Even though the week includes St Valentine’s Day, in memory of a priest who was clubbed to death, I’ll not be offering it as next week’s prompt, but instead offer congratulations to those of you who made more than a decent stab at last week’s words . For the mind-soaring poetry of ‘Undertones of whisper and the sound of claws on dirt’ I award Terrie top prize. Thank you all for the entertainment.
Words for the coming week: venom weigh yellow
Entries by midnight Thursday February 16th, new words Friday 17th.
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.
Thankyou for this weeks vote, Sandra, although I think all the entries were top notch - your sentence especially so.
ReplyDeletecongrats, Terrie! I am realy hooked on this serial!
DeleteThe Secret Armadillo Soldier (SAS) Diaries - entry 212
ReplyDeleteCinereus leaned in further. Without warning his staff slammed into the rats head.
There was a satisfyingly weighty thump and the rat shrieked.
Cinereus blew a yellow cloud of packet contents into its face and jumped hastily away. 'Quick Atlas release him and get away, pronto!’
Eyes wide, the rat stiffened, then, curling up like a new-born, began whimpering.
Cinereus raised a warning paw, ‘Stay back, let the powder, and venom, take hold. Wait ‘til it’s scattered in the wind ‘fore going near him. He won’t be movin’ anytime soon. In a bit you kin ask him whatever you like.’
That yellow powder sounds as if it need be treated with extreme caution - hope they stay safe!
DeleteAntnia says:sorry no input this week, feeling bad and then there's the sick daughter.... who set another rotten ccld on its roiunds??
ReplyDeleteAs ever, you were missed, Antonia. Hope the situation soon improves.
DeleteAntonia - 2 of us were getting better, the third one just came down with it... Meantime doc wants me to have a brain scan ... !!!!!!!!!!!! and so it goes on...as long as the cats don't get it, last time it cost £100 each for their super duper flash injections...but oh they were SOOO ill!
DeleteWitch’s Brew
ReplyDeleteThe venom, once extracted, looked pale yellow. It sat in the bowl like a thin, anaemic custard. Leah weighed it and jotted down the results in her notepad.
As a precaution she separated the vampire's head from its torso and moved it to another room.
Then she checked her recipe.
Zombie tongue and Harpie claw
Vampire venom and Werewolf paw.
The moon was full. Mongrels were howling. She picked up her sabre and set forth to acquire the final ingredient. If they thought they were going to burn her at the stake they had another bloody thing coming.
This is such a vividly-presented scene, opening with a beautifully written sentence and ending harshly commonplace.
DeleteThis has all the ingredients to start something scarily supernatural and deliciously horrific. I do hope we are able to read more of this story.
DeleteAntonia - anither superb story. it will go well in the future. if needed, David has a book coming out with fiction4all - a collection of 100 word short stories... -it's coming together as we speak..
DeleteChange of focus [503]
ReplyDeleteTook three seconds for Pettinger to realise he must’ve done something sufficiently bad to weight the scales of luck against him: thinking he heard Aleks voice he stepped into the corridor, only to be confronted by Vanessa in person. Clad in a dress patterned with sunflowers of a yellow virulent enough to suggest venom issuing from the mouth of an asp, she was commenting on the fact that policemen get younger-looking every day. Proudly, Aleks reassured her ‘I am son of policeman. And, (patting Philly’s belly) in here is his daughter.’ Turning, he grinned. ‘Hello Dad!’
Vanessa somehow paled.
I get the feeling that Aleks might be picking up conversation tips from Philly. What a brilliant scene you've created here, Sandra
Delete'... of a yellow virulent enough to suggest venom...' It doesn't get any better than that, Sandra!
DeleteTHE BOWEL AND BLADDER
ReplyDeleteI peered into an alley in the town I was visiting and saw a sign above a tumbledown building. I approached and saw that my eyes hadn’t lied. The sign read THE BOWEL and BLADDER.
I weighed whether to enter but did and saw that this was a tavern featuring a brown and yellow décor.
I had to smile.
I stepped to the bar, ordered a beer and asked, “Bowel and bladder? Why?”
“Because you need both in here. Do you?”
I snickered. “Want to see?”
The bartender’s answer seethed with venom. “Don’t have to. You won’t have ‘em long.”
For me, there is something very Dickensian in this : evil deeds and smokey atmosphere.
DeleteI agree with you, Sandra, and its definitely an establishment I would have walked away from - without entering.
DeleteAntionia - now this is one superb nasty story, Jim!!!!!
Delete[Threshold 425]
ReplyDeleteHad I even the vestiges of a conscience, the sight of Indigo eyes – navy blue orbs now swimming in a sea of wriggling, blood-burst capillaries, gore scarlet-striping the custard yellow of his jacket turning him to party food for five-year-olds) – might weigh heavy on it. Instead I balanced what I hoped would be Raven’s warm welcome against the likely venom the abandoned, brandy-blinded, tongue snipped would-be defender of his country would direct at me.
Were he able to run as fast as I could drive a quad bike.
Antonia - it's the ability to draw such vivid images as these which mean
Deletewe follow it avidly
Antonia is right on... vivid, masterfully crafted images.
DeleteThe Secret Armadillo Soldier (SAS) Diaries - entry 213
ReplyDelete'Feckin’ dirty ‘Dillos, shitting in their own nests,’ sneered the lead-rat.
Sarg, banking on surprising the invaders into a short-lived, disorganised, retreat, waited for the straggling shadows to catch up. When she spoke her voice carried all the weight and venom she could muster, and echoed eerily in the widened and recently rearranged tunnel. ‘Least they don’t eat their own shit like revolting rats.’
There were shocked squeals and hasty scuffing throughout the pack as she rose, wraithlike, from the scrape, bellowed, and shook herself like a shaggy mud-monster.
The rat snarled, revealing yellow teeth, and back-stepped into its followers.
Loved all of this, but especially the closing sentence.
DeleteThe Sarg is quite the Dude... or is that Dudess?
DeleteAntonia - now tell me how I follow that...
Deleteantonia - The bodies began to settle, stacking up, stopping the last of the rats from escaping, creating a slippery ugly yellow carpet for them to cling to ds they compared the options of fight or flight.
ReplyDeleteEric and all the others had found relief in bossing everyone around as they fled. But there were just so many weak individuals to lock up and still get the same thrill of total oppression. If they could get out, they would.
You don't need telling, Antonia ... this is nasty enough.
DeleteA masterful opening sentence!
ReplyDelete