Sticking to essentials

 Because having been nigh on a week without internet (changing suppliers not as problem-free as hoped) I’ll supply words for the week and get round to reading last week’s entries as soon as time permits. (And thank you for the 'January's gome'  suggestion, Patricia; I've not yet followed that up. 

Words for next week : boil funnel wither

Entries by midnight Thursday 15th February, words and winners posted Friday 16th

 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.

‘January’s gone’

Which, I’m fairly sure is the title of a song, but nothing on Google rings any bells, and no further clues (unless I accept cookies) so I’ll maybe have to spend time searching the tapes made for me by my youngest son some years ago.

Another week with no need to declare a ‘winner’, since both of you are stars,  just to thank you for your participation. As ever I wonder about my choice of words, recognising the need for something which ignites a spark of inspiration, but does nothing to stifle direction.

Words for the coming week: fillet gnome yelp

Entries by midnight  Thursday February 8th,  new words Friday February  9th

 

 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 Facebook or whichever.

Lateness rewarded

 Sometimes, I draft this post some hours before midnight strikes and schedule it to appear earlier than I can guarantee I’ll be up. Today, my sometime tardiness in doing so has been amply rewarded with Terrie’s entry 256 from ‘The Secret Armadillo Soldier (SAS) Diaries’ ,  posted with just seven minutes to go, when I was tucked up in my bed. (A chilly walk to a local pub for a Thai chow mein having taken up my evening)

And while I’m sure we  all agree David’s ‘The Green Boy of the Wild Woods’ was the top place knockout entry of the week, I’m also awarding Terrie consolation prize for persistence, along with one to Jim for his weekly dose of gruesomeness and never-failing, always thoughtful and very welcome, comments. 

 Words for the coming week: behind coast laconic

Entries by midnight  Thursday January 25th,  new words Friday January 26th.

 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.

Finger-crossing good

Thanks to crossed fingers or extra January energy, this was a week of rich and inspirational pickings for which I thank you all equally, while awarding Rebecca a ‘welcome-back’ prize - hope you are able to re-join the regulars.

 Words for the coming week: ash salt seed

 Entries by midnight  Thursday January 18th,  new words Friday January 19th .

 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.

Five pieces of near perfection

And in counting mine I’m not boasting so much as acknowledging the effort to produce something closer to Prediction’s brief – can’t say I enjoyed it. Certainly not as much as I did reading and re-reading  David’s “Dawn of the living wreaths” which wins top spot this week.

 Words for next week:  epiphany erect wise

 Entries by midnight Thursday 12th October, words and winners 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 social media you prefer.

'Unpeeled’ revealed inspiration

 And what a lovely use it was put to! Along with Terrie’s “teeth of needled bone”, Jim’s “ senses congealed then slowly unpeeled” truly exhilarated, and I can do no more than declare both joint winners for the week - thank you both.

 Words for next week:  experiment fluid knell

 Entries by midnight Thursday 5th October, words and winners posted Friday 6th

 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 social media you prefer.

Not quite eighty years of ‘Satisfaction’

 But as with Mick Jagger, the pleasure measures up, and this week no exception. Nor is, of course, the difficulty of choosing, but in the end David’s  ‘The Wizard of Combustion’ most accurately hit the spot for me, which is not to say all other entries lacked in any way. Regrettably, I could not bring Pettinger to perform so well.

Words for the coming week: blind pivot youth

 Entries by midnight Thursday August 3rd, new words and winners Friday 4th

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.

Picking the perfect word

This week rich with wonderfully intriguing and sense-tickling phrases : Terrie’s ‘the smell of blood clotted the air’,  Jim’s, ‘stood dumbfounded as Byrdie’s knife plunged into his chest’ (even though I could not fully rid my mind of Rowdy Yates) and Antonia’s ‘foreboding’ china Angels (Terrie picked the perfect word there) has me wondering why so few participate, even though I know all writing sites are struggling for participants. Fingers crossed each of you will be inspired by this week’s prompt words, and accept my decision to name Terrie as the week’s ‘winner’.

 Words for the coming week: immobile key stretch

Entries by midnight Thursday July 27th, new words and winners Friday 28th

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.

Something of an unanticipated reversion

 To what I remember as childhood reading; goblins and faeries making their appearances. Nevertheless  I sense the joy of writing in every post, for which I thank you, and since I am, as ever, struggling to pick a ‘winner’ I’m declaring each of them as equal as the rest. 

Words for the coming week: cruel destination guest 

Entries by midnight Thursday22nd, new words and winners Friday 23rd

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.

Winning on a whim

 I’ve said before, there’s no cast in concrete rule, rhyme nor reason as to what prompts me to declare a winner from the weekly selection of Prediction entries, and I am confident you will forgive me this week for choosing Jim’s ‘A long wait’, specifically for the delight of his first sentence and the inspiration of his naming a place ‘Muleshoe’.

 Words for the coming week: cousin splinter youth 

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.

Cardiff beckoned

 While visiting our daughter, husband took advantage of a big city to look for some shoes. Took a while, and my feet have yet to recover but I can now snatch time to do my duty with Prediction. 

As ever, a thoroughly good week of superb entries and from others’ comments I doubt there’ll be much dissension at my naming David’s ‘The Curse of the Unfinished Horror’ as ‘winner’ this week, with Antonia’s untitled but intriguing final piece a worth runner-up’

Words for the coming week: shoehorn, splash, ticket 

Entries by midnight Thursday March 30th, new words  Friday 31st

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.

 Distractions

There’s nothing like a weekend away, discussing the crafting of crime novels to ensure a mind gone off  in several non-routine directions. Plus I had the shock of a publisher actually asking me to send her the first four novels in my ‘Love triangles with murder’ series. (It came to nothing, as I suspected it would, my writing style quite different to their in-house style.) And then to return to a double helping of prompted pieces  – thank you Jim for your excellent words – and a wealth of 'dillo tales, for which, notwithstanding the enjoyment of reading the others,  I have to thank Terrie for.  

 Words for the coming week: forge mourn waver

Entries by midnight Thursday March 9th, new words  Friday 10th.

 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.

Not all so skilled

My husband, querying this week’s words displayed on the shelf above my monitor and told they were prompt words, immediately said ‘The yellow Venom weighed 200 kilogrammes.’ He was talking Velocettes, of course (though the one he has is black). Luckily, those who took the challenge more seriously were more skilled, and once again I was vacillating between entries trying  to separate a winner.  In the end I plumped for the murky originality of Jim’s ‘The bowel and bladder’ and thank you all for your participation. 

Words for the coming week: graft ovoid soap

And, because I’ll be away for a few days over next weekend you have an extra week to ponder. Entries by midnight Thursday March 2nd new words Friday March 3rd

Unless  Jim, as winner, would be so kind as to suggest three new words on the 24^th February?

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.

Apologies

For eggcup, a really horrible word, which you all, as usual, successfully incorporated. Antonia’s perhaps the smoothest, and it is the rare,  upbeat nature of her piece which shifted her to the top of my favourites this week.

Words for the coming week: achieve rust yeast 

Entries by midnight Thursday February 9th^h 2nd new words  Friday 10th.

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.

Distracted

 Having last month asked the excellent  Graham Bartlett – a retired ex-policeman who has successfully supported enough crime writers to be inspired to write his own – to look at my known-to-be-faulty novel #5, and subsequently spent time  mulling over his spot-on advice, I made the decision to turn the telling of it upside down and  completely re-write it. 

I began the process yesterday and got so deeply involved I forgot I needed to post both new words and a winner to this week’s Prediction. So, a quick re-read, and I came up with two deserving entries:  Terrie’s 'paperclipped to the moon’ in her SAS diaries entry 208 was both joyful and inspired,  and David’s ‘Artefact’ exceptionally poignant – thank you both, as well as to Jim and Antonia for their ever-reliable commenting.

Words for the coming week, eggcup, number, spectacle

Entries by midnight Thursday February 2nd Saturday December 31st, new words  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.

Another bountiful week

And, for the joy of it, Terrie’s ‘Love letter to Lear’ gets one of this week’s votes, while David, Jim and Antonia  dish up similarly worthy-of-mention pieces full of nastiness and dread. Thank you all – it has been a good week.

 Words for the coming week: paperclip, scarlet, specimen

 Entries by midnight  Thursday January 26th, new words and winners  Friday 27th January

  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.

Twenty twenty-three

And the Prediction challenge goes on into a fresh new year, with thanks to Antonia, Jim and Terrie who put in an appearance on 2022’s final fling.

Words for the coming week: button extract mire

Entries by midnight  Thursday January 12th, new words and winners  Friday 23th January

 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 whchever. 

Agitation

 As seen from my window. A gusty Friday morning, trees tossing orange and green, leaves flying, grey clouds heading eastwards in a hurry.  A good day to stay in and write. And re-read last week’s offerings with a view to naming ‘winner’. This week, having applauded Antonia’s epic entry, I pick Jim’s A DETOUR – PART III  as much for its future promise as current entertainment, and thank you all for your comments and participation.

 Words for the coming week: forge hour spot

Entries by midnight Thursday November 3rd,  new words posted Friday 4th

 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.

And once again, apologies

Yesterday’s sad news of Queen Elizabeth’s death seems to have further disrupted  to my concentration; I’ve wandered around the house unable to settle to anything.

However, I promised words for today and am offering you: duty London mourn

 Entries by midnight Thursday September 15^th  new words hopefully posted Friday 16^th

I hope to find time to comment on this week’s entries in the next couple of days 

 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

Apologies

Domestic emergency necessitating a 200+ mile trip to daughter in hospital meant posting this was late and a lack of time to read and judge, but especial thanks to Holly for contributing twice. Plus, of course, I omitted to update the dates!

So, words for the coming week:  blind puddle wire

Entries by midnight Thursday September 8^th  new words hopefully posted Friday 9^th

 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