Friday 4 November 2016

Dead Sharp, Ghosting and Lost Words

The titles of three books on the shelf above my monitor which just happen to be leaning side by side in conversation, awaiting the time when I refer to them again. There’s only one room in this house that is without books, and that because they’ll likely come to harm since water and paper aren’t always good together.

This week was less nerve-wracking as to whether anyone other than Patricia and I get round to posting: because there were plenty of early comments. and although, as ever it was difficult to pick a winner, I’ll declare Zaiure’s seventh episode of Consummation top of the tree this week. Thank you all for posting and your most welcome comments; it was good to catch up with a couple of time-interrupted serials..

Words for next week:  cicatrice drive unquiet

Entries by midnight Thursday 10th November, new words posted on Friday 11th


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.

48 comments:

  1. Congratulations Zaiure it's good to have you back and on such fine form.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! Happy to be back & getting to read all of your fine stories. :)

      Delete
    2. Adding my congratulations for Zaiure's splendid win. Ye Gods, it's so nice to see you back!

      Delete
  2. Cold Memories

    I hadn't seen you in ages,
    in fact since the day that you left.
    It was a blessed release from your rages,
    you believed you'd left me bereft.

    You said we should go on a journey
    To somewhere we could easily hide.
    You promised that you wouldn't hurt me
    After fighting, I quietly complied.

    I went along on your unquiet drive,
    You screaming at the radio.
    Me in the trunk, barely alive.

    Now Buried in shallow sand
    Your flesh staining my hand
    For me there'll be no tomorrow,
    But your cicatrise from my resistance is your comfort in faux sorrow.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nasty indeed! "Your flesh staining my hand" especially tactile.

      Delete
    2. What a perfect word Sandra chose in selecting "nasty." I can think of none better. Up to your usual standard, of course.

      Delete
    3. cold as always, cutting words so well put together.

      Delete
  3. Change of focus [208]

    It took three minutes to be noticed, every second of which caused anxiety to crawl, imitation cicatrice, across his skin.

    Beyond the shifty-eyed official who released him Pettinger saw Aleks standing alone, eyes unquiet, silently pleading that Pettinger make no further fuss. Relief slamming his heart, Pettinger understood how the instinct to protect could drive a man to murder.

    In English, to maintain his Britishness (not that anyone was likely to be fooled) he asked, ‘You alright?’

    ‘Only small butchery.’ Aleks slipped his hand into Pettinger’s, briefly pressing wrist to wrist, for him to feel blood-stickiness from the just-implanted bug.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Beautiful interaction between Pettinger and Aleks. We see a whole new side to Pettinger associated with this relationship. Invisible word prompts here. I must admit I have a growing fondness for Aleks. Hope he sticks around for a good while.

      Delete
    2. Aleks certainly has a personality that leaps out of this serial. He's as potent an MC as Pettinger and that's saying something. Good instalment, this.

      Delete
    3. Ouch! The prior violence from the insertion of the bug brilliantly serves to highlight the tenderness of Pettinger's regard for Aleks. Seamless prompts too.

      Delete
  4. The written word [Threshold 137]

    The third day it struck me it was a test: Raven driving me to choose betwixt his increasing taciturnity and the surface-sweet approval of his grandmother which left me twitchily unquiet.

    By dint of asking Had I found his scarring titillating? she’d established we weren’t lovers.
    Her smirk sent me to Raven. ‘What scarring?’
    ‘You believe her?’
    ‘Believe. Don’t trust. If I’m to choose I need your truth.’

    A minute’s scrutiny then he unzipped his trousers, slid them part-way down his belly. Held my finger to lightly trace across his skin a Braille-like message in tiny-seeded cicatrice-drawn letters.
    ‘RIP Beloved’.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This was so intriguing and mysterious. I am amazed at how you manage to weave the prompts words into this serialization week after week. It's as though you weren't dependent upon prompt words at all...that this would be written in such fashion without having the restriction or necessity to use the given words.

      Delete
    2. oh my, scarred messages and all... where is this story going next? Brilliant depictions here.

      Delete
    3. An electric charged piece here. Both Bawdy, and exotic all at once.

      Delete
  5. You may or may not remember me. We used to trade comments back when I was hard into the flash fiction thing. Anyway, after s lengthy vacation from trying to wrest logic from chaos, I decided to try my hand again.

    Most of my old Flash links had dried up and gone to Flash Heaven, so I began a quest to find new ones. Not sure how I got here, but well, here I am touching base once again with an old Flash friend.

    Without further fanfare ..............

    A Cicatricial Reminder - 100 Words – The Perfection Blog Challenge – due – 11/8/16

    “Know what drives me in moments like this?” With a flourish, Jack Top impaled the bloody nipple on the wall behind his most recent play date. He turned, facing Axel.

    “Uh, no Boss. Just figured you liked hurting folks.”

    “Inflicting pain is but a means to an end. Unquiet symphonic theater comprised of primal fear and uncompromising torture is what drives me.”

    Axel’s hand fingered the scar running from his forehead to his chin.

    Jack smiled. “No dear simple Axel, your disfigurement gave me no pleasure. Just a necessary cicatricial reminder to pay attention. You know I hate repeating myself.”

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sandra is stealing all my instinctive words this week. "Gruesome" is so fitting for this. Lovely addition to the amazing selection of tales we have on our menu each week. Hope to see more.

      Delete
    2. good to see you here! I like the mis-type, Perfection for Prediction, it fits better, we strive for perfection. You found it with this startling tale.

      Delete
    3. Patricia - I was in a gruesome frame of mind, given the last 18 months of election stench that has swept across our land.

      Antonia - Good to see you again also. Your writing advice is and was some of the best I ever read. At first I was not understanding your reference to my mis-type. After reading my piece a couple of times, it dawned on me it was not in the story. Oh well.

      Delete
    4. I can understand your frame of mind, Politically it's been a tough year both here in Blighty and across the pond. You have painted some very three dimensional characters in this piece. Love the last piece of dialogue from Jack, so sinister.

      Delete
  6. MRMacrum - of COURSE I remember you - Thinking Ten, wasn't it? - and am so very glad to see you here, with a decidedly gruesome entry. Very much hope you'll be visiting regularly.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was trying to remember where and yeah, you are right. It was Thinking Ten. Damn, I enjoyed that blog.

      Delete
    2. As a daily limber it could not be beat. Shame it didn't last.

      Delete
  7. Cripplegate Junction/Part 70-Driving Miss Poppy

    Second only to Dobbin, his recently missing hobby-horse, the red engine was Christopher's prized possession. The metal wheels had left many a cicatrice in the station carpets resulting in several scoldings; nevertheless, the locomotive inspired the small boy to become a train engineer.

    Munching on Pontefract Cakes courtesy of Poppy at the Turnstile Kiosk, Christopher relayed his dream of driving the Cripplegate Express to parts beyond the Junction one day and the adventuresome Poppy vowed to be his first passenger.

    They seldom spoke of this in the Station Master's presence. His disapproving frown on such occasions was rather unquieting.

    --------------------------------------------------------
    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.
    ---------------------------------------------------------

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nice. Very nice, and an inspired use of cicatrice. I like the implied threat of the station-master.

      Delete
    2. definitely an implied threat. I like the overall feel of this instalment, which edges us nearer to finding out the truth about these strange characters.

      Delete
    3. Coming into this somewhere else other than the beginning gives me no sense of the overall story. That said, you used the prompts seamlessly and drew me in. Cicatrice was a tough one to use and not seem forced.

      Delete
    4. Dreams in the shadow of the station masters oppression. I still feel the loss of Dobbin. Inspired use of Cicatrice.

      Delete
  8. Fools Rush In

    They say she is pure as the driven snow and gentle as a newborn lamb. That even when provoked, she will flee rather than attack and allow herself to be destroyed if personal survival means inflicting injury.

    Do not be deceived. Learn to read the signs. Her aura of unquiet is palpable.

    Take heed from a fool who knows.

    Do not trifle with a legend who sports a cicatrice where her alicorn used to be.



    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Inspired indeed! - I had to look up 'alicorn', used perfectly here, and enjoyed the 'aura of unquiet'.

      Delete
    2. great little piece, Patricia,liked this a lot.

      Delete
    3. Woah! I love this just for the fact I now know about Alicorns, which will impress my little fairy princess daughter. Very inspired piece.

      Delete
  9. Infinity 172.
    It be unquiet. Tis all I can say right now, tis sommat that drives me onward, this picking at the cicatrice. It be raw at times but the wound stays healed; tis the skin I disturb with my nails and the skin I will disturb be there much more unquiet activity from it. Right now it sails at my convenience, as does the cook. Either or both will find themselves swimming ere long if trouble persists.
    There be a huge moon this night, hanging that low it all but touches the sea. I dislike these moons, they encourage strange thoughts.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This was an eerie addition. It leaves me wondering what "strange thoughts" might be besieging the Captain right now. I always love these introspective peeks and they are always so masterfully crafted.

      Delete
    2. Oh! Wonderful use of cicatrice wounding, and vividly-set scene, an excellent episode, Antonia.

      Delete
    3. I really really like how you use the English language.

      I dislike these moons, they encourage strange thoughts.

      Excellent.

      Delete
    4. thank you! The Captain has his own distinctive voice - just so you know, this is Blackbeard, aka Captain Edward Teach, sailing the high seas in his good ship Infinity looking for piratical adventures and loot. He keeps running across or into paranormal creatures who make their way on board and he has to deal with them. The whole serial is written as his secret journal where thoughts are recorded. The crew don't know of its existence. The Captain is a good narrator. (I work direct with spirit authors.)

      Delete
    5. I have a small cicatrice on the length of my thumb, and this piece reminded me how irritating it can be. The sense of disturbance is palpable.

      Delete
  10. and mine, good to have you back. Hope all is well in your household. Want to see more of your winning stories!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Blogger playing games, this was for Zaiure of course.

      Thanks for lovely comments!

      Delete
  11. Kursaal (Episode Forty Five) -- "Charity Begins..."

    Alexis Champagne suggested a toy drive -- one new item for half-price rides -- to benefit the Children's Hospital. Maximillian Corviday, keen to enhance the Kursaal's dubious respectability whenever possible, applauded the idea.

    Manasa, unquieted by the growing relationship between Maximillian and his voluptuous assistant, thoughtfully traced the puckered cicatrice on her bosom where Archon had sunk his fangs before domestication. She doubted the intention of Alexis' suggestion. Manasa recognized a snake in the grass when she saw one.

    Perhaps the time had come to grant the asp freedom from the confinement of his basket for a little while.

    --------------------------------------------------------
    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.
    ---------------------------------------------------------

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes indeed. I'm enjoying seeing these characters intermingling and their several dark intents and aspirations.

      Delete
    2. I am loving the complex interactions, this piece being luxuriously dark.

      Delete
  12. oh yes... this just gets darker, if that were possible!

    ReplyDelete
  13. The Adventures of Rosebud, Pirate Princess #50
    Searching for a Grave


    Every tree here has a cicatrice, but only one. Some are the remnants of careless campers, some of young love, others of a house fire or a deadly mishap. Natasha was particularly unquieted by the blackened oak guarding a crumbling fireplace. It drove her to wish we had never come to this forest. Unfortunately this is where Marian told us to go to find her grave.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I gentle gravity in this piece, the scent of burnt wood in the air.

      Delete
    2. Beautiful composition and vivid imagery make this piece undeniably delightful and unique. But then, "unique" is a word I have come to automatically associate with this Pirate Princess.

      Delete
    3. How original, applying a cicatrice to a tree, and what a line to end on!

      Delete