Archive
The Chain Writing Game Week 2 Episode 17
Here is another instalment to Kerrie’s Chain Writing Game.
Have You Seen My Wife? – episode 17
The Harley roared to life, and Dennis heard raised voices behind him as he sped off. In his rear-view he could see a crowd of leather-clad bikers pouring out of the bar, heading toward their bikes.
A yell from Trixie pulled his attention back to the road in front of him. He was passing the alley and Jorge was stumbling out, one arm hanging uselessly, blood dripping onto the pavement. Dennis swerved, clipping Jorge’s leg, shattering his shin. Jorge went down.
As Dennis accelerated away, his rear-view revealed police cruisers appearing behind the bikers. He gritted his teeth and accelerated.
A Belated Farewell to 2013
We’re already well into 2014 and I still haven’t said a proper goodbye to 2013.
Goodbye 2013!
There we go.
As I left work on New Year’s Eve I saw a beautiful rainbow arcing over the buildings, a fitting end to the year. Quick as a flash, I whipped out my phone and snapped a photo.
Alas, my trusty phone camera let me down 😦 . It’s all a bit washed out.
But never fear! I own an expensive and sophisticated set of filters incorporated into cutting-edge image processing software. I have brought all of this to bear on the problem – I hope you’ll appreciate the result below!
Thanks to modern technology, you can now view the beautiful rainbow in all its awe-inspiring glory.
On the blogging front, I thought it might be fun to view my “all-time” visitor stats. You can see where I started to take it seriously, and then in the second half of last year I did some Daily Prompts and began writing Friday Fictioneers submissions, among other things. Things really took off, I started following lots of really cool blogs and I “met” a great bunch of people!
Now I have started participating in Kerrie Salsac’s brilliant new Chain Writing Game, so the only way is up (potentially)!
Here’s to 2014, and a huge thank you to everybody who takes the time to read, comment on and like my posts 🙂 .
Chain Writing Game Week 2 Episode 12
Welcome to the the Chain Writing Game number 2, hosted by the lovely Kerrie Ann Salsac.
This week’s game is called “Have you Seen my Wife?”
Have You Seen My Wife – Episode 12
Back in the alley, Dennis took a drag on the cigarette.
“I’m just looking for my wife!” he gasped, and began coughing. Trixie looked at him critically and took the cigarette away from him.
“Hey! I was…” exclaimed Dennis, cutting himself off as a large blond-haired man appeared at the far end of the alley.
“Oy, Trixie’s my girl!” shouted the new arrival. “You want rough, you pay extra or I cut you!” He was wielding a wicked-looking knife.
“Jorge?” asked Dennis. Trixie nodded, her eyes widening as Dennis pointed the gun at Jorge.
“Freeze, pimp scum!” he yelled.
Look At Me!
Smashing – it’s time for the first Friday Fictioneers of 2014! Rochelle is our host, and this week’s photo has been supplied by her daughter-in-law!
How did the doggy get up there?
All the other amazing entries can be viewed here.
As a special “treat” since it is the first Fictioneers of 2014, I have popped one of my infamous DraliDoodles at the end so that you can all gaze in awe1 at my amazing2 artistic skills3.
Notes:
1 – “awe” is an unlikely emotion when viewing DraliDoodles
2 – “amazing” is an incorrect term when used to describe DraliDoodles
3 – “skills” – this word has been used incorrectly in this instance

Copyright – Rochelle’s daughter-in-law
Look at me! Look at me! I am at the top of the tree, oh yes. On top of the world!
Ruler of the planet! Bwahahaha!
Gaze upon me from the ground far below, tiny human child, for I am supreme! I cast my eye over the whole of creation, and I shall rule it all. The grass, the trees, the humans, my fellow canines – all will bow down and pay homage to me!
I am King of the… wait, what’s the female human bringing out? Are those… dog treats? Oh boy! Make way, coming down! Clear the way! Woof!
Chain Writing Game Episode 28
After a couple of hard days at work I finally have the chance to add my last instalment to Kerrie Salsac’s amazing and fun chain writing novelette!
To catch up with the story, take a look here!
I’m thinking Cindy needs a bit of a help here.
Back at the not-so-safe house, Cindy flicked “accept” on Mac’s phone, while thumbing down the volume and slipping it into her pocket. She needed to be heard without alerting Aadila, who still waved the gun threateningly at her. She could only hope that whoever was calling Mac was on her side.
“Like I said, Aadila, kill me and this ‘Signor Giuliani’ won’t be pleased.”
Moving to cradle Mac’s head, she felt the butt of the gun taped to his back, just below the nape of his neck.
Mac looked into Cindy’s eyes and nodded slightly. Her hand closed on the pistol’s grip.
Chain Writing Episode 15
Here is my next instalment for Kerrie Salsac’s excellent chain writing game.
A fairly obvious plot twist, but now it’s decision time for Cindy!
To catch up on the story so far, click here (I don’t know how to make the little froggie work 😦 ).
Cindy dropped onto the mossy ground outside the window and turned to help Aadila, who slipped, hitting the ground hard.
“What is it, are you alright?” whispered Cindy.
“My ankle,” sobbed Aadila.
“Probably just sprained. Can you walk? We must get away from here.”
Aadila stood painfully – she could walk, but Cindy realised she would need help.
“Lean on me,” she said and they headed away from the house.
A woman’s sob echoed from an upstairs window. Cindy looked askance at Aadila.
“There are others. But we must escape! Please, I cannot walk unaided!”
Cindy looked at Aadila, then back at the house.
Chain-Writing-The Last Day-Episode-5
Here is my addition to Kerrie Ann Salsac’s chain writing novel thingummy!
This is episode 5 – you will need to check out the rest of the story here to see what has happened so far!
Cindy considered her options. Miss her opportunity to leave quickly and quietly – Jemima could be back any second and she wouldn’t be alone. Or she could allow this handsome young man to drive her.
She’d always been told to be careful, but this young man, this Charles, seemed safe enough. She slipped into his shiny new BMW and as they peeled away, she laughed.
“I haven’t told you where I’m going!”
“That’s immaterial,” replied Charles, his smile suddenly cold, humourless. “I know where I’m going, and you’re coming with me.”
A cold fear swept over Cindy as she realised she couldn’t move.
Broken World
Hello one and all – I hope you all had a wonderful holiday time! However, the holidays can’t hold back Friday Fictioneers which, as always, is hosted by Rochelle. Today’s striking photo was supplied by fellow Fictioneerer Douglas M MacIlroy.
If you would like to join in, click above for Rochelle’s site. You can also view all the entries (updated during the week) here.

Copyright Douglas M. MacIlroy
The high-intensity beams shone out like the eyes of some fantastical creature. The tower’s atomic cells had powered the lights for centuries, as they would for centuries more.
The beams cast eerie shadows across the endless miles of desolation, legacy of the mismanagement of the latter decades of the twenty-first century. The light glinted off rivers running thick with toxins, flowing through empty miles dotted with the petrified remains of vegetation. The sun’s rays, no longer attenuated by ozone, had bleached the skeletons white.
Above it all the tower stood guardian over a poisoned world, mute testimony to the folly of Man.
Happy Holidays!
It’s nearly Christmas! Woohoo!
I’ve switched on the snow on my blog, so it must be nearly here.
Join with me, if you will, in appreciating the most awesome Christmas rhyme of all time…
“‘Twas the night before Christmas,
and all through the house,
not a creature was stirring,
except… the four assholes coming in the rear in standard two-by-two cover formation.”
…taken from the most awesome Christmas film of all time!

Now I have a machine gun. Ho ho ho.
Well, it’s set at Christmas time anyway. So tuck yourself up on the sofa with drinks and snacks and enjoy an evening of mayhem with Bruce!
Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays to everyone 🙂
[Copyright note: Die Hard theatrical poster taken from Wikipedia, in which it strongly implies “fair use” when using the whole image to describe the film (copyright is believed to belong to the distributor of the film, the publisher of the film or the graphic artist).]
Unexpected but Welcome!
This is a little round-up of award nominations I have recently received. I’m also using it as a shameless plug for a bunch of my posts, so let’s dive straight in!
First off, fun with the Blog of the Year Award 2013 (my original post on this along with all the rules, my nominations and all the rest is here). The lovely and talented gentlestitches awarded me a star! I’m pretty sure I got another one along the way as well (!) so that makes a total of 3 stars (if anyone apart from Mer and gentlestitches can remember giving me a star, let me know and I’ll grovel a lot and update this post)!
Then, can you believe this, doggy’s style awarded me the Black Hole award, and one of my stars fell in (boo)!











