MFTS – The Highest Spirits
Here’s my story for Barbara Beacham’s Mondays Finish the Story.
To read the other stories, click on the blue froggy. The supplied opening sentence is in bold in my story.
Copyright B.W. Beacham
“The only residents remaining in the small town of Miners Hill are spirits.”
“That was the end of the myth? Heavy,” said Chad.
“Yep,” said Brad. “And there it is. Miners Hill.”
“Wow. It really is black and white. I thought it was just an old photo.”
They scrambled down the hill.
“Spirits, the myth says? What kind, d’ya think?”
“I’m hopin’ vodka, whisky, maybe even… the Good Stuff.”
“Wow. Advocaat? Heavy.”
Suddenly a host of ghostly apparitions appeared.
“Whoa!” Chad pulled the joint out of his mouth and stared at it suspiciously.
“I can see them too, and I’m not even high!” said Brad.
“Oh, dude, you gave up?” asked Chad sympathetically.
“Yeah, it’s kinda tough…”
“IF YOU TWO DON’T MIND?” broke in one of the spirits. “YOUR SOULS ARE FORFEIT.”
“No! Not my Nikes!” Chad looked in dismay at his footwear.
“SOULS. WITH A ‘U’.”
And so the lads joined the ranks of the dead, booze in hand, weed in mouth, the highest spirits of Miners Hill.
Sharing My World 2015 Week 20
It’s Sunday, which is the day I write my contribution to Cee’s Share Your World.
What is the most important thing that you ever learned? (I bet it’s not something you learned in school)
Crumbs. I don’t know. Maybe I haven’t learned anything? I suppose, that life happens. It can be shaped somewhat by your decisions for better or worse, but by and large it trundles along and it’s best to just go with the flow.
Some people shape the destinies of many others, but I prefer the path of least resistance. I’m happier that way.
What feeds your enthusiasm for life?
Netflix. Ha ha ha. No, seriously. Netflix. And nice walks around pretty locations.
What’s your most memorable (good or bad) airplane commercial or private flight?
I haven’t been on an aeroplane for years, but I used to travel a bit for work. I suppose it was my flight to a job interview in Cork (Ireland).
The weather was pretty bad. We circled for hours, then diverted to Shannon and landed. We stayed there long enough for a pint of Guinness, got back on the plane and finally arrived in Cork. The best bit was that I was so late there was no time to give my presentation (they’d been tracking me through the day and finally cancelled it) and we ended up having the interview in a very expensive hotel over dinner. And I got the job! Then I spent the weekend there, because it was cheaper to get a longer stay including hotel than the air fare there and back the same day.
If you were a great explorer, what would you explore?
I’d like to go to Central/South America and explore all the old Inca and Aztec temples and whatnot. They look quite impressive, though I would also get kidnapped and held for ransom, I expect, as that happens to everybody in films who go exploring such places.
Cee’s Black & White Challenge – Heads or Facial Features
Here is my contribution to Cee’s Black and White Challenge. This week’s topic is “heads or facial features”, and even art or mannequins are fair game.
Therefore, I have lovingly recreated the “heads” scene from the iconic music video “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen.
I’m sure you’ll agree it’s hardly distinguishable from the original, except that Queen’s version featured more world-class musicians and fewer teddy bears :-). Which obviously don’t belong to me since I’m all growed up and such ;-).
More Flowers on Friday
It’s dismal and misty outside, so to cheer things up here are some photos I took a couple of weeks ago in my Mum and Dad’s garden.
From Misery, Beauty
Here is my contribution to this week’s Friday Fictioneers, the weekly 100 word flash fiction challenge hosted by Rochelle at Addicted to Purple. This week’s photo comes to us courtesy of Santoshwriter.
To read this week’s other stories, click on the blue froggy.
Copyright Santoshwriter
She cried for the pain she felt, for the helplessness. She cried for her lost childhood, her forgotten innocence. Her mother knew, had to know, and she cried that the one person who should have protected her had failed, had ignored what was happening.
She hefted the package the stranger had handed her. Squat, black, ugly, magazine fully loaded. A means to an end. She headed home, noticing in passing her tears glistening on the leaves in the early morning sunlight, reflecting rainbows of colour.
How can my misery create such beauty? she wondered, tucking the pistol into her waistband.
Full Speed Ahead!
Here is my contribution to this week’s Mondays Finish the Story, hosted by Barbara Beacham. 100-150 words is the goal, and the supplied opening sentence is in bold in my story.
This week’s other stories can be found by clicking on the blue froggy. I couldn’t help thinking that the boat (if that’s what it is) in the picture looks like the slowest boat ever, so that’s the way I went in my rather nutty story this week. I had fun substituting the usual words associated with sleek and fast ocean-going vessels with the ones I used here :-).
Sorry about the ending, I’m already over the word count :-(.
Copyright B.W. Beacham
The crew of the Angel Flame received orders to head out.
“Pleasure yacht ‘Schnitzel’ adrift – all craft assist!”
Derkin put to sea, his son Timmy standing excitedly at the prow. The Flame’s powerful twin engines pushed the craft to an impressive 1.5 miles per hour. Timmy shouted with glee!
They cut through the waves like a spork through a brick, eating up the inches, thundering at nearly no speed whatsoever towards the stricken yacht. Another rescue craft drew level and then shot ahead, its lone occupant pulling hard on the oars.
“Faster, Dad!” yelled Timmy.
Derkin gritted his teeth and engaged the afterburner, increasing speed to 1.75 miles per hour. Suddenly a three inch wave hit them full on, swamping the boat.
“We’re taking on water, we’ll have to turn back!” he yelled. “I hope we make it!”
Timmy gasped.
Derkin turned the Flame and stared in horror. The dock was already over thirty feet distant! Throttles open to the limit, they reached safety twenty minutes later and were home in time for tea.
Bloggity Touring
Tastyniblets over at Tastyniblets was kind enough to nominate me to join in the Blog Tour. I feel a bit bad because I turned it down a while ago, but I’ll give it a go now. The reason I turned it down before is because I’m not really a “writer” in the same way many of my bloggity buddies are, who all seem to be working on manuscripts, or have already published something.
Don’t forget to check out Tastyniblets’ blog for great fiction and photographs :-).
The rules are:
- Post on a given Monday. That would be today.
- Give your nominees the rules. More on this in the next bullet point.
- Pass the tour on to up to four other bloggers. So this is where this gets dodgy. I hate passing things on to people, which is the other reason I declined this before. “Zero” is “up to four people”, right? I realise this is a bit of a cheat, so I’m not going to use the official badge for this challenge.
- Answer four questions about your creative process which lets other bloggers and visitors know what inspires you to do what you do. I can answer the last two!
Q.1. What are you working on at the moment?
Nuffin. Well, I’ll be editing my Mondays Finish the Story in a bit.
Q.2. How does your work differ from others in your genre?
I don’t think it does. I’m pretty sure most of what I write can be traced back to some author or other. I don’t have a genre, either. Supernatural, post-apocalyptic, sci-fi, horror, comedy, dark comedy, whatever my mood is.
Q.3. Why do you write or create what you do?
Because it’s fun! I like making things up. I always loved writing stories at school, and with the advent of the interwebz they are no longer consigned to a notepad in my drawer.
Q.4. How does your writing/creative process work?
I use the “slapdash method”. I write stories for photo prompts, so when the prompt arrives in my inbox, I look at the photo and then wait for inspiration to strike. If it has struck by lunchtime I will write the story during my lunch break and email it to myself. Otherwise, I’ll write it when I get home while watching some soap opera or other.
Once an idea has struck, I sort of write it in my head while doing other things. Since I have the story ready when I start to type, a 100 word story generally takes around 10 minutes to write plus a few minutes to edit. I’ll do everything (once home from work) while watching TV apart from the final edit, which requires the Pause button. I’m currently watching “Chuck” on Netflix.
That’s it!
Cee’s Black and White Challenge – Liquids
Here are some pictures for Cee’s Black and White Challenge. This week’s subject is “liquids”. Any liquid is fair game!
Sharing My World 2015 Week 19
Here’s my contribution to Cee’s Share Your World for this week.
Would you prefer a one floor house or multiple levels?
My house has a ground floor and an upstairs which is fine by me. I’m a little worried that one day I won’t be able to handle the stairs. Maybe at that point I’ll be able to get a little bungalow instead. Alternatively, my stairs are wide enough for a stair lift…
If you have a TV, would you prefer the TV in the living room or another room?
It’s in the living room. My old TV is currently in the bedroom but it’s not plugged in, it’s “in storage”, basically. My living room has all the equipment – the set-top box, surround sound system and so on. I’m not a “stay in bed and watch TV” sort of person.
Entertainment Corner
When you leave a room, do you turn the lights off behind you or keep the lights on throughout your house most of the time? Explain your answer.
I turn all the lights off. Sometimes when I enter a dark room briefly I don’t bother turning them on if I can see what I’m doing. People who switch lights on randomly and then leave them on wind me up (unless they have young/infirm people in the house and which case it can be safer to leave them on).
Not only is electricity expensive, but I can’t help thinking of all the world’s resources we’re using up. Almost all my light bulbs are “energy-saving”, mind (around 5 Watts), though that’s pretty common everywhere since you can’t buy the old-style 100-150-200W bulbs any more.
What’s your favourite room in your home?
My living room. As per its name, it’s where I do all my living. Reading, watching TV, blogging, eating…
Another New Start
It’s Friday Fictioneers time again, the only Friday fiction challenge on a Wednesday! Thanks as always to Rochelle for hosting and choosing the photo, which this week comes from Marie Gail Stratford.
Click on the blue froggy to see this week’s other contributions.
Copyright Marie Gail Stratford
Darius looked at the silo through the tint of his RadSuit’s visor. His grandfather had tilled the soil when they had housed grain. His father had worked on their conversion to missile launch bays. Sighing, he dragged his find – a compact atomic power unit – back towards the shuttle.
As he walked, he looked up at the moon. Home to the human race since the devastating “oil wars” of the late twenty-first Century, it was already 80% irradiated by the ongoing resources war between surviving factions. They’d need this power unit to aid the evacuation to Mars – yet another New Start.
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