On a Promise

October 8, 2014 59 comments

It’s Friday Fictioneers time here on the interwebz. This is a 100 word photo challenge, and this week said photo has been supplied by our lovely and talented host, Rochelle!

If you would like to take part, head over here, check out the instructions and then leave a link to your story via the little blue froggie fellow (where you can also find all this week’s other contributions).

I didn’t see “death” in this week’s photo, so I apologise to any of my regulars who are expecting horror, gore and whatnot.

leverage-room-1

Copyright Rochelle Wissoff-Fields

Bored, Simeon placed his drink down and began drumming on the bar with two cocktail sticks, tapping his foot in time. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a raven-haired beauty gliding across the room towards him.

“Come with me,” she whispered. “We will make beautiful music together.”

In a daze, Simeon enjoyed the seductive sway of her hips as she led him from the bar.

Her apartment was filled with a flowing melody as her nimble fingers danced over the keys. As he tapped out the rhythm on a snare drum, Simeon reflected morosely that this wasn’t exactly what he’d had in mind.

Sharing My World Week 39

October 5, 2014 33 comments

Wow, Week 39. It’s almost Christmas 🙂 At least it is at the office. They’ve already started one day a month where you’re supposed to wear a Christmas jumper and they put on Christmas music and have mince pies.

Bah humbug.

It’s still British Summer Time (Daylight Saving Time). It’s not even Halloween yet for weeks. Heck, it’s not even my birthday until next Friday (shameless plug) and I’m hardly a Christmas baby.

Rant over, time to start Sharing My World, hosted by Cee. Thanks, Cee!

share-your-world2

Did you ever get lost?
Did I ever get lost? That’s like asking if monkeys like bananas. Actually, do monkeys really like bananas? Surely bananas can’t be the natural food for all monkeys around the world.

I have zero sense of direction. When I’m sitting at work I don’t even know which way home is. I once got lost on a forest walk in Germany and only found my way out by working out direction from the setting sun. A couple of years ago I spent over an hour travelling just a few miles because I got lost twice – read all about it here.

Lost

Photo from whyquantumphysicists.com.

Who was your best friend in elementary school?
One sec while I Google “elementary school”… meep… meep… meep… and I’m back! It looks like it’s what we would call “primary school”, which incorporates “infants” and the first couple of years of “junior” school.

My best friend was a chap who started when I was around 6. He came down from up-country somewhere and we became friends. In fact, we were so close that when a group of us were playing in the woods and he fell off a rope swing and lay on the ground moaning and jerking, I was the one who stopped laughing first and went to get help! (He’d broken his arm, if anyone’s interested).

We lost touch after school and I’ve not seen him since. Funny how that happens 😦 .

Since the new television season has started in the US, list three favourite TV shows.
I don’t know anything about the new television season in the US as the nearest US transmitter is 3000 miles away, so I’ll try to identify three fairly current American programmes that I enjoy.

First up is “Grimm”. I’ve watched the first two series on Amazon Prime streaming and really like it! Basically, a cop finds out that he’s a descendent of the “Grimm” family, and can see nasty creatures from the fairy tales. There’s action, fantasy stuff and the characters are likeable. One thing which really sets it apart for me is that in a nasty situation, he actually calls for backup. I’m fed up of shouting “call for backup!” at the TV in other series – it’s a weak plot which depends on the star “forgetting” to call for help.

Next is “Bones”, of course. Humour, great characters, a few shocks, science and action. What’s not to enjoy?

Finally. “Lost Girl”. Which I believe is Canadian, and is why I specified “American” earlier. As in “the American continent”. This has fantasy, action, great stories and… cute babes! It’s features “Bo”, who discovers that she’s a powerful Succubus and gets drawn into a dangerous fairy tale world she never even knew existed. My favourite character is “Kenzi”, Bo’s human friend, who’s a bit out of her depth sometimes but is clever, brave and sassy (and cute). Apparently, series 5 (2014/2015) will be the last – it’s great news that this is planned as they should be able to finish it properly. I hate shows which go on and on and then when ratings fall they get unexpectedly cancelled, with no proper ending.

Lost Girl

Picture from tv-facts.net

If you were a mouse in your house in the evening, what would you see your family doing?
That’s easy. Nothing. I live alone!

Phew, I went on a bit this week, sorry about that and see you next week!

Categories: About draliman Tags:

Psycho Pete

October 1, 2014 80 comments

It’s time for Friday Fictioneers here in blog-land, hosted as always by Rochelle over at Addicted to Purple. The goal is to write 100-ish words in response to a photo prompt, which this week has been contributed by Kent Bonham.

What is this week’s photo of, I wonder? I thought of an idea within a second of seeing it. Is my idea funny, sick, gross or disturbing? You be the judge.

To see this week’s other entries, click on the blue frog guy, and check back during the week as more stories are added.

unidentifiable-on-a-stick

Copyright Kent Bonham

“What’s that?” asked Frank.

“It’s the ‘pain stick’,” replied Pete, hitting Frank over the head with it. A mess of blood and innards spurted out.

“Ugh!” screamed Frank. “What the hell?”

“I squished a rodent and shoved a stick up…”

“GROSS! Get it away from me! You’re sick!”

“Hello? Petey?” came a small voice from the doorway.

“Oh God,” muttered Pete under his breath, “it’s my baby sister.” Then louder, “What?”

The little girl looked close to tears. “Have oo seen Hawwy Hamster? He not in his cage.”

The colour drained from Frank’s face. Pete grinned maniacally, eyes ablaze.

Sunrise at the Office

September 30, 2014 19 comments

Here’s a sunrise I snapped on my phone when I arrived at the office the other day.

Sun Rise

To see an amazing sunset, check out this photo on Gill McGrath’s blog “In touch with Emma”.

Categories: Photos Tags:

Sharing My World Week 38

September 28, 2014 16 comments

It’s time once again to join Cee in her Share Your World challenge. Thanks for posing the questions every week, Cee!

share-your-world2

If you could be a tree or plant, what would you be?
I wouldn’t really like to be stuck in one place, so I think I’d like to be an Ent. I haven’t ever seen one personally, but they featured in a three-part documentary I saw once about a “ring of power”. Ents are cool, they can move around and they’re friendly to Hobbits. And if they get attacked by evil sorcerers they can give as good as they get!

Ent

Me as an Ent attacking an evil sorcerer

If you could have a servant come to your house every day for one hour, what would you have them do?
They’d do everything I tell them to do without complaining. If they didn’t, they’d be out the door and they’d never work in this town again, buddy!

If you could have an endless supply of any food, what would you get?
Hmm, that pretty much depends on the consequences. If it’s consequence-free I’ll go for an endless supply of curries. They’re expensive, bad for my ageing stomach and massively calorific, but if there’s no consequences, bring them on!

If this is not consequence-free, I guess an endless supply of celery sticks 😦 They’re particularly slimming for me as I absolutely hate the things. Though I suppose if I dipped them in an extremely hot, very expensive and calorific curry I could force a couple down.

What was one of your first moneymaking jobs (other than babysitting or newspaper delivery)?
Very boring – I had a summer job (before I left for university) working in the county council’s computer department. Since this was the “olden days”, they were huge things and actually had tapes spinning round, like you see in old films. Part of my job involved waiting for the computer to tell me it needed a tape, then I had to go off and find it and load it up.

Not a job which makes this post any more interesting, but it did earn me a nice bit of money to start university with.

See you all again next week!

Categories: About draliman Tags:

Shopping Around the World September

September 26, 2014 27 comments

Here is my contribution to Bacon and Fozzie’s monthly “Shopping Around the World” feature. It was supposed to be Wednesday but that’s my flash fiction day, and I was busy yesterday.

This month is all about fruit and vegetables! I Googled what “fruit and vegetables” are, so I’m ready to go. Here are the results from the Cornwall, UK jury!

Apples
I don’t buy apples, but I’ve looked up the prices. There are so many different types of apple. Who knew? You can get a pack of 7 “Goodness” apples for £1.35 (US$2.19, €1.73). They must be the cheap brand. Good old Granny Smiths are £1.75 (US$2.84, €2.24) for 5.

Strawberries
I like strawberries! I went to pick my own last month and got quite a few for £1.65 (US$2.68, €2.11). In the shop, they’re £2.00 (US$3.25, €2.56) for 300g.

Carrots
I don’t buy (or eat) carrots, but I’ve looked up the prices. £0.80 (US$1.30, €1.02) for a kg. Yucky little orange things.

Green Beans
Green
beans? That’s obviously a typo. Everyone knows beans are orange and come in tomato sauce. That’s food 101, that is.

Heinz Beans

There you go. £0.42 (US$0.68, €0.54) for a 150g can.

Lettuce
I’ve heard of this. It’s that tasteless green leafy stuff, right? £0.49 (US$0.80, €0.63) each. If I were you, I’d spend your 49p on a can of beans, and have change left over.

Random fruit if your choice
I’m going to go for Cadbury’s Fruit and Nut bar. It’s got “fruit” in the title, so that counts. I don’t like nuts and I hate raisins, but fortunately it’s mostly chocolate. That’s £1.40 ($US2.28, €1.79) for a 120g bar. Here’s a photo.

Fruit And Nut bar

Mmm, Fruit and… HEY!

WHO ATE MY PROP?
It was me.
Who said that?
Me. I ate your chocolate bar. It was me.
We’ll have words later.

Random vegetable of your choice
Potato. I like to bake potatoes. Then I add a ton of butter and chuck chilli all over it, so not quite as healthy as it might be. £2.00 (US$3.25, €2.56) for 2.5kg.

See you all again next month for more Shopping Around the World mayhem!

Fish and Chip Van Friday!

September 26, 2014 26 comments

Yes, it’s fish and chip van Friday here in the village.

Fish and Chips

Whoa there!

Holy heart attacks, Batman. It’s a good job I didn’t order “large” chips!

I still managed to eat it all, though 🙂

Categories: My Life Musings Tags:

Sabotage!

September 24, 2014 61 comments

Friday Fictioneers is a weekly photo prompt-inspired flash fiction challenge hosted by the talented Rochelle. This week’s photo was supplied by Marie Gail Stratford, and close to 100 of us write somewhere around 100 words on a weekly basis!

To read the other stories for this week, click on the blue froggie fellow below. Why not give it a go yourself?

My first thought when I saw this week’s photo was “nuclear rods in a reactor”.

bottles-marie-gail-stratford

Copyright Marie Gail Stratford

Jed trembled as he approached the reactor, the words of the resistance leader echoing in his mind.

“Pull the pink rods. The reactor will reset and drop the security grid. We don’t have a radiation suit for you. I’m sorry.”

He carefully slid the rods from the reactor core. The nuclear glare, brighter than the sun, melted his eyeballs. His insides liquefied as the radiation bombarded his body, the remains of his organs dribbling through every orifice, his brain trickling…

“Jed, where’s that bloody wine, we’re gasping!”

His imaginings interrupted, Jed returned to the dinner party, a bottle of Pinot Grigio Rosé in each hand.

Sharing My World Week 37

September 21, 2014 32 comments

Before I kick off Sharing My World (courtesy of Cee at her photography blog), let me tell you about the spider in my house last night.

It was HUGE. It was so big that it was nowhere near my line of sight and I still saw it. Its hideous eye stalks were bigger than most spiders in their entirety. It barely fit in the glass. When I threw it outside it made a big noise when it hit the bushes, it was THAT BIG.

It must have taken 30 years to reach that size. How have I not seen it before? How many more are there? Please tell me they don’t hunt in packs.

share-your-world2

List three pet peeves.
People who drive really slowly around corners and then when the road opens up and straightens and I finally have a chance to overtake, they accelerate away. Then when the road narrows they’re suddenly there again. Why are you slowing down now? Because there’s a sign which says “Slow”? It doesn’t apply to you, you’re ONLY GOING FORTY.

People who don’t clean up after themselves in communal areas because “someone else will sort that out”.

People who put the toilet paper on the holder in “underneath mode” (see final question).

Obviously these are trivial, but the question said “peeves”, not issues which make me want to grab someone by the throat and scream “WHAT THE HELL”.

What makes you unique?
Nothing about me makes me special, but everything about me makes me unique.

What would be your ideal birthday present, and why?
I really have no idea. A big lottery win? Maybe a meal with the family, which is all sorted for my upcoming birthday. So that’ll be nice 🙂

Which way does the toilet paper roll go? Over or under?
Over, obviously.

TPOverUnder

The one on the left is clearly incorrect

Silver Lining

September 17, 2014 65 comments

I can hardly believe that it’s time for Friday Fictioneers again, but it is! This week’s photo has been contributed by Dawn Q. Landau, prompting us to write a 100-ish word story. Friday Fictioneers is hosted as always by the lovely Rochelle.

I have to admit, I have no real idea what this photo is of. It looks to me like an aerial view of fields, but with a huge person standing there!

To read this week’s other contributions, click on the little blue chap below. More stories are added throughout the week!


Copyright Dawn Q. Landau

Copyright Dawn Q. Landau

Javik scrambled out of the way as the aged giant tottered across the field. Marick wasn’t so lucky, disappearing with a grisly crunch in a cloud of red mist beneath the giant’s uncaring feet.

A few more steps and the monstrous figure, evidently hard of sight, lost its footing and fell from the cliff. A huge cloud of dust signalled the creature’s landfall.

Javik counted himself fortunate, more fortunate than the mangled villagers at the base of the cliff. When, hours later, he reached the bottom he smiled as he watched the survivors cut meat from the corpse. No-one would starve this winter.