September 2009
13 posts
Finkle, Out of Sorts - Chapter 5
Previously
Turning off the water, Alan stepped out of the shower and grabbed his towel. He dried the majority of his body before wrapping it around his waist and walking to his bedroom. He got dressed in a daze, pulling a pair of pants from the closet, a shirt from a drawer. He walked into the kitchen and poured a glass of orange juice. He didn’t really want it but he sipped it anyways. He...
August 2009
26 posts
Week 4 Wrapup
This is Maria, bringing you this week’s wrapup in which we are now closer to the end than the beginning. Of the story cycle, that is. Finkle, Out of Sorts. I explored our hero’s nightmare, which may or may not have included an appearance by Ursula the sea witch. And then there was a dramatic reversal in the fate of the crew of the Imperial Star Navy. Or was there? It’s in...
Limbs Akimbo, Chapter 4
Previously
Charlie’s eyes froze in an upward position, staring at the sky as the tears continued pouring down his face. A few small, greying clouds with the appearance of skulls stared back at him. He tried not to blink, knowing that if he closed his eyes for even the merest of instants he would be taunted by images which he wished could remain buried in the Iraqi desert. But of course...
2 tags
Night Vision, Chapter 4
Previously
The first thing Gregory did after easing me into the passenger seat of his truck was to take his blanket and start to wrap me in it. He was careful to avoid touching my wrist. “You may be in shock,” he explained, when I asked about the blanket. “Are you feeling a chill at all?” “A little,” I admitted. I was also woozy. Curiously, there was still...
2 tags
The Letters of Rose Constance, Epistle IV
Previously.
14th May
Sweetest Jemmy,
I had promised myself I would be more diligent in writing. I hope you can forgive me the long droughts but until this past fortnight it has been difficult to pierce the darkness. However, I feel the worst of the blackness is behind me at long last.
A deep sorrow overtook me in the first weeks of April. It grew, a black weed encircling my chest making...
2 tags
The Last Time I Saw Richard--Chapter 4
Previously
“I’ve seen things, man,” Richard said. He was calmer than he had been out on the street but his eyes were still flinching.
“Things?” I took a sip from my bottle, a very wheaty beer filling my mouth. “Please don’t tell me Mulder and Scully are going to walk in here in a few minutes to catch me up on the case.”
“Don’t joke...
2 tags
Finkle, Out of Sorts - Chapter 4
Previously He watched in horror as the mother-creature’s arms undulated slowly, tentacle-like. Each paused briefly as it passed the conductor’s podium, flicked the edge with its baton, then continued along its upwards circuit. “Really, Alan,” she repeated. “I do expect better of you. So much better. How is it, son, that even in your fantasies you are not in charge, hmm?” And then she began to...
Week 3 Wrapup
Paulos G here to bring you this week’s wrapup as we reach the half-way point in our stories.
Finkle, Out of Sorts. Last week I had to get someone out of an apartment. This week I get someone inside one. I briefly introduced a new character to provide a counterpoint to Alan’s depression. I look forward to seeing where Maria takes this next week.
The Last Time I Saw Richard. Maria...
2 tags
Limbs Akimbo, Chapter 3
Previously
“I miss that smile,” Mom said, and wiped a little foam from her lip where the beer had back-splashed on her. “I know there hasn’t been much reason to see it lately … but I miss it.” Charlie sighed. He missed a lot of things too, but his willingness to smile was way the fuck down on the list just lately. He took a long, deep pull of his own beer and...
2 tags
Night Vision, Chapter 3
Previously.
The exertion and the damp had worked their way into our joints and we started back down the trail like a pair of middle-aged mall walkers. As we picked up the pace to a jog, I felt every footfall rattle through my body. I was going to be sore the next day but at least Gregory and I would be sore together. My mind started to drift, to my soft bed and warm down comforter,...
2 tags
The Letters of Rose Constance, Epistle III
Previously
13th March
My dearest James,
February was a dark month for me, darling. It was for both of us, remember? I have spent this recent February sitting quite still in the drawing room most of the time. I would attempt to read but the words seemed to move away from each other on the page and rearrange themselves into sentences and phrases that made no sense at all. I tried to stare at...
2 tags
The Last Time I Saw Richard - Chapter 3.
Previously.
I laughed long, and I laughed hard. Roswell’s? This was just too much. Forget Kerouac, we had officially entered Timothy Leary territory. “Richard, man? Seriously. You know I love you like a fucking brother and that I am always up for your crazy adventures, but you’re freaking me out here. Dragging my ass all over Manhattan on some wild goose chase? Chain-smoking like a...
“Successfully showcasing their innovative idea to facilitate an accelerated...”
– http://www.rhul.ac.uk/messages/press/message.asp?ref_no=1988
— Oops. I guess the idea just lends itself to that name. Sorry.
Finkle, Out of Sorts - Chapter 3
Previously
“Hello?” Alan didn’t expect an answer - it was far too early for Sophie, his lodger, to be home. He always called out to check just the same. There were some days when he appreciated her inexhaustible perkiness. Today was not one of those days.
He let his bag fall from his hand, closed his eyes for a minute and let out a long, slow sigh. He walked wearily to his bedroom and...
Week 2 Wrapup
And now it’s gotten interesting. The rotation has started, each author tackling the story of the person who posted before them, and trying to maintain a balance between continuing the original narrative and trying to bring something of one’s own to it. The results:
Finkle, Out Of Sorts: I (hopefully) gave us a slightly deeper look into our Mr. Finkle’s life, and added a little...
2 tags
Limbs Akimbo: Chapter 2
Previously.
Charlie leaned his head against the glass and watched the road glide past. As they picked up speed, the reflectors in the road flashed by quicker, blurring into one another. The last time he’d been on this road was the night before he left for basic. He thought it still had painted lines back then. Remembered watching them flash by one at a time as he and Lorraine drove back...
2 tags
Night Vision, Chapter 2
Previously
The world seemed to move like a kaleidoscope around us as we ran. The rising moon reflected on every surface, making the leaves on every tree shimmer, the ground luminous with every footstep. I breathed hard as I ran holding Gregory’s hand. Each breath burned in the best way possible. I never wanted to let go of his hands or stop running. I had never felt so free as I did...
2 tags
The Letters of Rose Constance, Epistle II
(Previously)
17th January
My Dearest James,
The shortest day has passed, and whatever nastiness of weather remains shall soon be chased away by the coming of Spring. I need only be patient.
I miss you still. All those things I did not manage to tell you before you left? They do not fade. They multiply. They inhabit the eaves of my spirit like so many mice in the attic.
Or perhaps squirrels....
2 tags
The Last Time I Saw Richard--Chapter 2.
Previously
I turned back to look at the apartment entrance and considered leaving. Despite a nagging sense of unease my curiosity won out over my common sense; a decision that I hoped I would not regret later. Well, regret more than usual when it came to Richard that is.
Anything that had once resembled a chair was either in pieces or buried beneath piles of Richard’s crap so I just...
2 tags
Finkle, Out of Sorts, Chapter 2
Previously
And again: the vicious direct questioning. She had missed her calling; she should have been a district attorney. Alan shifted in his seat, aware that he was beginning to sweat in the air conditioned office. His face felt warm; he knew he was blushing, and he knew she was making note of that as well. Like she did every week. “I … ” He trailed off and shrugged. It was...
Week 1 Wrapup
Five days and five stories started. I’m pretty pleased it all worked out, especially since we had to make some last minute schedule changes. But it will really start to get interesting this week coming up when we all switch to another person’s story.
“Finkle, Out of Sorts” came from me, and starts off the story of a Walter Mittyesque character. I particularly like the...
2 tags
Limbs Akimbo
Charlie Hughes squinted in the May sunshine and felt the sweat drip down the back of his neck underneath his collared shirt. The crowd stared at him as he sat on the stage in his wheelchair. He was hyper-aware of every cough and movement around him. It was hot up on that platform and Charlie felt the eyes of his community on him, his elementary school teachers, neighbors, former high school...
2 tags
Night Vision
That day, the day Gregory and I forgot that the sun sets, we had already known each other for years. We were both sophomores. We were both 19. We were both home for October break. And we both owned hiking boots. Weeks earlier I had promised him - over email - that I would show him Pine Meadow Lake, the path to which was my favorite hiking trail. Without a doubt, I had assured him, it would make...
2 tags
The Letters of Rose Constance
23rd September
Dearest James, I miss you. There are so many things that I wish I had said before you left. So many things that I wish I had had the chance to say. I so want to come and visit you but I cannot bear to see you in that place. Forgive me. I promised myself I would not be maudlin. I know you will understand. You always assured me that I need not apologise for who I am. ...
2 tags
The Last Time I Saw Richard--Chapter 1.
He opened the door and enveloped me in a gigantic bear hug. “Thanks for coming, man. I wasn’t sure you were going to.”
“Please. You should know me better.” I broke the embrace and looked at him. “You’re my bro. Any time you call me, I’m there—what the fuck.”
It was the first time I’d been to his apartment in two years. It was the...
2 tags
Finkle, Out of Sorts - Chapter 1
Commander Blake Armstrong of the Imperial Star Navy stared defiantly at the holoprojector. The dread space pirate Jack Spade dictated terms of surrender as the valiant spaceman clenched his square jaw and narrowed his icy blue eyes, his ebon locks billowing gently in the recirculated air of the Jovian class star destroyer. The bridge crew held its collective breath; Spade sneered, “lower...
