MFTS – Fool Me Twice
Here is my contribution for Barbara Beacham’s Mondays Finish the Story for this week. For this challenge we get 150 words or so plus a photo and an opening sentence.
I must confess, I’m twenty-odd words over this week. Sorry :-(. This week’s story picks up pretty much where last week’s left off, as we rejoin newly-deceased stoners Chad and Brad, their souls ripped from their bodies after mistaking tales of alcoholic beverages with spirits of the ghostly variety.
To read this week’s other stories, click on the blue froggy. The supplied opening sentence is in bold in my story.
Copyright B.W. Beacham
“What a tangled web we weave, when first we practise to deceive, dude.”
So saying, Chad jabbed the lead ghostly spirit (Basil by name), his fingers coming away covered with ectoplasm, sticky and insubstantial as a spider’s web.
“I’M SURE I DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN,” intoned Basil.
“You lured us here with talk of spirits,” complained Chad. “Vodka, whisky…”
“Advocaat,” added Brad, puffing on a joint.
“AND SPIRITS YOU FOUND!” laughed Basil. “DON’T YOU JUST LOVE HOMONYMS!”
“Chad, calm down!” said Brad, offering him an insubstantial joint. Chad took a puff.
“Dude!” he exclaimed happily.
“Dude,” agreed Brad.
“We want back in our bodies, dead Dude,” said Chad, pointing at his corpse.
“PERHAPS… THERE IS A WAY,” pondered Basil. “WOULD YOU CONSENT TO… TRIAL IN COURT?”
“Hell yeah!” said Chad before Brad could stop him. “No jury in the world will rule against us!”
“BWAHAHA!” laughed Basil. “TRIAL BY COMBAT! IN THE COURT OF THE DAMNED! FOOLED YOU AGAIN, GULLIBLE STONERS!”
“Dude,” said Chad.
“Dude,” agreed Brad. “You know what we need?”
“Yeah!”
And so the pair set off in search of more ghostly weed, the better to endure the trials ahead.
Sharing My World 2015 Week 21
Everything has changed this week for Cee’s Share Your World! This week Cee has provided a list of list topics, and we must choose four list topics from this list of list topics and make a list of four things answering the question posed in the list topic we have chosen from the list.
Goodness!
Favourite Songs
This list changes over time. I’ve bought a couple of new albums recently so a couple of songs are from those. There are many classics of course which always remain favourites of mine, so these songs are more the ones I currently listen to on a daily basis.
- End of the Dream – Evanescence
- Froot – Marina and the Diamonds
- House on a Hill – The Pretty Reckless
- Wrong Side of the Sun – Sophie Ellis-Bextor
Favourite types of animals
Cute and fluffy :-).
- Monkeys!
- Kitty cats!
- Lemurs!
- Koalas!
Movies to cheer you up
It’s strange the things that make me laugh out loud… though maybe you won’t be surprised if you’ve read some of my stories. Warning – none of these are technically comedies.
- Planet Terror – laughed till I cried
- The Expendables – especially that one scene where the bloke’s head gets completely blown off
- Any apocalyptic zombie/”infected” film e.g. “World War Z”, “Resident Evil” series
- From Dusk Till Dawn – I’m including the Netflix series here, since one episode has heads being ripped off and everything – it’s hilarious!
Things I want to have in my home
Home upgrades.
- Massive home cinema system
- Sound-proof room in which to place said massive cinema system
- TARDIS-style relative dimensional system installed in home in order to accommodate sound-proof room
- Girlfriend with whom to watch films in newly-installed room – note, I also own less gory films e.g. “Pretty Woman”, “Miss Congenialty” and the like
Thanks for reading my world sharing for this week :-).
Extinction by Stupidity
Here is my contribution to this week’s Friday Fictioneers 100 word challenge, ably hosted by the talented Rochelle. This week’s photo was contributed by Doug MacIlroy.
To read the other contributions, click on the blue froggy.
Copyright Douglas M. MacIlroy
Marvik and Grvox, father and son team from “WorldRenewals Inc” stepped onto Earth, freshly scorched and ready for new inhabitants.
“The flamers did a good job on this one,” said Grvox. He pointed at a charred skeleton. “What d’ya suppose that was?”
“Some sort of marine mammal, son.”
“And what about over there? Looks like the remains of a… city? Built by those Hoomans? Da, we’re not allowed to flame worlds containing intelligent life!”
“Son, you’ve read the report on this world, same as me. Plundering your planet’s resources to exhaustion to make ‘shiny new things’ isn’t a sign of intelligence.”
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!
Click for a random post!
Woohoo!
I totally didn't win!
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