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Story Practice (10/25/22) —- DOG PART XXIII

One mile away. Two miles. Three. They keep counting.

It is simple to trace a frequency like a wrist implant. There’s no rush.

Till.. well.

IAVI strolls through Treas and stops before the ice cream parlor. Analyzing it, it steps inside.

It’s owner is peering out above to the window, then looks down at it coming in and jumps. “Oh! Hello, how may I help you?”

It scrolls through the different images before it, the vats of ice cream and then, the images of pops.

Its claw touches the night popsicle.

“I like this one.”

“Okay! Ok.” The man nods and turns away, not looking at its face.

IAIV waits with hands behind there back and look to the sky line. There’s another massive vibration that shakes the whole shop. Entire village really.

Their readings scanned a frequency in predictable timing but another comes sooner. It becomes another shake.

A shaking hand holds out a plastic piece. IAIV turns it’s head. Through latex, it produces physical, foreign coin.

The owner looks to it confused. Putting it on the counter. He takes on a glare to his face.

“..you know what that is..?”

It peels off the plastic, then removes its lower helmet. Gushing out a river of saliva and it strings from its teeth. Then takes a bite and chews. Dripping purple and blue ooze from its gnashes.

It speaks: “No. But it was something, once.”

There’s another quake and a loud raging cry pierces the sound waves, disrupting electrical output.

IAIV walks out the parlor before the man could grab them from over the counter. It walks out to a crowd in agape to the sky.

A sky that bleeds to red and a flood of mist thrusts into the sky.

It keeps walking past the towns people, still as statues. Registering the point of what is impending before them. It carries on without regard. Sending non-verbal signals to the exit routes of Alderado, where to go to return to the bulwark, and as well as the waves of a wrist implant that’s scoring up to five miles out from both Treas and Alderado.

Teeth and tongue polish off the sickle. Leaving a plastic stick that’s licked clean. It flicks it away. Licking its teeth clean now.

“Delicious.”

Behind it, a massive black thing is rising out from the waste land, going all the way to the edge of Treas.

Everyone now, begins to run.

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#writing prompt #langblr #idioms #oneidiom #poetry #short story #flash fiction #story prompt #storyblr #storytelling #story #short prompt #writersociety #writers #writersofindia #writers block #writeblr #writerscorner #writers and readers #writerscafe

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This is a great way of story-writing ! 👌👌👌

Would You Survive The Marvel Multiverse? http://daily-infographic.tumblr.com/

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#i love food #emotions

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https://www.who.int/images/default-source/wpro/health-topic/covid-19/slide3db93ad97a57843d6aaa88798dec07be7.jpg?sfvrsn=f9ebeea6_2

#langblr #coronavirus #SolidarityNotStigma #covid19 #poetry #short story

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11:11

I always wait for my wish at 11:11 But it’s still 11:02 Will it ever be 11:11? Will you ever come back to me ? Here I am still waiting As the time continues passing by Making me forget what I’m waiting for Is it for time or for you? I looked at the clock It’s still 11:09 And you’re still not here Will you ever be? I closed my eyes for a second Thinking about you And when I opened them It’s not longer 11:11 It’s 11:19 I can’t wish for you now Because you already left A long time ago And you took my only wish from me That is you.

-HS

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At Target this lady told her son he couldn’t have a Wonder Woman doll because “that’s for girls” and then bought her daughter the same one. It got me thinking about how often I see people bar young boys from appreciating girls/women as protagonists and heroes, and my own experience with it as a kid.

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A memorable poem with remarkable style, about -

Where we stanza now, 2020

By Barry Golson

Read full poetry here : Tampa Bay Times

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An arresting read !

Jacob mostly keeps to himself, occasionally walking into Hapsburg for supplies, but when the townspeople start getting killed off, he finds himself trapped in a maze that might just cost him his sanity. Check out my new psychological thriller ‘Jacob’s Pass’ and see if you can guess who’s hiding just inside the forest pulling strings.

#write #writinganovel #writerscommunity #writersociety

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08GDK9MS1/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_uyPXFbVDKBNHR https://www.instagram.com/p/CIREGntg6gu/?igshid=1vrq9m1gqsfaz

#write #writinganovel #writersociety #writerscommunity #psychology #thriller #novel #story #literature #storyblr #amazon

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You’re immortal and each time you die you respawn some time later in your 20 year old body a few hundred metres from where you died. You have just realised that it really truly sucks for you to die in the middle of the ocean.

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"Languages hold the keys to the arcane trunk of History."

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Cassiopeia’s Sky

Summary: Spencer regrets every moment he wasn’t with you now that you’re leaving.

Warnings: death, so much angst, fluff if you squint

Word count: 1.2k

a/n: i wrote this two nights ago @ 3 am while writing w the fav @reidsemily​ HAHAHAHA

spencer still remembers the very first words you ever said to him.

you were both 3 years old, and you had noticed spencer sitting alone on a bench, instead of playing on the playground like the other kids. so, tiny toddler you waddled up to him and started a conversation the best way you knew how to; you told him about your favorite thing in the whole wide world.

“i’m gonna touch the stars one day!” you exclaimed, pointing up at the sky with a chubby finger.

Keep reading

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Review: Here Be Dragons by Stella Gibbons

Synopsis:

Here Be Dragons was written by Stella Gibbons and published in 1956. This novel follows a young woman named Nell who moves to London with her parents when her father, a vicar, loses his faith and leaves the church ( very reminiscent of North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell!). She learns to strike out on her own and find her independence through working as a waitress in a tea shop. Through her cousin John she becomes introduced to a bohemian crowd.

Storyline:

This was a great coming of age story to get sucked into. London in the 50’s and the youths living the bohemian lifestyle came to life so vividly. There was no major plot point, just Nell coming into contact with a different lifestyle and different people than she’s used to. She learns to love working. She accepts, but also judges the irresponsible bohemian crowd. She’s in love with John, but doesn’t try to let herself get sucked into it so much. She knows she has feelings, but she also can see that he is rather selfish, manipulative and devoid of responsibility and she respects herself by not letting herself really get swept up in it. Not a choice most people would make, but one that makes the reader respect her. The book often follows the other characters perspective’s as well, giving a well rounded portrait of these different types of people living in London at the time. It’s sympathetically perceptive, yet also wry and witty.

Setting:

Here Be Dragons is set in London in the 1950’s. A good deal of the novel is set particularly in Hampstead. The setting of the time and place was so vivid and I really enjoyed it. The characters even went to come historical places that were fun to look up and get a greater feel for.

Characters:

The characters were all done so well. There was in depth character study, which I wasn’t expecting. Nell was a character I admired and felt for even though she is vastly different from myself. She is so sensible and practical. Such a helpful person as well. She allows herself to give to others without losing her self-respect. She is also hardworking and when she has a dream that makes sense she makes it happen. She’s a kind of person I wish I could be sometimes as I’m so much more emotionally driven. She does have feelings though and while I admire her for making the right choices I also feel for what is going on in her heart that she doesn’t show anyone. Her cousin John is exasperating especially the selfish way he leans on Nell. Although he is made out to just be like a child who wants love and because of the in depth character study you can’t quite hate him. I enjoyed Nell’s parents as well. They had more going on inside then you might think and could have been easily glazed over by the author, yet weren’t. There are three relationships filled with ‘violent love’ that serve as a warning to Nell to not let her feelings get away with her when she knows she will get hurt. These were all fascinating and dramatic. A young poet gets sucked into a girl who doesn’t make him happy. She’s spoilt and they argue a lot, yet he can’t get rid of his soft spot for her and gives everything up for her. A woman commits suicide over a married man she had been seeing. Another young girl falls pregnant, but is almost left destitute as her lover has been conscripted for the army at the same time. There’s some real tragedy here, yet we see it more from sensible Nell’s perspective and it helps her not make a mistake.

Did I Like it?:

I really enjoyed this novel! I took longer to read this than I thought I would, but it was so pleasant to dip into. The world and the characters were so real to me. A great coming of age story. I feel like I read this at the right time because while I’m older than Nell, I’m about to move to the city for the first time and so I felt a personal connection with it. Right book right time. I now really want to check out Stella Gibbon’s other books as well!

Do I Recommend it?:

Yes! If you like coming of age stories, modern classics and if a story of someone living in the city for the first time appeals to you.

- Katie

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The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

Synopsis:

The Ocean at the End of the Lane was written by Neil Gaiman and published in 2013. When a man returns to the house of a childhood friend and the pond that they once called the ocean, his memories of being seven resurface. The dark and magical events that took place during that time.

Storyline:

I honestly had no idea what this story was going to be about going into it. What I knew about it was very vague. It was only when I had gotten to the second half of the book when I started to see what this is about and it really struck a cord by the time I was finished with it. This is a book about childhood. Written for anyone who was ever seven. It’s about memory. How no one remembers things exactly the same way. How you can morph the stories in your mind perhaps in order to cope. Through the use of magical and fairytale elements Gaiman explores childhood trauma. The darkness that leaves its mark in your heart until you’re able to heal. It’s about friendship. How it can save you. It also is about the bigger picture. The layers and worlds that may be present that could be even greater than we can imagine. It’s about the ocean, the ocean of everything. How nothing really dies when it gets sucked into this ocean, it just comes out as something else. The use of magical elements to describe childhood trauma was so fantastic and really drove this story home to me.

Setting:

The Ocean at the End of the Lane is set in the 1960’s in Sussex. A quiet lane, but with dark and magical undertones. The time and place were done very well. That period of time in regards to childhood had a nostalgic feel. Apparently the setting was taken straight from Gaiman’s childhood although the story wasn’t. The house at the end of the Lane where the witchy Hempstock women lived was really fabulous too. From the moon that always stayed full and the patch of kittens growing because they get cats the ‘normal way’ to the old fashioned way they lived with candlesticks and baths in the kitchen. Such a magical household.

Characters:

The narrator is unnamed, but he was great. A quiet bookworm kind of boy with a love for cats ( that got kind of sad at one point not gonna lie) who was trying to deal with childhood trauma. He was very relatable. His friend Lettie was so great. Wise beyond her years and magical. Her mother and grandmother were fantastic too. A witchy household of women. The maiden, mother and crone. The villain of the story, Ursula Monkton was great too. Reminded me of other mother from Coraline. She brought the evil. The greedy desire of the adults for money, child abuse and an affair. Her ‘ tunnel’ or affect stayed in the narrators heart until his heart died. Although apparently when he was older it started to grow back. Such fantastic magical imagery.

Did I like this?:

I really liked this book! I thought I wasn’t going to connect with it for about half the book and then it all really hit home. This was a book that used magic and fairytale elements to explore real world horror. Previously I have just read Gaiman’s children’s book Coraline. Now I want to check out more of his adult work!

Do I Recommend This?:

Yes! For those that like books about childhood, magical realism and fairytale elements.

-Katie

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“She bore about with her, she could not help knowing it, the torch of her beauty; she carried it erect into any room that she entered; and after all, veil it as she might, and shrink from the monotony of bearing that it imposed on her, her beauty was apparent. She had been admired. She had been loved. She has entered rooms where mourners sat. Tears had flown in her presence.”

- To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

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“It was odd, she thought, how if one was alone, one leant to things, inanimate things; trees, streams, flowers; felt they expressed one, in a sense were one; felt an irrational tenderness thus as for oneself.”

- To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

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Review: To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

Synopsis: 

To the Lighthouse was written by Virginia Woolf and published in 1927. This is a modernist, stream of consciousness style novel that is not so much about the plot as it is about the inner emotional experiences of the characters. The first section is about the Ramsay’s, their eight children and friends staying in their summer home on the Isle of Skye. The youngest son James wants to go the lighthouse, but they are unable to go. The middle section is about time passing. It starts out as the night of the day that passed in the first section and then tumbles into the seasons passing and then years. The absence of the characters. Then in the third section, taking place on a day 10 years later, some of the characters return and the inevitable trip to the lighthouse takes place. 

Storyline: 

Virginia Woolf’s fluid style and the way she captures all the character’s inner experience was fabulous as always. I liked how this was split up as well. In the first section the lighthouse is this vague beacon of light that everyone is trying to get to. A future blurry distant goal. Then in the second section time passes first slowly then quickly, the characters being taken out of it. In the third section,the goal of the first section, to reach the lighthouse is within sight. Some characters have died, some want to get to the future, to the lighthouse in honor of their memory, others don’t even want to get there anymore. The lighthouse is such a big symbol it seems that Woolf meant something by it, but she claims she didn’t. It simply is a central point to bring the story together, which it does. A light that when reached brings the story to a close as it also helps Lily Briscoe complete the painting she’s been trying to complete in the first and last sections. Lily in fact seems like the author, trying to complete this painting and snippet of life. A theme in this book is definitely that of time and memory. Time passing. People passing. The heartbreak and ambivalent certainty of it. It’s about wanting to get to the future, yet once there not wanting time to go so fast anymore. Of how hard it is to put the past to rest and to capture it through art. Woolf apparently used some of the setting and characters out of her own childhood especially Mr. and Mrs. Ramsay, in order to cope with her feelings about them. It’s also very much about men vs. women. The patriarch of the family, Mr. Ramsay is harsh. He is always interrupting. He is the one that says they can’t go to the lighthouse. Then he’s the one at the end that forces them to go. He controls his family. He wants to dominate the women, yet he also wants to run to them for sympathy. He wants what he can’t give. Men are described as sterile and women as fecund and fertile. Mr. Ramsay is an example of the dominating patriarchy and its disruption to the world of women. Mrs. Ramsay on the other hand  nurtures both the children and the men. She also could be seen as the lighthouse that everyone is drawn towards. Also, Lily Briscoe the painter is hampered in her art by the men. She can’t complete her picture until Mr. Ramsay stops hovering over her. Charles Tansley, one of the guests tells her that women can’t paint or write. The overpowering force of the patriarchy and how it seeks to oppress the gentleness of femininity, the fertility of it and the creativity, yet wants to run to femininity for nurturance is a huge theme of this novel. Traditional family life and marriage are up for question as well. Mrs. Ramsay thinks everyone should get married, but it’s questionable whether her marriage is a successful one. She sets up this one couple Minta and Paul, but their marriage ends up turning into a disaster. Lily Briscoe can’t be free to paint her picture, spinster as she is, until even Mrs. Ramsay is gone with her ideals of marriage. Lily needs to be free from pressures to marry as well as the pressures of male oppression in order to complete her art. 

Setting: 

To the Lighthouse is set on the Isle of Skye mostly in the Ramsay’s summer house there, with the lighthouse being an elusive destination. Apparently it was loosely based on Woolf’s childhood summer home in Cornwall and a lighthouse off that coast. It’s set in the years leading up to World War 1 and the years after. 

Characters: 

Mrs. Ramsay seemed to be at the center of the novel. The matriarch of the family she seems like the lighthouse of their world. The beacon of light that they are drawn in by even after her death, yet she is elusive to them just as the lighthouse is. She describes herself as remote and she seems like someone you can’t help but be drawn to, yet someone you can’t get a grip on. She was my favorite character in the novel. I loved her perspective. Mr. Ramsay is harsh and hard to love. Mrs. Ramsay’s world is so beautiful and gentle and he interrupts it. His children and wife hate him sometimes, but then admire him and want his admiration at others. Lily Briscoe was interesting as she acted as Virginia Woolf’s seemingly fictional counterpart trying to capture these moments in time. James was interesting. He was the youngest son. Wanting his mother’s love. Resenting his fathers harshness and interruption to that love. Hating his domineering manner. Yet ultimately wanting to be praised by him. All the other characters were interesting as well, but not explored quite as in depth. 

Did I Like it?: 

I loved this! Virginia Woolf is fast becoming a favorite author. I have previously read Mrs. Dalloway by her, which I found phenomenal as well. She is one of those writers that I am determined to read everything by. 

Do I Recommend This?:

So highly! Especially if you like stream of consciousness writing and books with a very internal focus. This book is so amazing. 

~Katie