Prediction Winner

So here we are. A year down the line, and what an astonishing cauldron of fiction and poetry has brewed, bubbled and boiled over at The Feardom during that time.

Thank you each and every one. You are an extraordinarily talented bunch of writers. I hope the weekly Friday Prediction has provoked you, poked you, challenged and inspired you.

I'm heading to the summaries for last week's LFP now...

• Susan's Attention Seeker gets an unexpected come-uppance. She should have thought about her behaviour before whinging one time too many.
• AJ's Confluence sets horror to music as her well-named murderer Hackett slices and chops his victim in time for dinner, but what's being dished up?
• Phil's intrepid Diedrick fights to survive a morbid game in The Maze, to the delectation of a death-hungry crowd.
• Rebecca's widow wallows in memories as her husband breathes his last alcoholic breath - and she breathes a sigh of relief in Drink, Darling.
• Chris throws us to the beasts with a gladiatorial epic in under 100 words. We're grinding sand in our teeth and are ready for the battle - Against the Odds.
• Antonia throws open the question -  when justice is not done, should we take it into our own hands? The executioner answers for us, with their own taste of killing.
• Aidan's Bermuda Salvage is haunted by mer-creatures; their prey - the divers and swimmers seeking history and treasure. Swift is their death, and the myth lives on. 
• Kim's sadistic sheriff gets his thrills from long, drawn-out torture in Taxing. Dark John's bones will be picked white in no time.
• My Dirty Poppies shows that drugs don't care if you're rich or you're poor. An addict is an addict, but if you live in a palace someone else is probably buying the junk for you.

My winner this week is AJ Humpage's operatic Confluence. This tale roils in cinematic beauty with a feeling that reminds me of Kubrick and Scorsese. This is a film I want to see again and again. Congrats Ally - you knocked my socks off.

The runner-up badge goes to Phil Ambler's wicked, wicked game The Maze. May I never be a contender. Well done Phil, and everyone else too for your amazing pieces.

Right then! You have two weeks off, but as I mentioned before - I ain't goin' nowhere so you may well hear from me during that time. Whatever happens, I'll be back on 10th June for a new Friday Prediction. Bye for now...

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Lily's Friday Prediction

So this is the last Friday Prediction Challenge until 10th June. I need to get my head round some important writing projects - including finalising the next Magenta Shaman episode, and researching another. The only way to do that is to take a short break. I hope you understand and will return with me in June.

Prediction Anthology News

My break comes with a promise - part of this will be to collate every Prediction entry since May 2010, with a view to putting them into an anthology. I will contact each of you about it to see if you are willing to have your work included. No-one's work will be published without permission.

I would hope to create a print version through Createspace plus a Kindle download. In the meantime don't hesitate to contact me by email if you have my address, or through my contact form if you have any suggestions or questions.

Back to this week's challenge...

Firstly, congratulations to Antonia Woodville for slipping something nasty onto the streets in last week's winning entry Night Walker. And well done to ttoffee for plaiting up a good-un in The Dog's Bollocks. Ouch.

This week's words should tease:

• Slack
• Grate
• Fanfare

Rules

The rules are: 100 words max flash fiction or poetry using all of the words above. Please add your entries in the Comments box below. You have all week until 9pm UK time on Wednesday (not Thursday) 25th May to enter.

Winner will be announced next Wednesday or Thursday. If you can, please tweet about your entry, using the #fridayflash hashtag, and blog if you feel like it.

What delicious tales can you stun me with? I can't wait...

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Prediction Winner

I'll be quick. Life is quick. So much is expected of us. But I exist in slooooooowwwwww moooootioooooonnnn. Seriously, sorry I haven't been around this week but I'm here now and the challenge is mine. I shall be swift though - watch me.

• Asuqi - didn't we have a fab Tweet, thee and me, at the old Eurovision cobblers? Your Lady Moldova bowled us over and I'm so glad to read that she has a unique and independent lifestyle of her own.
  The gorgeousness of Everything is Illuminated had me doubled over. Such sparkling laughter; such tragic love. I hope they find happiness and revelation.
  
• Ah, Steven. Lovely death and dolls. We're all porcelain in the end - some of us in the tiniest of black dresses. I have several ready. China Doll.
  
• David, you have challenged me with The Touch. Now I look into my crystal ball and what do I see... No. I am stuck. My eyes are full with tears at this beautiful tragedy. Tell us who the ghost is - please?
  
• Antonia, I am so sorry to hear about the whiplash - healing vibes going out to you. Shrivelled balls are outrageously enticing. You've made your Night Walker a rare beauty, and I love her.
  
• Aidan, I quickly reread Casualties when I reached the end. Lovingly enticing us with eyes like blue vodka, wtf happened then? Has the chaplain bitten Richards? Ho bloody ho, fantastic.
  
• Ooh, ooh Phil. What have you started with Famous? This is like a CSI intro and I want to know what that bitch has done. (Freakin' toweresque size-zeroer weirdoes).
  
• Susan, what a downright dirty and dangerous Daisy Doll you've created here. That curate's a big bad place to be.
  
• John, Little Madam is a wicked little baggage. To turn the story around so that she is shaming 'him' is ingenious and terribly worrying.
  
• AJ - your evil husband parading in the guise of a good man throws up a disturbing scenario in Lesion. That she has been fooled by him upsets me even more. So clever.
  
• Chris, is Afternoons With Edgar an admission? I'm a huge fan of Degas. I love how your 'weird' boy(?) loves to spend time in galleries, climaxing in Degas. All very familiar. Weird? Nah. Lovely writing.
  
• ttofee's title is brilliant. The Dog's Bollocks may have been used before but it's a part of our vocabulary. And what a virulent work of art your character has created. How vindicated is she? Totally.
  
• My excerpt from a letter about the unsolved disappearance of a young Victorian woman 'changed' by her experience in meeting evidence of the ancient Gods has prompted a brand new Magenta Shaman tale. Squeeeee.
  
• William, glad you've not been whipped away this week. The Winter of Eternity perfectly describes the slackern - her features failing, jowls slipping and flapping as she moves. Only a boy can replace that beauty...

And so, in this penultimate shower of talent before I take my leave of you for a couple of weeks (to ingest, produce, write and publish) I am struggling to choose a winning entry. I take that hard and intrepid step...

Gentlemen, please do not take umbrage but this week's trophy-takers speak of wrinkled plums. My winner is Antonia's sophisticated Night Walker, an atmospheric feel to this nasty noirette. Congratulations Antonia.

Runner-up is ttofee with her horrificly pleasing bollock plaits in The Dog's Bollocks. Well done toffs.

So many were next up, it only fair to leave it there. I'll be back, Blogger-permitting in the morrow with the last Prediction Challenge until 10th June. Sleep well.

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Lily's Friday Prediction

No excuses from me, but here - two days late - is this week's Friday/Saturday Prediction.

How can you possibly match the stunning entries from last week's challenge, ultimately won by Steven Chapman with his gorgeous blood-lust experiment Picasso? I have no doubt your brilliant pens will slice into the Feardom with a dark magic. Congratulations go to Steven, as well as runners-up Aidan Fritz's lapping Seduction and John Xero's disturbing future Witness.

So - quickly. This week's words are:

• Dress
• Illuminate
• Strap

Rules

The rules are: 100 words max flash fiction or poetry using all of the words above. Please add your entries in the Comments box below. You have all week until 9pm UK time on Thursday 19th May to enter.

Winner will be announced next Thursday or Friday - if Blogger behaves. If you can, please tweet about your entry, using the #fridayflash hashtag, and blog if you feel like it.

Will you find the light? I bloody hope not...

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Prediction Winner

Well, this is interesting. With Blogger down for a horrible 48 hours, everything - posts, results, life - has been hold. Is that some kind of Mercurial lesson?

I prepared the following for the Prediction Results from last week, but since Blogger's hissy fit it has sadly lost William Davoll's final entry. William - I have commented below anyway, but if you'd like to post it again, then we'll all know what I'm blathering on about!

So let's see if this works, or if they're having us on over at Blogger Land.
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I've had a great time this week, watching with joy as these diverse and sublime entries poured in. Knowing I couldn't keep up comments because of tedious daily commitments I decided I'd go for a super comment/summary fest at the end of the week instead. And here it is.

Flesh - or Pimento?

• Sue H - Honey, I'm Home. Jackson Petrie's a pizza-pickin' bad-ass who can't wait to re-arrange his ex-woman's face.
  Love the attitude here Sue. Clever descriptions that make me picture this slime-ball slob, picking his teeth and nodding at how clever he is. Hope Marie sniffs him out first.
• Michael Solender! I’m Hooome!! A splattered massacre stumps this well-seasoned (hur, hur) cop.
  Fab bizarro scenario - the whole thing resembling a doll's house of victims marinaded in chili-sauce. The image of vics one and two still watching I Love Lucy with no eyes is brilliant.
• Lily Childs (that's me folks) - Crust. Pro-chef Geraldo treats the food critics to a unique speciality in this culinary competition.
  I've always loved the term long pig for cooked human flesh; thought I'd give it some posh treatment, fit for the snobs to sink their bleached white teeth into.
• Chris Allinotte - My Game, My Rules. A vegetal game of strategy shows you can play anything, but someone always has to lose - one way or another.
  I smiled at the idea of the pimento bishop and the winning gherkin, bemused by the little strop between play-mates. But then you twisted it to another world completely and sent a chill through me with the missing jigsaw piece. Classy writing.
• Steven Chapman - Picasso. Creating a masterpiece seems so easy with this how-to guide of gore and grind.
  Straight in with the horror I, of course, adore the visceral quality of this piece Steven. Killer first line and inspired sewing of the ear to the cheek. A work of gruesome art.
• Phil Ambler - untitled. Taxidermy is at the heart of Steve's obsession with capturing a leprechaun in this irreverant dark fantasy that will have the faery underworld of Ireland crawling to Phil's door for revenge. ;)
  I so want to see this in a graphic animation - preferably over at http://www.geeksyndicate.co.uk. This is a gorgeous faux-fairy tale that would give the kiddies nightmares. "Pimento or kumquat" made me laugh out loud.
• Pixie J. King - The Pimento Prophecy. Here we are thrown into a scenario where we observe the observer as they torture their fairy-victim to reveal her(?) secret.
  Clever cruelty, unambiguous. I liked how the master plan is referred to with "affection" as the jigsaw. Well crafted with a disturbingly convincing bad guy.
• Aidan F - Seduction. No-one is safe from a sucking, even within the sacred black walls of the church where lovers confess and conspire.
  Aidan, you are such a cunning linguist. This vampyric tale is delicious in its rolling of meaning; it provokes more questions than it answers. The story itself is lush with intent. I adored it - and read it with a Romanian accent. Twice.
• StForce - The Case. A vicious attacker teases the cops with a fake identity before revealing himself to the streets.
  Welcome Jack! A tidy piece of noir tinged with horror. Is this a murderer that wants to get caught? A great twist that is crying out for more.
• John Xero - Witness. A stuttering of visions, of remembrance plays in and out of the victim's mind until it reveals the killer to the narrator.
  This  makes me feel as though I am drifting in and out of consciousness with the victim, yet looking on at the same time. How soon will this be the future of crime detection? Extraordinarily skilful writing, and highly effective.
• Anthony Cowin - Dirty Fingernails. A loner unwittingly tricks her shrink - with disastrous consequences, as her mother no longer looks on.
  The line that really hit me in this was "Finally, a breakthrough" because (to me, at least) it was the girl saying this. A pile of twists had me reading this several times - and I still saw something disturbingly new each time.
  Pimento Smile. A modern day nursery rhyme weighed down with menace as it sings of the Picture Box Monster calling from under the bed.
  Great rhythm to this nasty, little poem. I read it in my head with a child's voice then imagined it played back in slow-motion. Even creepier - like the intro to a horror film. Loved it.
  Susan May James - Waiting. Time ticks by slowly, where our MC patiently makes pretty pictures of pimento as he waits - for her.
  You managed to 'capture' the delay of waiting so well, and I am intrigued as to whether the pair are lovers, or criminals - or both. A lingering tease of a write.
  ttoffee - Beauty in the Eye of The Beholder. A collector desires to achieve the ultimate by slicing the most beautiful parts of his 'collection' to reconstruct as a whole.
  Greetings ttoffee! I enjoyed the deliberation as the collector chooses the preferred parts from Chloe, Julie et al. I think my Dressing Up Box demon would like this character. A juicy read.
• AJ Humpage - Jigsaw. A serial killer ponders the atrocities of his past, before falling from the hangman's noose.
  A trembling, poetic dance of words belies the horror of what this murderer has done. His wistfulness as he faces his own death is well played, and we wish that he might experience the full scale of regret before the rope takes him. Beautiful writing as always.
• David Barber - And You Wonder Why. A photographer captures the beauty of the red pimento, and has the image made into a puzzle for his kid. The ex-wife is not impressed.
  David, we can tell you're a photographer by your talk of capturing light and beads of condensation. You are the master of dialogue, placing your characters without need for setting or descriptive prose whether it's this separated couple or The Two Blokes. Love it.
• William Davoll - Fragments. (This was there pre-Blogger flop, honestly!) A room crowded with death - the dead and the grieving, all seeking the light in tragedy tinged with hope.
  Very clever use of colour to define the fading trackmarks of the spirit of Gary's son's killer - an addict. Is the narrator a friend - a medium? Or is the narrator the son - dead, or not yet dead? Do tell. Intriguing.

How can you do this to me everyone? This is an impossible task. You are all such incredible writers - I feel so privileged that you display your art on my pages. But if I absolutely must choose a winner, then I'm going for Steven Chapman's gore-fest Picasso. It's a slavering, horror ride - and I loved its quirky delivery. Congratulations Steven.

There are two runners-up: AidanF's ignoble Seduction - a lush transgression, and John Xero's future crime-solving, film noir - Witness. Well done both.

Fabulous. Thank you all. Now please - allow me to sleep and soak in the frothing ocean of your words. Back tomorrow (Saturday) with a new Prediction challenge.

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Magenta Shaman Reviews

Only one week since Magenta Shaman danced onto Amazon's pages and sales are in double figures. THANK YOU!!

Ranking figures are up and down like a doxy's knickers which is fun to observe.

Haven't got a Kindle? How you can download your copy of Magenta Shaman

Lots of people have said they don't have a Kindle (neither have I!) so a here's quick reminder that you can download Kindle for PC, for free. Just look on the right-hand side of the Magenta Shaman book page on Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com. You can also download Kindle for i-Phone, i-Pad and android; in the US you can get it for Blackberry too.

Read the Reviews

More thanks to those of you that have written such kind reviews. I hope you don't mind me posting them below. They're your words, your copyright and I acknowledge that.


2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars

Brighton Rocks, With The Shaman Blues., 3 May 2011
By Anthony Cowin (UK)

Magenta Shaman is a sweeping cinematic ride from the Brighton coast to the astral planes. It's a magical story dealing with corruption, devotion and love written with such skilful prose you almost fall into a spell as you read along. The characters are so well drawn in this novella that you may be mistaken for thinking you've been on literary journeys with them before. That's how quickly and vividly they become real in the readers mind.

Lily Childs has constructed worlds on the other side of the mind that are so beautifully described you simply slip into this magical place of monsters and spirits with ease. There's tension and thrills along the way too that will keep you pressing that page forward button until you finger hurts. I can't wait to find out more about these worlds and characters in what undoubtedly promises to be a series of great tales.

This truly is a refreshing Kindle début. Check it out as I doubt you'll regret the purchase. At least you be able to say you were one of the first readers when these characters hit the big screen some day.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars

Brilliantly written, 6 May 2011
By A reader "A Reader" (UK)

Brilliantly written short by the very talented, Lily Childs. From the onset you are drawn in to the world of Magenta Sharman, who is great character. If you like fantasy stories, then you will love this. If this is not your usual genre of choice, I would urge you to read it anyway, because you will still love it. I look forward to reading more in the Magenta stories.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars

A Fantastic read, 1 May 2011
By Briff "bigbopperbriff"

I've enjoyed reading Stories and prose from Lily childs online and in various anthologies such as "Daily bites of flesh" and "Caught by Darkness", so I was really excited when I heard that Lily was about to publish a novella in her own rite.

I was not disappointed, I couldn't put it down, so much so that I read it twice and plan to read it again.
Magenta Shamen is a brilliant character that draws you into her world from the first page.
I'm not going to plot spoil but suffice it to say Magenta is a character that I'm sure you'll love and that I hope Lily will revisit in the future for yet more adventures.

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You really are generous - thank you. All reviews are welcome.
Lily/x

Lily's Friday Prediction

Someone has come into my bedroom, opened my skull and scoured my brain of any articulate thought overnight.  My eyes are blank as they stare at the screen and all I can think about is... nah; nothing.

TFI the weekend tomorrow.

Big congratulations to both Rebecca Bohn and Aidan Fritz for coming together as joint winners of last week's Prediction Challenge with Girls Club and Encyclopædia Universsica: On the Origins of the Wyrm Cult. Completely contrasting in style, each piece was equally as brilliant as the other. Well done.

This week's words are... intriguing.

• Jigsaw
• Capture
• Pimento

Rules

The rules are: 100 words max flash fiction or poetry using all of the words above. Please add your entries in the Comments box below. You have all week until 9pm UK time on Thursday 12th May to enter.

Winner will be announced next Thursday or Friday. If you can, please tweet about your entry, using the #fridayflash hashtag, and blog if you feel like it.

I hope your brains are already fizzing and frothing with inspiration. Lend me some juice, would'ya...?

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Prediction Winner

A short, but extremely sweet number of entries this week.

• Aidan gives us a fascinating insight into the history of the Origins of the Wyrm Cult, with a gentle play on the name Salem (Samuel) Parris. Encyclopædia Universsica: On the Origins of the Wyrm Cult
• William delivers the finale of his compelling Plague series - on The Feardom at least, with a promise of more bones elsewhere in After the plague. Finale!
  With Rex-Erection William wipes away the glamour of rebirth. No pale and red-lipped gothic hunk here; more shrivelled, compound dust.
• Rebecca plays a morbid game with friends and a dead cat at the riverbank of childhood in Girls Club, before coming full circle to the tragic present day.
• Reba whips up a new world, a corrupt yet banal cult that people take for granted. Yet someone small awaits deliverance in Thursday.
• Chris makes human pancakes out of Zach, at the hands of Zach's wife Eileen. Eileen probably follows up with a few sugary, happy-clappy routines in The Butterworth Rites.
• John's Queen of the Hive has something more to hide than a dodgy obsession, and with a mouth oozing with furry creatures she is a force to be reckoned with.
• Antonia's Doorstep Salesman is a pain in the freakin' arse. First he turns up at the most inconvenient time, and then inducts and kills her without a 'by-your-leave'. Charming.
• My Miss Sickly Sweet 2011 takes an appalled and disgusted look at the farce of children's Beauty Contests. 
• AJ's runaway opens her veins for the cult, her lifeforce pooling across the cold floor in the atmospheric Bleed.
• David's Two Blokes are back with another in-depth and inspiring conversation, hanging out at the bar. That's 'Cult'. C - U - L - T.
• Phil (Greetings Phil!) serves up a glorious pagan platter of deity, misplaced by a latter incomer in his untitled piece.
• Susan returns with pretty words with a dark side; her poem confessing the truth behind the syrup.

All very different.

I have joint winners. The first is Aidan with his fascinating faux facts in the Encyclopædia Universsica: On the Origins of the Wyrm Cult, and for teaching me the word ochlocracy. My joint winner is Rebecca Bohn with the tomboy vs. grown-up woman's Girls Club. Congratulations both.

I loved everyone's entries though for a whole load of reasons from the dark and dangerous to the crude and base. Naughty.

I am encumbered by slumber so will be back in the morning with a new temptation, I mean - Challenge.

Sleep well...

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Spider ID Required

I've got something strange in my lean-to. It's got eight legs with lots of knees and is a shiny black/red colour. It has three, white square spots on its abdomen with a thick white line across it. I think it's a False Widow and my hair is standing on end just typing about it.

Does anyone recognise this spider? It's about an inch long. I'm too scared to move it (wimp) but respect spiders immensely so don't want to kill it.

I sent the photo to Environmental Health but they haven't replied yet.

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Magenta Shaman - Now on Kindle

I've been hinting about her for a couple of years now. The wily, travelling spirit of Brighton-born Magenta Sweeney; natural shaman, fighter and defender of souls. Yet she's not without her own dark side.

I finally took the decision that this series of short, urban-fantasy stories would genuinely be suitable as individual e-books on Kindle. It's been a learning process but now - the very first Magenta Shaman episode in the series is available to download from Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com. 

Please enjoy it, review it and let me know how you feel about both Magenta herself, and this first story. There are many more.

The original cover artwork is by my husband Laurence Ranger, and has been adapted by me. We both hope you like it.

I must give my thanks to various members of the UK's Writers' News and Writing Magazine's online forum Talkback for voicing their experience in publishing to Kindle, as well as to Tony Cowin and Lee Hughes for such valuable and honest critiques, even though this is an urban fantasy - outside of each of our horror genres. 

My special thanks go to my husband Laurence for believing in Magenta and offering his own extensive esoteric knowledge and sublime artwork - Magenta is a part of both of us.

Magenta Shaman - Amazon Product Description:

A natural shaman by birth, Magenta Sweeney travels through trance-induced realms to deliver souls from demonic threat.

But Magenta also has an earthly life in modern-day Brighton, a strange and cosmopolitan city caught between the rolling hills of England and the Sussex coast where she lives with husband Tom.

Every journey Magenta takes is unique. Her intricate knowledge of herbs and poisons guides her when to heal - and when to kill. Yet before she faces each challenge she must meet with ancient and terrifying entities that will unlock her passage into other dimensions, but not without question - or sacrifice.

This first episode in the Magenta Shaman short story series finds Magenta’s relationship with Tom at breaking point as she takes greater risks to help those waiting for her. Under pressure from The Protegians, a mysterious group of earth-bound guardians, the shaman is sent on increasingly dangerous missions by their intermediary - a suave, arrogant man known only as The Judge.

Will Magenta survive the fight to expel a deadly demon from a foetid, volcanic pit? And will Tom stand idly by when he finds his wife's body, broken and lifeless on their bed?

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Download Magenta Shaman on Kindle from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

If you don't have a Kindle you can download Kindle for PC, iPhone, iPad and Android for free from Amazon.

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Erin Cole's Beltane Breakfast Interview with Lily Childs

Friend, fellow horror-writer, Predictioneer and February Femme Fatale Erin Cole was kind enough to invite me over to her blog for a natter recently. And she has chosen today - May 1st - Beltane - to post the interview; a date that means a lot to me for many reasons.

To take a little nosey...
Interview with Spinetingler Award Nominee Lily Childs

There's also a new, previously unpublished short story Wraiths and Stays to tickle you, as well as some exciting news about my first Kindle publication which is hanging in the ether as I write.

Hope to meet you there. And Erin, thank you for the place on the couch.

Sun-up over Eastbourne at Beltane 2011

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