PHOTO PROMPT © Dale Rogerson
We skidded to a halt, motor sputtering and gasping on fumes. I leapt off the bike. He switched everything off and dismounted as I yanked off my helmet. “We lost it. I’m sure we lost it.”
His hair was as wild as his eyes. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah, yeah. I think, yeah. Shoot.”
“What even was it?”
“I dunno. It had claws and the teeth, the teeth were huge. Did you see?”
“Nah, I was running. I saw nothing.”
“Shoot!” I bent over, panting hard. In my mind all I saw was teeth.
“Arrooooooooooo!”
Our heads darted up. “Run! Go!”
This is a Friday Fictioneers Prompt
You can read more FF prompt responses here
Word count: 100
© Solothefirst & Laurie Bell. All Rights to the works and publications on this blog are owned and copyrighted by Solothefirst & Laurie Bell. The Owner of this site reserves all permissions for access and use of all documents on this site. NO AI TRAINING: Without in any way limiting the author’s [and publisher’s] exclusive rights under copyright, any use of this publication to “train” generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to generate text is expressly prohibited. The author reserves all rights to license uses of this work for generative AI training and development of machine learning language models.
PHOTO PROMPT © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields
As the clock ticks I wonder if it will happen.
A dream is just a dream, isn’t it?
What if it is not.
What if it is the soul’s way of reaching different times and places while our body sleeps?
I stare up at the sky. I see the ball and the clock tick tick ticking. I recall the same scene. Staring up. Though the sky was dark and I was surrounded by lights and laughter and so many voices. I also saw a spaceship heading straight down toward us and heard screams.
Dusk is not far off.
I wonder…
This is a Friday Fictioneers prompt
You can read more FF prompt responses here
Word count: 100
© Solothefirst & Laurie Bell. All Rights to the works and publications on this blog are owned and copyrighted by Solothefirst & Laurie Bell. The Owner of this site reserves all permissions for access and use of all documents on this site. NO AI TRAINING: Without in any way limiting the author’s [and publisher’s] exclusive rights under copyright, any use of this publication to “train” generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to generate text is expressly prohibited. The author reserves all rights to license uses of this work for generative AI training and development of machine learning language models.
PHOTO PROMPT © Rowena Curtin
The message went out. Meet at the Zone.
Only five made it. So many lost. We’d been fighting back for months. The Rebellion we’d proudly called ourselves.
Five.
We had been five hundred.
We were no match for the aliens; their tech more advanced than our human-made devices. Christ, we were so naïve.
I wait in the shadows, praying more will come. My hands tremble violently enough to force me to lower the candle to the dirt between my taped together boots. I twitch at movement in the dark, blade raised.
A recognizable whistle.
That’s six.
Christ.
Merry fucking Christmas.
This is a Friday Fictioneers prompt
You can read more FF prompt responses here
Word count: 100
Channelling my inner sci-fi Die Hard* moment.
*yes it is a Christmas movie
© Solothefirst & Laurie Bell. All Rights to the works and publications on this blog are owned and copyrighted by Solothefirst & Laurie Bell. The Owner of this site reserves all permissions for access and use of all documents on this site. NO AI TRAINING: Without in any way limiting the author’s [and publisher’s] exclusive rights under copyright, any use of this publication to “train” generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to generate text is expressly prohibited. The author reserves all rights to license uses of this work for generative AI training and development of machine learning language models.
PHOTO PROMPT © Susan Rouchard
The number of individual flames from a distance take on the appearance of one large fire. So many humans were lost when the ships from space landed and the aliens attacked. We thought all had ended. Those of us left initially hid in the shadows. Emerging from the dark like cockroaches only to scurry away when the search lights sweep past.
But like the roaches of old we wait and we grow our numbers. We find each other underground and our numbers grow. They will not know what will hit them when at last we swarm. Life finds a way.
This is a Friday Fictioneers Prompt
You can read more FF prompt responses here
Word count: 100
© Solothefirst & Laurie Bell. All Rights to the works and publications on this blog are owned and copyrighted by Solothefirst & Laurie Bell. The Owner of this site reserves all permissions for access and use of all documents on this site. NO AI TRAINING: Without in any way limiting the author’s [and publisher’s] exclusive rights under copyright, any use of this publication to “train” generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to generate text is expressly prohibited. The author reserves all rights to license uses of this work for generative AI training and development of machine learning language models.
PHOTO PROMPT © Ted Strutz
Bare appendages didn’t register.
There were piles of boots, shoes, flip flops, sand shoes and pumps of all kinds. Human shoes for human feet. Big and small.
We don’t wear shoes.
We buzzed frantically in the doorway, unsure of the custom. Should we have bought suitable appendage-wear? We don’t require them. Our tentacles do not touch the ground. Our wings keep us mobile and above the surface. Would we be sent away in shame? We did not intend to cause cultural distress but we were anxious now. Our wings vibrate faster.
“Come in please,” the human host says. “You are welcome.”
This is a Friday Fictioneers Prompt
You can read more FF prompt responses here
Word count: 100
© Solothefirst & Laurie Bell. All Rights to the works and publications on this blog are owned and copyrighted by Solothefirst & Laurie Bell. The Owner of this site reserves all permissions for access and use of all documents on this site. NO AI TRAINING: Without in any way limiting the author’s [and publisher’s] exclusive rights under copyright, any use of this publication to “train” generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to generate text is expressly prohibited. The author reserves all rights to license uses of this work for generative AI training and development of machine learning language models.
Looking for gift ideas that are easy to wrap? buy a book
PHOTO PROMPT © Fleur Lind
When I left it there, I hadn’t expected this. “Shoot!” How do I use this getaway vehicle now? Flowers growing in the engine block? Ugh. I hike the backpack holding my life inside higher over my shoulder. Need a new plan. I spot the train station in the distance. A short run gets me there as the train pulls in. No ticket but I swipe my badge over the sensor and the magic happens, splitting the gates apart. I slide through the carriage’s closing doors. I sit and press my fingers over the bag’s zipper where a blue glow emanates.
This is a Friday Fictioneers prompt
You can read more FF prompt responses here
Word count: 100
© Solothefirst & Laurie Bell. All Rights to the works and publications on this blog are owned and copyrighted by Solothefirst & Laurie Bell. The Owner of this site reserves all permissions for access and use of all documents on this site. NO AI TRAINING: Without in any way limiting the author’s [and publisher’s] exclusive rights under copyright, any use of this publication to “train” generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to generate text is expressly prohibited. The author reserves all rights to license uses of this work for generative AI training and development of machine learning language models.
About the Book:
The monster Josh Taylor feared is free-and it’s all his fault.
Not only have Josh’s actions put his family and friends in danger, they’ve thrown Blackbirch into elemental chaos, forcing the town to evacuate.
Fleeing with his friends to his former home in the city, they follow clues left by his mom and aunt to uncover long-held secrets, and truths that lead to danger and loss.
This makes Josh question if he can avoid the doomed history of the Gifters before him, and if his magick is enough to defeat a creature willing to violate the laws of nature to claw its way back to life.
It’s Collector versus Collector in this epic conclusion to the Blackbirch series, and there’s only room in this world for one.
My Thoughts:
Josh, Callie, Sarah and Max are in the fight of their lives and everything is coming for them in this final installment of the Blackbirch series. The town of Blackbirch is under a siege of magical destruction. The elements are tearing Blackbirch apart. If the four friends survive and escape the town they will only have to return to defeat the biggest of the big bads and prevent him from taking everything they have. Josh finally discovers the truth about his family’s magic and is determined to be the one to stop the destructive cycle. Enemies become reluctant friends in the battle to end it all, but betrayal is everywhere and when magic means you can change your form it seems you truly can’t trust anyone.
Once again author K.M. Allan hits it out of the park. Book four is the final installment of this terrific magical series and wraps it all up beautifully. The battles are bigger, the magic is wilder and the danger is far more deadly. Each character well-grounded, realistic motivations and an emotional depth that drives the drama and the story forward. Blackbirch again steals the show as a town with a life, personality and history all of its own. It is very much a character in its own right. Generational drama also features strongly in this tale where the actions and decisions made by one generation will be felt by the next until you find a way to end the vicious cycle. Actions affect decisions which affect actions and so on. Only by breaking the cycle will Josh and his friends survive.
If you had magic, could you give it up to save the ones you love?
A fantastic series.
PHOTO PROMPT © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields
Walking with soft feet. That’s how it felt to step silently. A glowing green light leads me on.
I’ve seen it before. When I was a kid. Green. Glowing. Menacing. I thought it was a dream. Green skin. Black eyes. Purple blood. Not human.
I’m bigger now, but I still see it. Green. Glowing. Pulsing. Waiting.
Watching.
Is it proud?
Or scared?
Of what I am.
Of what I have become.
I’m one with the shadows.
Red. Blood. Screams. Horror.
I’ll see the light again. Or actually … it will see me.
I will be the last thing it sees.
This is a Friday Fictioneers prompt
You can read more FF prompt responses here
Word count: 100
© Solothefirst & Laurie Bell. All Rights to the works and publications on this blog are owned and copyrighted by Solothefirst & Laurie Bell. The Owner of this site reserves all permissions for access and use of all documents on this site. NO AI TRAINING: Without in any way limiting the author’s [and publisher’s] exclusive rights under copyright, any use of this publication to “train” generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to generate text is expressly prohibited. The author reserves all rights to license uses of this work for generative AI training and development of machine learning language models.
About the Book
I have no faith in love. Love cannot save me. I choose vengeance.
The boys of Huaxia dream of pairing up with girls to pilot Chrysalises – giant transforming robots that battle aliens beyond the Great Wall. It doesn’t matter that their female co-pilots are expected to serve as concubines and often die from the mental strain.
When 18-year-old Zetian offers herself up as a concubine-pilot, her plan is to assassinate the ace male pilot responsible for her sister’s death. But after miraculously surviving her first battle, Zetian sets her sights on a mightier goal. The time has come to stop more girls from being sacrificed.
My thoughts
Wow… this is everything you could want from a science fiction novel.
A must-read, brilliant story of feminine rage, robotic symbiotic chrysalises, epic battles, social commentary, incredible world building and questions about humanity and its role in evolution, destruction and survival (nature vs science vs humans). I loved every second of this book. If you love a good, thought provoking, message driven, character based novel then you have to read this one immediately.
Zetian is the hero and the driving force behind this story. She is anger personified and I love her so much! She is forced by society and cultural norms into a subservient role and breaks free from those expectations in a spectacularly violent fashion. She is a woman who takes no prisoners and fights for her beliefs with a no-holding back glorious viciousness that is a joy to read.
Beautifully written and a breathtakingly honest, this is a heartfelt story.
I flew through the novel but also dwelled on every page. There are some brilliantly written lines and parts that took my breath away.
This book is violent, brutal, thought-provoking, and the best of all that science fiction has to offer. It is part one of a duology and I cannot wait to see how it ends. Honestly, all the reviews I have read give it justice and put it so much better than I can. If you love scifi – read this one.
Rambles, writing and amusing musings 