Wrapping books to Guns'n'Roses …

 … Eighteen of them – everyone's getting books from me this year, as a thank you for the services of our local independent bookshop during lockdowns – and took me nearly as long to work out the Royal Mail website for parcel collection, but all done now. Yet  to discover whether we'll be travelling to spend Christmas with child 1 and child 3.

 Today's discovery, for you, is that Terrie's The Secret Armadillo Soldier (SAS) Diaries - entry 129 is this week's winner, for the simple reason that I found it highly entertaining – and know I'm not the only one.

                                                this week’s words are:  allocate butler cushion

Entries by midnight Thursday 3rd December, new words 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 uses of the words and stems are fine. Feel free to post links to your stories on Twitter or Facebook or whichever.

Taking the biscuit

 In the end it was David's trading custard creams for jewellery that elevated him into first place this week, such a smoothly-written tale, one of several contenders which took quite a lots of separating. At times it doesn't seem fair to you that each week the choice is mine, but I assume none of you are distressed enough to desert. And thank you, as ever for a week of writing and the all-important sharing of comments.

this week’s words are:  alarm contradict hump 

Entries by midnight Thursday 26th November, new words posted Friday 27th

 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 uses of the words and stems are fine. Feel free to post links to your stories on Twitter or Facebook or whichever.

Awarding the intrepid

Breaking the rules this week (but if I can't, who can?) I'm nominating a non-writer for the top spot, courtesy of  Antonia's  ever-excellent Stop The Week; I Want To Get Off (123) in recognition of Shaun's car-buying contribution. I do, of course, thank you all for another week of entertainment, in both writing and the ever-important comments, without which this site would soon cease to sparkle.

this week’s words are:  custard emboss language  

Entries by midnight Thursday 19th November, new words posted Friday 20th

 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 uses of the words and stems are fine. Feel free to post links to your stories on Twitter or Facebook or whichever.

Fireworks of the magic kind …

 ... is what this week brought (unlike the wider world's activities, for which much thanks.) 

And it is grateful I am for Terrie's blazing return, along with the sparkling and colourful rockets offered by the rest of you, all insisting on several re-readings to extract full enjoyment. Hard to choose, but eventually, so glad to have the back, I settled on the  'dillos, as captured in The Secret Armadillo Soldier (SAS) Diaries - entry 123.

this week’s words are:  drift camel sanguine

Entries by midnight Thursday 12th November, new words posted Friday 13th

 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 uses of the words and stems are fine. Feel free to post links to your stories on Twitter or Facebook or whichever.