.

A first always leads to a last






Al was on holiday and bored so an old man shouting in real time, 'Christ was the saviour,' was an earthsave. He cast Pel, his best cyber friend, 'It was like he talked Martian.'

Pel, in his second year of Solar Languages, laughed and said, 'No, he's talking archaic Amerikon.


Random Word: Trends


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Friday 20 August 2010

Do not go gently into the night

Visit Mr.Knowitall to post your own Friday Flash 55 word story or poem!

I watched him wake up - the anger in the cover thrown back, and the stabbing hand trying to find spectacles - before he even spoke.

‘You again?’

‘Your family are waiting for you.‘

‘Baloney, they’re a bunch of losers.’

I rested my scythe on the bed and sat down. The morning ritual had begun.



 Random word: awake


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What do you think of the infidel question?





The castle was dark,no flames flickered by gate or arch. The knights hesitated until one said, ‘Are you sure they said, drinks at eight?’

Random Words: Drinks

Thursday 19 August 2010

On the day I heard

I picked a poppy once,
a different red
and knew death
is what breaks
so many men
because it can't be fixed
or talked away.

So I won’t be brave,
for a victory
but for the smell of a rose
she once brought me
as it droops
in the water.

Random Word: Grief


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I’m home darl…

Man thong

 

 

 

When she walked in, it wasn’t the laughter at him, in her pink thong that hurt but the look of disgust, when he asked, ‘Any other colours?’

 

 

 

 

Random Word: Risible


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Wednesday 18 August 2010

The Prince of Darkness is a gentleman

This is a 50-word story where E = Evil baffled! written for the ABC Wednesday meme that  is hosted by Mrs. Denise Nesbitt

 Sweetshop

As soon as Miss Jenkins saw the sweetshop door open, and heard from nowhere the wailing woman music, she knew it was trouble. That song always heralded a struggle with Evil.   

Lucifer, took off his glasses, stopped, and looked round cautiously, he’d only popped in for a quarter of humbugs 

  The slayer

Random Word: Dog Person


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Wortharead Wednesday #15

These are the Twitter (#vss) stories that caught my eye mainly over the past 7 days. Click on the image or name if you want to visit the story site. Or on the date stamp to go direct to the story.

She'd always admired fine craftsmen, like old-school tailors and luthiers. That's why she preferred knives; guns felt like a chain store.Tue Aug 10 02:20:36 via TweetDeck


She wanted to talk about things that mattered. He was hesitant but horny. I'm all ears, he said. She paused and said, That might be problem.Wed Aug 11 18:58:29 via Seesmic


She tore the last chapters from his books and seeded his cereal with kitty litter. He would never call her merely passive aggressive again.Thu Aug 12 14:11:51 via Twitter for iPhone


It helped ease her heartbreak when she thought that if her life was made a movie years from now, he'd be credited as "man in red car". #vssThu Aug 12 14:50:35 via Twitter for BlackBerry®


Amy’s contribution to Thanksgiving dinner at her parents’ house was a photograph she had taken of a flock of wild turkeys. #vssMon Aug 16 01:11:08 via web

Tuesday 17 August 2010

Love from Dad xx

70's

 partytime

you’re in the sun
and I’m in the rain
you’re got good shit
and I’m in dogshit
yet once it wer me
so it’s fair
but soon
so soon
you’ll need me umbrella

 

Random Word: Summer Holiday


Now, when I'm alone and cold in my bed

waking upHer note, said come over. But, come over where? They had fallen into bed at her flat. This room suggested an older house.  Raising his head, the shadows said noon. God, his mouth was sandy.

Behind the observation-glass, Frau Schmidt ticked the awakening time as correct. The game could begin.

Random Word: Get a room already


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Monday 16 August 2010

How did you get here?

Bartalk

 

 

Handing over the pint, Rob had said, ‘’Do you trust me?’ I nodded, we went way back. ‘ I’m jumping off the roof, join me.’ Seeing my face, he smiled and leaned over to whisper, ‘ The Hitchhikers guide was right except for timing.’

‘And boy, has it been fun.’

 

Random Word:Xanadu

 

 

 

 

 


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Sunday 15 August 2010

Sorry, I get tongue-tied

 

Shy Guy

 

‘I bet you say that to all the girls,’ Lil said. But kissed him anyway, for at night he could be anyone she liked. And frequently, he was.

Source of inspiration

 

 

 


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Saturday 14 August 2010

Six Word Saturday#22

Describing your Saturday life or thoughts on Show My Face at the moment of writing in a phrase using just six words.

Ballons over Bristol

Image Maker: Ann and Eddie

 Monsoon wetness so no balloons today**

**Bristol hosts one of the biggest Balloon Festival in the world – it’s main rival is the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.  These balloons were about five minutes from passing over our roof, which drove Rosie, our Westie, barking mad – for hours.


Friday 13 August 2010

When you don’t listen straight

Visit Mr.Knowitall to post your own Friday Flash 55 word story or poem!

 

Scared

 

The stench of heaving men hung heavy. Serious metal weights crunched.  Ray, looked around, he was the only white guy in the gym.

‘We’re having breakfast here?  But you said, “Come and eat at Dairy Queens?” ’

Otis, now down to a black leather pouch, said. ‘Nope, I said, “Come and meet other Dairy Queens”.’

 

Random Word: Permeate

 

 

Footnote: If you went eh? Dairy Queens are fast-food restaurants in the US South. It’s also American gay slang . Apologies to Americans for my southern accents!


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Neighbourhood Watch

Twitcher

 

On a day of monsoon rain, I look out and see a car dashed with paint. Annoyed, we wait to see, if it’s at least, a neighbour we don’t like.

 

Random Word:Perfidious 

 

 

 

Image Maker: Marcel Booth


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Thursday 12 August 2010

It only works when you can’t be sure it did

Protest

 

When Dr Hare was behind, due to the internet wannbe experts, he lied to those who prayed, to get his plans agreed quickly. Then it was leaked that patient mortality was too high. He was defended by colleagues but sacked by politicians. So perhaps prayers were heard…the second time.

 

Random Word: Pray

 

 


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Friends you’ve forgotten

John Letter 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

mary Letter 1


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John Letter 2

 

mary Letter2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Random Word: Caustic


Wednesday 11 August 2010

Wortharead Wednesday #14

These are the five Twitter (#vss) stories that caught my eye mainly over the past 7 days. Click on the image or name if you want to visit the story site. Or on the date stamp to go direct to the story.

Their neighbor rings the bell and asks if they might spare a cup of sugar, and this is oddest thing they think has ever happened to them.Fri Jul 02 05:00:16 via API

 


I suppose we could go out tonight, have dinner, catch a movie. But that would only make life interesting. What would we do after that? #vssThu Aug 05 09:25:28 via web


John’s PhD had stalled. He couldn’t prove the existence of infinity in a number system. It was time to start again. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6…. #vssThu Aug 05 12:26:44 via HootSuite


Dan didn't know anyone in his neighborhood. He left his house at night. Returned at night. The neighbors doubted if he was more than myth.Fri Aug 06 06:08:15 via web


"Spend more time on me," she said. So he killed her and spent the rest of his life tending flowers on her grave. At least he listened.Sat Aug 07 02:16:54 via Echofon

The Fairground Life

Fairground Security

 

 

Abd-ul-Rahim sat, slipped the package behind him, and then span the wheelchair towards the gaudy sound of the Carousel. From the Helter-skelter, a man spoke into a walkie-talkie and pointed.  But avoiding the running men, he jumped up, package in hand, and said, ‘Alā'-ad-dīn, tonight, “This is your Life.” ‘

 

 Random Word: Neon


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Tuesday 10 August 2010

The sparkle of spoken words

Texting

 

OMG, I was his first follower. So yes, he has tweeted me on Twitter. TC may do this to thousands but I’m special.  I helped him get a million followers. How? I post about the fun in my life, all my friends say they love it - when they text.

 

Random Word: Popinjay

 

 

Image Maker: Ted Szukalski


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For in the shadows are our dreams

Angry Woman

 

 

 

 

She pointed a finger at him and screamed before turning to the angry mob outside his cab. He knew it was a dream. Who refuses a tip?

Random Word: Asperse

 

 

 

 

 

 


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Monday 9 August 2010

For who speaks when she commands

Bossy Woman

 

 

Sir, excuse me, do you mind making less noise. A  library is for study. So please get off the floor. Sorry,  I can’t hear you. Heart? What do you mean by heart? Is this a silly candid camera stunt. Speak up, I should have known, your people always cause trouble.

 

 

Random Word:Queen Regnant 

 

 


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