posts that cover a multitude of fascinating subjects
Children’s empty playground
Swings, roundabouts
Shiny metal slide to hot to slide down
Do I dare go inside?
Swing awhile, remembering
Old summer days when we had
all the time in the world before us
My long-lost school friends
Are they there beside me?
Do I see the empty swing moving?
Or is it my own vibration
that moves, ghosts remembered…
99 words, no more, no less. It’s a simple constraint, an easy-to-master literary art form, and a powerful writing tool for creatives and entrepreneurs. Writers calibrate the usefulness and beauty of 99-words through weekly flash fiction challenges.
A simple wooden bench
Beneath welcome shade
May not seem exciting
The stories it could tell
Of lover’s first kiss
Under moonlight
It’s now their go-to place
After fifty years
Each kiss as good as the first
That’s what they would tell you
Margaret and Ethel
Meet there at lunchtime
Discuss their aches and pains
Walk home feeling less lonely
Sixty-year-old Tom
Brings breadcrumbs
To feed the pigeons
Remembering times
His wife sat beside him
This simple wooden structure
Serves the community
I thank God it’s there
To sit, watch life go by
More stories yet to tell…
One of my characters has been in my head a lot lately, constantly nagging me about something. He has featured in three of my books, and I think anyone who has read my work will remember DI Snow. The detective who helped Kate Devereau in Nine Lives, saved her life in Out of Time, and failed miserably to forget her in CrossFire.
He turned up again in Silent PayBack, happily married and recovered from the serious life-threatening injuries he sustained in CrossFire.
I wondered what was on his mind.
I invited him to my office to find out.
‘You have exactly five minutes to say what is on your mind, David, as I am trying to work.’
He looked wonderful, but then he has always been one of my favourite people. Looking just like Tom Selleck from the Jesse Stone tv series, he sprawled in my writing chair, slowly moving it backwards and forwards, his eyes never leaving my face.
‘I want to know when you will be writing another story for me?’ The corners of his mouth lifted slightly, along with one eyebrow. ‘I have missed seeing you every day, Jaye.’
My insides were melting fast, and right then I would have agreed to anything.
‘There is the small matter of a decent plot…’
He shrugged, as if that was of no consequence.
‘Do you have any idea how hard it is to create a plausible detective story?’
He stood up, towering over me as I sat on the uncomfortable visitor’s chair. ‘You have managed it very well up to now, Jaye. Anyway, I do have an idea, or rather a desire. My marriage is over, mainly because I cannot forget Kate. I want to find her again. You do know where she is?’
I was speechless, which was just as well, for I was desperately trying to imagine what Kate might be doing now. The last time I saw her, she was going to find somewhere to paint herself better. Supposing I couldn’t find her?
There was also the not so small matter of the work I was supposed to be doing. Like Anita’s new poetry book, and the impending release of her new fiction book, Running Moon.
As if he could read my mind, David Snow sat back down in my chair.
‘I know how busy you are, Jaye. You probably have several projects on the go, but I’m hoping writing a new story could be one of them. I’m not leaving until we have an agreement.’
To be continued
©JayeMarie 2020
For visually challenged writers, the image shows the green and rocky landscape, with a path leading up to a dark-mouthed cave.
Is the mind always tempted by darkness?
Why do we want to know what hides within?
The dark mouth of a cave asking me,
daring me to enter. An unknown portal waiting
To whisk my body and mind to a strange land
To visit new dimensions is inviting
My own private time machine
Would that I had HG to accompany me
I might brave the undergrowth, enter the darkness
I found myself staring at the stone form of a tiny wizard
with a man-like pendant around his neck
A good luck charm to ward off evil
His arm pointed towards the cave
It seems even the rocks are telling me
To see what lies within.
I feel like a strange version
Of my favourite cartoon character
Pepe Le Pew
The only difference I have
Is a yellow streak down my back
I think it is time to go home, leave the time travelling
To HG Wells…
The old lantern swung its yellow light
Outside number 9 Millpond road
When the moon was full
Alice gave birth to her son
Who screamed the night awake?
Wrapping him in the only linen she had
She walked out into the full moon night
The old yellow light fading behind her
Alice lay down and slept by the old woodpile
Would anyone find them, before the night
Stole their lives away?
An angel of the Lord found them there
Bright yellow moon lit their pale countenance
Their souls lifted from the poverty
that lay ahead of them…
The Outsider…
When I found out that one of my favourite authors had written a new story, and that it was being serialised on tv, I knew I had something good to look forward to. Having to wait for each episode might stretch my patience into a wafer, as I don’t like to stop reading when enjoying a good book, but I was already hooked.
Stephen King is best known for horror stories like Carrie, It, and The Shining.
Based on the first two episodes, The Outsider is a classic King story and in structure and tone, it feels more like a murder mystery than a horror story. Mild spoiler alert: it’s both.
What’s the story about?
The Outsider tells the story of the gruesome murder of a young boy in the fictional town of Flint City, Oklahoma. Detective Ralph Anderson (Ben Mendelsohn) investigates, though it’s not a tough case to crack as mountains of forensic and eyewitness evidence point to beloved local teacher and baseball coach Terry Maitland (Jason Bateman, who also executive produced the series and directed its first two episodes). But Maitland has a solid alibi for the crime, which means that it looks like Frankie was murdered by a man who was somehow in two places at once.
The series is loyal to the novel’s dryly grim tone, with Mendelsohn perfect as the weary but honourable small-town cop and Jason Bateman coolly moving as a man who’s watching his life explode in front of him. The first two episodes play out pretty much like the beginning of the book, slowly unfurling the mystery: after the discovery of Frankie Peterson’s body, witness after witness can tie local coach and family man Maitland to the crime. He was spotted offering the kid a ride in his van, and then later seen covered with blood. The crime scene is finger-painted in his prints, his blood type was present, too. But Maitland was also captured on video in a totally different town at the time the crime was committed, attending a teaching conference with countless colleagues who can all vouch for his presence. And his fingerprints are found at the conference site, too.
It would seem that the coach was in two places at the same time, but this can’t be possible, even for Stephen King. The title begs a question too, who is this outsider?
I will be reviewing The Outsider when the series ends…
This month’s photo prompt has been provided by Willow Willers.
One
Small sign
India
Celebrating
Painted hands dancing
Temple sounds in the air
Sweet spice filled markets, crowded
Smiling faces wait with greeting
Namaste, sunshine will bless your day
Painted hands take me back to India…
We are reviewing Robbie’s book as part of last weeks promotion on Streets Ahead Book Promotion… https://mewe.com/join/streetsaheadbookpromotionclub
Book 2 of the Sir Chocolate series: Sir Chocolate and Lady Sweet find a lost baby cookie monster. Join them on an adventure to return the baby to its mother and learn how to make some of their delicious recipes at the same time.
Robbie and Michael Cheadle love to cook.
I know this for I have watched them in action when I needed a recipe for a Christmas cake. I found an amazing video and watched as Robbie carried me through the most delightful cookery lesson. (and the cake I made was delicious!)
They love to write about the fondant characters they make too, featuring them in a lovely series of children’s books.
This review is for book two of the Sir Chocolate series, and I can’t wait to share the rest of the books with my grandchildren!
I would love to buy the series in paperback to get the full beauty of the illustrations and know I won’t be disappointed.
You should also check out Robbie’s website for more images and recipes from The World of Sir Chocolate… https://robbiesinspiration.wordpress.com
Already I am not enjoying 2020 much.
I don’t feel right and my brain is refusing to do anything constructive. Inspiration seems to be on holiday, and if I get any slower, I’ll be at a standstill.
The results of the mammogram I had just before Christmas hasn’t arrived yet, and until they do, I always fear the worse and this is probably affecting everything else.
Various appliances around the house are playing up and the kitchen light died last week. It’s one of those circular fluorescent tube lights and finding any replacement tubes is getting difficult. I really should replace it but can’t face doing it now.
So, the only light we have in the kitchen comes from the cooker hood, which is not ideal. You risk being poisoned in our house this week as I cannot see what I’m doing!
And can you guess how many times I have switched on the light and waited for it to come on?
The internet is being its usual annoying self, and I am getting so tired of nothing working the way it’s supposed to.
And finally, I have made an appointment at the opticians, as my eyes are tired, and the headaches are getting worse. I worry that they did something wrong when the cataract was removed last year, so best to get it checked out.
But…
The light tube turned up and I can now see what I’m doing in the kitchen.
The results of the mammogram turned up and ‘show nothing suspicious’ so I am delighted to be another year free from cancer. Four years now, so looking good!
Had my eyes tested again and will have to have new glasses as my eyes have changed again since the cataracts were removed last year. Two new pairs cost me a bloody fortune too, but I was assured that my eyes should settle down now.
No improvement in the brain /inspiration department, but at least I am trying to find a way around it. I mean, everything else seems to be on the up…
©Jaye Marie 2020
Image credit; Pixabay
In the stone circle stands a chance
To split dark from light
Offering the world below, fire
The blue moon whispering a warning
They are too young, they are not ready
Let them find their own way
You come too far from the future
To understand their way of life
Why hurry things along
When you have no way of knowing
What they might discover by time alone
Your world is driven by speed
Theirs is not, they hunt for food
They live, they are happy
Some might call it fate
I call it interference
As it has been through the ages
Name one culture that has been
Allowed to walk its own path
Wars, famine, floods have changed so much
Of what might have been
For once, I would like to see
Where they would travel by themselves
Without interference
I hear you all shouting
It was meant to be…
