THE NICHE - a story in 100 words

 

THE  NICHE

 The cottage was so cheap Auguste said there must be hidden faults, and he was proved right on our first night there.

Roof-joists groaned as if about to give way, but inspection proved them sound; pipes whistled and banged for no apparent reason.

The just-beneath-hearing whispers in the kitchen were the worst, and I tracked them down to a niche that resembled a walled-up window.

“Break it open,” I begged, “Something’s trapped in there.”

“And you want me to let it out? No way.”

So I hung garlic in front of it – a lot of garlic – and prayed.

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Of course it's only a niche built to hold an oil lamp, maybe - or is it? Thanks to Dale for this week's image, and to Rochelle for hosting Friday Fictioneers. 

How has your week been? I've been procrastinating, putting off the onerous task of learning how to publicise my books. It has to be done if I am to have any hope of people reading them, but I do wish there was an easier way :(  

If you haven't caught up with them yet, they are all available on Amazon - the link to my latest book is at the top of this page. Rock Festival is the final book in a series, which pulls together threads from the first three books - A Volcanic Race, Wolf Pack & Landslide. Buy the whole set to immerse yourself in another world - a world where the dangers are prehistoric and volcanic, not Covid-related!

ADVENT CALENDAR DAY 19 - ONLY WORN ONCE - a story in 100 words

Today I am combining my Advent Calendar with my weekly Friday Fctioneers' flash fiction.

The Advent challenge was to write a story, changing it as it progresses so that the ending is a surprise even to oneself. I suspect the lovely people who set these challenges have twisted minds!

SO - as the FF photo was first published five years ago, I have resurrected the story I wrote then, and changed it. Several times. I was thinking of making it a murder but it didn't turn out that way!

ONLY  WORN  ONCE

He removed the wrapping paper. "They're great - the right size, too," but he couldn't hide his disappointment. 

She smiled with relief - she couldn't afford the Berghaus boots he'd wanted. "You can wear them on holiday.”

As he expected, the boots rubbed, and halfway through their first hike he removed them, claiming his feet needed to breathe.

"Look at the view," she said.

"Never mind the view - I need a leak,” he said and vaulted over the wall. Not surprisingly, the hundred-foot drop killed him.

She coped well with the shock, finishing her holiday by the pool. 

When she arrived home she sold the boots on Ebay – ‘Only worn once’.

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Thanks to Rochelle for hosting Friday Fictioneers on her blog  https://rochellewisoff.com/  and to Adam Ickes for the photo of the boots. Looking back through my archives, I think the original of my story may even have been my very first stab at FF.

As our next photo prompt isn't due until December 26th, I will take this opportunity to wish all my readers a very Happy Christmas, and to remind you that a book makes a wonderful gift, to give to someone or to keep. My latest book WOLF PACK is now out on Amazon in print and ebook - you can find it by clicking on the book cover at the top of my page. WOLF PACK is the second in my Living Rock series, the first of which was A Volcanic Race.

MAYHEM - a story in ninety-five words.

MAYHEM

‘A beautiful soul’, they said, over and over, and her father agreed, forgetting the hours he had walked the streets searching, the money paid in bribes to save her from arrest, in fines when the bribes no longer worked, and the shame.

‘A dreadful loss’, they said, and her mother wept, regretting each bitter argument over stolen jewellery and housekeeping money, remembering only pudgy arms and baby kisses.

To carry her soul to heaven they launched floating candles, which set the forest alight – their daughter blazing a trail of mayhem even in death.

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A quick story this week again - the only piece of writing I've done in a flurry of painting walls, filling holes with Polyfilla, and a multitude of trips to the DIY shop. Yesterday I spent half an hour crouched beside the toilet. No, I had not over-indulged the night before - I was pushing filler into gaps behind pipes with my fingers because no tool would fit. The joys of moving house!

Thanks to Carla Bicomong for the photograph which is this week's Friday Fictioneers' prompt, and to Rochelle for organising us, despite her own crammed schedule, on https://rochellewisoff.com/
If you are on holiday, have a lovely time, and remember to pack a book. I have two on offer - Helter-Skelter, an historical novel which you can buy by clicking on the cover image on this page, and A Volcanic Race, a fantasy, also available on Amazon.

THE SLAVE GIRL - a story in a hundred words

THE SLAVE

 “Who will buy this lovely young virgin?”

“I will,” Petrus said and the hammer fell.

His home was a humble pottery in Stabiae, but a fig-tree shaded the yard, the kitchen was cool, and when Yani gave birth to a son, Petrus freed her.

One day he announced, “I go to sell pots in Surrentum,” and Yani said, “I will come too.”

Petrus stared as she packed all their belongings into the cart. “Shall I bring my wheel?” he joked.

She glanced at the mountain and shivered, clutching her child. “You can buy another – now hurry!”

They were ten miles away when Vesuvius erupted.

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Stabiae was a small village overlooking the Bay of Naples which, like Pompeii, was buried under metres of volcanic ash when Mt Vesuvius erupted.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stabiae
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I took this photograph on our village green at Halloween a couple of years ago - this was our local supermarket's offering to the festivities. Thanks to Rochelle for using another of my photos - I shall enjoy reading what the rest of Friday Ficitoneers thought of it. If you are not a FF contributor, you can find us by following the blue frog link from https://rochellewisoff.com/ - after you've left a comment here, of course.

And - if you click on the book cover at the top of this page, that link will take you to the Amazon page where you can buy my new book HELTER-SKELTER, which is the story of Albie, a boy growing up in Kent, South-east England, between the wars - a completely different genre from my last book, A Volcanic Race. For those of you who bought AVR, I am still working on the sequel and hope to publish it in time for Christmas.

THAT SONG - this week's one hundred word story

THAT  SONG

That song has made him millions over the years. Wonder what his fans would say if they knew I wrote it?

The summer of ’67, it was, when he was too spaced-out to sit up, let alone write a tune. He found it one day and played it, the band loved it, and it took off. Did he give me the credit? Not bloody likely!

He’s had four different wives since then, all young and thin.

The old goat didn’t even recognise me this morning, pushing the Hoover round the studio.

He’ll remember me tomorrow – I’ll make sure of that.

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Thanks as ever to Rochelle for hosting Friday Fictioneers on her blog  https://rochellewisoff.com/  and for taking the photo prompt this week. 

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And I have exciting news to share with you - my next book will be out on Amazon next week! 

Helter-Skelter is set in the first half of the 20th century, so it just qualifies as an historical novel, and is the story of Albie's search for his gypsy father after his mother abandons him at the tender age of twelve. 

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For those of you who read my first book, A Volcanic Race, and are eagerly anticipating the sequel, I have been working on Wolf Pack at the same time as completing Helter-Skelter. 

For those of you who didn't buy AVR because you 'don't read fantasy', perhaps I can change your minds?The book is definitely NOT sci-fi, and even people who only bought it out of friendship have enjoyed reading it!

FAMILY TREE - fiction in one hundred words

FAMILY TREE

Kirsty raised her glass to Andrew, mouthing “Happy anniversary” over the buzz of conversation – despite everything they’d made it through twenty-five years. With their first grandchild on the way, she was content, if not deliriously happy.

The dappled shade reminded her of a distant afternoon beside a river, making love hidden by willow tree fronds, young and carefree.

Careless, too. Her smile faded as she recalled the subsequent loss and heartache.

Andrew’s voice shattered her reverie. “Kirsty – who’s that young man?”

Kirsty could only watch, trembling, as the consequence of her stolen afternoon walked towards them across the lawn.

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This week's photo prompt comes from Fatima Fakier Deria via the good offices of Rochelle at https://rochellewisoff.com/  and is one of about 70 stories which you can find by following the links from her blog.

I was very pleased this week to find that my local library in West Sussex are now listing my novel A Volcanic Race, which I hope will lead to more people reading it before the sequel, which I am now working on, comes out. You can buy your own copy by clicking on the image of its cover on this page.

NAKED APES - one hundred words for Friday Fictioneers

NAKED  APES

Clinging to Pedro’s waist, Tom lifted his legs out of the water to reduce drag. As they raced downstream the banks became a blur, only the occasional streak of colour when a bird took flight breaking the monotony. Tom yelled with the sheer thrill of speed, his voice bouncing from the green walls.

As they rounded one of the many bends, he caught a glimpse of movement. Two creatures scrambled up the bank and vanished in an instant, but the sight burned into Tom’s brain – their mud-streaked bodies were naked, and they walked upright – just like the Humans in Grandfather’s bedtime story.

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When I saw this week's photo for Friday Fictioneers I couldn't think of a short story - until I thought of the book I am revising at the moment, and which needs an insert for the sake of continuity. So this is it - one day soon I hope to publish the entire book - A Volcanic Race.

Thanks to Rochelle at  https://rochellewisoff.com/ for organising rhe group, and to Karuna for the photo which reminded me of something I needed to write!

FINISHED!

I've got there at last. Two months ago I embarked on yet another rewrite of
A Volcanic Race, the first book I ever wrote, and I have finished it! This is not the final version, of course, but the novel is now in much better shape - leaner and faster-paced.
I wish I could say the same about myself as I pack for two weeks in England, where I shall be trying to keep up with my two grandsons. Yes, I know the weather's bad, but I've been missing my family.

"WRITE ABOUT WHAT YOU KNOW". This is sound advice, which I have chosen to ignore in A Volcanic Race. 
      I have never been to Africa, the continent on which I based some of my imaginary country. I have read books about it, seen National Geographic documentaries by the score, and made pages of research notes, but the nearest I have been is where I live now - Tenerife, a hundred miles off the west coast of Africa. We get the same searing heat in high summer, and some of the same plants, but the largest wild animal we have in Tenerife is the feral goat. So my imagination is free to roam.
Or so you would think.

The volcanic landscape of my adopted island inspired this novel, but despite my flights of fancy I have a strong streak of common sense which anchors me to logic. I created this imaginary country and its inhabitants, yet once I have taken that “What if?” leap into my fantasy world, within that framework I must remain consistent. It can be extremely annoying when I want a character to do something and my logical demon pops up saying “No – that won’t work.”
           But what can I do? One day my story - and the other books in the series - may reach a bookshop near you, and you'd be bound to notice if I made an error in logic, wouldn't you?

FINGERS CROSSED

I have emailed two submissions today.
A Strange Adoption - the book a professional critic said is "an extremely readable novel" - has gone in one direction, and A Volcanic Race - the first of my fantasy series - has gone in another.

Now all I can do is wait.

Or maybe not. I am halfway through re-writing Helter-Skelter in the hope that the agent who expressed an interest will give it another chance.

And then there is this blog, which seems to have lost all but a couple of followers.
Is there anyone there???

In case anyone is still following my ramblings, here is a photo of a wild flower I saw this morning. I have no idea what it is - it has some mean-looking spiky seed-cases for such a delicate flower.

Don't you agree?