Friday 18 August 2017

Silver fish scales on a dirty plate

With a word like ‘maggots’ as one of the prompts it was hardly surprising a high proportion of the posts gave rise to feelings of nausea and squeamishness, and there was certainly some mental cowering if not actual, at least on my part.

Six of you passed the ‘squirm’ test: - Patricia (for ‘Lure’), Jeffrey (for Midnight Service), Scott, John, David and Antonia . The one that made my gorge rise highest was Scott’s 'After death, we went to the museum' which I declare the winner.

Words for next week: purse theatre travesty

Entries by midnight Thursday 24th August, words and winners  posted on Friday 25th


Usual rules: 100 words maximum (excluding title) of flash fiction or poetry using all of the three words above in the genres of horror, fantasy, science fiction or noir. Serialised fiction is, as always, welcome. All variants and use of the words and stems are fine. Feel free to post links to your stories on Twitter or Facebook or whichever social media you prefer.

89 comments:

  1. Oh gosh! Thank you so much. I feel pretty accomplished being in such fine company this week! The writing on this site, the activity and excitement it arouses, is truly inspiring.

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    1. I'm glad we can all make each other squirm. : )

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    2. Kudos to you Scott, on your very enjoyable and a little freaky story.

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    3. Wonderfully deserved win, Scott. And let me say how honoured I am to have even been mentioned in the same "breath" as the mound of talent that was submitted last week.

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    4. As for the rest, thankyou for providing such quality entertainment. As for myself, I'm flattered I made you squirm for a good reason.
      This weeks prompts aren't as easy as I thought.

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    5. congratulations, Scott! Sorry for delay, frantic busyness and the start of a new book (did 1000 words last night...)

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  2. Ellis 003

    A nice cup of tea at my elbow, just the thing for a dirty stop out with a fractured memory.
    Tea solved everything.
    I wish.
    Clearly, me being a Detective at the moment was a travesty.

    Jasper was rinsing out his mug in the sink, waiting for me to come around.

    “I’ve got your purse,” he said. “You left it at the club.”
    Oh shit.
    “Don’t worry, no warrant card,”
    Thank fuck. The relief made me blush, stinging pink.

    Jasper just laughed. “What made you get up on stage, Ellie? I thought you’d left aside childish dreams of the theatre?”

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    1. Very neat and tidy use of the prompts. And I;m further sucked into the story ...

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    2. I enjoyed the one way dialog. Lets the readers imagination do some work.

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    3. clever use of prompts and the story moves on...

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    4. Love the theory that "tea solved everything"... Uh-huh. Sure. Nice continuation and seamless prompt insertion. This is turning into a magnificent serialization.

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  3. Gostegodd 008

    The room didn’t really need cleaning, it sparkled like an operating theatre. The sleeping pod had been left out, though the green snuggler had been carefully folded and aligned with the pods corners.

    Rioja pursed her lips and hissed her breath out. It was really too tidy in here. The tall man’s quarters were as secretive as his blank navy stare. The clothes were all unpacked, dark and spaced equidistantly in the closet. Nothing in any of the pockets.

    She’d imagined being a daring spy, but the illusion crumbled to travesty in the face of the strangers carefully organised defenses.



    more here:
    https://jkdavies-dailywritingpractice.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Gostegodd

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    1. Love the tidiness of the bed!! How frustrating for Rioja.

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    2. Organization is or could be the spies nemesis. Your descriptions are very good.

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    3. I can almost see that OCD set out room and wardrobe.

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    4. Beautiful visuals. Like Antonia, it's so easy to imagine the scene from the details we're given. Love the use of "snuggler." Such a flamboyant word in an otherwise sterile-seeming environment.

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  4. Bagged

    She advertised silk purses fashioned from a sow's ear. A dramatic statement to enhance the desirability of her specialty merchandise. She was fond of theatrics.

    It was absurd, of course. A travesty. A misrepresentation.

    The small handbags produced were never made from the publicized fabric or from the body parts of a pig.

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    1. I've read and re-read this. Nowhere do you say anything remotely nasty. So, why does my skin crawl?

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    2. A marvel of less is more!

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    3. No pig parts but that leaves the question of what parts? A very enjoyable story.

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    4. Patricia doing the 'less is more' trick again with a nasty little tale. I have some authors trying to write 500 word stories who aren't saying a quarter as much in that many words.

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  5. The Purse Anomaly
    The interior of the purse was the size of a theatre. Jenkins hauled the professor up onto the flat edge of a twenty pence piece. “This is a travesty,” she said.
    The professor appeared oblivious.
    “It worked. The matter transfer process worked.”
    “We’re trapped,” Jenkins pointed out.
    The professor clamped his hands somewhat smugly behind his back.
    “Eventually someone will need some loose change.”
    “No they won’t,” sighed Jenkins, recognising the little charm that was lodged inside a tear in the lining. “This is my bloody purse!”
    “Ah,” conceded the professor, hurriedly recalculating the probability factors.”

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    1. Stuff of nightmares this, and beautifully-told. I especially like 'clasped smugly'.

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    2. Yes, the Tardis brand. My initial thought was that sometimes you hit the bullseye and sometimes you don't. An enjoyable story.

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    3. clever tale, David, liked it a lot.

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    4. This was totally adorable and thoroughly enjoyable. The idea that they are trapped within Jenkins' own purse is brilliant. I had to chuckle. Such is the reaction with many a mishap. Reminded me somewhat of the final episode of "Sapphire And Steel."

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  6. Cripplegate Junction/Part 110 - Backtrack

    Clive Bailey now believed himself entangled in some travesty of a theatre production. Perhaps one of those Christmas pantomimes he enjoyed so much as a child.

    His father, expression serious but with twinkling eye, would sometimes declare, "Purse strings might not stretch to tickets this year."

    And Clive pouted and his mother whispered, "Papa is only teasing."

    His current situation embodied the necessary elements in many ways. First and foremost, a wickedly threatening villain. Still, he took comfort in remembering that, by the end of the performance, the guiltless lived happily ever after.

    Didn't they?

    --------------------------------------------------------
    To read the earlier installments (a suggestion only) which led to this point in the tale please visit:
    http://www.novareinna.com/cripplegate.html
    A link to return to "The Prediction" can be found on the site. Thank you.
    ---------------------------------------------------------

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    1. Loved 'purse strings'! And something tells me Clive is going to be disappointed.

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    2. A villain who admits to being a villain. As for guilt, that takes a consciousness.

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    3. purse strings is old, it's good to see it used in a modern piece. Nice instalment.

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  7. Criminal

    Rain plunked a heavy song upon the roofs of parked cars. A large drop caught the bridge of Jane's nose leaving a cold trail to her lips. Her tongue darted out remembering the taste of snowflakes as a child.

    She made a beeline for a silent marquee. The windows of the centuries old theater were boarded over, graffiti splattered the marble walls. Her fingers trembled as she dug into her purse for the gun. A swastika monopolized her vision.

    “Justice is but a travesty,” she muttered pressing cold steel to her temple.

    Her blood washed away in the rain.

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    1. Welcome Theresa - and what a strong start you've made with that wonderful opening sentence. And visual kick of a final line

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    2. I too love the "rain plunked a heavy song" line, very atmospheric

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    3. I enjoyed the tastevof snowflakes as a child, so thanks. Didn't expect that ending. Nice and enjoyable story.

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    4. Theresa, pleased you made it. This is excellent, you've given all the hints we need to work the story out. Nice one.

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    5. This was an absorbing piece of writing. The idea of a "silent marquee" is an intriguing visual. Seems as though this might be your first time here (if I am reading Antonia's comment correctly). If so, this is a brilliant debut.

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    6. It is my first time. As advised by a friend to learn how to write better. Thank you everyone for the welcome. It's a pleasure to read everyone's take on three words!

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  8. Power failure

    Sweat on his forehead suggested this - a constant stream of teeth-gritted Anglo Saxon - was not one of hls usual theatricals.

    Frowning, I leant unheard against the door jam; lips ready-pursed in smug disapproval lest he look up, but prepared to show amusement at this travesty of Powerful And Important Man in control.

    Regrettably, badly unprepared to catch the screaming, shitty, naked baby when he finally hurled it across the room.

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    1. Love the thought processes, preparing for the expected and then being confronted with the unexpected

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    2. Some excellent descriptions helped to set the stage very nicely. A nice twist at the end.

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    3. classic nastiness, leaving me wondering - what next?

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    4. Lordy, lordy, this was definitely a nasty piece...in the most flattering of ways regarding the writing. There was a sense of casualness at the beginning that led to an horrific conclusion.

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  9. Nice Scott. I definitely agree with Sandra's ruling this week.


    L, as in lunatic

    “It’s a goddamn travesty, is what it is,” she says, pouting, fuming - slowly going insane.

    She sits beside me as we drive. The theatrics I can do without. For crying out loud; people have been knocking off designer purses for years. So she got took.

    “Look, the G is rubbing right off.”

    “Baby, don’t worry about it. I’ll get you a new one tomorrow.” As if telling her not to worry would help.

    “Turn left here,” she says. Her eyes smolder, mascara runs down her cheeks. She pulls a Beretta from the fake Gucci.

    God I love this woman.

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    1. I feel the protagonists exasperation!

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    2. And, God I love the kick of this, as well as the set up. Nice on John.

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    3. The brain is the largest sexual organ in the body. This story is proof that when you steel from a thief, they don't call the police.

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    4. insanity beautifully portrayed.

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    5. Absolutely wonderfully put together. That'll teach those knock-off merchants to be more careful who they mess with. And what a totally amazing and fitting last line. Gotta love a man who loves a woman like that!

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  10. A Global Theater

    The world isn’t a stage,
    despite what was said by the sage.
    The boldness of living, not acting
    is life’s theater.
    All have seen us:
    purse our lips,
    for a lovers kiss.
    Enjoy a beautiful sunset
    like a mime, inside his box.
    Pay to experience
    the exhilaration of a laugh.
    Why do we keep such
    joyous and happy times...a secret?
    Death’s travesty,
    isn’t in dying.
    Could it be, our regret for not sharing their life?
    The false words said,
    about the dead,
    when at the grave?
    Is the purse valuable for the coins it holds
    or the items they acquire?

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    1. like this, especially the last two lines

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    2. This was very nicely done, Jeffrey, and put together in an expert way. One of my favourites to emerge from your pen, I think.

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  11. Death Needs a Makeover

    “Just because you change outfits every fifty years, doesn’t mean I have to.”
    “D, your outfit is so classic its retro for retro. Like plagues Ville.”
    “P, you think a purse would help?”
    “You’re almost a travesty,” said F.
    “People always die, I’m always relevant.”
    “D, buddy, you're a caricature of a William Shatner mask. People know they’ll die, but you’ve become bad theater,” said W.
    “You feel that dressing like a military general, will change that?”
    “It’ll change your outlook on your position.”
    “Anything else, W.”
    “Drop ‘Don’t Fear the Reaper’ and consider ‘Ride of the Valkyrie’.”

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    1. Very interesting indeed. I feel I could get much more out of it if I could identify "P" and "W." I'm assuming that "D" is Death. Really like those music references. Both favourites of mine for different reasons.

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    2. Plague, War and Famine I assumed?

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  12. How Grateful? [Threshold 176]

    Grateful that this twin’s false slanders had, in causing Toad to hesitate, allowed me to escape from certain rape (and likely death from disgust thereafter), I’d not deny.

    I’d since learnt the travesty - tragedy! - of their maternal care: Toad’s skin at birth innocent as pigskin (mother not yet sixteen) but, like his features, rapidly obscene and somewhat green. Raven - black as a witch’s spell-purse - sent her mad, The twins, jet-shiny as columns at the entrance of a theatre of the Magick Arts, she never knew.

    I, applying fingertip to bubbled blood, could not begin to guess what he wanted now.

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    1. Witches spell purse is a nice descriptive. Death from disgust gave me a chuckle. Enjoyable story, that I read it multiple times.

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    2. how did this get to instalment 176? Excellent instalment, too.

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    3. This episode was "magickal" in and of itself. The idea of "death from disgust" is one that I think could very well happen given the right circumstance. "Fingertip to bubbled blood." How gorily descriptive is that?

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  13. Situations Vacant

    Seeking gainful employment?
    Fond of theatrics with a flair for drama?

    Excellent opportunities available for cutpurses, proficient archers and all personages accomplished with the quarterstaff. Only dedicated do-gooders need apply.

    Come help make a travesty of the local Sheriff and his band of bullies.

    Report to the Ancient Oak in the Forest and ask for Robin of Sherwood.

    (In particular need of a bard and a holy man.)

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    1. Wonderful! So clever and the prompt words brilliantly stitched.

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    2. How to write a plot for Fractured Fairytales. It had humor, nice prompt use and history, all in one. A very good story.

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    3. I do so love things like this, very well done.

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  14. Change of focus [249]

    Pettinger grimaced at the travesty of hardship as perceived by Yummy Mummies, comparing it to Valdeta’s life. Their plundering of bottomless purses so as to ensure lasting longer than some trendy theatre production. Goals of tiny waists (as opposed to survival!); days of gym and bitching, impossible without chemical help.

    DS Brickwood continued. ‘This Morgan’s ex-Public school. Posh accent, smarmy charm.’
    Pettinger’s many years’ experience knew how it would progress. ‘Sex and blackmail. Porn and kiddies pimped.’
    ‘Worse still, he’s giving Jason and Ma Mayhew’s lot some new ideas -’
    ‘No good news?’
    Unreadable glance. ‘His father’s something in the Government.’

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    1. Liked the goals of tiny waists. The prompts seemed to blend right in.
      Nice ending.

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    2. So much said in
      Unreadable glance.
      good one.

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    3. Delighted to see the return of the "Yummy Mummies." How you have managed to keep such a thrilling and cohesive story going for 249 episodes is beyond my comprehension. And how well I personally remember my own "days of gym and bitching."

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  15. Kursaal (Episode Eighty Four) - "Crow's Cunning Plan"

    With his pursed harelip and sour expression, Crow wore the face of one who regularly sucked lemons. He disapproved of the local constabulary's investigation into the murder of his younger brother, Capers. It was a travesty. A shambles. An operation suited for the théâtre de l'absurde.

    No matter! Crow had identified the perpetrator and would take things into his own hands. The major stumbling block? That precocious mongrel who defended her little mistress with amazing ferocity against his own hounds, from whom he expected more.

    The worthless crossbreeds quaked. They whimpered.

    Training must be escalated.

    By whatever means necessary.

    ---------------------------------------------------------
    To read the earlier installments (a suggestion only) which led to this point in the tale, please visit:
    http://www.novareinna.com/kursaal.html
    A link to return to "The Prediction" can be found on the site. Thank you.
    ---------------------------------------------------------


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    1. A good, solid installment. Nice descriptions, especially the regular sucked lemons.

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    2. Ouch! I hate to think what form that training will take. Superb opening and incorporation of prompts.

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    3. Every one of these characters is a person to avoid at night...

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  16. Kandar 21: Much to my Surprise

    Outside the city of Hyphia, Pelwrath had been researching through two satchels of librams. Now, spread over the table, chairs, and floor.
    “It’s a travesty, Uxator survived the dragons poison. The fool believed the ring was a key against magic. The key was meant for the Lord Commander! Now, I’m reading old tomes about a dead orc.”
    He looked at the old lake, its surface reflecting the two moons.
    “Papa, how goes the theater in Kandar?”
    “Galiel is as sharp as a table top. The war is starting. You’ll win. I’ll purse my lips if you want a kiss.”

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    1. Interesting continuation...and I see there is another installment below. I will reserve my comments and incorporate both submissions.

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  17. Kandar 22: Read it in a Book

    Getting into the old records room was easy; Uxator was a virtuoso. Finding the records was a divine comedy.
    An organized library is a falsehood. It’s a travesty, like being the hero of L’Orfeo.
    He spied a pedestal, bearing the sigil of house Salevon, with a book.
    Why put this in here?
    When opened, Uxator saw a note on the cover page.
    ‘Call the half-bread Uxator, I’ll check on him. David Starr’
    Starr? Kalvan Salevon’s Master of Spy’s. Pelwrath is a theater’s master, but it’s time to read this Eivish-Human script.
    Uxator placed the book in his purse and left.

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    1. These two installments continued the fantasy very well. Nice use of the prompt words in both instances.

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  18. Idle thoughts
    He pursed his lips as he stared at the stage, at the performance which was not entertaining him. He wasn’t alone, the theatre was full of restless patrons who hadn’t quite got round to throwing things but it wouldn’t be long.
    The problem was the actors were making a travesty of the play. The female lead walked and talked like a man, so clashed with the male lead who was virile and essentially The Male. The death scene was pathetic, wrenching no tears or sympathy from anyone.
    It might be an idea to wake this production up, he mused…

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    1. This could apply to so many productions. I don't really know why Shakespearean plays spring to mind. Possibly because I personally believe the majority of them need "waking up." In any event, very well-put-together tale with virtually invisible insertion of the prompt words.

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    2. and the devil makes work for idle hands, doesn't he? Nice idea this.

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    3. Almost thought this was a critique of one of my first stories.😂
      I relly liked this stand alone, read it four times. Very nice descriptions and prompt use.

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  19. The Mad Italian 19
    The world, the Bard said, is a stage and for many their part in the ongoing theatre of government, of state affairs, is no more than holding the purse strings and trusting they don’t snap under the twin pressures of taxation and need. This in turn causes their roles to be no more than a travesty of the shining knights on white steeds promised in manifestos across the country. Even as the people lose faith in their local representatives, so they let go of the illusion that those in government will actually do something for them.

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    1. As always, the Mad Italian graces us with his wisdom and grasp of situations. He needs to go whisper in the ears of many a major political player.

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    2. Another enjoyable vignette. Using parable to express his meaning. Which you transpose so very well.

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  20. The Adventures of Rosebud, Pirate Princess #91
    More Talking Critters


    Upon leaving Snow Park I spotted a theatre. It was in that same miserable place where I last saw Alex. She gave me a purse, full of codes and maps of course. Georgiana and I caused the required problems. Our enemies saw an earthquake, a travesty of the truth. Truly their castles collapsed from a suspicious lack of structural integrity and a touch of dynamite. Sometimes it’s nice to be friends with rodents, especially beavers.

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    1. A beautiful story, structureal integrity caused by dynamite.
      Rosie, your stories might be late arriving but so worth it.

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