I’ve spent much of this week with my
head in the seventeenth century, reading textbooks and novels of the period to
enable me to pick up the voice of my narrator, and have been pleasantly
surprised how easily I’ve invented likely-sounding phrases for her and her peers. It
strikes me it’s somewhat akin to writing Fantasy, and also that I’m going to
have to read something very different to re-enter the world of modern-day
murder as required by my current works in progress.
And this week’s entries here
well-demonstrate the practised writer’s facility for creation. I look forward
to Patricia’s knitting together of
her Kursaal world, to Antonia’s
Captain a-sail on the high seas and add my plea for Bill to deliver a little more Emilio. This week’s winner, for her
orphaned stockings and Princess Rosebud’s endlessly intriguing adventures, is Rosie, with William a brave runner-up for his paean to his absent muse.
Words
for next week: corrugate, seventeen, butcher
Entries
by midnight Thursday 27th October, new
words posted on Friday 28th
Congratulations Rosie, I look forward to reading more.
ReplyDeleteIt's a bit of a trying week for me this week, not sure I will be around much, but I will do my best.
Very nicely done, Rosie. And worthy runner-up award to William. The entries were truly outstanding last week. Cohesion of the current prompts may present something of a challenge though...still, I guess that's the point!
ReplyDeleteIt's my belief that too cohesive sends creativity to sleep ... that's my excuse, anyway, But I'm thinking it'll be ... interesting.
DeleteChoice Cuts
ReplyDeleteThree times seventeen. The number of years that have passed since Levi first drew breath and well over half of those spent honing his exceptional skill.
He works the city streets with a refrigerated cart, peddling his delectable steaks, succulent roasts and mouthwatering hamburger patties packed in plastic-lined corrugated boxes. It is a most successful business. Levi's meats are as tender as any to be found in a gourmet butcher shop.
And fresh?
"Heart still pumping blood at six o'clock this morning," says Levi with a wink.
Killer last line, killer premise, and sharp and nasty as any meat cleaver - well done.
DeleteHmm, and ewww, and glad I'm vegetarian... and made worse by the idea that if Levi has been doing this for so many years, he must have plenty of customers.
DeleteOh my, that is just perfect. I'm calling it before we've begun, an entire Sweeny in 100 words or less. As an affirmed carnivore, and having worked in London and walked through Smithfield at early doors on my way to the office, I have the scents in my nose. Admiring your work.
ReplyDelete(hit return too Early)
ReplyDeleteThat is quiet literally a killer last line.
Some family history [Threshold 136]
ReplyDeleteHis grandmother as unlike the man I’d arrived with as was possible. But despite skeleton akin to that of wren and face lined as an ancient butcher’s block, her eyes held the same ability to command. Somehow I’d earned, if not her good opinion, then at least a willingness to explain before I’d asked.
Mouth corrugated, voice bitter as aloes, ‘Raven is the image of my husband. Our daughter was ashamed of him, hoped to prove him alien. When, just seventeen, she gave birth to Raven, it sent her mad. I saved the child but not the man I loved.’
Excellent use of the prompts, my favourite being "face lined as an ancient butcher’s block"
DeleteBeautiful description that conjure some amazing images, that's for sure. Like William, I felt use of the prompt words to be par excellence. For some reason, I found this installment to be rather ominous.
DeleteI agree with that feeling, Patricia, yes, there is a sense of menace about this one too. Perhaps Sandra had a black mood this week...
DeleteSo much family pathos in that second paragraph. Ouch.
DeleteKursaal (Episode Forty Three) -- "Paying Respects"
ReplyDeleteSeventeen days after going missing, Little Lucy Pepperdyne was laid to rest.
Corrugated cardboard dotted the gravesite path due to rain-sodden ground and local businesses, Barlow's Butchers and Sweet Treats Bakery, for example, donated foodstuffs so mourners would not go hungry following the service.
Primrose Lee and Capers represented the Kursaal. Primrose brought alabaster faeries to flank the headstone. Capers, tears streaking his whiteface, clutched bluebells and expressed desire to snuggle the attending little ones in his lap, thereby offering comfort.
Given the mood of a suspicious congregation, however, Primrose managed to dissuade the clown from such a dubious practice.
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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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Stuff of nightmare this, all in pink and white. And nary a jarring of the prompts words.
Deletethis is smoothly done, first to last, carried through on the tide of sadness coddled by food... clever one.
DeleteI'm really not sure how to picture this, but all the versions I've come up with are... interesting. Feels like an avant-garde movie scene, somehow.
DeleteCapers and his predilection always brings on my nightmares. You have shuddered me most brilliantly.
DeleteChange of focus [205]
ReplyDeletePassports passed, facial features and corrugations of fingerprints recorded; within the space of seventeen minutes they were free to go. John Pettinger rested his hand on Aleks’ shoulder, smiled down to reassure and saw Aleks’ eyes widen.
Looking up he understood why.
Size bulked by protective gear, face all horizontal lines, he gestured with the cradled Kalashnikov to a newly-opened door.
Pettinger, understanding ‘fight or flight’ differently-weighted with a child in tow, obeyed.
Then a shove, a wrenching of the child, a grunted word of allocation – Khakbethian slang for ‘butcher’ – a slammed door.
Pettinger, alone in a windowless room, roared.
I must echo Patricia, excellent and inspired use of Corrugate. I am glad I'm reading this later as I won't have long to wait in suspense for what happens next.
DeleteOh, dear lord. I fear so much for Aleks. I do hope he comes to no harm. And, then again, I fear for those who will face Pettinger's wrath if he does. What an inspired use of "corrugate." I would never have thought to use it in that fashion.
ReplyDeletean instalment full of menace, a shove, a wrenching of the child, how evocative are these words!
DeleteCripplegate Junction/Part 68-And Who Do You Think Were There?
ReplyDeleteThe carriage between the Dining Car and Caboose was unique in many ways. With its corrugated tin roof, it resembled a Nissen hut and appeared to serve no useful purpose.
The door lacked a handle, keyhole, lock and could not be opened from outside. It was also windowless. However, the exterior sported colourful decorations taken from a specific nursery rhyme.
There were three men in tub, a butcher, a baker, a candlestick-maker and depictions of their wares.
Alice could not pass the carriage without reciting "Rub-A-Dub-Dub" at least seventeen times in monotone before resuming her skip along the platform.
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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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Oh! So inventive, delightful, perfect a use of the prompt words, so I had to re-read twice to find them. Well done Patricia.
Deleteintriguing! I didn't think of the nursery rhyme when I read the prompts, our minds work in such diverse ways!
DeleteA door that can not be opened from the outside conjures up so many thoughts most of them grim, An excellent piece of writing here, that build an unsettling atmosphere in my mind.
DeleteInfinity 170
ReplyDeleteWe be seventeen days into this new voyage, the sails, corrugated into their proper shapes now, carrying Infinity into the open waters. Cook be butchering the hogs we took on board at the last port, some decent bacon at last. I still need to ask the last question and can’t find the courage to do it. This being a cap’n who disbelieves the pendant so what be I doing dealing with it? What force be moving the thing to say no? Where be the yes answers I seek? Or is that the answer to the question I dare not ask?
Despite the chaos of your life, this is solid and almost serene, the Captain sounding relatively grounded despite his many questions. Love the image of corrugated sails.
DeleteI agree with Sandra regarding the image of corrugated sails. There have been some truly inspired uses of that prompt this week. Our Captain has many questions on his mind. I believe he likely already knows the answers to most of them. As always, a perfect example of tight and lucid writing.
DeleteCorrugated Sails does indeed bring a fulsome image to mind. An excellent episode and as Patricia said tight lucid writing. A grand job.
Deletecongratulations, Rosie!
ReplyDeleteI am busy trying to get more people to join in, in part because I need better writing from those sending in work. Like, 'the attic in the roof' where else would it be? And, in my Christmas antho, 'outside, it snowed...' I am ripping out all this superfluous writing and am busy wishing they took part in the Challenge...
On a family level it's been a rough sort of week, daughter not around much but I am aware of her boiling frustration with a drunk who is using his week's holiday as a reason to be off his face every night when he has debts to clear off. She doesn't drink, never has. She's 'supervising' him as he does surreal things when drunk, like trying to rip the fridge door off or saying the mirror has to go because it doesn't work. She is only two roads away, she rushed in at 3.15 AM in the week for a ten minute rant and then left again. Me, I get the migraines...
More people would be good, certainly. Don't envy you having to edit so much work.
DeleteMore tales to read would indeed be delightful but the quality of this forum far outweighs quantity in any event. I keep intending to test the waters by submitting something to you, Antonia, for possible inclusion in your anthologies but get the feeling it would all fall far short of what you're looking for.
DeletePatricia - NO WAY does your writing fall short. Of anything. Go for it. Antonia always has several anthologies on the go - see https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dorothy-Davies/e/B003VRYFBE/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1477628133&sr=1-2-ent for some of the already done.
DeleteThank you!
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry for my continued lack of commenting, I promise I'll fix that as soon as I learn the barest amount of time management skills.
The Adventures of Rosebud, Pirate Princess #48
Yurts Can Sink Too
The rain is deafening on the corrugated metal roof. I had hoped to head home today, but it’s raining enough to force Natasha out of the sky if she could get up there at all. She’s as anxious to be home as I, but neither of us want a repeat of the ungainly fall into the secret garden of the Butcher of Souls. He’s a lovely man, but it’s impolite to crush an entire plot of pansies no matter how friendly their gardener is. I’m hoping it ceases soon, the clouds can’t hold a seventeenth hour of rain, can they?
Magical as ever Rosie, and I'm so glad you have time for this each week - your writing such a treat.
DeleteTo echo Sandra's sentiments, Rosebud's adventure are always so full of magic and fantasy and just plain old excellent writing. Always so very different from anything else submitted, your tales are such a treat, especially for the imagination.
DeleteAnother treat, there is something very unique about your style. I always look forward to an episode of The Adventures of Rosebud.
DeleteDockside
ReplyDelete"Look, ever since you was seventeen you been corrugated."
"You mean incorrugated, boss." A rare attempt at correction earned Lorenzo a withering glance, enough to silence him for another year.
"I mean you ain't never done what I wanted. Your brother, he's a butcher, respectable working man." And his store is a great front for the family protection racket. "But you, always with the dancing and parties and who knows what else."
Emilio and his father both knew what else, but neither wanted to say. Didn't matter. This ship was literally sailing, Sicily-bound, and Emilio never even glanced back.
This comes with so much flavour and authenticity. I am always delighted to see your have joined the party. As always, this is a perfect scenario gem.
DeleteYes - Patricia has the words right: "flavour and authenticity" In spades. And always a treat to read.
DeleteA strong piece of writing, and I can say with the fortitude of hindsight that I think we can all overlook 7 minutes in order to honour this fine piece.
Deletea delight, end to end!
ReplyDelete