THE SONG OF RESTORATION

Triple X

It's day seven of John Xero's Xeroversary in the magical land of The Xeroverse, where he's celebrating with an eight-day selection of 'flash fiction - fantasy and science fiction, magic, myth and machines.'
 
My Crete-inspired whoredom, THE SONG OF RESTORATION is up today - debauch horror for your pleasure, and written especially for the Xeroversary. I'd love to know what you think.

Opening lines - a taster:

"Lestros calls me sordid, and I have no intention of disappointing him. A snip here, a snatch – albeit a well-worked flaccid one – there, and I can provide everything he needs. It’s not all for him though, which saddens me for a second or two every day. He has business to attend to, clients to please – as do I, but mine are more discerning, more appreciative of the finer things in life – and death.

I arrange my layers for his pleasure; cotton upon skin upon hair upon thin, light silk that stinks of overworked Eastern worms. He stares at me and I smile, knowing he’ll never be mine – not really.

“Shall I send them in?” he asks afterwards. I nod, a twitch at my scarlet-painted mouth.

In the intervening moments I gather the hoard to my bosom. We suckle one another to give strength..."

Read more...

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News and Updates

"It's been a while, it's been a while, it's been a while and OH!" As sang Rev Hammer and the Levellers of Freeborn John, one of England's most controversial freedom fighters.

I've been away from The Feardom for a few weeks, getting myself together and tying up loose ends - all with the aim of getting stuck into the novels once I'm finished.

What Has Lily Been Up To?

Thank you for asking. Succinctly:

• I've recorded a podcast as guest of Feardom friends Phil Ambler and Dion Winton-Polak for The Geek Syndicate on the subject of flash fiction. Two versions will be released - the first will be interspersed within the next Geek2Geek issue during late July/early August, and a longer one with readings of microflash fiction from The Prediction will be published soon at Scrolls
• Another Feardom friend John Xero is celebrating the second Xeroversary which starts today 1st July and runs for 8 days. He invited me to contribute and I'm proud that he accepted my debauch myth, A Song of Restoration which will be published on 7th July 2012.
• After working on a lengthy short story for a Spectral Press competition I finally completed, edited and submitted the 5,560 word tale with 1 hour and 5 minutes to go before the deadline. I have enormous respect for Spectral Press which publishes beautiful, limited edition chap books, as well as a great admiration for its owner - the inimitable Simon Marshall-Jones.
• I have been interviewed by Mr. Glamour author Richard Godwin for his Chin Wag at The Slaughterhouse. His patience has been unbelievable and I'm really looking forward to reading his interpretation of my gabble during July.
• My husband and I have been outlining plans for an exhibition of artwork and dark fiction. Lots more to come on that - in the meantime, here's his latest painting - a black and white watercolour interpretation of the Charles Bargue drawing of a horse-head from the Parthenon:

So, as you see - I've not been slacking!

Other Feardom Friend News

There's been lots going on with other Feardom friends and Thrillers Killers 'n' Chillers contributors too. Good luck to everyone with your self-publishing endeavours! Please share your support.

The links below go to Amazon.co.uk - just swap the the co.uk in the link for .com to access them in Canada/USA.

• Edited by Joe Hunter best-selling thriller author Matt Hilton, Action: Pulse-Pounding Tales Vol. 1 is packed with old-style, non-stop crime/action stories by some of the best in the business at the moment, and includes some of our friends - Matt Hilton himself, Col Bury, Absolutely*Kate, David Barber, Keith Gingell, Paul D. Brazill, Graham Smith, Richard Godwin and many more. Suspend belief - and step into the extreme - you won't regret it.
• David Barber's new eBook From a Crowded Mind includes a fine contradiction of gritty and emotional short crime stories
• Chris Allinotte's Gathering Darkness eBook promises 230 pages of short horror madness
• Shaun Adams's eBook Jack Is Writing includes eight short stories and six 100-word flashes of gruesome horror and twisted evil. As is only right.

I'm also hearing lots of exciting rumours about forthcoming novels, agents and contracts from a few of you. A huge - yet tentative - congratulations. The bubbles, or perhaps in most of our cases - the Merlot - is awaiting. Onwards and upwards my dear friends - how times are changing. And that comes with a smile.

Lily's Friday Prediction

Spring is here! The Equinox has brought us beautiful warm days here in the UK, but we are already in a state of drought so Mother Nature gives with one hand and takes away with the other. There's always balance whether we like it or not.

A Pause for Punctuation

I know The Prediction Challenge is a bit of fun but I've noticed the state of punctuation has been slipping in some Prediction entries over the last couple of months. Can I please send out a request to do a final proofread before you submit.

Check your apostrophes, make sure you put a full stop (period) before you start a new sentence. Where you do start a new sentence, the first word should have a capital letter. Indeed, capitals are one of my main niggles; they seem to be sneaking in on nouns mid-sentence. Why is that? Please check for this too.

The majority of you obviously do edit and proofread but I don't think it's unreasonable for me to request the best from everyone. After all, punctuation slips are often enough to get a submission for publication rejected by editors - regardless of the voice or the power of a story.

Thank you.

Winner of Last Week's Prediction Challenge

The winner is a writer, rather than a single story - it has to be John Xero! Three outstanding pieces, each of which thrilled and shocked and were exquisitely-written - truly. John - why isn't TOR or a similar imprint grabbing you? Your writing is crying out for the big time. Congratulations on winning the little Prediction trophy (there's a drop of bubbly in there if you look deep enough.)

Runner-up, with a tale and a character that still chills me - Marietta Miles' untitled piece. Well done Marietta - Pastor Friend needs to be locked up, but not before you've imprisoned him in a full-length thriller for us (please).

Words for 23 March 2012

• Monday
• Notch
• Speed

Quick - what comes to mind?

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 until 9pm UK time on Thursday 29th March 2012 to enter.

The winner will be announced on Friday 30th March. If you can, please tweet about your entry, using the #fridayflash hashtag, and blog if you feel like it. Do give feedback to your fellow Predictioneers - we all appreciate it.

I sense a shift in theme this week; where are you going to run to?

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Lily's Friday Prediction - On a Sunday!

What a monster this last ten days have been! Thank you all for your patience and wonderful support of each other. Unfortunately the infection is still stopping me from being able to breathe/sleep properly, and just when I think I'm on the mend, I plummet.

And as many of you might have noticed, Blogger is behaving like a spoilt bitch at the moment. I've been trying to comment on your mind-blowing entries all weekend and have been repeatedly thrown out or 'put on hold.' Just as I reached Reba's (RR Kovar) post this evening Blogger put up the barriers. I couldn't 'Reply'; I could add no more Comments.

I couldn't hold on any longer - HAD to announce the winner and post the new words, so my apologies to Reba, Michael, Tony, Phil, Kim, John, Nathaniel, MuckieDuckie, David and Asuqi - I have read all your entries, but it looks like commenting is rightly f*cked.

Winner of Last Week's Prediction Challenge
... and Guest Judge of the New One!

You are all astounding storytellers. Your imaginations have really run riot and I don't believe The Feardom has ever seen such a frenzy of fiction and poetry. Thank you, one and all for giving me such pleasure (I won't deny the self-indulgence.)

My winner - and the Predictioneer to judge your entries over the next TWO weeks (more later) is John Xero with the terrifyingly visual Testimony. John, I just loved how you threw us straight into the horror - and then, good God - made it worse! I actually gagged at the penultimate line then drifted into oblivion with the dreamy quality of the last.

Congratulations!! If you'd like to contact me I'll email you back about the judging side of things.

Every entry could be a runner-up but this week I'm choosing Rosie Smith-Nazilli's disturbing tale of familial massacre, Slaughter. A shocking and superbly-written glimpse into a dreadful state of war. Well done Rosie!

Words for 22 January 2012

Finally. Due to my mucking everyone about this week. my commitments and my health I'm extending the entry period for this challenge until Thursday 2nd February.

So with no more ado here are the new words:

• Follow
• Ballet
• Organ

All forms and tenses are acceptable for these words.

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 until 9pm UK time on Thursday 2nd February 2012 to enter.

The winner will be announced by our Guest Judge John Xero on Friday 3rd February. If you can, please tweet about your entry, using the #fridayflash hashtag, and blog if you feel like it.

Good luck John! We're all behind you.

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Lily's Friday Prediction

Now that the neighbours have stopped partying at 7am I'll attempt to get my brain in gear which, unlike theirs is stone-cold-sober but very, very tired. Thank you guys. 

However, not to be discombobulated I shall persevere, submit the Love story I've written (don't laugh - it's in a Lily Childs flavour) and write a synopsis on something else. Deadlines are tomorrow.

Winner of Last Week's Prediction Challenge

Firstly, I want to thank everyone that has taken part in the Challenge this year, and taken the time to comment and support each other in our little community of Predictioneers. The quality of writing is consistently outstanding and I just want to read more of your work! I can't count the number of times we've said of each others' entries "this needs expanding" or similar. 

I so wish I could afford to set up my own Small Press and publish you all - but that lottery win never happens. In the meantime, I wish you all a very successful 2012 for your writing - and when you're all best-selling superstar authors don't forget to pop in and give us a Prediction from time to time.

On to winners...

Hell. I wish I'd chosen one of you to guest judge - this is a killer.

As we had two weeks to write I'm being naughty and choosing two winners and two-runners up. I hope that doesn't dilute the wins.

Congratulations to my final winners of 2011 Anthony Cowin for the savage horror Apron Strings and John Xero for the epic and powerful Warsmith. Both absolutely stunning.

The runner-up shields go to Charlie Wade for the best twist I've read in ages in The Perils of Washing Up and Dion Winton-Polak for his extraordinarily beautiful and tragic poem Salvation. Very well done both.

Words for 30 December 2011

I swear this old book is getting heavier - oof. My fingers are ready:

• Knuckle
• Connection
• Dial

Right. A challenge indeed.

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 the whole week until 9pm UK time on Thursday 5th January 2012 to enter.

Winner will be announced on Friday 6th January. If you can, please tweet about your entry, using the #fridayflash hashtag, and blog if you feel like it.

A very Happy New Year to you all. Charge your pens - I await your creations...

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Prediction Winner

The word Pharaoh created a genuine challenge, I feel, in this last Prediction so it was fascinating to read the variations on what could have been an obvious theme.

Let's have a good look at the entries now...

• Rebecca, when the executioner takes his own life in your story we are riddled with sadness; we know he was only doing his job. The Arsonist is an emotional acceptance of this man's tragic role. 
• Aidan, I read Time Traveler's Fair several times - for pure enjoyment, and in a variety of accents. You paint a slimy picture of this stall holder trying his disgusting best to lure the lady. Clearly this is more than a game. Your final paragraph is mind-blowing.
• Antonia, your Cleaner's Blues is so matter of fact in the midst of murder and fake ancient artefacts. Pharaoh's sounds like a classy joint - or not. In fact I might have been there - down Portsmouth way, isn't it? 
• AJ, I could hear deepest, darkest voicest from a Hollywood choir building up to a Carmina Burana climax as I read The Colossi of Memnon. 'An infant hue' is a beautiful description. This is a mightily powerful vision.
• John, an eternal threat pierces this myth. Is the narrator a fallen angel, the personification of evil trickling through the blood of our 'hero' and his dominion? Aeon is masterful.
  Then, oh, oh, oh! Souvenirs - pure horror. Scuttling insects, falling from Hamilton's choking mouth; vomit and chaos churning in his gut. The plunge into insanity really kicks in and when he grabs the letter opener... fabulous!
• Ravenways, your title alone, Dreaming the Blood is divine. When she smiled, I licked my teeth. I love the feral mix, the hint of shape-shifting and the bestial suggestion of love, for true lovers they are.
• Phil, I for one, love your London (in fiction), crawling as it does with reprobates, psychopaths and cultists. I have written about them myself on several occasions, hell - I suspect my Carlotta Borgia and Rameses XIII have even shared delectations down below the dirty streets. This could be a fantastic graphic story/novel/series.
• Reba, a mystical history in this Hall of Truth. Interesting how fortunes turn and turn about. I feel this could exist on the map of Phil's dark London - a Victorian world of revenge.
• Pblacksaw - a mystery to your name. ;) The Plague of arrogance, 'yes' men, no 'no' men - power is a dangerous thing. The people are as lambs to the slaughter when a spoilt dictator needs satisfying.
• Veronica, your Retribution spills in fits and starts, in and out of consciousness, breath failing before the heart re-beats. This man was dead the moment he chose to steal from Pharaoh.
• Chris puts Milton and Blackwood onto yet another terrifying and bizarre case in A Classical Killer. The Pharaoh serial killer is a serious contender for "novel cyring out to be written." Who better than Monsieur Allinotte?
• William, the adulation of a daughter for her father is unique, making the father's fear all the more profound. You've captured that so perfectly in False Idol. There is no indulgence to forgive, my friend.
• Me, I slipped in a late one with Deliverance. I wondered how it would be when those Pharaohs discovered there was no afterlife but immortal death instead. Couldn't bear it so had to invent some personal magic.

I loved these. There certainly was a Victorian Holmes feel drifting through; lots of dusty chasms and vaults, scenes of warped entertainment and a deathly sub-element pervading your words.

Excuse me. I am going to swear. It was BLOODY HARD to make a decision this week. There. I've said it. And I think we have another new situation here - John Xero is this week's winner because I totally loved both Aeon and Souvenirs; different genres, different feel to each, but equally stunning. Huge congratulations John.

Runner-up is Ravenways with Dreaming the Blood. I was at an imaginary warm fire with Kate Bush at piano as I observed this feral love affair. Well done.

Thank you, everyone, for your wordly perfection. They read like wine and chocolate all at once.

So much to dream about now. I wonder what words will appear tomorrow.

Prediction Winner

I've got a double-judge wig on tonight (and very scratchy it is too). The marvels that are this week's Prediction entries sit before me - blooming with dark petals of talent. Over at the UK's Writing Magazine online forum Talkback, there are some gorgeous pieces of prose and fiction on the theme of Rapture that I need to make a decision on. Prediction's first; so here goes...

• Nina, there is real anger to Esmeralda in Skinned Alive; her revenge - bloodied with joyous satisfaction - had me grinning, somewhat dangerously perhaps. Most amusing and well-written.
• Aidan, a cheeky little noir you've thrown at us this week with The Missing Page. I can't get that clock out of my head; bizarre it certainly is.  
• William, oh yes; The Publisher - a great name for a serial killer. Such a sensory piece, wickedly described. Where's The Fox needs to be full-length. Get to it!
• asuqi, a frighteningly stark poem stabbed with loneliness. Reloaded reveals the author in many of us; all AND nothing at the same time. Clever.
• Erin, Mr Jack lingers in many a Brit's psyche, a Victorian legacy of which we are ashamed but morbidly fascinated by. You capture the media horror perfectly here and I can visualise the drawings you have made with words in The Whitechapel Murderer.
• Chris, kinder indeed! I don't think Master Class is a lesson in romance though, I believe it's an imminent seduction that you're exposing us to and that Amanda Darling is very, very naughty. An intriguing write.
• AJ, you perfect beauty whilst carving words of horror onto screens and onto skin. Six Letters equals poetic, hard revenge - beautifully crafted.
• Phil's a comedian this week. I liked Type O negative - 'drape and pillage' me laugh out loud, as did that final line. Great fun; wish I had the same wit.
• Antonia, A Bee's Life is just gorgeous. I have huge respect for these incredible creatures whose hum and travail epitomise the arrival of summer. I adore this eulogy in their honour.
• Reba, I love your strumpet; desperate measures. "The skirt barely hid her petals as he nosed his way upward" is a brilliantly written, grubby little line. I think your Heroine's series will be bestsellers.
• My untitled piece was a condensed version of a ghost story I wrote a few years ago and never sub'd anywhere. Glad Danny showed his face eventually, poor lad.
• Inimitable David Barber dialogue in So, You Want Realism? What sent the chill down my spine wasn't so much the forthcoming 'hunt' but the thought of a publisher wanting my unfinished novel - in just two months. Terrifying. Thanks Dave.
• St. Force - Flowers on a Guillotine, such an exquisite title. It totally deserves to be draping itself over a full-length novel - and from what you've give us, I think you've got the concept already. Very interesting.
• John, I have no words - because you have used them all, my favourites all played out and placed with precision yet with the illusion of tumbling pretty prose. Poet is truly gorgeous.
• Thomas, your untitled murder story teases on so many levels. Intriguing in itself as a stand-alone tale with a twist it also squeezes our paranoia pulse with corrupt publishers and deranged fans; crafty writing Mr Pluck.
• Steven, very generous to reveal one of your diary entries. :) I love how it's the door and the lock that are swaying - not Lisher. I’ll tell you when I’ve had enough is the great mistake - do tell me it really happened? Thanks for making me giggle.
• William, On Forbidden Love is a lovely yet tragic poem that trips off the tongue when read out loud (and I did, you know). What is sadder or more cruel than betrayal of the heart?
• Zaiure, lots of Twists in here. Publishers are becoming more scary by the minute with their vicious seductions and desperate plans - on here at least. Poor Petal never stood a chance.

We have been veritably treated with different styles and emotions this time around. It has all made for very interesting reading - and a judging challenge. But I do have a winner - just the one. It's John Xero with the beguiling Poet. Absolutely beautiful. Congratulations John.

Very well done to everyone for such great writes; as always I'm looking forward to the next round.

And now I'm going to watch a bit of Medium and slope off to bed. A demain...

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Prediction Winner

My oh my, but did these words have everyone exploring their own mysteries. I am spellbound. Quickly, let's sum up and then I'll do my darndest to make a decision.

• Michael kicks off with a horny non-starter who ends up with a lot less than he's hoping for in Been Meaning to Tell You.
  
• Asuqi's Twisted Silk continues the 'bedroom theme' revealing the thoughts of a Master of consensual hard slaps.
  
• Aidan is the first to expose the arachnid angle and introduces the now popular concept of Spider Sex in The Chilean Recluse Invasion.
  
• David has us over a barrel with his lady's weapon (sorry); the victim finding himself in the Wrong Place At The Wrong Time.
  
• Chris provides a webbed creation myth of silken proportion in the sparkling The Eonic Web.
  
• John fires into the mists of chaos to evoke change through entropy in Who pulled the trigger on the Universe Gun? Later, in Thief fear creeps cold through Ellen's core as her assailant disappears.
  
• Antonia takes us into a ghostly wild west where no-one messes with a gunslinger in Death Wears Boots.
  
• Colleen (ravenways) seeks her lover across time and space in her untitled journey where pleasure and rebirth combine.
  
• My Prism sees a shattered husband take advantage of accidental light to rid himself of his lazy wife, while the alien Forty-Niners rever the cosmic power of the number seven.
  
• Ally reveals the true-life horror of an earthquake and tsunami victim that, in a double tragedy loses her baby before she too is swept away in Surge.
  
• Reba slices skin after taking her fill and reading the signs in creation myth Re-surrection.
  
• William provides the next instalment of his Plague series where the gifts of magic are accepted and the spell is ready to begin in After the plague PT 3.

Well, this is the first time I've felt tempted to say "Everyone's a Winner" but that sounds like we're playing Bingo. I mean it though, these are all exceptional works of fictional art - well done to everyone for allowing us to read from the gifts of your imaginations.

My winner, however is John Xero with the sci-fi chaosphere that is Who pulled the trigger on the Universe Gun? Many congratulations John, I love how this twists and crawls back and forth between creation and chaos, causal and accidental.

Runner-up is - everyone, and that's not a cop out, as I hope you will all agree.

There'll be a new challenge in the morning, and I promise the words will include neither 'royal' nor 'wedding'. Sleep well mes amis.

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