Ok, so this is another piece of flash fiction written for a challenge put up at Chuck Wendig’s blog terribleminds. I decided to get this one done early instead of last minute. This week’s challenge was to pick a photo from among this amazing set of 24 that you should definitely check out to be the inspiration of our bits of flash. These photos were all of real places that look fantastical and I think I could write a flash piece for each one. I just might eventually. For this challenge though I picked the photo of Mt. Roraima, Venezuela. I immediately thought – awesome place for a Korean-influenced wuxia battle with a hint of Lovecraft. Yeah my brain’s a bit weird, but to be fair – I’ve been thinking of combining these elements for awhile now – this challenge and that picture just gave me the push to actually do it.

The Story (Currently Untitled)

Mists and clouds surrounded the flat peak like an island in the sky. Only one figure rose higher than the moss and lichen on the barren mountaintop. Choi Eunae stood at the peak’s edge reflecting.

Keeping a hand on her sword’s hilt she strode purposefully forward until she stood in its center. The winds rose loud around her and whipped her long, straight black hair free of it’s simple tie to fly wildly about her. Eunae ignored the wind, and her hair, and the brilliant glare of sunlight reflected off the tops of clouds. Bowing her head, she said a quiet prayer and drew her sword. She held it with her left hand, resting point down in a patch of moss, and pulled the first small pouch out of her robe with her right.

Continue reading →

It’s been awhile but here is a flash piece for today’s terribleminds challenge. I’m getting it in about ten minutes or so late, but it’ll have to do.

Breaking Point

Captain Daniel Jones cursed the bedlam that was keeping him from cracking Lord Foghill’s safe. Even with the ear coverings and soundscope he’d been provided he could not make out the tiny clicks of the tumblers with racket being raised by the city. He couldn’t blame the people, the bombardment of the cannons and the assault on the walls was ratcheting up to an intensity that could only mean the Prince’s forces were pushing to break the siege and smash the city once and for all.

Continue reading →

When I can I like to take part in some of the weekly flash fiction (micro fiction in some cases really) competitions and challenges that are out on ye olde ‘net. Like most of my writing though my participation has been very limited over the last 5 weeks or so. Happily I managed to write something for two of the challenges this week.

Continue reading →

This is an entry for a flash fiction challenge put on at The Latinum Vault called Monday Mixer. There are quite a few rules but the important ones for you to know are I had to use exactly 150 words and had to choose a setting, object and adjective to use in the story. So, here it is:

Continue reading →

I finally had some time to write and wasn’t feeling exhausted so I decided to get back on track by getting back to basics with a flash fiction challenge from Chuck Wendig’s terribleminds.com. This week the challenge was another collection of random aspects with a horror theme in honor of Halloween. As usual the story follows (currently unnamed) and I’ll tell you what the aspects were afterward.

Story:

It had been at least two minutes since Raul Soto had first seen and reported the impossible woman and he had yet to respond to any of the disembodied voices entering his cabin. Each new voice grew more insistent and concerned than the last, but none could take his attention from the beauty that floated on the other side of the Dagon’s main window. Finally, the voice of the one person with more authority than him over this mission cut into the chatter.

Continue reading →

Ok, this is another terribleminds flash piece. I’ve got some stuff to say about it but for now I’m making a quickie post here to make sure I get it in before the deadline. Not that it really matters, but I like to hit deadlines, even unimportant ones. I think it’s a good habit to develop.

The House on Cedar Avenue

Trent shuffled along Cedar Avenue on his way to the house. The first time he’d gone there he’d swaggered. He’d also nervously looked over his shoulder before crossing the threshold, paranoid, as any right thinking man would be, about who might be watching him go in. Tonight he glanced neither left nor right as he mounted the stairs. Experience had taught him that whatever arrangements for privacy needed to be made must have been made by Madame Zuul, because no one who should have cared about the goings on in the house on Cedar Avenue did.

Continue reading →