TK'n'C

A quickie...

I simply must recommend the latest stories on the marvellous Thrillers Killers 'n' Chillers. Buffalo Gal Jodi MacArthur whacks the crap outa Santa whilst R.S. Bohn snips and slices under the boardwalk. Love you two horrornistas.

What I Did On My Holiday is a chilling child's essay by Lewis Morris. Ash Scott-Lockyer's Chop Shop is pure UK Geezer Noir and Calling Out By Joshua Scribner worries the parents amongst us.

Go visit. Do... You'll love it.

Prediction Winner

The last Prediction winner of 2010 - and what a year it's been. Such extraordinary flashes and drabbles from wonderfully talented and imaginative authors. It's been a privilege to host and comment on your work.

OK - it's another toughie, comme d'habiteuuuwwwwwdah. Summary time:

• George Michael crooned disdain in David Barber's Christmas In The Asylum.
• The message from across the stars in Michael Solender's The Intended terrifies us as a human race.
• The Priory is mimimanderly's mini epic adventure. Does she survive the descent?
• Despair rises to hope, and back again in AidanF's The Governor's Daughter.
• Antonia Woodville's gormless gold-seeker gets his come-uppance in Treasure Hunt.
• William Davoll is triple-distilled this week. Yo Mother is a festive nightmare. Her Beauty took mine eyes speaks of Godgifu, Lady Godiva and Peeping Tom. Winter Bleak twists the legend of the apparent Virgin Birth.
• I think my Unholy Worship might have upset some; can't apologise I'm afraid. Shit sticks.
• Erin Cole gave us Geminis a swift kick up the backside in Free Horoscopes. And then there's the Cancerians...
• Beneath the Tombstone of St. Selabon saw two grave-robbers meet their demise at Chris Allinotte's fingers.
• We had a double blast from Susan May James, teasing us as always with snatches of greater things. Buried Treasure's monkvestite is about to be thwarted whilst Monks' Mistress reveals a true goldigger. 
• Cold sacrifice slides through AJ Humpage's macabre observation in Of Separation.
• scratchypen's bad guys are hiding the glimmering evidence in Crime Won't Pay. They've been spotted.
• Pixie J. King sneaks in to report a mashed-up robbery in A Tale of Two Brothers.

And so, the Lily's Friday Prediction final winner of 2010 - and he's been nearly there for weeks - is... William Davoll for Winter Bleak. It chilled me to the bone in both atmosphere and description, and threw up some of my own convictions. Congratulations William. In a further bleak message Michael Solender reaps Runner-Up prize with The Intended. Well done Michael (I'm giggling at saying that to you!)

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The morning of New Year's Eve 2010 will see the year's last ever Prediction. Maybe it'll carry something a little bit different...

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Daily Bites of Flesh - now on Kindle!

Back in November I was thrilled to announce that Pill Hill Press' horror anthology Daily Bites of Flesh 2011 was available in print. And now - if you've got a Kindle, or the free Kindle app for your PC or phone you can download this fabulous compendium of horror for just £3.73 from Amazon UK or $5.75 from Amazon US.


You get a tasty bite of flash fiction horror for every day of the year - what could be better than that? Two of my pieces - Spangles and Pustula Peculiar appear in 'June'. You can read excerpts below.

For a sneaky peek at some of the other stories in the collection - and ooh - are you in for some delicious treats from some excellent writers - you can download the whole month of January for free as a Kindle sample from Amazon. Just go to the relevant Amazon link above and find the Try It For Free box.

You can buy Daily Bites of Flesh in print direct from the Pill Hill shop for $22.49. Or from Amazon (UK - £21.99 and US - $24.99) and at Barnes & Noble.

Many thanks to Jessy Marie Roberts for her astonishing work in compiling and editing this anthology.

Excerpts:

Spangles
They found sequins in my knickers. The silver disks filled my crevices, finding their way into folds of flesh where they cut and sliced me raw. The question the cops asked themselves – did a killer place them there, or did I?

Hudson swore as his boss gave him the best job of all; standing between my legs to catch the corpse as they cut me down. The wind was ferocious. My body swung in circles from a creaking oak, a pendulum. Hudson danced like a girl, trying to avoid the spillages splattered over the forest floor beneath me. Evacuation - the elegance of death.

Pustula Peculiar

Ginger limped sideways to reach for another bottle. Taking a swig he gazed at the dancing dead.

“More,” the woman called from her shackles. “I need more”.

She widened her mouth to accept the Absinthe. The excess ran in rivulets down her neck raising the skin in blistering welts. Labella took the full mouthful into her throat in a single, rasping gulp.

The men looked on. No more smiles, just pant-pissing terror as the drumming began to slow.

“Quickly,” they begged. “Do it now.”

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Lily's Friday Prediction

I've been scouting around matey bloggers' bloggety blogs to find everyone has already sent out their festive greetings messages. Have I slept 48 hours and woken up on Boxing Day? I bleedin' hope not because I wanted to see little un's face when she opened her presents. No? Fortunately it still seems to be the morning of Christmas Eve and everyone apart from me is simply being organised.

Congratulations to Aidan Fritz for winning last week's Friday Prediction with his stark elven chiller Mörkt Alven and to runner-up William Davoll for the frank and disturbing The Lie.

Time to lay my hands on the old book... This week's three words are:

• Priory
• Gold
• Shift

Hmmn; that combination evokes something dark in in my gut. What does it do for you?

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 Thursday 30 December 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.

So be inspired, and in the meantime eat, drink and be merry to your heart's content. Have a good one.

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Prediction Winner

Crawling our way towards Christmas, I am sure we are all looking forward to a relaxed (?) break with plenty of opportunity to fiddle with our Muse, as it were. But Lily's Friday Prediction, like a Man Cold, will persevere.

A plethora of talent this week. Let's sum up:

• Mimimanderly's sculptor drugs his victims and turns them to stone in her cold Marble
• More Art World terror from Antonia Woodville as her baddie seeks the perfect Still Life.
• Revenge rages sweet with Susan May James' educational tale, A Teaching.
• Sue H twists our guilt and then stabs us with it in her emotional In The Bleak Midwinter.
• Naughty Michael Solender toussles with Barbie and disabuses us of the Santa myth.
• My poem's Wasted Matchstick Girl straddles herself between lovers, spreading her unique love.
• We are frozen in an urban fantasy, victims of the Dark Elves in Aidan F's Mörkt Alven.
• A return visit from Antonia flashes us back to the lies and fear of The War Zone.
• Volcanic fallout petrifies the masses, intoxicating our souls in AJ Humpage's Vulcan Rising.
• David Barber slaps the dirty side of Hollywood in our faces with The Business.
• Diana gallops - audibly - to safety in Double Trouble, the latest in Chris Allinotte's series Diamonds.
• The Undead are threatening our senses in David Barber's new chapter. Who undied?
• Superstition, revenge and remorse gather at the crossroads of scratchypen's The Truth Will Out.
• William Davoll's The Lie is traumatising in its bluntness, and tragically evocative.
• Pixie's Forgotten Child is a tremble of despair, emotion and confusion for her tragic heroine.

The diversity of this week's offerings made the judging even more challenging than usual. I've been enjoying them all week for different reasons. Perhaps my choice is subjective tonight - I won't reveal what kind of a day I've had, but a Californian Chardonnay is my friend this evening. So...

This week's winner is AidanF's Mörkt Alven because it chilled and disturbed me with its creeping dark elves. Runner-up? Very difficult but I'm going for William  again because of the unique voice and the stark depiction. Congratulations Aidan and well done William. Every single entry was brilliant, it has to be said. Please do return.

Voice of an Angel

The wonderful author and poet Angel Zapata has launched a gorgeous quarterly flash e-zine 5x5 Fiction: Stories Told Loud and Clear.

Angel is looking for "exceptional stories to shout from rooftops. Complete stories (not rantings or poems) must be exactly 25 words long, told in exactly 5 sentences, with each sentence comprised of exactly 5 words."

This is a very exciting new flash challenge. Do go visit, do submit...

http://5x5fiction.blogspot.com/2010/12/5x5-stories-told-loud-and-clear-now.html

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Lily's Friday Prediction

Here flies Madame Time again, so I shall be brief. As always a stimulating and inspiring round of entries last week. Congratulations to AJ Humpage for her winning tale, Fell, the Breath and to runners-up RS Bohn for Unseen and William Davoll for First Harvest.

It occurred to me that some of you go on to expand your entries into full pieces. Do tell us - even if it's six months later, we'd love to hear about it.

And so, my encyclopaedic dictionary has thrown out three simple words this week - but you don't have to make it easy for me:

• Waif
• Lie
• Inanimate

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 Thursday 23 December 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.

Twist my fancy with your words; I'm waiting...

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