Woken to the news of your broken right arm!
Sending grapes
and gin and good wishes, and hoping for your speedy recovery (while the
writerly part of me wonders which bone
and how does it feel, because Luke breaks his arm in book 5 –- felicitously entitled 'Snap is not a
children's game'!) But seriously, I do hope you are not in too much pain.
So, it was the reminder of John Wyndham which dictated this week's winner, although his 'Kraken Wakes' not one of my favourites. 'The Chrysalids', re-read last year, blew my pre-teen mind. Thank you David for 'Wiskey Galore'.
Words for the coming week are: hotel limit quarter
Entries by midnight Thursday 11th
March, new words posted Friday 12th
Usual rules: 100 words maximum (excluding title) of flash fiction or
poetry using all 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.
Oh no, hope you're all right, Patricia!
ReplyDeleteCongrats, David!
ReplyDeleteCongrats again David, superb entry.
DeleteLie
ReplyDeleteWe swim in the tepid water of the lake, limbs turning pink beneath the yellow sun. My hair floats around me, tangling with Cora’s fingers as she splashes upright. “Where’s Sadie?”
“Getting quarters, remember?” Our hotel, cute as it may be, locks their bathrooms by the beach. “It’s all the partiers,” I say, though Cora can’t hear my thoughts.
“You didn’t tell her, did you?”
“Hmm?” I float, eyes closed.
“About Adrian. Fi, did you tell her?”
“No.” I crack open one eye. “You promised you would.” There’s a limit to our secrets.
“I will.”
I shiver at her lie.
I believe all of us would shiver should the truth be revealed. Much mystery here and well presented, Holly.
DeleteAs Jim said, this is well presented mystery. You do it so well, Holly.
DeleteLovely use of prompts to tall an intriguing tale.
DeleteI remember a story one time when all the people agreed not to lie for a whole day... and the world all but fell apart... it would here, wouldn't it? great stuff.
DeleteTHE HOTEL HARROW
ReplyDeleteThere exists a quarter of the city abandoned long ago to loathsome miscreants shunned everywhere else. A foul wound in the world, it offers a wretched landscape of gutted buildings, tumbledown crack houses, sleazy bars, and vermin-infested flophouses.
The Hotel Harrow is here, and it offers the conventional features of haunted habitats: limitless layers of dust and cobwebs; moldy, blood-stained sheets and mattresses; ripped curtains and peeling wallpaper; and eerie sounds roaming the halls.
But it is not these common trappings and the daunting ambience they create that make the Hotel Harrow haunted.
I, its sole occupant for decades, do.
The ghost seems content in the hotel, despite the lack of people to scare. Must be a good ghost. Well done, Jim.
DeleteSuch a contrasting ambience to Holly's venue, and so vividly drawn.
Deletewhoo - I like this!
DeleteThe Staff
ReplyDeleteI inherited the staff with my uncle’s grotesquely baroque hotel.
They had the unsettling air of some wan faced, incestuous clan. Their sullen indifference tested me to the limit. They’d scuttle like roaches to their quarters, whispering conspiracies.
I vegetated in the conservatory, sipping anaemic tea from cracked china, pondering the solitary guest who never ventured from his room.
The chef sharpened his cleaver. The housekeeper folded yards of linen. The gardener constructed a pyre. The old clock in the foyer ticked its monotonous tock. As autumn bled slowly into winter, death stared back at me from tainted mirrors.
You never want to see death staring back at you in the mirror. I think this hotel is well staffed for its purposes. Great story.
DeletePerfect embodiment of a hotel of horror
Deletedefinitely fine writing and lots of shudder thoughts. Wow!
DeleteI don't think I want to vacation at this hotel, David. This is rife with vivid descriptive phrases. Well Done.
ReplyDeleteMend well, Patricia. Difficult time to have any other complaint than Covid.
ReplyDeleteCongrats, David - Good one.
DISTURBANCE IN THE FORT
“So... what world-unshattering event were we missing? Better be good … there’s a limit–”
“Now see here–” Dermot began.
Colour draining, Joanie held up a hand to cut him short – at the same time looking askance at someone actually protesting like that in reality.
“If it’s not too much bother,” she responded, curtly gesturing Colm follow.
Scrambling over rubble off the cleared settlement pathways, Joanie led Colm, a grumbling Sally, and a train of whispers to the Privacy Quarter.
“Now if you’d come here…” she jibed, then silenced Sally’s retort with an emphatic jab towards the ruins of the old hotel.
Loved "world unshattering event." Sounds like Joanie has her hands full keeping the peace.
Delete"a train of whispers to the Privacy Quarter" - spine-chilling.
Deletethe hotel prompt has produced some stunning stuff, like this!
DeleteThe Joys of Mediumship 45
ReplyDeleteThe spirit world is limitless, send out a thought and the spirit arrives… or that’s how it feels. They come even if I don’t send out thoughts… although Queen Mary should not have been a surprise. When royalty are involved, no quarter is given; I expect a tough comment from her on the current situation. Wallis Simpson arrived for a brief visit, for once I didn’t smell the endless cigarette smoke from the duke… There is a wreck of a beautiful art deco hotel here in Ryde, you could almost see the couple holding court in the huge elaborate ballroom.
I would enjoy a trip like this into the past, Antonia. The Duke's endless cigarette smoke - how true.
DeleteQueen Mary's thoughts on current doings would be interesting. She probably would think it an elaborate hoax at first.
DeleteStop The Week; I Want To Get Off (140)
ReplyDeleteMy printer has gone to the hotel for worn out items. I need another but – which one, when some reviews are glowing and then others are bad… I’d like one about a quarter of the price of the sleek black Canon I just had to let go. Technology doesn’t seem to have got much cheaper. Kindle 2 was the same price as Kindle 1, and still drives me mad, shutting down when it feels it’s had enough. Thing is, if I’d had enough, there’s no opt out, just gotta keep on keeping on. Cats wouldn’t tolerate it any other way…
I've a Canon Pixma MP490 / MP492 I'd very willingly let you have Dorothy - nothing wrong with it; it's just that it makes sense to buy cartridges for one printer rather than two, so I'm sharing my husband's. I'd far rather let you have in that drop it at the tip, so if you can use it, I'll find a way to get it to you.
Deletedefinitely could use it! That would be great. If we can work something out, I'll stop the local computer clogs sorting a printer for me.
DeleteJust a question of going up into the loft [tomorrow ] and sorting out a box big enough. Not sure whether courier or Royal Mail would be cheaper, I'll find out once I know weight.
Deletethank you so much!
DeleteThe hotel for worn out items must be a huge place in our new world. The TV is broken... time for a new one. What happened to repairmen that came to the house and fixed them?
Deleteeverything this throwaway, isn't it?
DeleteNew descended dark [Threshold 339]
ReplyDeleteSurprised to find a limit to my triumph I applied a quarter-turn to the grenade-textured sleeve on the handlebar and slowed my progress. I could no longer hear Raven, either voice or vehicle but resisted – even though I knew it to be short-lived the impulse to check behind me. Instead, I stared ahead into the new-descended darkness, anxious to ascertain the pin-pricked lights flickering along what had been the horizon were not some sort of mirage. Thought civilisation? Food or drink? And hotel beds?
I turned my head to share the good news with Raven, but he no longer there.
What is Raven up to this time?
DeleteBeware of flickering lights and hope on the horizon when traveling with Raven and company. I would wager, based on things you've said about this story, you have no idea what is behind those lights yet. I like that about you, so brave, and the thought I will find out when you do.
Deletewhat is Raven up to at any time... but this time, yes, what IS going on? It's always the question and always satisfied until the next time...
DeleteChange of focus [416]
ReplyDeleteDistance intervening of nigh on a quarter century; hindsight adding a roseate glow, Pettinger now recalled memory of that camping trip a little more fondly. Funds had been so limited a hotel was completely out of the question (except he'd fantasised about a last night, sex-filled fling, preceded by a long hot shower (and there'd been times he'd thought if a only one of those were permissible, he'd forego the sex.)
In the end, he'd been even gladder she'd a father, willing to not only drive 200 miles to fetch them, but treat them to a meal as well.
Pettinger foregoing sex for a hot shower? What is this world coming to?
DeleteSounds like this worked out okay for Pettinger, although when push came to shove, I doubt he'd forgo the sex.
Deletegot to agree with that, if it was on offer, he'd take it, for sure!
DeleteThe Mad Italian 192
ReplyDeleteWhat a load of dry-eyed weeping and bewailing of the bad things of being treated as if you were a high paying hotel guest with everything on hand. There are limits to what people will stand in the way of this charade of being hard done by. The newspapers gave no quarter, nor should they, these individuals should learn that the world is not there entirely for their gratification but for service to others, one of their perpetual mottos. Royalty throughout history have gone to war for their people, fighting off invaders, there has been no limit to their service.
I anticipated the Italian would would broach this subject. He did it well.
DeleteBat shit crazy
ReplyDeleteAll she wanted was some good old fashioned hotel sex. Push the limits a bit, get her rocks off. She didn’t count on falling in love.
She watched him sleep, counted his breaths, enjoyed the rise of his muscular chest. Damn, he wasn’t half bad. A girl could get used to this.
She got up and pulled the fire alarm, laughed when he shot out of bed.
“What the hell!” he shouted.
“Relax, Darling. There’s no fire.” She shot him in the head.
She flipped a quarter. “Tails, you lose.”
Oh, John. How cruel.
DeleteNow there's a broad to avoid! You just can't trust one who loves hotel sex! Different and entertaining, John!
Deleteoh definitely crazy but what a story!
DeleteDISTRACTION
ReplyDeleteSally followed Joanie’s urgent jab and scanned the crest of the crumbling façade.
She squinted. About a quarter of a mile away, almost at the limit of her imperfect vision, a bird roosted under a half-melted H – all that remained of the hotel’s neon sign which the locals had found so tacky back in the day.
“What’s that – a cuckoo?”
“Unlikely,” Dermot whispered, “cuckoos get others to raise their young.”
“Actually,” Caolin contradicted, “most cuckoo species raise their own. Few are brood parasites.”
Joanie’s head swivelled slowly. “What’s with the friggin cuckoo class? DON’T YOU DARE!”
Dooney froze, mouth open.
It just takes a few brood parasites for a reputation to set in. I guess. I can imagine what Dooney was about to say.
Deletethat one's clever, I like that.
DeleteThere's something akin to fireworks here - sparks heading every which way.
Delete