Prior Knowledge
It’s time for Friday Fictioneers again, ably hosted by Rochelle. This week’s photo was contributed by fellow fictioneerer Sandra Crook.
Click on the little blue fella for this week’s other contributions. I finally gave into InLinkz’s demands to “create an account to get the code” and all I got was this little badge with no post counter :-(.
Copyright Sandra Crook
Albert peered out of his tent and gasped in surprise. Before him was the debarkation ramp of a huge – spaceship. A blob oozed from the entry-way, a tentacle pointing a device directly at him. He turned and ran, hearing a “zap!” sound, feeling a ripping pain in his back…
…and he awoke in his sleeping bag, sweating. Wiping his face, he peered out of his tent. Before him was the debarkation ramp of a huge – spaceship. He turned and ran, thinking as he did so that prescient dreams were not the blessing he’d once thought. Hearing a “zap!” sound, he braced himself.
Mondays Finish the Story – What Are the Odds?
It’s time for Mondays Finish the Story! Which will never be on a Monday for me, as I only have an hour and a half free from 0600 until 2300. Mondays are nasty 😦
Fresh from not reading the instructions last week (I thought the supplied first sentence was included in the word count), this week I thought I had 200 words! Nope. So much frantic editing was done.
We get a photo prompt, the first sentence (which is in bold in my story below), and 150 words to tell our story, and you can see all the stories for this week here.
Donning her fins and snorkel, she headed out into the deep water. She knew she was foolish to dive alone. She knew she shouldn’t have ventured so far from the boat. Now she was tangled helplessly in the discarded net of a careless fisherman, deeper than she had ever been.
If she could only reach her diver’s knife! A few more centimetres…
Bracing herself, she twisted sharply, dislocating her shoulder. Screaming, she found her desperate manoeuvre had worked – she could now reach the blade. Sawing frantically, her air running out, she managed to free herself, pushing towards the surface, her injured arm dangling uselessly.
Her vision grew darker as oxygen starvation set in – only a few more metres. The surface, safety, grew closer, closer…
Their boat suddenly lurching, the startled exclamations of the tourists turned to screams as red blossomed past the glass underside of the boat, followed by a woman’s body as it was drawn inexorably toward the thrashing propellers.
Poor Puff
I thought I’d have a go at Alastair’s Sunday Photo Fiction this week!
The rules say that we should mention if a story is “unsuitable for under 16’s”. I’m guessing not, I’ll just say there are drugs involved (nothing you won’t see in a daytime soap).
I’m guessing you know the history of “Puff the Magic Dragon” but here’s a link.
To see the other contributions, you can find them here.
Photo copyright Alastair Forbes
I was somebody back in the day. Doesn’t look like it now, eh? Well, I was.
Hung out with a guy called Paper. Little Jackie Paper. Dumb name, huh? Great guy though. Till he “grew up”. Left me high and dry inside my cave.
I tried to get work. I did. Amusement parks, TV appearances. But there was talk. Talk of drugs. There were no drugs, I tell you. But nobody believed me. Everywhere I went it was all “Hey, Puff, got any weed?” and “Yo, Puff, fancy a puff har har?”
So one day I just thought, “Okay, they all think I’m on drugs, I’ll do drugs.”
I smoked my first spliff. Heaven it was. I just drifted away. Good times!
They say weed is a “gateway” drug. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. For me, pretty soon I wanted something more. So I tried harder stuff.
The work dried up. I couldn’t concentrate. I didn’t care.
So here I am, lying in a dirty squat at the ass-end of nowhere, spilling my guts out to you guys. And you ain’t even listening.
After you with the crack pipe.
It’s Unicorn Appreciation Day!
This is part of a bloggity hop and I was tagged by Goldfish to write all about her favourite holiday – Unicorn Appreciation Day.
Goldfish has asked me a few questions about what I’ll be up to. However, first of all we need to sort out the date. It takes place on “1/11” (because of how the “1” looks likes a Unicorn horn, you see) which is 1st November. However, Goldy is in the US and I believe in the US dates are always written the other way round, so I’m thinking that “1/11” is actually 11th January. Which means it’s coming up soon! Yay!
Will you celebrate Unicorn Appreciation Day by wearing the traditional horn and stilts this year?
Well, of course. Everyone I know will be! Please be careful though people. Last year seven people fell off their stilts and impaled passers by with their horns. There’s nothing like having someone stick their horn in you to spoil your day.
There are also those who like to take Unicorns home with them. Here is some advice from the Society for the Protection of Unicorns and Cryptids (SPUnC).
“Unicorns are not pets. They like to run free. By all means feed them treats, but don’t take them home with you! For more information, please check out our website or search our related knowledge base – the Creature Or Cryptid Knowledgebase. Just search for “C.O.C.K.” in your favourite search engine and you’ll be sure to find us!”
Wise words indeed.
If you had your own unicorn, what would you name it?
Goldfish would name her Unicorn Stanley. I would name mine Critchley, because it sounds like a good name for a Unicorn.
What three wishes will you ask the magical unicorn to grant you this Unicorn Appreciation Day?
Please Critchley, don’t let me fall off my stilts and impale anyone with my horn.
Please Critchley, let me have the biggest horn at the Unicorn party, as that’s how the lady Unicorns choose their boyfriends.
Please Critchley, don’t let anyone be mad at me – pretty much all my “taggable” bloggy friends have already taken part in this, so I don’t have anyone else to tag :-(. So I’ll leave it there, flouting all the rules of this hop.
Remember, take care this Unicorn Appreciation Day, and stay safe!
In the News
It’s Wednesday, and Rochelle has ushered in another 100ish word flash fiction, with a prompt photo by Janet Webb featuring a big icicle dangling rather precariously off a bush. I sure hope it doesn’t fall on somebody!
I’ve gone for a rather silly one this week. For other contributions, click on the blue froggy!
Copyright Janet Webb
NewsRightNow.com 03/12/2014
Tributes were paid today to Britain’s best-known sunbather, Douglas “Fruitcake” Norris, who died in his back garden in Upper Littlebridge, aged 79.
Norris, famous for sunbathing in all temperatures, was sadly impaled through the brain while catching some rays underneath a large icicle, which became dislodged in rising temperatures.
“He was a lovely person who will be sorely missed,” said his daughter, Natalie Norris (43), while dangling upside-down from her washing line in her underwear. “We won’t see the likes of his nuttiness again.”
Next story – Shock as document reveals homes in Upper Littlebridge built on chemical waste site
Monday’s Finish the Story – Shattered Dreams
There’s a new(ish) photo flash fiction in blog town! It’s Mondays Finish the Story – not only is there a photo but the first sentence is written too.
We get 100-150 words, not including the starting sentence. Of course, I didn’t read the instructions properly and spent several desperate minutes cutting my story down to under 150 words including the first sentence. So I’ve put some words back in.
The first sentence is in the present tense, so I’ve stayed with that with some past tense in the middle. I hope it works okay.
This challenge uses the little blue froggy, so click on him to see this week’s other stories. I have put the provided sentence in bold in my story.
Sorry about the snow on my blog. I must have switched it on last year and I can’t be bothered to track down the setting right now. Because I’m lazy like that.
In the compound on the hill, lives a man with a dream. He walks up the marble path admiring his creation, already half-built – domes rising, palm trees providing shelter from the baking sun.
“You’ll never do it!” they’d said.
“You’ve never amounted to anything!” they’d scoffed.
Yet here it was for all to see, rising from the barren sand.
It hadn’t been plain sailing. No-one would back him so he’d had to turn to “less reputable” sources of funding. People had warned him not to get involved with such people, but his dream would not die. Suffering cash-flow problems, he’d shrugged off the threats of his faceless investors. And besides, he would ensure that they would see amazing returns!
One day.
One day soon.
He opens the door, pushing past the pile of final demands on the doormat. Preoccupied with his dream, he doesn’t see the two shadows detach themselves from the wall and follow him silently up the stairs.
Safe and Sound
It Friday Fictioneers day here on Planet Blog, hosted as always by the talented Rochelle. This week’s photo was contributed by Randy Mazie.
The idea is to write around 100 words in response to the supplied photo which this week shows a library. Everything looks very idyllic, but very quiet.
Too quiet perhaps? Where are all the people? Where could they be?
This story was inspired by the video game “The Last of Us”, which I just finished (on “Easy”, because I’m rubbish).
To see other stories for this week, click on the little blue frog below.
Copyright Randy Mazie
His goal in site, Drayvin collapsed, exhausted, falling from his bike to the grass. Infected three months ago, he had cycled through deserted streets piled high with stinking corpses, searching for The Library – a rumoured enclave of plague survivors.
He awoke to the sound of voices.
“He’s immune!”
“Infected but still alive!”
“A miracle!”
Feeling safe at last, Drayvin tried to move but found himself restrained. Confused and frightened, he strained to hear the voices in the next room.
“…immunity, we need to know…”
“..maybe in his brain…”
“…euthanise him first, then I’ll dissect the grey matter…”
Darkness fell as the potassium stopped his heart.
Sharing My World Week 46
It’s my regular Share Your World time here, with questions posed by Cee from Cee’s Photography blog. Head over and check out all her lovely pictures!
On a vacation what you would require in any place that you sleep?
Not a bed, is the first thing I wouldn’t require, which is not what the question asked.
That was an odd sentence.
I’ve got a choice of two things here. First, I’ll say my phone. I know this is a common answer to a lot of “what would you require” questions, but my phone gives me a timepiece, alarm, “book”, music, video, light, communications etc etc.
As an alternate answer, a bit of peace and quiet! I love regular sounds, like wind, or rain. I find it especially relaxing on the rare occasions I sleep on a boat, with the throbbing noise of the engines and the rocking, but I can’t sleep if there are sudden noises from outside, like sudden shouts, sirens or cars revving.
Music or silence while working?
Music is the thing for me! I don’t generally listen to music at work, though, because then people have trouble catching my attention. I listen to my iPod or phone before people start to arrive. I could listen with just one earphone in, but I find that really annoying, getting music in just one ear.
The alternative isn’t silence, though. There’s the usual office noises, plus the radio in the background.
If you were to move and your home came fully furnished with everything you ever wanted, list at least three things from your old house you wish to retain.
That depends a bit on what “fully furnished” actually means. I’ll take it to mean “actual furniture”, in which case first of all I’ll need my “entertainment corner”.
Matthew MacFadyen, as featured in Entertainment Corner
Second, I have some mementos from my dear Granny, who passed away 15 years ago – the candlesticks you can see in the picture below, and the gong. When we were little and visiting her in Scotland, often before dinner my brother or I would bang the gong to say “dinner time!”
From Granny’s house, now on my mantelpiece
The gong-banger (I’m sure there’s a proper name for that) is actually from a larger gong, which is why it’s not hanging on the side.
My third item? I guess my photos, as they are memories which can’t be replaced. I haven’t gotten around to scanning them all to the cloud yet.
What’s your least favourite mode of transportation?
I think that would have to be air travel. It’s not the travel itself, though that can be a bit of a chore. It’s all the security and hassle at the airport. It was bad enough the last time I travelled by air, but it’s awful now. I’m hoping never to have to travel by air again. Although if I ever have enough money to travel to New Zealand to visit the Hobbits, I’ll have to. I’d be willing to put myself through all that to see the Hobbits!
See you again next week for more Sharing of My World!
No Second Chances
It’s time for Friday Fictioneers, which is announced on a Wednesday but dated on a Friday – so this week I am both a day late and a day early.
Time confusion! And that is the subject of today’s story. Which, I admit, is a bit confusing especially now that I had to remove 50 words to get even close to the 100 word target. But that’s time travel for ya! Confusing.
This week’s photo was provided by fellow Friday Fictioneerer Claire Fuller. I got to thinking about who might be inside and what they might be doing.
Rochelle is our host here at Friday Fictioneers club. Why not give it a go yourself? Click on the little blue frog to see all the other contributions.
Copyright Claire Fuller
“These are the space/time coordinates. Pretty unassuming for the workshop of the man who is about to create time-travel.”
“Everyone changing the past, destabilising the time stream. We stop it now, before it begins.”
The Time Agents threw their grenades into the workshop.
Time travel was never created so…
… Time Agents never came back to kill the creator of time travel so…
… time travel was created so…
… Time Agents came back to kill the creator so…
The Universe stalled and… paused. Earth vanished, seven billion people deleted from history. The Universe resumed, the temporal paradox erased.
The Universe is good at correcting mistakes. No second chances.
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Woohoo!
I totally didn't win!
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draliman on life 