“Dammit!” She slammed through another stack, and slid the entire mess of books aside. Some toppled from the pile, featureless cloth covers catching up dust and disappearing under the wooden bench. Continue reading
horror
Night Shift Parts 1 and 2
©Ayr/Gray
From Jenne Gray and C.E. Ayr’s photo prompt. The Unicorn Challenge (05/26/23). No more than 250 words in length. Otherwise, let your creative flag fly!
This two-parter is a snippet of a longer story that needed editing. Hope it pleases!
Night Shift Part 1
Sophie gazed out the kitchen window. The small harbor town below was glazed in apricot and rose, as the sun climbed the sky. She sipped her second cup of coffee.
Taking a sip of my own, I turned to Sophie. “What happened?”
“There was a collision: a single engine plane that shouldn’t have been flying at night. You know those people who can afford to fly to the remote lake properties often have more money than good judgment.” She spat those final words. Continue reading
So, this is happening…
Hugo, in the early days, as seen by Kittelson
I have the great pleasure of being allowed to sit in the Author’s Chair in the Saddle Up Saloon over at the Carrot Ranch. It’s headquartered somewhere in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and around the world, where Rough Writers play with weekly prompts, poetry challenges, and the occasional Online Karaoke. Cowpoke or not, all are welcome to play and/or read.
My time in this week’s Author’s Chair is a bit of dark humor about a hungry giant, some carelessly spunky spelunkers, and the townsfolk nestled in the valley below (based on a Six Sentence Story that like Hugo, got a bit larger). Here’s an excerpt to start, or go on ahead and belly right up to the bar at the Saloon for the full text, and an audio of me reading the tale. Once upon a time:
Giant Problem Solved by Liz Husebye Hartmann
(Trigger alert: Not a tale for the wee ones)
Hugo’s belly pangs rumbled down the darkening mountainside above Heffinger Hollow. He was sorely tempted to nibble on a half-cooked morsel or two of the spunky spelunkers that frequented Carbuncle Caverns. This particular group of spelunkers had surprised the village by sneaking in to the Carbuncle and setting out to explore without a guide. They’d zigged when they should have zagged on that seventh leg of the descent, and had fallen deep into the bowels of the lowest cavern of Carbuncle.
This had proved deadly for them, but put their corpses within easy reach of Hugo…
But a bit of history, first…”
[Please click here to continue]
© Liz Husebye Hartmann (2021)
Video
We were deep into the first cavern when a rockslide shook the sandy ground beneath our feet, sealing off the entrance, any external light source, and all hopes of exiting the way we’d entered. Continue reading
Rural Romance
The challenge? Write a story in 6 sentences, no more & no less, and if you’d like, share your creation or just visit and comment on others’ ideas, with GirlieOnTheEdge, Denise. The prompt is “PLOW”, and here’s where you join the party: Six Sentence Stories
Norm leaned back in the truck’s cab as he fired up his snowplow in the February pre-dawn, the scent of morning coffee, ham, eggs, and pancakes fragrant in his clouds of exhalations. He hadn’t brushed his teeth after the sumptuous breakfast that Dee had prepared, Continue reading
Face at the Window (FlashNano Day 12)
Image: Chippewa Valley news in WI
It was strange, that face, so familiar, yet not quite what he’d grown accustomed to seeing night after night. The nose was long, almost touching the sharp chin. The mouth was a straight slash, except where it turned down at its edges. And lately, it had been turning down at its edges more often than not. Continue reading
Donor (6-Sentence Story)
The task is to write a story in 6 sentences, no more no less, and if you’d like, share your creation or just visit and comment, with GirlieOnTheEdge, Diana. The prompt is ‘Clip”, and here’s where you join the party: Six Sentence Story on “CLIP”
Her heels tapped across the marble floor at an unbelievable fast clip, given she had stilettos on. She had to step carefully, lest they slip out from under her down the long, darkened hallway; with her particular disorder, she’d have no chance to get what she needed if she wasn’t fast and secretive. Continue reading
Valley of the Trolls 