Friday 29 September 2017

Hydrangeas rich as Victorian sitting rooms

By which I mean crowded, curly and richly-coloured, much as the entries for this week, providing a variety of smells and tastes and music as well as entertainment. And so impossible to separate my top three choices that I declare them joint winners:  jk for ‘Gostegodd 011’, John for ‘The Believer’ and Zaiure for ‘Distraction [9]’. As with all good stories (and several others here) each merited several readings.

Words for next week: guardian olive straddle

Entries by midnight Thursday 5th October, words posted Friday 6th

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.

102 comments:

  1. oooh! look at the company I'm in! Congrats on your thought provoking piece John, and Zaiure, delightful tone as ever. Where can I find the earlier series entries please?

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    1. More of Zaiure's writing can be found on her Holly Karlsson blog in RH column.

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    2. congratulations to all three - I've read your entries but haven't found a moment to properly respond. It should get better from here on out (I hope) unless life stands on its head again.(nonstop stream of emails from a friend who needed to talk it out...)as it has a habit of doing.

      Good words for this week, let's see what Leonardo makes of them.

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    3. Magnificent triumvirate of winners this week. Many congratulations to JK, John and Zaiure. Interesting prompts this week. Not sure what to do with them yet though. LOL.

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    4. A smorgasbord of winners last week. You all had eminently worthy stories.

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    5. I'm so honored to be in position with Zaiure and JK. Thank you.

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  2. Limbo

    Here, in this place that straddles the ravine between heaven and hell, all is drab.

    Dull olive. Monotonous brown. Lifeless grey.

    Revered guardian angels are the sole source of illumination. They bring enlightenment and revelation in the form of small vials containing liquid solace.

    A tiny pinprick of exquisite pain and then...

    ...fire in the veins and a fleeting glimpse of paradise.


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    1. and who could resist a guardian angel?

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    2. The scene was so descriptive and has me thinking of a junkie in between fixes...pinprick of exquisite pain. Well written and you slid the prompts right in.

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    3. The fleeting glimpse. All the death and ruination and money spent on that fleeting glimpse from the liquid solace. Exquisite.

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    4. so much being conveyed with so few words. Brilliant.

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    5. But oh so short-lived! A shiver-making limbo, so very well evoked.

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  3. Ellis 009

    “How long until ‘little miss guardian angel’ gets here?” I asked Jasper, defending my sausages from his thieving fingers. “Make some toast if you’re hungry!”

    “Don’t call her that, Ellie. She’s doing you a favour.”
    I shrugged. I lost my train of thought, working out a reply about the favour being the other way around, that I was an undercover officer, straddling the line of bad guys, good cops, danger, something.

    Jessica arrived twenty minutes later. Petite with straight mahogany hair and kalamata olive eyes, poised even in her blue pyjamas-cum-uniform.

    “Just wee into this,” she smiled.

    Humiliation.

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    1. Liked the defending my sausage from thieving fingers. A nice insight to Ellie.

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    2. Your description of Jessica was really good. I found myself attracted to her little scrubs and kalamata olive eyes. I hope Ellie passes the test.

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    3. you could almost see Jessica from those few words. Nice one!

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    4. How frustrating, being beholden to such a paragon! I too like the sausage reference.

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    5. Humiliation indeed! How nicely put together and a great job of disguising the prompts. Really enjoying this serialization.

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  4. Keuka Lake-2

    A lady with a light olive complexion, wearing a ‘Bast is the cat’s meow’ shirt, joined them.
    “Ain’t you two a cute couple. I’m Patricia, guardian of the kitchen.”
    “Thanks for the compliment but we’re siblings,” said Sandy.
    “Still, something to consider.”
    “They need to order food for you to cook. Now, back to your domain.”
    “Tony, I love it when you talk sexy, toddles.”
    “These names straddle time. What do you suggest,” asked Terry
    “I don’t, sorry.”
    “Here’s some Roman guys name and over there a German lady's name.”
    “Quintus Servillius and Margaretha Geertrudia.”
    “He’s mine, you get her?”

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    1. Hello Jeffrey, I do like to try and comment on pieces becasue I always appreciate it when I get comments.

      This piece just confused me - I don't know how many people are talking (3 I think?) who is ordering food from who, what the "Bast" t-shirt is for, and why the conversation suddenly jumps from ordering food to names that straddle time?

      There's much to intrigue in here but it's a bit muddled at the moment. I know I find it really difficult to tease out more than one strand at a time in 100 words, and this piece has three strands that needs some explaining (Patricia and the diner, the weird siblings, whatever is going on with German & Roman names). Sometimes less is more.

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    2. Now that I've calmed down. If you go back to January/February of this year, you'll find the first mini-series I did with this theme. I didn't check to see if you made any comments then.
      I do have an e-mail with my blogger account.
      Any comments that are intended to improve my writing are appreciated, yet, as this story has shown, no author truely knows how any reader will interpret their comments.

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    3. Sorry, Jeffrey, there was no intent to madden you or rile you up so you needed calming.
      I merely wanted to point out that for me, there were some intriguing ideas in the story, but equally there were things that weren't clear to me.
      I don't know about blogger emails, how do they work?

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    4. I know your intent was to help. Perhaps it's perception but earlier another also called me and others out for improvements. My writing is at best average, though many times I don't feel that way. So, when I initially see what I took as a neon sign saying "Hey, everybody! Look what I found."
      I took it the wrong way.
      You can click on the persons name and see what they have put up. Like your poetry links.
      I did reread my story and do see how the confusion was created. I don't start out writing MENSA applications, it just happens.
      I might tak the rest of the week off. I might redo this and post it later. Either way my writing leaves a whole lot to be desired and is much closer to rubish than being a ruby in the rough

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    5. Just an option for others but no sense on me wasting an opportunity to to improve. All are invited to provide their take on this and ir my writing in general, so I know what others feel my strengths and weaknesses are.

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    6. How many times have I said this? you tend to rush things. You create your own problems by rushing. Your comments are often mistyped, your way of working is rush rush rush, get it out there, hope for the best. I've cautioned you about it a thousand times through LF, yes?
      The problem is, as so often happens, you assume everyone knows what you're writing about. A serial should go on from week to week, as I said to you via email. Each instalment should attempt to be a bit of a stand alone if possible, and definitely needs background to the dialogue. I have rejected 99% of one author's stories because he tells the whole thing through dialogue so you end up with a 'let me tell you this' scenario which is of no interest to anyone. I would remind you again, others read your work, it isn't just us chosen few. Think quality, if you do that, you will work at sorting things out. I've had enough abusive emails to know any kind of criticism can have a bad effect on someone, but again, it's the work being critiqued, not the person. Did we not have this with LF? You need to grow that rhino skin you've also been advised to do. If I let every nasty email get to me, there would be no me doing anything anywhere for anyone.
      To grow as a writer means accepting comments, thinking about them, seeing the truth in them and then working to correct it. YOU CAN DO IT if you stop and think before reacting. That goes for an awful lot of people, it would seem. I've just been told of a writer's seminar in Australia where editors talked for 15 minutes on the abusive emails they received after rejecting something. The writer who told me said 'you're not alone!'

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    7. You put dialogue together nicely, but this was a little on the muddied side. Regardless, I DO like the idea of a tee shirt reading: "Bast is the cat's meow." I have to agree with Antonia that there was something of a rushed feeling to this. I would encourage allowing your creations to "stew" a little bit before posting. After all, you do have seven days on the road to perfection.

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  5. Cripplegate Junction/Part 116 - Underneath The Arches

    Clive Bailey sipped a martini, complete with three olives, toothpick-impaled, straddling the rim of the glass. He thought he didn't like cocktails, but the Station Master begged to differ...and was correct.

    Clive glanced at the railway arches, twin stone guardians of a world beyond Cripplegate that Clive no longer really remembered. The sign below the brass keyring was still unreadable, but the etched words: "Salvation Right" and "Damnation Left" remained disturbingly visible.

    "Underneath the arches, where you can dream your dreams away," said the Station Master.

    Clive hummed the old Flanagan and Allen tune.

    "Let's choose your exit, dear fellow."

    --------------------------------------------------------
    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. Lets see, right or left, salvation or damnation, what to choose, what to choose. Cool story.

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    2. and a dirty martini is the finest of cocktails! Poor Clive, having to exit Cripplegate. I'd stay in the bar...

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    3. The straddled olives get my vote, and yes, Clive needs to stay put and not be bamboozled by the Station Master.

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  6. An enjoyable story, well set up and an interesting discussion coming up.

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    1. this is, like so many of your stories/instalments, quiet, entertaining and then bang! with the last line. This is no exception. Cleverly worked out.

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  7. Spy vs Spy

    Christopher, mindful of leaving the safe house stumbled but managed to straddle the barstool and summon the guardian of libations. He watched her breasts, mesmerized as she manipulated the shaker. Up and down, to and fro. She knew what she was doing. She poured into a chilled glass, dropped in two olives and slid the drink to his waiting hand.

    Grateful, needing the fix, he drank. Soon, the whites of his eyes filled the sockets and his breathing faltered. Maggie, former IRA operative collected the glass and called for the bouncer as Christopher fell to the floor.

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    1. I like how the whites of his eyes filled echoing the pouring of his drink

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    2. Enjoyed the set up and double entandre description. Subltle use of prompts.

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    3. I'm glad Maggie knew what she was doing!

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    4. Absolutely lovely with a magnificent soupçon of humour. I bet that Maggie has many a patron mesmerized -- part of her charm, I'm sure.

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  8. oh oh, silly man, should have realised... clever double cross going on here, John, very well described.

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  9. I rewrote this because I have a lot to prove about myself as a person, about my ability to write, and my ability to listen. I do this for a lot of people, known and unknown; however the name at the top of the list is mine, next is my mother watching me from heaven, everybody else is in third. I started this series last week and the original series ran from January 8th to March 4th.

    Keuka Lake Diner-2.1

    “Sandy, should we leave?”
    “Why? Everyone is enjoying the food. Ordering based on names is different.”
    “That’s true…let’s order. Tony,” as Sandy waved.
    “You ready?”
    “What does chary really mean?”
    “Do you have any virtues, or do you sway like an olive branch in the wind?”
    “Of course.”
    “Which ones?”
    “I’m honest, trustworthy, loyal, and such.”
    “You’ve never straddled the truth?”
    “I volunteer to help people.”
    “You must be a real guardian. Your order?”
    “I’ll have the Quintus Sevillius.”
    “The Margaretha Gertrudia, for me.”
    “Chary for both?”
    “Yup.”
    “When you’re ready, ring your bells.”
    They each saw a bell.

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    1. Submissions that come with explanations tend to get overlooked, I think. Much better to allow the reader to sort things out for themselves. I believe you're trying too hard and wish you would allow your writing to speak for itself...whether or not it's totally understood. As much as I admire your flair for absolute dialogue, it is often necessary to clarify things a little and I did find this somewhat confusing (in spite of the introductory directions). However, I will say that this had far less of a rushed feeling to it.

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  10. Kursaal (Episode Ninety) - "Clairvoyant Connection"

    In a small anteroom adjacent to the Emporium of Enchantments, doorjamb straddled by a crystal-beaded rainbow curtain, Primrose Lee stored her coloured bottles of ritualistic and essential oils: clove, olive, ginger, myrtle and the like.

    Customarily called upon for her skill in the preparation of all manner of potions (beneficial and otherwise), this self-proclaimed guardian of ancient spiritualist arts alleged direct descendancy from the renowned medium, Emma Hardinge Britten.

    Her clientele invariably came from the adult community, so it was with surprise and some curiosity that she welcomed little Libby Pepperdyne and her pup, Lulu, into the secluded alcove.

    ---------------------------------------------------------
    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. I'm not sure who'll most benefit from this encounter.

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    2. Ritualistic and essential oils was a very good way to use olive. In reference to Sandra's question, I think they'll both benefit from the encounter.

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    3. I feel something dangerous is afoot here, oils can be used for so many things... I found that out when I gained my aromatherapy degree, so this is intriguing. Where do you intend to take this one, Patricia?

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  11. Guardian

    Guardian dons her mask, black satin contrasting the olive hue of her complexion. Like a fleeting shadow she passes through city streets to the scene of the crime.
    A crowd has gathered.
    Guardian’s attention is drawn to a grey haired old lady.
    Inside her gauntlet her fingers curl to a fist.
    KABLAM!
    The pensioner goes flying.
    Guardian backflips and clamps her in a straddle.
    “Little Morphing Annie,” she says. “Returned to gloat over your handiwork?”
    “How did you know?” snarls the old dear.
    “You can morph,” says Guardian. “But you can’t hide your lying eyes.”

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    1. Great stuff - black humour, loads of action and a gut kick punchline.

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    2. Now I've got the Hall and Oats song in my mind. Some very well done puns and the prompts were hidden and well placed.

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    3. Great stuff...oh, Sandra already said that! Magnificent black humour and some wonderful references. On a personal note, the Eagles' song sprang to my mind rather than one by Hall & Oates (which I don't believe I know). Absolutely loved "Little Morphing Annie."

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    4. Fun and interesting, and snarling old ladies! What's not to love!

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    5. Eagles, of course, every time and always!
      Love the use of an old lady for a change, assassins and other nasties are usually fit and young. I can empathise with the old...

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  12. Caveat emptor

    Even before I introduced myself I scored her ten out of ten for truthfulness: “5’9”, dark hair and classy” exactly as advertised. Mesmerised by fingernails the exact same shade as the chillies inserted into each green olive, by lips glistening as she placed them, one by one into her mouth I contemplated challenging her claim of “celibate”, imagining her straddling me; those nails scoring scarlet across my chest.
    I ordered a second bottle, to be delivered to my room.
    There, conversation turned to what I assumed was consent. Until fingers turned guardian, became portcullis. When I further demurred, to scalpel.

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    1. Well, that was chilling. You do these types of encounters so very well. Fingers becoming a portcullis was so vividly descriptive and well, at risk of repeating myself, chilling! Word to the wise: don't trust or believe everything you read!

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    2. Macabre is an aptly used descriptive. I think it wasn't the conscent he was hoping for. An excellent story.

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    3. Made me go check out my assumption of what "demurred" meant - many more meanings than I had imagined, thank you!

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    4. from anticipation through excitement to disaster, for one, anyway, in 100 words. Fantastic.

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  13. Green and Black with Envy

    Lord Monboddo said you well, the ancient’s most perfect food: the olive
    You straddle Mare Nostrum,
    We’ve carried you to the world’s four corners.
    Those unripe are guardians of the pimiento
    Nine in ten are squeezed for your ambrosia of oil
    That helps cook the leaves we love to stuff.
    Dressed in black shades, you’ve ripened so well.
    We’ve made bars in your honor,
    Lilacs, jasmine, forsythia and ash,
    Are but cousins in your family tree,
    Your leaves in Tutankhamun’s tomb,
    Some tree with lives two thousand years old.
    Your most important purpose is
    In being the branch of peace.

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    1. Now this was much more like it. Beautiful descriptions and informative to boot! Who would have thought there was so much to wax poetic about regarding the humble olive? I particularly liked the "leaves in Tutankhamun's tomb" and, of course, "the branch of peace."

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  14. Nice job coming up with all those uses for olives and their byproducts and then to put it in poetic form. Enjoyable.

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  15. The Adventures of Rosebud, Pirate Princess #97
    My Grandmother’s People


    The sun sank into rose-gold clouds as the Guardians dispersed. Another gathering successfully completed. Alliances straddling borders revived and celebrated. The Guardian of Ice extended an olive branch, beginning the newest journey to peace. Guardians aren’t meant to be at odds. They’re the Guardians. They care for all. Us average mortals aren’t supposed to know of them, but Natasha and I are spies. And Grandma Silbhe was the Guardian of Pirates.

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    1. Olive branches! How lovely, and in good time this week so more time to savour and enjoy your writing. This episode as entrancing as ever.

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    2. There's a lovely (and youthful) sense of wonder and learning about the secrets of the world from Rosebud here.

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    3. there's a delicacy about your writing which makes vignettes like this so good to read.

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    4. There is always something of a picture book quality to Rosebud's adventures. This particular installment was quite poetic. I always enjoy this serial for its very uniqueness to anything else on offer.

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  16. Rose-gold clouds is so calm and serene. I really like the world you've created here, well done Rosie.

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  17. Always look on the bright side [Threshold 184]

    There were worse places to be trapped. Three barrel-vaulted chambers, half full of wine (although anticipation slumped when the labels declared it home-grown; vintage straddling more decades than would guarantee good quality). I recalled vineyards on the southern slopes, beyond the olive trees. Whisky less plentiful, but should see me through however long I was incarcerated (or to my death if necessary; not a bad way to go – if I’d believed in guardian angels I’d be thanking her right now).
    Then it occurred to me to check the door.
    It opened. Just like that.
    I resumed my plans for ambush.

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    1. Just don't brain him with a bottle of something irreplaceable!

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    2. What an apt title, most enjoyable story, and as Jk mentioned, please don't waste the good stuff.

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    3. for someone like me, that would have been a fate worse than death, avowed non drinker, (due to alcoholics around me, terrible examples of how to abuse the stuff) but nicely done.

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    4. Delightful use of "straddling." And the reference to "barrel-vaulted chambers" smacked of a fantasy setting. Loved the idea of simply checking to see if the door would open as being the solution. Impeccably composed as always.

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  18. Change of focus [255]

    Gavin Morgan MP not a Guardian reader then (unless his implication of violent retribution was a bluff). Pettinger doubted it: unlike most politicians his tolerances (and lack of) were well-documented; he not one to straddle too many hand-wringing Leftie beliefs.
    So how to account for his son’s drug-dealing?
    Delicately, the DI enquired, ‘Mrs Morgan? Olivia? –‘
    ‘Olive. Black-hearted as, and morals as slippery as –‘ He caught Pettinger’s eye. ‘Yeah.’
    ‘Yes?’
    A sigh. ‘Yes, she’ll have been turning a blind eye. And I should’ve been around more –’
    Impatiently. ‘Familiar story. Which would only be made worse by allowing bail.’

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    1. Aha! A novel way of using guardian - I have been racking my brains for that!
      I like the sighs between the two men, thinking of Olive.

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    2. I'd seen it several times this week, Guardian readers and now I know what it referes to. Your propmt use was very good in this piece.

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    3. Poor slighted Guardian readers... I do believe it is that which keeps the paper going, the 'proud to be a Guardian reader' attitude. The story grows apace...

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    4. I had totally forgotten that The Guardian was a newspaper. As always, the dialogue exchange implies as much with what is being said as it does with what is left unsaid. I am a huge fan of Pettinger...as if I hadn't already mentioned....

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  19. Pliancy


    (some adult content)

    The doorway to the next room opened, the clock was ticking. The figure there was soft and amorphous now, before his touch changed it, keyed it to his desires. Alana, or some version of her. Fighting him though she loved it. The inevitable violent climax, lolling neck.

    He wondered what it would be like to fuck it unchanged, with it’s olive oil smoothness, warmly enveloping. Having it straddle him rather than him doing all the work.

    ~

    “There’s a change,” said the first response watcher.
    The corrections team watched.
    “It’s progress, he didn’t kill.”
    “But he doesn’t see the Guardian yet.”

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    1. Crikey Moses!! This takes us to a new - and hugely entertaining - dimension. Looking forward to the next episode.

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    2. Creepy and with a scientific or experimental twist. I like it.

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    3. setting this up for so much more to come!

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    4. musings in an as yet unspecified SF universe... no doubt heavily influenced by my rewatching Black Mirror on Netfix

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    5. Most intriguing. I do hope there will be more. I've yet to watch more than an episode or two of Black Mirror but did enjoy the experience. If this is an example of what else is available, I will have to return and seek it out further. Beautifully vivid descriptions and the voyeuristic slant was a sinister twist.

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  20. Symposium IV

    Dear Dr. F;

    My mea culpa, for not being able to make our gathering. The olives are ready for harvest and some experiments have led me on a merry chase. I’ve penned some thoughts for you to peruse.

    The olive branch of hope is a noble perspective, yet we are the guardians of man's fate. If not for us, who straddle the gap between desire and reality, man would not know evil. If man doesn’t know evil, how can he know good? Now, that doesn’t make us evil, we are explorers and for that we accept certain monikers.

    Dr. M.

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    1. smooth to read, I read it three times, but I'm not entirely convinced by the tone, that it is saying all that it appears to say. Much is hiding beneath, methinks.

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    2. And another good one. As Antonia pointed out, smooth with much seemingly going on beneath the surface. Again, that pesky sense of a rushed submission is missing, I'm happy to say.

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  21. Eye Of The Beholder

    And so he comes, straddling the white stallion with supreme flair and expert skill. He is the epitome of the knight in shining armour he claims to be. A striking figure, he gallops through the Bowthorpe Oaks and skirts the flourishing Olive Groves, avowing loyalty, devotion and fealty. He proclaims himself Ultimate Guardian of King, Queen and Country.

    At least Guinevere perceives him that way.

    Arthur may be of a differing opinion.

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    1. Loved the journey this took me on to reach the final unexpected twist. And (how often have I said this?) such smoothly-inserted prompts.

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    2. A very flowing and softly written story. The prompts are blended invert well.
      Then again, perception is everything. Beautifully written.

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    3. fascinating, so much going on in the background, while the foreground is the epitome of Bonnie Tyler's Holding Out For A Hero... which I listened to just this morning!

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    4. Oh, but Arthur loves him too! A perfect triangle...

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  22. Gostegodd 012

    The owner of the soft voice wore an olive cloak. Green, on this rocky planet. The colour associated with the chloropods, out in the emptiness of space. A risk, to wear this, but reassurance also.

    “You are Archwilydd Mark?”
    “Not officially,” Mark replied, “Although until a replacement is officially announced, I’m straddling both the inquisition and the resistance.”
    “I am Olewydden. I’ve found lodgings for you, and a role, so you can pass in society. Come.”

    Mark’s nano-irises scanned Olewydden’s face, for tics that showed he might be untruthful, untrustworthy.
    “No. I am only here to meet the Guardian.”

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    1. You have a nicely crafted world. A subtle yet disquieting tension to go with very good writing.

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    2. definitely tension carefully woven into this, I will be interested to see where it goes.

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    3. Thank you :)

      those of you who have written long serials, any advice for longevity? what about using the serialised fiction as a start point for novel length fiction. I would be interested to hear your experiences :)

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    4. Jk;
      I don't write ongoing series. Mine have an end point. We saw what happens when I go back to one for another season.
      I outline the story as I see it, what's to happen, sometimes I prewrite the story and wait to revisit it based on the prompts for that week.
      My Symposium this week isn't a series as much as a stand alone with the same characters. I hope this helps, you do have a very good way with your writing.

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    5. In general, your posted episodes are less frenetic than mine, which would make for an easier transition to novel - less indigestibly rich, and I certainly think yours have the possibility for extension. It might, if it suits you, be easier to write more of the novel in between Prediction weeks and use prompt words to maybe dictate the next episode without attempting continuity here.

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    6. This definitely has an epic feel to it and the setting seems so suited to high fantasy. Nicely intriguing while leaving us desirous of more. I think my favourite quote was: "...only here to meet the Guardian."

      Personally, I find working on serializations not always easy. It's difficult to continue an ongoing thread while being restricted within the confines of certain prompts. However, I do enjoy the challenge. With regard to my particular serials, I don't believe they'd lend themselves to constituting a novel in their present format. But then, that wasn't my goal. The thing with my serializations is that I never really know where they're going until the following week's prompts are published. It's all part of the grand experience!

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    7. Thank you for taking the time to share your experiences

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  23. The Mad Italian 25
    There are those who would straddle the political divide if they could, even consider offering an olive branch to those who oppose them if it granted them their wish. It is they we wish to avoid in our efforts to resolve the current crises affecting the government of the day. We look for those who are steadfast in their stance in the world, who would stand guardian of the faith if asked, but they are few and far between. This makes those who did stand up the men we remember. Your Bulldog is one of them and he still is.

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    1. Always interesting, the tug between the realists and the idealists who are correct in retrospect. History forgets those who were steadfast but wrong, I guess?

      Beware of those who are steadfast without ideals; Potus seems to have adopted a purported motto of Anne Boleyn, "mihi et meæ",

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    2. One man's 'steadfast is another's 'stiff-necked', but there is much to be said for those who have a vision and are strong enough to take others with them, except, and except ...

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    3. A very enjoyable soliloquy. Is steadfast a dependent on the goal or method? This series has become my favorite.

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    4. What an insightful politician The Mad Italian is proving to be. I adore his comments and the intuition with which they are delivered. He would definitely be one character with whom I would be willing to sit and take tea, if the opportunity arose...although I have a feeling tea would probably not be his favourite tipple.

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