Who has set up a new home for Prediction at https://predictionfiction.wordpress.com in the hope that those apparently locked out by Blogger can continue to
participate.
Like all new places it looks unfamiliar - stark and in
need of decoration - and we aren't sure where everything is, nor, exactly how
it works, but for the sake of such regular contributors as Jim and Patricia, I hope it can
be made to work. For the time being, I
am posting in both places, so no-one is left not knowing where we've moved to, and
I hereby declare the week's top spot goes to John for his
perfectly-titled 'Odd, but possibly true'
Words for the coming week (fingers
crossed all will have a go, in the new
place as well as the old): cotton triangle yesterday
Entries by
midnight Thursday 2nd June, new
words posted Friday 3rd
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.
Congratulations, John on yet another outstanding entry. I wish I could provide a challenge for you.
ReplyDeleteOnce again, I am flummoxed as to why I could enter the above but not publish my entry. CURSES!
DeleteDid you try posting your your entry to the Wordpress site Jim?
DeleteCongrats, John!
DeleteTrue Love
ReplyDeleteI mentioned the cotton candy sky. She said it just looked pink to her. I told her of a novel I was reading about the Bermuda Triangle. She said she hated math. I asked if she was born yesterday. She said not to be silly - that she was born in 1968. She caught me in an eye roll and asked if I needed her Visine.
At the corner bar, I sipped a Manhattan and contemplated life, wondering what greener pastures would bring. She texted me a picture of her cat sleeping on the windowsill. I paid and hurried home. God, I loved that woman.
Nice tale, neat inclusion of the prompt words. 'True love' indeed.
DeleteA sweet story, easy to be moved by. (Though I've been with the Prediction too long & can't help but wonder if there's something sinister I'm missing. :)
DeleteSo, who is perfect, eh, John? Love can obscure a number of flaws.
DeleteChange of focus [471]
ReplyDeleteYesterday Ben Brickwood would've taken the no-choice menace of Philly's 'You'll do it,' as a challenge. Couldn't say he know her well, but would've had the confidence to jokingly refuse (even though he didn't really mind) Today, thanks to Donna's late-night revelation, as they lay between the high-count cotton sheets she'd insisted on for their marital bed, that, just like royalty, there were more than two in their marriage, his self-confidence had the consistency of agar jelly. And it wasn't – his first thought – she was pregnant. Oh no! Worse than that! False apologetic, 'They're twins … and I know you don't do triangles.'
Well that doesn't sound like it bodes well for Ben.
DeleteThe Secret Armadillo Soldier (SAS) Diaries - entry 192
ReplyDeleteThe next day Base-Burrow hummed with the echo of digging and re-digging of tunnels, traps and dead ends.
By evening air in the runs grew cotton-tuft thick with the smell of earth and sweat. Through it trickled the faint scent of fear as the complainers from yesterday were ushered quietly into the hidden escape route.
Carrying Denzil to the mouth of the secret run, Sarg patted the small triangle of fur between his ears, ‘I’ll be back, Denzil, just gonna check the defences.’
She looked at Spade-paw, ‘Make sure ‘es safe.’
With a salute, Spade-paw nodded as Sarg scurried away.
Vivid and sensual episode this, full of underground action. Love " cotton-tuft thick with the smell of earth and sweat".
DeleteThe Secret Armadillo Soldier (SAS) Diaries - entry 193
ReplyDeleteNigel ran anxiously along the growing group of motley travellers spreading in a triangular swathe along the trail. Pausing twice he gave instructions and returned to the rear.
‘Tosca, I know it aint much t’ yer liking but head t’ the Palace. Im givin’ yuh Clancy an’ a digger as well as Dolas. They don’t know the plan so let’s keep it that way fer now ’
Scratching an ear, Tosca nodded, ‘I’ll talk wiv Moses, maybe take a few of them cotton-bellied gerbils too they could be useful. We kin be off quicker n’ yesterdays tittle-tattle.’
Again, lovely, Terrie, always such high quality.
DeleteA nice sense of urgency in this. Their way of speaking is always delightful.
DeleteIn My Room, Way at the End of the Hall
ReplyDeleteMy room is triangular. White walls. No door. No window. Single bed. Sheets of Egyptian cotton. Chrome toilet and shower housed in the vertex of the triangle.
Twice a day food comes down in a basket from a hatch in the ceiling. At first I couldn’t remember if I’d been incarcerated there yesterday or the day before. My fists ached from banging the walls.
The floor hums mechanically, suggesting the room is housed inside a vessel of some sort. Days turn to weeks. My anger abates. I hear others. Wherever we are being taken seems no closer.
And presumably no books either? Proper nightmarish, David!
DeleteYou better hope you are dreaming, David.
DeleteI am very curious what awaits when they arrive! I'm imagining they're on some kind of spaceship, though could be any number of vehicles, I suppose. :) I'm also shivering at the thought of no books or paper or anything to do.
DeleteThis has the feel of serialisation to it. I do hope there is more to follow .
DeleteI don't see on the Wordpress forum where the week's prompt words are listed. Still poking around to get accustomed, but I couldn't find it. I know.....thick as two short planks...!!!
ReplyDeleteWhen the site opens, there are two white background boxes. The first, RH one, is headed 'Hats off to Holly' and is identical to what is on here. You post by clicking 'comment'. I tried Wordpress decades ago and didn't find it at all instinctive ,,,
DeleteAh, got it. Thanks, Sandra. Like I said, thick as two short planks at times.
DeleteYeah, I haven't found a good Wordpress template yet where the posts are easy to read, as well as the comments, but if I find one I'll switch it out!
DeleteANTICIPATION: PART I
ReplyDeleteYesterday he had chickened out. But at midnight tonight Tony Clemente had entered a seedy section populated with decrepit buildings that provided sanctuary to the city's riffraff. Although he could easily pass for one of these wretched soulless deviants, he considered himself nothing like them.
Like a foul tide, they flooded the streets each night in search of prey.
Tonight, he would search for them.
In time he spied three standing in a streetlight's cotton-colored glare.
Noticing him, they advanced then stopped.
For a moment, his mind vacillated between walking boldly at them or just standing still.
He decided. "Keep coming... please!"
Jim - you cracked it!! With a vivid, menacing, visually rich tale. How?
DeleteNicely done, Jim. You managed to get the forum to finally accept you. What was the issue?
DeleteI liked your use of 'tide.' I have a feeling the 'deviants' are going to underestimate him.
Delete'Anticipation' is spot on Jim, i'm now waiting for the next installment.
DeleteTemporary reprieve [Threshold 396]
ReplyDeleteThe further we travelled, the more the several threats of yesterday – amateur trepanning; bodily mincing, or suffocating in a dust storm – faded from our minds, to a point where the day's blue sky and fluffy cotton-ball clouds took us back to the innocent optimism of childhood, when joy was found in posting plastic triangles through the right-shaped holes.
Not that we were stupid enough to believe in happy every after. Our stomachs put an end to that: 'We still have no food.'
'Or water.'
'Nor did we find – and dismantle – whatever tracking devices we have to assume we're still carrying.'
Some days I really do miss the innocent optimism of childhood. Simpler worries! I do still love 'cotton-ball' clouds. :)
DeleteThe contrast between the innocent optimism of childhood and reality is beautifully stated, Sandra.
DeleteI envy the ease with which you encompass the previous instalment with the current one, still manage to hint at what is lurking around the corner and include the prompt words too. So clever, Sandra.
DeleteNot sure how I cracked it. I did type my entry in rather than paste it, but I had tried that before. I noticed that J.E. Deegan is no longer an option for 'Comment as.' Ergo, I used James E. Deegan. Perhaps that had something to do with my success. I'm anxious to see what happens next week.
ReplyDeleteFingers crossed.
DeleteSo glad something eventually worked for you, Jim. On a personal note, I think my time with The Prediction has come to an end. It was an amazing journey though.
DeleteThat would be a shame Patricia . Would it help to think only of doing stand-alone pieces? Serials save inventing characters but do sometimes take some shifting on.
Delete@Patricia Another option if you can comment but not submit your longer pieces, you could email the story to me and I could post here and mark it as from you? I made a Prediction specific email address for making the Wordpress blog so I'd be ok with doing that, if you want to still participate. Then we can keep the blog here.
DeleteBut it is of course totally fine if you've decided to stop posting. It's been wonderful to have you with us!
My thanks to Sandra and Holly for their very kind suggestions but for the time being, I'm going to call it a day. I may return at some point in the future and begin all over again. Take care everyone. It has been a true pleasure.
DeleteTake care, Patricia! :)
DeleteI will definitely miss your talented penmanship and engaging instalments Patricia.
DeleteSweet-Scented Chaos [19]
ReplyDeleteWe descend into sweet-scented chaos, pineapple triangles scattered across the tiled floor. Everything is dripping water, including Felicia, who got a tad too close to one of the elementals.
“Akheron!” the nun bellows, stripping off her cotton robe to reveal a gold bodysuit of slick, gold metal.
I raise my eyebrows then Rach rushes past.
“Erd!” she roars.
A heat-warped shimmer, and I lunge, grab Rach and twist sideways. Heat, a hundred times hotter than yesterday’s horrid weather, flashes past us.
“Is that a rocket launcher?!” Felicia squeaks, delighted.
I roll, rise. Three heavily-armed goblins face us across the room.
I am reminded of the word "mayhem" which is gloriously illustrated here.
DeleteAction a plenty with the promise of more to come . Wonderful stuff , Holly.
Deleteall out of options - reset the password 8 times, so that resulted in Netgallery, Wordpress and who knows what and who else... who point blank refused to let me register anything, anywhere!!!!
ReplyDeleteStupidly I can comment here... this is the piece I wrote for the three words...
Yesterday was flat out stupid but wonderful even as we created a triangle of pathways between the furniture which had just arrived. I mean: furniture… All of it antique, all of it carrying the charisma of age, all of it desirable. It came from a ‘cottage’ in Barton Manor, another stately home alongside Osborne House, the reason most people come to the island . It had been shut away for nearly 100 years. So we have this beautiful timeless furniture, some of it wrapped in clothing made of pure Indian cotton, all of it begging for a home. Any takers???
Sounds wonderful Antonia; just hope it's true! AND that you continue to be able to contribute here.
Deleteoooh I wish I could see the furniture! Sounds lovely.
DeleteBeautifully described new arrivals and like Holly i would love to see it all. Furniture like that wont stay long in the shop, Antonia.
Deletewell, that worked, so why didn't the rest of it, says she who wrote to her computer consultant person this morning to ask why, at the age of 25+ the shop computer has decided I need a login password, that was before the games of getting this one accepted!!!! I'll sit this one out for a while, then try again, starting from the opening dot and going on from there... Holly, you have to be some kind of clever person to work out how to set these things up...
ReplyDeleteI'm starting 'work' with an online psychic phone line any time soon, they want an ongoing blog, good job I will be sending it to someone else to enter onto the site!!!!!!
And I do believe the Mad Italian is sulking...
I've set up my share of blogs and websites, so I'm familiar with the basics. But tech gremlins still do like to mess with me sometimes! :)
Delete@Sandra Sounds like we might as well stay here on Blogger, if it's mostly working for everyone? I can put a static page on the Wordpress blog saying to come here.
ReplyDeleteDone! I'll leave that for a week and then hide the blog so we'll have it if we need it in the future, but can continue here for now.
DeleteAgain, well done, Holly, and thank you.
DeleteRhyme time gazette
ReplyDeleteIssue 6
Yesterdays exclusive interview by roving reporter, Peter Piper, reveals little ducks offered asylum by Hickory Dickory. Blind spokesperson for the elusive mafia-boss says, ‘ducks are contenders for local singing award and we are keen to support them.’
Unnamed band member admits, ‘Singing in a pond helps our acoustics although harmonising has been difficult since we went swimming one day and only four of us came back.’
Update- Police enquiries reveal shocking love-triangle between local clothes designer and cotton-goods magnate, and sheep-minders, Peep and Blue.
Breaking news - fresh lead into mysterious ‘sack carrier’ as police raid home of local woodsman.
Yet another wonderfully evoked world you've created Terrie!
DeleteYour imagination is boundless, Terrie. This is good stuff!
ReplyDelete