Category Archives: Fiction

Love Bites Blog Hop: Pillow Talk

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Photo by Lisa Shambrook (please do not use without permission)
She watched as he climbed into their bed longing for his hands to run across her body beneath the moonlight, to feel his breath capture hers, yearning to hear bedroom words whispered evocatively, but as he settled he thrust his arms behind his head and began to talk. 
He grumbled, and groaned, and complained from the moment his head hit the pillow to the moment he fell asleep. 
With fury and resentment pumping through her body in response to his perpetual deference, she propped herself up on her elbows and stared at him. She growled through clenched teeth, her fists balling the pillow in her hands and she began some pillow talk of her own.
They lie, their bodies barely touching. The bed sheet crumpled and kicked half to the floor now scarcely draped across their stomachs. The pale moon peeked nervously through the curtains as her eyes roved, taking in the contours of his upper body lit by silvery rays. She watched as he lie beside her, finally still and acquiescent.
She reached across, took his hand in hers and gently stroked it, her soft fingers caressing his knuckles and his rough skin. She eventually lifted the pillow away from his face, and glanced at his expression, calm and serene in the silvered light.
She sighed, it was the quietest he’d ever been at this time of night and she realised despite all his talk, he’d never really offered an opinion on euthanasia…
(244 Words)
Written for the Inklingette’s Love Bites Anti-Valentine Blog Hop 
Go take a look at how to enter
Read the other great entries!

Love Bites: An Anti-Valentine Blog Hop

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This Valentine’s Day, we invite you to join us in thumbing our noses at Cupid, Love and the Whole Schmaltzy Holiday!!
Introducing … 
LOVE BITES: An Anti-Valentine Blog Hop
Hostesses: The Inklingettes
Theme: Love Run Amuk, Aground or Otherwise Off Course
Schedule: Friday, February 8 through Thursday, February 14
Word Count: 250 Words
Incentive: Community spirit, inky fun and lots of laughs!
And Prizes: 6 Broken-hearted bookmarks made by the Divine Hammer
A one-of-a-kind painting personalised with a quote from the winner’s piece donated by Lee Clements
A one hour coaching session by Rebecca T Dickson 
How To Participate: 
•Write a cheeky anti-valentine story of 250 words or less.
•Post it on your blog. (If you don’t have a blog, contact any of the hostesses and space will be magically provided).
•Copy the linky html and blog badge from this page and paste them into your post, beneath your story.
•Add your post url to the linky.
•Bop around the interwebz to read and comment on the other entries.
•Pimp out the hop and entries on Facebook, G+, Twitter and anywhere your heart desires!
•Don’t Forget: HAVE FUN!
•Got Questions? Contact any of the hostesses and they’ll be happy to help!If you want the collection of stories to show on your post go to http://www.bullishink.com/2013/02/08/love-bites-blog-hop/ and grab the inlinkz code…(I can’t get it to work on Blogger!)

 Grab the Badge:

Visual Dare: Emerging

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I ran, trying not to trip over my skirts, and held the swinging lamp as steady as I could.

Staying at Aunt Louise’s stern home for the entire school holiday would be torture. So I lie on my bed and stared at the only interesting thing in the house.  

Not long now, excitement bubbled as I hurried down the cobbled corridor lit only by a narrow crescent moon.

I sighed and blew out the candle. The gilded frame and its mysterious, dark alleys sank into gloom. I turned, only twisting back when an unexpected bobbing light emanated across the room.

I reached the gilded frame set at the cul-de-sac, hitched up my skirt and stepped through and there I was, staring at my intrusion in amazement…

I jumped when the girl climbed through the frame…

“Don’t be scared!” I grinned at my younger self, “That boring summer isn’t boring anymore!”

(150 Words)

Take a look at the other entries.

Five Sentence Fiction: Delicate Strength

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I adore my dragons and two other pieces connect with this piece: Devotion and To Protect…
(Please do not use without permission from the artist)

Gwawr’s eyes swam with unshed tears; after hours of waiting she desperately wanted to hear the shell crack, to see tiny dragon claws tearing at the sticky amniotic sac, and her baby emerging exhausted, but safe and she yearned to lick her offspring clean, tickling soft scales, watching baby dragon reflexes, anxious to see its tummy curling inwards as she roughly licked its sensitive newborn skin. The opaque shell shivered and a resounding crack echoed through the cave; a long, thin crack ran down the side of the shell, it widened then clamped shut as the pressure from within collapsed – Gwawr uttered another frustrated cry and the fracture began to open again. The unborn creature struggled and the egg rocked violently before coming to yet another standstill; the soft tapping restarted, and with each tap the thin cracks grew until suddenly a tiny horn protruded through the shell. The horn retreated into the egg then drove through, shell fragments splintered and littered the floor beneath the nest, and the baby dragon exerted every last bit of energy rupturing the thick sac surrounding it inside the confines of the egg. A spout of water gushed and claws tore wildly at the shell, until thick pieces collapsed under the strain and a bedraggled, scrawny baby dragon fell out, as his lungs heaved and he struggled for breath, Gwawr snapped out of her trance and curled her tail protectively around her newborn, she licked and rubbed him, and sighed in relief as the tiny creature let out a cough and splutter, then she giggled almost uncontrollably and allowed her tears to drop, helping to wash the dragon clean.

I’ve wanted to write this piece for a bit, and I really wanted it to fit with this week’s word: Delicate at Five Sentence Fiction from Lillie McFerrin. Take a look at all the entries… I also want to thank artist Amanda Makepeace for giving me permission to use her digital painting The Dragon’s Egg, it was the beautiful picture I had in my mind for this piece. You can find more of her amazing art available for sale on her site at www.redbubble.com/people/amandamakepeace. And if anyone’s wondering how to pronounce the Welsh name Gwawr it is: Gwour and means ‘Dawn’.

Monday Mixer: To Protect

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This is for The Latinum Vault’s Monday Mixer. Write a piece in exactly 150 words using at least three of the prompt words, a place, a thing and an adjective. I’ve decided not to shoehorn all nine words in today, there really was no place for patisserie for example, but I am incorporating six, so could still go for Overachiever!

Photograph and dragon painting by Lisa Shambrook (Please do not use)
It was against the backdrop of early morning mist that he stood firm, aware that far off over the horizon battle was on its way.  The rill outside his cave rushed down the hillside into the querulous river, and sunlight’s dancing diamonds on the surface matched the adrenalin surging through his taut muscles. He watched the sunrise and listened intently to the water’s gushing symphony. He dipped his head to drink and felt the water’s intrinsic energy intensify his own. He was on home territory and the bellicose fire dragon would have to fight long and hard.  
He dug his claws into the rock, grinding the stone like a pestle as he waited. He would protect what was his, with his life if necessary, and his mind wandered for a moment, recalling the cherished egg, hidden like a precious marbled cabochon deep within his cavern, beneath his mate’s warm belly. 
(150 Words)
Find Monday Mixer here, and look at the rest of the entries!

55 Words #44: Padlock

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Photo Source: 55 Words: Jezri’s Nightmares
She’d been alone for so long she’d forgotten what it meant to be two. She clasped his hand and trembled. 
He tilted her face to his, traced the lines of her life with his finger and pressed his lips to hers. This simple gesture unlocked inhibitions and allowed her rusty self-confidence to begin to flourish.
(55 Words)
Written for Lisa McCourt Hollar’s 55 Word Challenge, 
go read the rest of the entries…

55 Words #43: Tracks

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The delay caused numerous reactions ranging from an irritating tapping of five-inch-heels and drumming fingers to frustrated glances at watches, long sighs and frequent calls home, but by far the most disturbing reaction was from the driver, who after the sickening impact, vacated his cab and walked directly in front of the 5.47 from Paddington.

(55 Words)

Written for Lisa McCourt Hollar’s 55 Word Challenge.
This one’s a bit dark, but hey that’s how the picture grabbed me…
go read the others on the above link… 

Monday Mixer: Like Magwitch

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This is for The Latinum Vault’s Monday Mixer. Write a piece in exactly 150 words using at least three of the prompt words. I chose to try and use all nine words!
Photo by Lisa Shambrook (Please do not use without permission)

He stared across the desolate fenland, a barren expanse stretching from the mortuary to the distant shrouded hills. Like Magwitch, Henry’s lip sneered at his sodden feet, he should’ve thieved the sedulous attendant’s overshoes as well as his mackintosh, egalitarian, he was not. The cottage emerged from behind the damp, coiling mists, an oasis in his fraught mind, and he wiped his forehead with a crimson bandana discovered in the stolen coat’s pocket. Rain teemed endlessly and he sought protection from the unsavoury elements.
His foot kicked the cloche as he raced across the garden and cursed as glass shattered across the path, so much for a quiet entrance. He burst through the unlocked door.
She stood wide-eyed and open mouthed at the dripping man before her.
“Had a really bad day at work sweetie!” he began suddenly loquacious after the silence of the moor, “Car broke down…then it rained…”

(150 Words)

Take a look at the rest…

Five Sentence Fiction: Forgotten

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“So let me tell you about last night, there I was all curled up cosy, head beneath the duvet, heavy breathing, not for any sordid reason mind, just to warm up the icy bed…and my mind began to wander. That half hour, you know the one, before sleep overcomes consciousness, is precious and thoughts of all kinds swim in the murky depths of my brain. No point letting the day’s events wallow, don’t need to rehash that which I can’t change, so I think, I muse, I ruminate – the cogs turn and the gears jump and my imagination escapes with me…
So last night, just before succumbing to slumber, I had the mother of all ideas, the biggest twist and the most amazing denouement in all of history – the best ever best-seller planned out in the utmost detail, right there in my head!
Now I sit with the humming of my laptop heckling me and an illumined blank page scorning my brain as I delve deep inside in vain…and my novel, my best-seller, my way out of here, in the bright light of day – is all but forgotten…”

Written, tongue-in-cheek for Lillie McFerrin’s Five Sentence Fiction check out the other writers in this week’s prompt: Forgotten.