There were some gruesome, gory offerings this week and no mistake - plenty opportunities for stomachs to turn – encouraging to see how well-followed the Prediction guidelines. Without doubt, the first indication of the standard set was John's 'Desperate measures' with its trademark wicked twist, which earned him top spot, but I'm going to take this opportunity to also mention Julia (aka Practice)'s Ellis 020 for the sharpness of her responses, and Jim for his inventive and (very) final solution.
Friday 26 November 2021
Rare-done
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congrats to Those At The Top, well deserved!! Apologies for no comments, a particularly nasty migraine headache crept in and tried to take my eye out, as it does, my worry is if it succeeds... or should I save that for a story one week... Congrats abound for Sandra who has come back with her usual meticulously detailed instalments which sustain two serials every week... not much keeps us writers down, does it?
ReplyDeleteThe closing date for this week is in DECEMBER!!! How did that happen????
Yet another great entry from you, John! Congrats!
ReplyDeleteVery nicely done, John. Many congratulations.
ReplyDeleteSomething Borrowed
ReplyDeleteNatalie had her fill of being a bit player in every wedding, from Flower Girl to Maid of Honour. All ensemble roles. Never a leading lady. Never star of the show. Well, this time things were different. The quaint little chapel was winsome and old-fashioned in many ways, but that was part of its charm.
And if the unexpected bride, all eyes on her for a change, walked down the aisle in a white dress stained with glistening blood that recently bubbled from a contorted jugular, Natalie was convinced she would still look absolutely stunning.
The unexpected bride, what a great line. Kind of tells it all right there. Very nice, Patricia.
Deletestunning would definitely be the word for that bride!
DeleteI'm glad you didn't describe the groom's reaction!
DeleteA shocking - but exquisite - description of Natalie!
Deletethis is one fine story! so carefully leading us o the ultimate - in every way - conclusion.
DeleteThank you for the encouragement. There are some great people on this site.
ReplyDeleteHoley Matrimony
ReplyDeleteIt was a destination wedding, at a remote farmhouse in the foothills of Appalachia. The bubble machine was out of soap, but the music played on. The bride, a picture of loveliness, lay contorted on the dancefloor, the groom beside her, still holding her bloodied hand. The best man stepped over several guests, nudging with his assault rifle as he approached the bride.
“What part didn’t you understand?” he said. “It was him or me. Don’t make the wrong choice. I told you that, plain as the livelong day.”
He walked to his truck and started it. “The wrong goddamn choice.”
This fellow with the gun certainly went to extremes to make his point. Nicely done, John.
DeleteSuccinct indeed, and impactful
DeleteTold with your usual brilliance and touch of humour, John.
DeleteI really like the off hand casual attitude of the wannabe groom!
DeleteA CHANGE OF HEART?
ReplyDeleteRudy’s face contorted with the strain of keeping the poison-filled bubble from bursting in his mouth. His lips were sealed with duct tape, so he couldn’t spit it out. The bubble was too big to swallow – as if that would save him. It would simply burst somewhere along his alimentary canal.
A simple nodding of his head would signal that he had changed his mind and would marry Linda Hinajosa, who stood gawkily beside her grim-faced father, tears dripping upon her wedding dress.
What the hell, he thought, can marrying her be so bad?
Rudy bit down on the bubble.
very inventive!
DeleteWho needs a shotgun these days to promote a wedding? Linda must be some piece of work... or maybe Rudy just didn't want to be tied down. Nice, Jim.
DeleteAs someone whose father said to my would-be husband asking for permission, "Why? You're worth ten of her!" I feel sorry for Linda. Hope she gets the counselling she deserves.
DeleteTalk about spoiled for choice. Great tap into the imagination there, Jim.
Deletethat's a surprise ending for sure - one I really appreciate.
DeleteEllis 021
ReplyDeleteI wondered how Jasper was doing at Victoria Park; it sounded like a juicy case. Although I’d had to look up what eviscerated meant, and wasn’t sure how anyone could be alive afterwards. I might be biased, but he deserved a case that wedded his skills and work ethic. And there may be a role for a plucky DC in his team too!
I must call Kurt. I’d had enough of contorting my failing brain cells and I’d got my report mostly done. He must think me a right bubble-head after last night, and I needed to redeem myself.
I hope the plucky DC gets the role. I enjoyed the inner reflections in this. Even though she may not be completely confident of her abilities, it seems she is very capable.
DeleteJust how ambitious is Ellis?
DeleteThank you for the "bubble-head" reference. Apart from being an inspired use of the prompt word, it brought a much needed chuckle to an otherwise lack luster day.
Deletelovely air of innocence with this DC, and yet there's a steely tone running beneath it, the bubble-head is determined to make her voice heard, methinks.
DeleteWedding of the Year
ReplyDeleteThe wedding reception was held in a forty foot tall crystal glass swimming pool, shaped to look like a champagne flute and filled with several gallons of Dom Perignon. The couple
and their over privileged guests were contorted inside oxygenated membrane bubbles which rose and fell and bounced against each other. The cost exceeded the GDPR of a small nation.
Amongst the fun and hilarity no one noticed the rebellious waiting staff. Dressed in wetsuits and snorkels, armed with viciously hooked harpoons, dropping from the lip of the gigantic flute, intent on turning the champers to a Bloody Mary.
The cost to fill a pool with Dom Perignon must be astronomical. I tried it once. It was good, but not that much better than the moderate stuff. Very imaginative, David.
DeleteIngenious, David! This really is a superb entry! You have a brilliant imagination!
DeleteI'm in awe of what goes on inside your head David! This is both surreal and horrific.
DeleteNice one that conjured some absolutely delightful graphic images.
Deletevery visual and surreal at the same time. You can see why I look for stories from David for the Gravestone Press anthologies!
DeleteChange of focus [450]
ReplyDeleteMerciless, Philly intended teaching Aleks a lesson. His confidence in Philly's indulgence fragile as a soap bubble as he stuttered, 'You had a wedding. So you shouldn't be going to bed with my Dad!
'Did your Mum have a wedding with your Dad?' That part-guesswork, part research.
No, because she'd already had a husband. But she didn't like him so he got dead.'
Philly's question deceptively innocent. 'Does your Dad know that?'
Well-honed instinct challenged Aleks' certainty truth the preferable option. 'Yes, and he punished her. Brought me here. To find another mother.'
'D'you think he intends to ask me?'
I'm trying to decide if Stepcart is good for Pettinger or not. Regardless, I'm certainly enjoying the story as it plays out.
DeleteThat Aleks is definitely a child to be reckoned with. Chip off the old block, I reckon.
Deletethe character's craftiness and yet naive innocence comes over so well.
Delete[Threshold 372]
ReplyDeleteRaven's effortful wringing of the sopping sheet produced bubbles and a tearing noise, which failed to reassure as to its strength. Contorting, to check the drop I estimated we'd need to wed at least two more sheets for it to be of use; dry they'd be easier to manage provided the fire had ceased. As angry shouts arose from where Cocktail's body lay I hauled them from the bed. Raven calmly attached one end to bed-head then dropped it from the window. 'You first' he said, 'I'll follow. Trust me.'
I hesitated. How many times had I fallen for that?
just the two of them against the world again... a taut installment
DeleteThis is an exciting episode, with lots of action. I agree with practice, that the two of them are once again against the world. How much more can they endure?
DeleteAbsolutely inspired final comment. And what an inventive use of "wedding" in a more diminutive form.
DeleteGiven the situation, I see irony in the word 'fallen' in the last line. Well done, Sandra!
Deletebeautifully crafted instalment,and leaving it on a true cliffhanger!
DeleteRETURNED
ReplyDeleteYes, “blanked” is the proper word for it, Sally considered as she listened to tidal waves bubble over unseen rocks. She hadn’t lost consciousness, but her senses weren’t quite registering for a while.
‘Furry paws?’
‘She’s come to.’ Declan’s voice, she was sure … but that didn’t make sense.
‘Come to what?’ Caolin being Caolin.
‘Sally? Can you hear me?’
Her brain rushed to unjumble the confusion.
‘Drink this,’ Mary continued. ‘You’re home.’
Sally took the water in sips, then gulps.
‘Easy…’
Brain and eyes reintroduced themselves, wedding the contorted blotches she’d been staring at with familiar forms.
Except THAT one.
I enjoyed the neat concisiveness of "reintroduced themselves"
Delete"THAT one." WHAT one? Great use of the classic cliffhanger.
DeleteI enjoyed Caolin's interjection. It looks like Sally went from confused to totally with it very quickly. Must have been some really good water.
DeleteUisce batha (water of life). :D
DeleteThanks all.
DeleteGreat dialog, Perry, and a masterful last line.
Deletetight dialogue, no wasted words, loads of visions, though!
DeleteNICE DAY FOR…
ReplyDeleteBlood still bubbled from the dead schoolgirl’s throat as the refrain of Billy Idol’s ‘White Wedding’ floated down the corridor from the sports hall.
No superman for her, Sanchez thought, acknowledging the contextual irony of the lyrics.
His raised firearm traced corners and doorways as he edged further into the school. The lights continued to flicker.
‘Creepy,’ Campbell whispered, taking exaggerated steps over the contorted body. This was not how the rookie had seen his first callout going.
Suddenly all the locker doors flung themselves open.
A dark smoky miasma trickled from their interiors.
‘I need more roughage,’ Campbell noted.
Billy Idol and his "White Wedding" the perfect backdrop for this tale. Some great submissions from your talented pen this week, Perry.
DeleteGotta love White Wedding. The shootings may be over, but the drama continues. Nice, Perry.
DeleteConjunction of 'White wedding' and roughage deserves a round of applause all of its own.
DeleteYou are indeed in a a frightful situation. I'd hate to be in your shoes!
ReplyDeleteSome things you can never be adequately prepared for.
DeleteThank you so much, Patricia. I thought it'd be a good use of the prompt which might be unique, John. LOL, jd, indeed yes, especially if those shoes are already full. Right you are, Sandra, especially with bulk buying of rolls.
Deleteit's a good song and a great piece of writing
DeleteThe joys of mediumship
ReplyDeleteI had Sophie on my mind - we’re working our way through a $100 payment for questions and answers when she ‘needed them’. My problem is that on the basis of a short courtship she is planning a wedding and going around in a bubble of happiness. It’s a year since her last life partner passed on, since when I’ve been asked time and again ‘is this THE one…’ I wonder what these men would think if they knew how she was contorting her life to fit theirs in the hope of making them THE one…
Self-delusion is an expensive business.
DeleteHave to agree with Sandra on this one. Great observational skills there, Antonia.
DeleteStop The Week…
ReplyDeleteMy screen saver is bubbles spilling all over the screen, getting between me and more ads on Wightbay. It’s slow, unbelievably slow; today we earned £5 – wow! I’m cold from not moving around. Cats are wedding themselves to the best spots in front of radiators whilst I contort myself to get the best light to immerse myself in the Charlie Parker series. The shop lighting isn’t designed for reading print that small. Shaun is rushing around taking care of his daughter who tested positive for Covid but – more tests are needed. He’s distancing himself so I stay safe.
I used to have a bubbles screensaver. Those floating images were mesmerizing at times. On another but related note, we have a new Covid variant raising its ugly head over here. Will this ever come to an end, I wonder?
DeleteNo light helps me read small print any more. Need those cheaters. I wish Shaun's daughter a speedey recovery.
DeleteSo seemingly casual and natural your clever use of prompts. I continue to doff my cap ... and hastily don it again. It's frayyyzing.
DeleteI've just come from an hour of reading Penelope Lively's small print: she so skilled a writer!, and am struggling here now. Hope Things pick up enough to keep you bustling, and Shaun is able to return soon.
DeleteThe Mad Italian
ReplyDeleteSo we ask, why does not the PM wear the masks he keeps on about, as if that will help. Covid and variants will run their course no matter what you do; you cannot live in a virus tight bubble – yet. I have no doubt that time and ingenuity will create one. I am amusing myself thinking of the contortions you would have to achieve to get into such a thing… and sobering myself at the thought of the many things which would have to come together like a wedding party to make it happen. Would you want it?
As time goes by, I believe more and more people are willing to risk contact infection if only to feel a small semblance of humanity again. I continue to wear a mask personally although, to be perfectly honest, I'm not in the least convinced of the positive effects.
DeleteI don't know much about the PM. I know he has wierd hair, so maybe the mask accentuates that. Who knows.
DeleteEven if we were not all already exposed by the time they got around to doing something about it, there's still everything else. And the body needs exposure to that else in order to maintain resistance - or we'll all end up like the aliens in War of The Worlds original.
DeleteI remember also a cartoon from a scifi mag where everyone was travelling about in personal bubbles. One way to control the population, I suppose. Maybe Boris intend to subsume humanity with his own offspring.
Still no serialization inspiration. Fingers crossed for next week though. Hope my muse is thoroughly enjoying her extended vacation.
ReplyDeleteCome on, P. You could rewrite the phone book and make it good...
DeleteOk, that may have been a little reactional. Who am I to question your muse. See you next week.
DeleteShe's self-isolating maybe? And with that comes an idea.
DeleteGods work
ReplyDeleteRemembering the first church I burned, up in the northeast. A duty but a beauty.
Timber framed, it was, with the blackening skeleton a negative after-image through the bright flames. Threads of fire, and bubbles of light rising into the dusk, the contorted figure on the cross welcoming release. Memories of weddings and funerals, and daily songs, all up in flames.
The pastor, even more distraught after seeing my half-furled wings.
“This was God’s work” he cried.
“There is not one god only” I replied, “This is only things burning. Continue to deny the Pantheon, it will be your soul.”
This was brilliant. Expert and seamless insertion of the prompts and an entire story from start to finish told within a limited word count.
DeleteOh, that "negative after-image" of the blackened skeleton inspired imagery indeed, and lingers in the mind's eye.
ReplyDeleteSuch beautiful use of language here. A great read!
ReplyDeletetalent screaming from this story,so well done!
ReplyDelete