Yet another week rich in high quality entries, but
for once I had less of a problem selecting a winner: Kai’s eighth episode of The Immortal, with Death’s snapping fingers, was so instantly knock-out. Which isn’t to say I didn’t appreciate (among
many others) Antonia’s fuse-woven
beard. ‘Hirsute’, as well as an ugly word, was extraordinarily difficult to use with any finesse, wasn’t it? (But I now need to check the definition of 'moribund')
btw - if you post an entry in the ‘wrong’ place -
so easy to do! - and want to repost, I can easily tidy up by deleting the misplaced one, so long as it doesn’t have comments.
Words for the coming week are: accent, elect, moribund
Entries
by midnight Thursday September 24th ,
new words and winners posted on Friday 25th
Wow, thank you. I didn't expect this, but I'm very flattered. Sandra, you always seem to like the tapping or snapping of fingers. My very first entry got an honorable mention for "thumbs tapped a rythm," so I think I'm discovering a pattern. :P
ReplyDeleteA most worthy win Kai. This certainly was a gem amid a sea of jewels. And Antonia...always perfection week after week.
DeleteA thousand years from now
ReplyDeleteElection day was Tuesday. Brown leaves fell on our moribund democracy. The only candidate that had bothered to voice a different message was excoriated in the press for his unelectable accent.
And now? We are fed our own fears by flashy android spokesmen. Who protects us, they demand? Protect citizens who came here years ago from those attempting to immigrate now.
Wellspring, the Antuillian, wanted more. Water access was a right for all colonists, he said.
“Life shouldn’t be a profit centre.”
Sympathizer, they call him. Liberal. Foreigner.
We weep dusty tears, hold our noses, and vote as we’re told.
This had something of an apocalyptic feel and was very nicely put together. The overall tone blended well with the use of the "moribund" prompt word, which truly is not an easy one to weave into a story.
DeleteA thousand years hence? This sounded, almost, like last week. Or two thousand years ago. Sobering, and beautifully, impactfully written.
DeleteI liked this, it has a sombre feel about it that fits the topic and the prompts very well.
Delete'Excoriate' that should be one of our word prompts for the future.
DeleteI feel like there's a whole other story that can be written about here. This is just a small particle of a large world in a distant future that could still be explored.
The Beloved Brother
ReplyDelete(100 Words)
The casket was plain, devoid of ornate accents. The inhabitant himself had elected simplicity. The chief mourner watched as his greatest adversary embraced the moribund state. He was gratified to note the piercing eyes of the coffin's occupant return to the original clarity of their brilliant blue. As the last breath was drawn, Michael placed a small silver crucifix into the still-warm hands no longer marred by wicked claws and smoothed the now flaxen curls away from the beautiful face of the fallen one.
"Rest in peace, my beloved brother," he murmured before dispatching Gabriel to spread the glorious word.
Beautiful, especially in its use of the prompt words, and so very elegant, which is a characteristic of your writing.
DeleteReally liked this. A small glimpse into a very interesting world.
Deletereally well written piece, any chance of more?
DeleteSounds like the talk of angels was quite an inspiration. Wonderfully written and very intriguing last words. This seems to be the end of a great story.
DeleteEnlightenment of the darkest kind [Threshold 81]
ReplyDeleteElecting to bury my frustration in the memory of my brief desire for a double bill, ‘The twins? Their women? Children?’
Ravenscar’s laugh bitter, ‘Impotent. Genetically unable to reproduce. Thus, with the exception of Toad, my family’s moribund, and he –‘
‘You? You surely are not –‘
‘By choice. By abstinence. I fear to breed more such as he.’
‘But,’ remembering the so-called spy he’d flogged, after he’d undoubtedly had her, ‘Maria?’
Lips a wriggled accent of self-disgust, ‘If I fail in self-control, I kill thereafter.’
‘And she, Maria, was so... irresistible?’ That day I’d been beautiful.
‘She wasn’t you.’
Feels like we're moving into yet another aspect of this story with that last line. I think I may have said this before, but it bears repeating.....the suspenseful cliffhangers are always inspirational.
DeleteSuch a twisted character, this Ravenscar. Excellent villainy.
DeleteDefinitely another class instalment with another cliff hanger last line.
DeleteI love this. Dark with a hint of "romance", if that's a fitting word for whatever goes on in Ravenscar's mind.
DeleteI still don't know why I haven't started reading this from the beginning. I'll have to get on that soon.
Greetings, all. Some good stories already. I think I might have taken an easy route this week, but who knows?
ReplyDeleteVote
Delete“Nobody believes in us anymore,” protested the leader of the party.
Apathy was at a new high in the moribund political world. His unelectableness didn’t help either.
“Enough’s enough. Promises mean nothing.” He banged a fist on the table to accentuate the statement.
The assembled members sat in silence and bobbed their heads like wind-up toys.
“Now they will see the real us.”
This was met with applause. They all knew what he meant.
He received a standing ovation as he peeled the skin from his chin and over his forehead, revealing the reptilian visage beneath.
Invidious is a word I perhaps over-use, but it certainly applies to this, which gets more menacing with each reading.
DeleteWow, that was certainly a kick-ass and unexpected ending...for me at least. Nicely done and very well thought out.
DeleteLiked this. Shades of "V" - but with a touch of modern day conspiracy theory!
Deletewe ask ourselves, how many of our politicians have 'other' faces beneath their public ones? Very good story, liked it a lot.
DeleteNice ending. Had a gruesome image of sticky skin being pulled of their faces and bodies like in "The Witches".
DeleteChange of focus [145]
ReplyDeleteVanessa – part-sheltered by the desk and consequently least damaged – registered Pettinger’s injuries as non-life-threatening; the differently-accented sirens of police, ambulance and fire-engine as still distant. Self-elected, she rose to take charge.
Three of the eight recruits had risen cautiously to their knees; one demanding, angrily, ‘This part of the training?’ before realising, from the blood-running gash of her throat and the fluttering of her eyelids, the girl on top of him was moribund, Ashamed, (needlessly, shock takes folk all ways) he reached for her hand in time to register the cessation of her pulse.
Unwittingly, she’d saved his life.
The descriptions here were so vivid, it was like painting a picture that was actually visible to the eye. I continue to be amazed and not a little envious of your obvious talent.
DeleteThank you for your kind comments, Patricia - it's true to say four years of doing the Prediction have much improved the tightness of my writing, and I'd not a clue how to do cliff-hangers before I came here, but they seem like due payment for allowing myself to do sometimes less-than-noir episodes.
DeleteNasty business, with an emotional core. Well played.
Deleteand yet another good instalment of the Pettinger saga, which must be running in your head all the time!
DeleteNo Antonia - Pettinger played a large-ish part in book 3 of my detective series, with a less lunatic murder to solve, but now I'm wrestling with book 4 and I doubt he'll be in that.
DeleteVery much intrigued by this and once again wondering why I haven't read the rest. I will try to rectify that soon.
DeleteThe Immortal 9
ReplyDelete“What? How in hell am I supposed to kill an angel?” I didn’t even know angels existed. I shouldn’t have been surprised.
“Samuel, calm yourself.” Death placed the envelope in my hand. “I’ve elected you as my servant, because I know you can do it. It’s a moribund creature like all mortals.”
“I thought being an angel meant you lived forever?”
“In the afterlife, yes. In the mortal realm, no.” The darkness within Death’s hood accented his ominous tone. “Now be off. Oh! Just FYI, If you don’t kill it, I won’t bring you back the next time you die.”
Another delightful episode, read three times for the pleasure of it - and such an excellent use of moribund. Your words make so visual Death nd Samuel's conversation.
DeleteThis is really coming along very nicely. I adore your portrayal of Death. I could see this transitioning smoothly into a comic book. It has that kind of atmospheric feel.
Deletedefinitely pictorial, the characters are so vivid.
DeleteYes! A comic book would be perfect! (Same as the Ladybird book illustrators of the 1950s would be perfect for illustrating Patricia's Cripplegate Junction serial - is that still on ice at the moment?)
DeleteRe: Cripplegate Junction. Thank you for asking, Sandra. I'm continuing to work on getting everything together and uploaded for those who would like to read what went before. I'm well on the way with that project and hope to have it finished and available for viewing by next Thursday, at which time, I'm hoping to add another episode, so here's hoping the Goddess of Word Prompts will be kind with her selections.
DeleteI'm glad you're all enjoying it. I enjoy writing it.
DeleteI hadn't thought of it as a comic book yet, but I'll keep that in mind. I'm actually writing a very different story on my blog www.zirayus.blogspot.de. It's an ongoing story about a war between orcs and humans. I try to post every two weeks and each post is from either a human's or an orc's perspective. I have over 30 posts so far and each of them is close to 1000 words, so already quite a bit to read.
I mention this, because I had actually thought about turning that story into a comic book sometime in the future. I'm just not much of an artist myself and don't know when or how I would make all that happen.
I like how the ominous visage of Death is wryly twisted with the casual "FYI". Makes for a much more real, fun character!
DeleteInfinity 115.
ReplyDeleteI elected to go with giving the gold to the tricksty man. I can do no more than trust, be it far from this cap’n to trust anyone. Two trusts, his ability and my accent to get the message over; I want rid of a Creature that attached itself to the Infinity, now lying moribund in calm waters with no wind to touch her sails. He said he would, he said it shaking in his very tattered clothes. With gold he could buy better. With gold, could I buy me a better spell? I come back to ‘trust’. Can I?
Oh, this is a masterly episode! and the " now lying moribund in calm waters" a real delight. Thank you, Antonia, for the regular dose of pleasure your words deliver.
DeleteI love the captain's voice. It's so distinct and different from anything else I've read. As always, a great entry.
DeleteI do believe I'm running out of comments that are less than repetitive to describe how intriguing and wonderfully written this story is. I am making a note of the word "tricksty." Just love it and intend on making off with it to use personally at a later time.
DeleteWhat's a cap'n to do, indeed? Nicely turned.
DeleteCongratulations to winners, thanks to everyone for this weekly treat. The Captain came early again this week, I am pleased to say, interrupting my 'studies' (skim reading David Starkey, the only way to read David Starkey IMO) to find out a little about Anne of Cleves before starting her section of my Kiss and Tell book, which is certainly a constant surprise. The queens are not backward at coming forward with bedroom secrets!!
ReplyDeleteAh, the delightful maid from Flanders. I believe she comes second only to the exotic Nan as my favourite of Henry's wives.
DeleteThis is slightly tangental, but all this talk of high seas has me thinking how much I've been enjoying playing Assassin's Creed: Black Flag recently, in which our erstwhile protagonist finds himself having moonlit heart-to-heart talks with Edward Teach, and finds a more than capable co-conspirator, and sometimes first mate in Mary Read. So much fun, this sun-sparkling, gunpowder-stinking world.
DeleteMiscalculation
ReplyDeleteChandrani flipped on the Cannae Drive, though propellant emissions hardly mattered in light of the moribund planet. Land dun and black, waters slimy gray-green with the demise of aquatic life, only the makeshift tower reflected colors, each level representing life and knowledge lost.
She’d been “elected” for this mission, her language skills sufficient to render speech intelligible despite her inability to adopt any native accents.
She began broadcasting. “People of Earth, we come to take you…”
Missiles cut off the message informing scientists their prayers for rescue of the human race had been answered.
Below, the politicians congratulated each other.
Miscalculation is a bit of an understatement. I guess, it's not easy to figure out what stupid thing the human's will do next. :P
DeleteThis warranted some depth of examination in order to reveal its message. I do so adore stories that make me take a second look and poke me with a "pointy stick" to engage further thinking.
DeleteYes, I read earlier and knew I had to come back - a complex challenging piece.
DeleteExcellent story, and such a likely outcome.
DeletePuzzling
ReplyDelete"I need help with this crossword."
The first words since dinner. Not much, but perhaps this is the best our moribund relationship can do.
"Eight letters, 'at death's door'." "Umm..." Why am I doing this? Because I have to do something. "How about 'terminal'."
No, it's not how I would have elected to live. But it could be worse.
"Seven letters, 'picked by voting'?" "I think that's 'decided'."
In other peoples' lives this would be an accent for the day's events, but for us? These are the day's events.
"'Emphasize a syllable', six letters." "Try 'stress'."
"Hey, thanks." Then silence.
Dare I say it, but this seems typical of a long marriage, one in which we do our own more interesting things when we're apart..
DeleteBeautifully assembled, Bill, and I love your avoiding of the obvious use of each prompt.
I really enjoyed your use of the prompts and their synonyms as crossword puzzle answers.
DeleteInspired application of the prompts in this piece. I love that it ended with "Then silence." So much inferred here and in so few words. Very nicely thought out.
DeleteThanks! I was inspired by Sandra looking up the definition of 'moribund', which led to thinking about the dictionary, and then the thesaurus, and then crosswords. I didn't originally intend to make this quite so dark, but moribund steered it in that direction. Have to see where this week's words lead...
DeletePS - I also looked up 'moribund' before trying to use it ;)
Great language here.
ReplyDelete