To raise a glass

Today being Winter Solstice, and me having been born five minutes too soon to claim myself a ‘child of’ (and more years ago than I envisaged myself reaching) I send you all greetings for the season, however you intend to spend it, and thank you for your contributions to this place over 2018.  It gives me a great deal of pleasure to declare Patricia’s ‘Pierce the veil’ as the final winner of the year, especially when she has contributed – as many of you have – so much to the success of Prediction. Long may it last.

Because of the way the dates fall I’m sure I am not going to be the only one hard-pushed to find time to properly read and appreciate, never mind contribute anything, so you have a fortnight to find a use for the following: 

Words for next week: hedonist saturate wishbone

Entries by midnight (GMT) Thursday January 3rd, words and winners posted Friday 4th

  

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.

Ragged robins

I thank for your merciful acceptance of last week’s dice-throwing and have given myself a strict talking to about responsibility and not shilly-shallying.  Hasn’t made it any easier, I’m no happier about the ones I ‘discard’ in the interest of naming a winner, despite the very considerable pleasure I – and, judging by the comments, the rest of you – gain from so many of them. Neither am I able to be very analytical as to why; it’s more often than not  just a gut kick.  Without doubt this week, despite roses and patchwork people,  one of the biggest was John’s ‘Ragged breath’ – truly visceral, as Terrie said – and very closely followed by Zaiure’s ‘Poison’. I am grateful for the opportunity to read all of them.

Words for next week: pile solstice vicarious

Entries by Midnight (GMT) Thursday 20th, words and winners posted Friday 21st December

  

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.

Shock horror! (sort of)

It did come as a bit of a shock to be reminded this time last year I was bed-bound and barely able to walk, thanks to some vicious South African infection. No less of a one was that seven weeks later I walked eleven rough-country miles, although not by choice! This week, I found making a choice from a shortlist of six almost as difficult, not least because I cannot find anything in the way of common qualities to use as criteria.

So what I did was ... throw a dice. And the dice selected, from my list of six equally-merited pieces, Terrie’s 33rd instalment of the SAS Diaries. The other five were David W’s ‘AGAIN’, David T’s ‘Ticks and Crosses’, Bill’s ‘Lips’ and either Patricia’s ‘Things that go bump in the night ’ or ‘Can do’, but I thank you for all of them.

Words for next week: contagion graft mercy

Entries by Midnight (GMT) Thursday 13th, words and winners posted Friday 14th December

  

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.