#WEP #flashfiction, my story, LOVE SUCKS. Vamps in Paris.

Hello all!

How’s your April going? I hope those participating in the A-Z Challenge are having a ball. I’ve enjoyed reading many of your stories, but this coming week it’s all about WEP (Write…Edit…Publish) for me. The prompt is Road Less Traveled and it’s a mixture of prose and some sort of poetry.

Maybe it’s because I’m working furiously on my paranormal romance trilogy at the mo’, but my mind flew straight to a funky little flash I wrote for Romantic Friday Writers (400 words) in 2015. The characters have haunted me, LOL, so I dragged them out of their coffins, dusted them off, and let them tell a little more of their story. They will probably find themselves on a page or two in a flash fiction book I intend to write one day!

I’m early with my post, but a few have begun to post so I’m anxious to get my little ole story on the page. Hope you enjoy…

CAST OF CHARACTERS

Top left: Drac-Kulah, Top right: Dracula

Bottom left: Ruby Black, aka Snow White, Bottom right: Doc Marten.

 

 When you’ve lived for as long as moi, you crave change. Sometimes, you’ve just gotta find another way, another road. I’m done with sleeping all day in a room with velvet drapes drawn, hiding from you-know-what, microwaving blood when the street food lets me down.

What’s a vamp to do all century?

I know what you’re thinking:

Go haunt the streets, you sicko,

Suck the tourists dry.

Drink a few homeless.

Who’s gonna miss ‘em?

Who’s gonna cry?

Been there, done that. I need to shake things up a bit. I need another path. One less traveled.

As the sun dropped down from that oh-so-sicko-blue sky, I exited the hotel and sashayed down Montmartre’s glitter strip, feeling ever-so-hipster-ish.

Black cap sideways,

Baggy black trousers,

Black T-shirt under my

black shiny coat.

Hiding my black heart.

You get that I dig black, right?

Love Montmartre. My current Parisian area of interest. Well, current, doh. It’s been my favorite for a coupla hundred years. Is about the only suburb not razed by that sicko Baron Haussman. I like old things. Love Montmartre.

Tourists gawking,

Homeless hawking,

Blackboard artist chalking:

“ETERNITY”.

We’re on the same page, honey-childe.

Then suddenly, next door to that garish pretending-to-be-old reinvented mill, Moulin Rouge,

I see it: ‘A VENDRE’ – (‘FOR SALE’) if you haven’t mastered the fourteenth-most-popular language in the world.

But I digress. What happened next? Hang with me. Or not.

My synapses zapped.

My planets aligned.

A contract to sign.

Oh, happy day! Time for a moonwalk! Slip. Slide. Slap.

I’ve accumulated a tidy sum over the centuries, you know, so I can easily afford Parisian real estate. Compound interest compounds I read somewhere. No business degrees 400 years ago.

So before you could say,

‘More blood.

I’ll take it to go.

Make it quick, you know?’

The business belonged to moi. If you don’t know what moi means, pfft. Work on your language skills or get outta here.

The little bar was perfect — vamp chic –

Blood-red carpet,

Black walls, (or they will be)

Red bar counter,

Black halls.

Suited my little black er, heart.

The pictures clinched the deal –

Horror-movie posters

Murder and mayhem

on every wall.

Go me.

Buying this joint means I’ll no longer have to prowl the mean streets. The gendarmes can move on. Fight real crime. But now I got me my own gloomy little hidey-hole.

Let ‘em come to me.

Bar flies are tasteee

Full of good ole whiskee

au go go.

‘Ya not going to run this place by yaself, are ya?’

I jumped from dreaming of bar flies and admiring my Dracula poster which was so like looking in the mirror – Just kidding!

Black cloak,

Super handsome face,

Super handsome long locks

I’m ace!

Not that dude.

But like, wow! This chicka! Will you look at her! Just promenaded down my 15th Century wonkedy-wonkedy stairs! Right into my Venus fly trap.

Flowing black tresses,

Lush curves poured

into little black dress,

Black fishnet stockings.

Oh so shocking!

‘You offering your services, er, miss?’ I licked my lips. Tried not to look too obvious.

 “Ya, moi, who else? Ya blind or somethin’? I thought those black glasses ya wearin’ were, ya know, to hide ya red eyes.’

 This chicka was something else. If only she knew. Something more serious than the old chanvre (look it up!) going on here.

‘You look, like, twelve years of old. Shoot me some ID.’ I sunk into my oversized red leather chair.

 She whipped out the plastic.  ‘Looks can be deceivin’, busta. Ya look, like, nineteen, but ya might have baggy eyes behind those shades.’

 She winked at me, cheeky minx. I took them off so she could admire my handsomeness.

 I flipped the ID back at her, watched it twirl in its arc and land in her white little dewdrop hand. Fake as, who cared?

 I licked my lips, again. Gotta stop that. I ran my tongue around my teeth, getting ready for the big suck. I want this girl-child. She’s def on the menu tonight.

 ‘What d’ya think, Monsieur Slim Shady? I bin workin’ bars for many a yaah. Know sum tricks, I do.’

 ‘It’s not that kind of bar. It’ll be a clean operation. And speak English or French or something. You’re a cross between American Western and Eliza Dolittle.’

 ‘Forgit the pop culture, Pop. A clean operation?’

 ‘Drinks, tapas, music…’

 ‘Rap? Classical? Country? What do French people like?’

 ‘Never mind. Too long a story for now. What’s your name?’ I clasped her black-gloved hand. ‘I’m Drac Kulah.’

 ‘Really? A dark character.’

 ‘Really.’ I hope she digged the deep, dark tone.

 ‘Well I’m Ruby Black, but I go by—’

 ‘Let me think. Snow White?’

 ‘Right on Drac. Hilaarrious. Aren’t we a pair!’

 ‘You’re hired. No funny business or you’ll be out on your pretty butt.’

 ‘My butt’s pretty? I don’t think ya s’posed ta say that anymore.’ She twirled.

Black lacy dress flowing

like waves

around her thighs.

A tantalizing glimpse of

shapely snow-white leg and

a flash of lacy black knickers.

But her Doc Marten’s are kickers.

‘That’s not all I got.’ She sidled up and grabbed me around the neck, her gloved fingers tugging my black ‘do.

 Who needs to go hunting? This tasty morsel’s mine. Right here. Right now. A gift from er, the gods. An entrée before the main.

Woo hoo to me.

Boo hoo for her.

Taking her in my steely arms, I aimed my sharp little popping-down fangs at her jugular, then…wow! Where’s her throbbing pulse! Where’s my drink?

‘Ha, I knew ya were the Real Slim Shady, you dark, evil, blood-suckin’ sicko.’

 I knew the minute she walked in, but you probably think I’m lying. As if a vamp would lie. I’ve learned a thing or two in 400 years. I know everything. I’ve read all the literature on the planet. Just wanted to see how this new road played out. Like that Robert Frost guy said in a poem I read on the internet, “two roads diverged”. Then whammo!

WORDS: 994
FCA

Hope you had as much fun reading this as I had writing it. This is a WEP (Write…Edit…Publish) post for the April WEP challenge, Road Less Traveled.  Travel over to WEP and sign up there if you have an entry that would suit.

December WEP challenge – The End is the Beginning – another story set in Paris.

Whoa! December already! Time for holiday celebrations a’plenty. Also time for the final WEP (Write…Edit…Publish) challenge for 2017. We’ve already prepared all the challenges for 2018, so if you enjoy a writing challenge, go HERE to read all about it. We’d love to have you.

The December WEP challenge is The End is the Beginning. Pretty open, wouldn’t you say? The blurb said: 

A flashback? A new start? A cascading change? A branching off point? An end and a beginning? Celebrate year’s end with us!

Here I am, all fuelled up after my latest sojourn in Paris, so of course, my flash fiction is set in that beautiful city. It’s probably more suited to Romantic Friday Writers, but, heck, what’s wrong with a bit of romance? My story offers a new start, an end and a beginning,

 The City Where Love Lived and Died

It’s our wedding day. May 25, 2011. The most romantic day of my life is finally here and I’m spending it in the most romantic city in the world. Ooh la la! Can I take it all in? Everywhere I look there is beauty – Notre Dame’s aged bricks and soaring buttresses being kissed by sunset – the lock-filled bridge, the Pont des Arts that joins the Left Bank and Right Bank – lovers sharing wine and baguettes, dangling their legs in the Seine and throwing bread to the ducks.

As I walk beside the river, my candy pink dress with its French Poodle embroidery flares around my knees. Pink satin heels complement my black net stockings. I clutch the tiny posy of white roses which my darling Mitch handed to me on the steps of the town hall, known here as the mairie. Their scent envelopes me as I walk arm in arm with my beautiful man feeling oh so French.

Mitch, so handsome in his black suit, kisses the white gold and diamond ring on my finger – Could this day get any better?

‘Let’s do it!’ he says.

We walk to our chosen spot midway across the Pont des Arts. Mitch reaches into his pocket and flips the copper lock in his hands.

We gaze at the token as if it were made of solid gold.
‘I had it engraved,’ he says.

Wrapping my arms around his waist, I read the inscription – ‘Capt’nFlynn, Mastarata  25-May-2011’.

Yes, this day could get better. ‘You used our special names.’

We loop the lock over the wire and click it shut. Mitch reaches for me and we kiss. I hear a passing tourist snap our photo. I giggle, wondering if they’ll give it a caption: The Kiss.

‘Let’s come back every year to celebrate our wedding anniversary,’ I say.

‘I can’t think of any better way to celebrate our love,’ Mitch says.

We kiss again to seal the deal.

☁☁☁

As I cross the bridge between the Latin Quarter and Notre Dame, I think to myself how apt it is that the skies are all smudgy, not that brilliant Parisian grey-blue of two years ago.

Nevertheless, I came here for a reason, no matter how painful. I hold my breath as I stand on the timber deck of the Pont des Arts once again and search through the multitude of love locks. It’s a wonder the bridge doesn’t collapse under this weight of metal.

Finally, there it is – still bright and shiny in the gloom. I pick it up and rub my thumb over our pet names.

Ironic.

I attach the tiny plastic envelope to the lock handle, then I collapse onto a bench and sob for our fractured love.

Darling Mitch

I could have trusted you instead of showering you with jealousy.

I could have travelled with you instead of putting my career first.

I could have forgiven you instead of throwing you out without listening to you.

Your Dearest Polly

We were meant to be together, forever.

 I stroll along the Seine, then order mussels in garlic cream sauce at what was our favourite restaurant in the Latin Quarter. When the attentive waiter brings the bowl of dark, half open shells, pours my wine and places the bread basket before me, I cannot eat or drink.

It’s futile to retrace steps from the past; those steps have been obliterated with time.

                                                                 ☁☁☁

The 17^th Century Hotel le Relais is not at all romantic without Mitch. Climbing the winding stairs is just a leg-numbing chore. Surely they could install a lift.

The fifth floor at last. The Romantic Room with the etched carvings on the ancient door. From the window I’ll be able to gaze at Notre Dame and watch the old lady turn golden in the sunset, watch the tourists snapping pictures, watch the thousands entering her Gothic doors, hoping to find solace as they gasp at the beauty of the rose window.

I take a deep breath and rattle around with the ancient key.

The door opens before I find the slot. I step back in fright, clasping my chest and breathing jerky breaths.

‘Mitch! What are you doing here?’

‘Same as you, I imagine.’

‘But—’

‘I read your letter.’

‘Then you—’

He holds out our wedding album.

I’d left it on the desk under the window.

‘I saw this. How could I have put what we have at risk? I’m a fool.’

‘Marrying you was the happiest day of my life. That album reminds me of our special day.’

‘I’m sorry sweetheart. It wasn’t you who needed reminding, it was me. I’ll do better. What I did was despicable, but…will you take me back? I’m so sorry. I love you…I love you…’

I entwine my arms around his neck and soak his beautiful white shirt with my tears.

‘I love you Mitch. I don’t want a life without you. I’ve missed you so…’

His arms feel so right, around me where they belong – could this day get any better?

It’s about to.

NOTE: The ‘love locks’, despised by most of the French population, were removed from the Pont des Arts on June 1, 2015. When I returned this visit, I was happy to see that Pont Neuf is now adorned with ‘love locks’. Obviously, the City of Love didn’t want to be known as the City Where Love Died.

WORDS: 844
FCA

Love locks on the Pont Neuf – corridors and corridors of them leading down to the Seine. Taken by moi in September, 2017.

PLEASE click on names at WEP which have DL next to them for more entries.

Thanks for reading.

Happy Holidays!

Denise

#IWSG post — If you could backtrack anything in 2017, what would you do differently?

Hello all! Remember me? I’ve missed the past two IWSG posts, being busy meeting writing deadlines and travelling. So I’m glad to be back and look forward to reconnecting and doing a great lot of reading.

Alex’s awesome co-hosts for the December 6 posting of the IWSG are Julie Flanders,Shannon Lawrence, Fundy Blue, and Heather Gardner! Try to visit if you have the time.

I went to the IWSG Page and checked out the question of the month, something I don’t usually do, but I think it’s a great idea when you’re stumphhed for what to be insecure about, LOL!

So here’s the December 6 question – 

As you look back on 2017, with all its successes/failures, if you could backtrack, what would you do differently?

 There is always the benefit of hindsight, but if I had known I’d have 2 publishers asking for my full manuscript for my ‘An American in Paris’ women’s fiction, I wouldn’t have planned a 5-week holiday right after the RWA conference, which left me scarcely any time to write. 

But it was kinda cool working on my story from my cruise ship balcony as we powered through the Aegean and Ionian Seas passing by the Greek Islands. I’ll never have that experience again. So, no matter if I was tardy delivering my manuscript to Avon and Tule, and they toss it in the rubbish bin because it took me 2 months to get it to them, I had a magical time.

 No matter what, I’m a writer, so I’m insecure. I’ve plenty of projects to work on while waiting on the powers-that-be. I’m revamping my paranormal story, getting a chapter done of book two, so I can include it when I re-publish my Under the Tuscan Moon as Vampire Obsession.

• So, now tell me, are you insecure about anything?

• What would you change about 2017 if you could?

Thanks for coming by…

Now, a shout out for WEP (Write…Edit…Publish). We posted our December challenge on Dec 1st. If you’d like to write something for us, we post on Dec 20th or before. You can visit WEP and check it out. We also have all our challenges prepared for 2018. All is revealed HERE.

#Write…Edit…Publish (#WEP) August challenge – REUNIONS. My #flashfiction #FF

It’s time for Write…Edit…Publish again. This month of August, the challenge has been set by Nilanjana Bose–Reunions.

I’ve been inspired into a magical foray for this one, a flash fiction piece, as always. My first thoughts were of The Kiss by Rodin and checking out the backstory for all those The Kiss statues in various places–St Pancreas station, Times Square, Milan, Paris–but the stories weren’t what I was looking for. Here’s my story instead … sorry it’s slightly over 1,000 words …

The Reunion

Charlotte scarcely remembered the long bus ride from the city through the rugged countryside, so focused was she on seeing Jack again.

‘We’re here,’ the driver said. ‘You’re being met?’

‘Yes,’ Charlotte said, as she slashed her lips with the bright red shade Jack loved.

Slinging her black tote over her shoulder, she thanked the driver who’d come to the door to help her alight.

‘Are you sure about this, lady?’ he asked. ‘People who wander into the bush often never wander out again.’

‘I’ll be fine.’

‘No luggage then, love?’

‘Not this trip.’

‘Are you sure you’re at the right place? There’s no one here.’

‘He’ll come.’

‘But no one lives here. All the houses were bulldozed years ago. There’s nothing left.’

Charlotte smiled and turned away, slipping a pill under her tongue. ‘Thanks for bringing me this far, young man. I know it’s out of your way.’ She handed him a tiny red rose from the posy she carried.

He twirled the flower. ‘I’ll come back. One? Two hours?’

‘Thanks, but no. You can be on your way now.’

Charlotte walked away, tugging her bright red coat around her shoulders. The last leg of her journey stretched ahead.

The track was once a well-maintained gravel road and there’d been shacks amongst the trees, but now it was no better than a goat track.

It was hard going, but she made it to Gulliriviere, the tiny settlement where she once lived with Jack. It’d been named by Irish ex-convicts who were used to plentiful rains in their home country. How flummoxed they were by a river that bore nothing but gravel year after bitter year.

Further into the bush she trudged, her steps slowing, away from the desolation of the little street where houses were sacrificed for a lumber mill that was never built.

Logging.

Controversial even then.

As she passed by, the eucalyptus trees rustled their arms in salute.

Home.

But home had left. Only the scraggly beauty of nature remained. Where once their cabin stood smugly, framed by the white picket fence Jack built and the fragrant flowers she planted and lovingly tended, there was … nothing.

‘Jack,’ she whispered, ‘there’s no clue we ever lived here … Oh … but I’m wrong. Look!’

Charlotte creaked to her knees before her tatty rose bush, hanging on after all these years. She tugged out weedy grasses, revealed tiny closed buds, then inhaled the earthy smell. ‘Not everything’s gone, my darling Jack.’ She lay the posy beside the rose bush, memories flooding her head.

She recalled her twenty-three-year old self following her love to his rough-hewn shack in Outback Queensland. It was two hours’ drive to the nearest town and a light plane trip to Brisbane twice a year. She loved the koala who lived in the tree nearby, she loved the solitude and yes, she even loved the big red kangaroos who nibbled the green shoots in her garden, looking cheekily at her over their shoulders as they loped away.

She’d set her easel amongst the trees and paint miniatue bush flora until the sun set on the faraway horizon. Her paintings would hang in art galleries in Australia and the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris long after she was gone.

Living in the bush had been good.

Leaving it had not.

After their cabin had been razed to the ground, they’d relocated to Byron Bay. Plenty of flora for her to paint, but Jack had to fly in/fly out to continue his work on the western Droughtmaster grazing property.

‘Hello, Madam Charlie,’ Jack would greet her at the airport. Tossing his duffle bag in the *boot, he’d hurry to the passenger door, wrench it open. ‘Come here,’ he’d growl, kissing her over and over much to the delight of the traffic inspector.

Their only argument was over his retirement.

‘No, Charlotte, I won’t retire. I’m only sixty-five. Our experiment with the new Droughtmaster breed is ongoing. Perhaps when it’s done …’

***

Midnight.

Phone call.

Frank Mangin, Jack’s boss.

‘I’m sorry, Mrs Sandilands … Jack’s gone … Heart attack.’

The bed caught her as she fell.

‘He wasn’t alone. We were working in the study.’

Only garbled noises came out of her mouth.

‘Can I call someone?’

Clunk! The phone hit the floor, but she could still hear Frank screaming at her.

‘Mrs Sandilands? I’m calling someone.’

‘No!’ No one could put her back together.

‘Mrs Sandilands! Jack had a message for you. He said, and I wrote it down—um—Tell Charlie to come to the shack.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘Yes. I know your home at Gulliriviere is long gone. But that’s the message.’

‘Thanks, Frank.’

If Jack wanted her at the shack, then to the shack she would go…

***

Still kneeling at the rose bush, she took the gold fob watch out of its pouch and let it drop into her palm. She’d bought it years ago to give to Jack when he retired. It was a work of great artistry, with minute patterns painstakingly etched into every chain link. She read the inscription:

To Jack, my wild Colonial Boy! Yours ever, Charlie. XX

She brought it to her lips, kissed it, just as the first pain hit.

***

The rose bush bloomed with blood-red roses. The fragrance enveloped her as it mingled with sweet summer smells.

‘Charlie!’

With the sweet fragrance of roses whirling around her, she ran through the tall grasses, trailing her fingers over the white, silky flowers. He’d be waiting by the creek just ahead, beyond the grey houses.

She hesitated at the stand of weeping willows, their lush tendrils like dishevelled hair as they caressed the surface of the water.

Then she saw him—her Jack—running through the willows, pushing aside the graceful drapery. He hurried towards her—arms outstretched—welcoming her home.

She held out the fob watch and beckoned her love.

They gazed into each other’s light-kissed eyes, marvelled at their sun-painted limbs, overjoyed at the beauty they saw in each other. He took the gold object from her soft, smooth hand, then they strolled away hand in hand across the sparkling water, fading from sight in a gentle swirl of silvery mist.

*trunk

The End

Words: 1037

FCA

©DeniseCCovey2016

 

Thanks to Olga Godim for the badge!

If you would like to join us, sign up at the Write…Edit…Publish website. To read more entries, click on those with DL (Direct Link) after the name.

Don’t forget–our next challenge is in October–Halloween! Wooo hooo…

#IWSG day — Sure I’m insecure, who isn’t? AUGUST IS BIG, SO BIG FOR ME!

Hello friends!

I missed last month’s IWSG as my favorite aunty took ill. Unfortunately, she passed away, so I was too busy to think about posting on my blog.

But I’m back for August’s post. I love the August question:

What are your pet peeves when reading/writing/editing?

I’d rather not get started on this one — but really, I’m always against all the rules for emerging writers which the big guys break all the time.

And these broken rules don’t hurt the story.

Lately, every book I’ve picked up has got a Prologue (you know what we get told, right? Wrong. I love prologues but I’d be afraid to write one.) And backstory–you know how we get told to just insert it like splinters of glass–hey ho, I agree. Several books I’ve read recently start with a lot of backstory, whoa, pages and pages, yawn, yawn. Yeah. Readers don’t really want to be bombarded with lots of the old stuff that happened pre-story, they want to keep ploughing along in the moment. Except those who read best-sellers, apparently, LOL!

Thanks to Alex J Cavanaugh and his team for keeping the IWSG on the road. This month he has the assistance of several luminaries:

Christine Rains, Dolarah @ Book Lover, Ellen @ The Cynical Sailor, Yvonne Ventresca, and LG Keltner!

If you have time, do pay each a visit.

So, what am I insecure about this month?

Well, August is very important to me and my writing.

It actually starts today (July 27th when I was writing this post) with the IWSG pitch contest. Well, Australian time it’s 10 pm tonight – 10am tomorrow. Insecurity to the max and black circles under eyes, anyone?

Hey, I totally suck at selling anything, but I’m giving it a shot.

It’s all over by now. I know some of you got ‘favorited’ by editors/publishers. I got ‘favorited’ by a publisher who I later found out was a vanity publisher who wanted money up-front. I hope no one else got taken in by them. It disturbed me that they were allowed in the pit. Now, moving on… The next scariest thing happens from August 11 – 13th. This is theRomance Writers of Australia’s conference, luckily held in Brisbane — just a short stroll across the river from where I live when I’m in town. It’s going to be MASSIVE for me as I’ve just finished my Paris women’s fiction. Well, as finished as it can be before 600 more rewrites. And my next trip to Paris in September to check my locations for my sequel… So, I’ve written a Synopsis with the help of my critters, touched up my bio and air-brushed my photo (just kidding) and sent my manuscript to the Director of Avon Romance/William Morrow who’s attending the conference. I’ve paid for a 15-minute session where she’s going to assess my manuscript. Altogether terrifying and wonderful. This is what she’s looking for in case any of you are sitting on a ms that might suit Avon. They do take unsolicited mss for their Avon Impulse digital first line. CARRIE FERON – AVON

Executive Editor, Senior Vice President

1. Which areas/imprints are you actively acquiring for?High concept historicals, historical romance, psychological suspense, women’s fiction 2. What subgenres are you currently seeking?Single Title, Contemporary and Historical 3. What kind of writing will especially pique your interest?I love writing with a very strong voice. 4. What are you not looking for, so we don’t waste your time and ours?Literary fiction, SF, YA 5. What would you love/hate to see pitched to you?Something with a great hook. So, here’s hoping my story is just what she’s been searching the globe for. Now added to the session with Carrie Feron, I have a 5-minute pitch to Tule Publishing A session with a publisher with only 9 attendees 15 minutes with Google 15 minutes with Draft2Digital and 3 days of fabulous workshops with fabulous people in between. So, you get it? My August is going to be OUTTA THIS WORLD (even if Carrie says no thanks)! And there’s more: I haven’t neglected my Write…Edit…Publish friends. (Well, maybe just a little…) We have a new challenge which opened yesterday. If you’d like to try your hand at flash fiction, non-fiction, poetry, photography, artwork, join our REUNIONS challenge. An excerpt from a WIP is totally fine if it suits the prompt. I know we’re going to get our heartstrings tugged here. CLICK on the SUBMIT button in my right-hand sidebar or trot across to WEP and add you name to the list. There you’ll find some extra help to participate in this awesome prompt, dreamed up by Nila Bose and the badge created by Olga Godim. C’mon. Make my August and yours even better!

Write…Edit…Publish — April challenge — Peace and Love — my flash fiction. Peace and Love and Pomegranates, set in Afghanistan.

Hello! It’s time for the Write…Edit…Challenge. Today, you’ll find some bloggers who participate in the A-Z, using their ‘P’ day to write to the WEP prompt, PEACE & LOVE. April is poetry month, but we’re not asking people to write poetry if that’s not their forte. It’s certainly not mine; I’ll leave it to the experts.

Today, my flash fiction is inspired by the poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, the poem which is the inspiration for the WEP challenge. With a light hand, I’ve sprinkled some of the sentiments throughout my story.

I’m a day early, but WEP likes early entries so the reading is spread over the week. So, here we go…

PEACE AND LOVE

There are two angels, messengers of light,
Both born of God, who yet are bitterest foes.
No human breast their dual presence knows.
As violently opposed as wrong and right,
When one draws near, the other takes swift flight,
And when one enters, thence the other goes.
Till mortal life in the immortal flows,
So must these two avoid each other’s sight.
Despair and hope may meet within one heart,
The vulture may be comrade to the dove!
Pleasure and Pain swear friendship leal and true:
But till the grave unites them, still apart
Must dwell these angels known as Peace and Love,
For only Death can reconcile the two.

Poetical works of Ella Wheeler Wilcox. by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Edinburgh : W. P. Nimmo, Hay, & Mitchell, 1917.

Peace and Love and Pomegranates

I dedicate this story to all those caught up in war, terrorism and other atrocities, to whom peace is a distant dream.

Outside was a sun-baked, bright-skied Afghan day, the kind where Hallie itched to be outdoors. She dreamed of driving her beat-up Toyota to the green-folded mountains that surrounded the city of Kabul. From her vantage point overlooking the valley, she wouldn’t see the scars, the emptiness, the bombed-out places.

She smoothed her purple satin bedspread, then dusted the candlesticks in their hand-blown glass containers and placed them beside her bed. Then she knelt, head in hands and prayed. Would her prayers be answered today? It’d been weeks since he left on his clandestine mission of peace in a country that had never really known peace.

She hurried downstairs where the lunch crowd was multi-tasking—gulping espresso from colourful demitasse cups, sipping mint green tea from long glasses, wolfing down Shari’s food, while scanning newspapers for the latest news on those opposing forces, President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani and the Taliban.

She despaired of this Islamic republic achieving peace in her lifetime. This was a land of warriors. Warriors needed wars.

She stood at the bottom of the stairs and chewed her thumb, admiring the brown door Bosco had built for her before he went away to investigate the latest bomb blast in Kandahar.

“It has to be at least a foot thick,” he’d said, “or the NGOs will no longer authorise you as a safe restaurant.” He’d hammered in the last nail, then stepped back to admire his handiwork. She knew he wanted her safe, but they both knew the only protection between her café and the treacherous streets of the city was a flimsy wall. Just last week her front windows had been shattered by a random blast at the nearby food markets. The gaping holes mocked her—You’re next, they whispered.

The room hushed. Westerners in suits and jeans and locals in shalwaar kameezes and turbans turned towards the brown door which her security man, Asmaan, pushed open. They studied the new arrival as he ambled towards the counter like he was taking a casual stroll through Central Park. He looked exotic in this setting—tall, blond hair, dressed in black, eyes hidden behind wraparound Ray Bans. A machine gun hung over his shoulder, a sidearm swung from each hip and who knows what was hidden in his boots.

                                                                                                

Maybe he’d come for a plate of Shari’s Qabli Pulao, or perhaps some qorma, a platter of melon from Mazar-e-Sharif? No, more likely pomegranates from Kandahar. 

Hallie clutched the counter until her legs stilled. “Hey there cowboy!” She held out her arms. “Can we trade? Guns for lunch?”

He was so close he could touch her.

He crushed her in his arms, kissing her breathless…hmm, imagination was a wonderful thing.

He scoped the room, then handed his armoury to Asmaan, who stashed it under the counter. Behind his shades, Hallie felt his eyes daring her to search him for the knife and pistol she knew he had strapped to his thigh.

“Now, what’ll it be, cowboy?” Hallie gestured to the table near the door, where he liked to sit and watch the comings and goings. As they walked, she pressed closer to him until his leg brushed hers. His black shirt strained at buttons her fingers itched to rip; those broad shoulders…she longed to massage away the knots; that bronco belt buckle, oh Lord… She dropped into a chair, breathing in short gasps, pushing her heart back into her chest.

He sat opposite, grinning. He knew her so well. He pushed his shades on top of his head. His black eyes lingered on her freshly-washed hair which fell to her shoulders in a mass of red curls she hadn’t tried to straighten, then moved to her breasts, which pushed impertinently against the bodice of the floaty dress she’d bought at the market.

“I’m not hungry for food, Hallie,” he growled, shuffling his chair closer to hers.

“No? Look at everyone stuffing their faces. Ta da!” She snapped her fingers. “The best food in Kabul. A fresh shipment of pomegranates arrived this morning.”

“I brought you some.” He seemed enthralled by her twitchy hands. He couldn’t touch her here with the local men watching their every move through slitted eyes, but even so, she could feel his fingers closing over hers, the strength of his grip, the warmth of his breath mingled with hers.

“My darling,” he whispered in that sexy tone she loved. “’The heavens set your appetites in motion’, Dante says. My appetites can’t be slaked by Shari’s food.”

“Is that right, cowboy?” Hallie wanted out of here, wanted his hands on her. She pushed away her chair and walked towards the stairs…fast, feeling every male eye boring into her back.

Asmaan stood, gun across his chest, guarding the stairs. “May Allah hear your prayers,” he said. Hallie blinked at him. He winked at her.

As soon as they reached the landing, Bosco scooped her into his arms and ran with her into the bedroom. The sound of his boot kicking the door charged the air with their need.

This was why she stayed. Hallie had followed him to one of the most dangerous countries in the world, terrifying her parents, her friends. But she’d never leave while Bosco was here…

***

The muezzin’s call to prayer woke her. She could still feel Bosco all over her—the desperation in his kisses, the pressure of his arms wrapped around her, the delicious scent of him.

She clutched the silken sheet around her shivering body. Night was falling, shaking the last light from the dusty air. The cooing of laughing turtledoves in the rooftops clashed with the wop-wop-wop of helicopters overhead.

He was gone. Like the pomegranates they’d fed each other in her bed. She was as empty as the champagne flutes that had overflowed with sparkling stars as they’d toasted those angels of peace and love, while knowing that only death could reconcile the two.

Salaamat! Hallie joined her prayers with thousands across the troubled city. “Be safe, my darling.”

Then, the bomb.

Close. Too close.

Her windows shattered.

The acrid smoke burned her lungs.

She clutched her heart.

You’re next!

Oh, the pleasure and pain.

I hope you enjoyed my story for Poetry Month. Click on the links with a DL (Direct Link) after the name in my sidebar for more entries in the April WEP challenge or go to the WEP website.  


And thrilling news! Yolanda Renee’s new story, The Snowman, is out on Amazon in e-book and print. If you love detective thrillers, you’ll love Yolanda’s book. Go HERE to read a free sample, then make Yolanda’s day — BUY! 

#IWSG post – Do you use a pen name?

Time for the April IWSG. Thank you to Alex J Cavanaugh and his side kicks for the month–Christopher D. Votey,Madeline Mora-Summonte, Fundy Blue, and Chrys Fey! 

Man, did I ever get a nasty surprise this morning when I checked whether my IWSG post had gone live–it’d disappeared. You can imagine my frustration. I’d prepared it a few weeks ago so I could clear my slate for an April write fest.

I really don’t have the heart to redo the whole thing with pictures etc, so I’ll just get to the question of the day–no, not the suggested question about whether I’ve ever used the A-Z to market a book–my question today is ‘what do you think of pen names/pseudonyms?’ I’ve been thinking of republishing under a pen name after attending a Joanna Penn workshop–she publishes under Joanna Penn for her non-fiction and as J.F. Penn for her fiction. She says it helps Amazon to target readers for the different genres.

So then I started researching, as you do, and was quite surprised at the authors who use more than one name. Who would have thunk?

• Stephen King (his real name) writes Horror. He also writes as Richard Bachman, Eleanor Druse, Steve King, and John Swithen. Check them out!

• Jack Higgins (his pseudonym) writes Mystery. He also writes as Martin Fallon, James Graham, and Hugh Marlowe.

• Issac Asimov (his real name) wrote Science Fiction. He also wrote as Paul French and George E. Dale.

• J.K Rowling (her real name) writes her Cormorant Strike detective series under the pen name Robert Galbraith — that secret was soon revealed!

• Barbara Michaels (her pseudonym) writes gothic and supernatural Thrillers. She also writes as Elizabeth Peters.

• Nora Roberts ( born Eleanor Marie Robertson) writes as J. D. Robb for her Death series and under the pseudonym Jill March. She calls herself Sarah Hardesty in the UK. Fascinating!

• Alistair MacLean (his real name) writes Mystery. He also writes as Ian Stuart.

• Eboni Snoe (her pseudonym) writes African-American Romance.

And of course, there’s many, many more…

• So, the question is — why do these successful authors use pen names? I’m sure they’re not insecure about too much. Why then? Is it just about different genres, or are there other reasons? 

• Do you think the extra work involved (new blog, new social media etc) is worth it to write under a pen name? I’ve had people tell me yes, people tell me no.

We at WEP would love it if you sign up for our challenge on April 19th – “P” day for the A-Z. You can so do both…sign up over at Write…Edit…Publish.

 

Thanks for taking time in your busy schedule to visit me!

It’s time for cyclones in Queensland, the A – Z Challenge…and…Write…Edit…Publish challenge!

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It’s April!

Not the time I should be sitting out the tail end of a cyclone (hurricane, typhoon, whatever name you call it). They used to hit in Queensland at Christmas, but now with the changing climate and our summers dragging on for six hot months instead of three, they can hit for a much longer time. So I’m listening to rain and wind and watching things flap around. The schools are closed, the shops closed at midday and some towns have been evacuated. The worst is supposed to be over by midnight tonight, so only 9 hours to go, LOL. Much of the Queensland coast has been damaged badly, but as always, we’re resilient–have to be. The clean up has already begun north of me in the hardest-hit areas and the good news is that as far as is known, nobody has been seriously hurt. (UPDATE: one woman has drowned…)

Time for a different kind of fast and furious if you’re doing the A-Z…planning themes, planning posts, posting posts and the furious round of commenting.

All a bit much for me, I’m afraid. But I applaud you for your diligence and I know you just love it! I participated in the early days, but now I spend April working on my writing projects. I’ve put up a whiteboard in my writing room to keep track.

Many of you who participate in Write…Edit…Publish (WEP) flash fiction, non-fiction, poetry, photography challenges are also doing the A – Z and this year have asked specifically to do a “P” post on April 19, “P” day for the A – Z. So we’ve listened.

In my sidebar you’ll see today is the day to sign up for the WEP challenge, whether or not you’re in the A – Z. April is also Poetry Month, so we’ve chosen a poem called PEACE and LOVE for our inspiration, paying particular attention to the lines: “Despair and hope may meet within one heart.”

And we offer a $10 Amazon gift card to the entry that catches our eye:

I know most of you will have your A – Z posts pre-scheduled, but if you can find a way to link it to the WEP, go right ahead. If you’d like me to visit you during the month, in the comments tell me your theme and I’ll do my best to pop over.

Thank you for coming by.

I wish you a fruitful April–meet and follow new bloggers, learn stuff, but don’t exhaust yourself too much.

Another exciting happening is the We are the World blogfest where bloggers are taking over social media with positive posts. I found a sign up list HERE at Writer in Transit, Michelle’s blog. Her first post is HERE.

Book Review – Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See

Quills Writing Tuition

Undersized, snowy-haired German orphan Werner, is a genius with radios. He and his feisty little sister Jutta are wards in Frau Elena’s children’s home. At night they listen to radio receiver that Werner found and restored and, sometimes, the enchanting feathery voice of a French man talking about light makes them dream that anything is possible.

Blind French girl Marie-Laure is growing up in Paris, where her father, who guards the keys in the Museum of Natural History, has made a model of Paris to help her feel her way around the streets.

The war is pressing down on them both. It will provide Werner with the unexpected opportunity to attend an elite but brutal school from where he is dragged, too young and too small, into the confict. Marie-Laure will find herself under the roof of her reclusive damaged uncle in an ancient walled city of Saint-Malo.

The story…

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All the best of 2016–What does your list look like?

Hi there!

2016. 

The year that was. 

Tough. 

The great humanitarian crises in Syria and other Middle Eastern countries, the rise of nationalism in Germany, the terror threats/incidents in France, Germany, Iraq and Turkey and so on, multiple terror threats thwarted in Australia over Christmas, Brexit in Britain, Trump in the US, a killer president in the Philippines…oh, wow, get those fireworks happening! 

I’m not into New Year’s Resolutions. Why shoot myself in the foot? But I rather enjoy thinking about what’s been good in the past year while at the same time wondering what the New Year will bring. If you’d like to write your own list of My Best in the comments, that’d be awesome!

BEST…

MOBILE APP: Tinybeans (a baby-picture sharing app for those who don’t want their baby’s pictures all over the internet). My daughter is a social worker and sees too many wacky things. She chooses not to share photos of her baby, my one and only shiny grandchild. It’s tough for me as he is the most gorgeous little fellow, but I totally understand.

INTERVIEWER: CNN’s Christian Amanpour. Love the way she takes on the biggies and crooks of the world and at times squeezes a little truth out of them.

DOCUMENTARY: Utopia, produced by John Pilger. A very, very disturbing trip through central Australian aboriginal communities, showing the long history of mainly white abuse and how the situation is even worse than it was in the ’60s despite millions of $$$ being spent. Unbelievable.

BOOK I READ: THRILLER – I Am Pilgrim, by Terry Hayes. I hated being so fascinated by the evil, but it felt a reality in our world.

MOVIE: The Light Between Oceans, based on an early Australian true story of a young couple living in a lighthouse on a remote Western Australian island who find and keep a baby who washes up on the shore. Tragic.

BINGE WATCHING:

NETFLIX TV SHOW: The Killing, House of Cards

TV SHOWS: The Good Wife/Madam Secretary

OVERSEAS TRAVEL: China, although it took me 2 weeks to get the pollution out of my system.

WITHIN AUSTRALIA TRAVEL: Sydney/Hunter Valley Wine Region

THINGS ABOUT MOVING BACK TO THE BEACH: Watching whales frolicking from my deck, growing my own tomatoes and herbs. Begone, plastic tomatoes.

BLOGGER MOMENT: Meeting Lynda Young in person on a terribly humid day after her move to Brisbane and sharing a French meal together.

POLITICAL MOMENTS:
— Bernie Sander’s run for President, albeit brief.
— Michelle Obama’s speeches and positive actions for African girls.
(Okay, not Australian political moments. Our politics are deadly boring which is not necessarily a bad thing after seeing the global trend)

DRINK:
— Baked Poetry Cafe, Peregian Beach, iced coffee.
— Hunter Valley Chocolate Factory’s Mexican Hot Chocolate.

— Pink Champagne from Peterson’s Champagne House, Hunter Valley

CHRISTMAS SNACK: Chocolate and hazlenut truffles from the Hunter Valley Chocolate Factory

ANTICIPATIONS FOR 2017:
— Finishing my Paris novel and getting it published.
— Writing most days

— Meeting with my 2 fabulous critique partners every month and exchanging chapters every few weeks

— The opening of a French restaurant in Peregian Beach. (No big deal if you live in a big town, but Peregian is a little village of 3,500 people who enjoy the best of everything!!)
— Finishing watching Netflix’s House of Cards.
— Travelling to the UK in April/May to visit my daughter who’s there for a year, then taking her on a guided tour of Paris. Tres magnifique!

Happy New Year!! May all your dreams eventuate in 2017!!

• The WEP winners are announced at Write…Edit…Publish. Please check them out if you have a moment.
• And I’d love to read your list of Best of 2016. Please play along.

Denise