Flash Fiction Friday 157: Xìngfú by Samantha Wilcox

Welcome to Flash Fiction Friday and the one hundred and fifth-seventh piece in this series. This week’s is a 500-worder by Samantha Wilcox.

Xìngfú

Sweetness and spice swept my senses as I lifted the lid. So powerful was the hit, I let my eyes close and breathed in, before looking up into the sky. The bright white as my sight adjusted soon dulled and I found myself beneath a hazy blanket, still standing on the street where I found it; a hush enveloped me where I stood holding the ornate vessel. Soon, though, the busy world around me broke the spell, its many voices strangling the air. I closed the lid carefully and negotiated the crowd to reach the shadows, away from the calling, sizzling and spitting.

I sat on rock shaded by Katsuras; I was on the outskirts of a park. Green stretched behind me scattered with white rocks, tall trees, twisted wooden bridges. It was beautiful. I breathed deeply; In…out… Something about this find was special, I felt it like a thrill as I let my breath release and re-lifted the lid.

Looking into the depths of the velvet lining, I saw the outline of another, much smaller, box. Its glossed veneer glinted in the darkness; gold leaf spiralled to its hinges. My desire to open it mounted but just as I moved to, the sound of an erhu stopped me. It was close, perhaps behind me, though when I turned I found I was alone.

‘Hello?’ I asked anyway, my voice tentative. Was this mysterious player the owner of the boxes? When no answer came and the music continued I felt wary. I placed the boxes down on the rock beside me and stood to leave. As I stepped away, however, I felt the pull of the boxes and the music stopped. My agitation grew as a small man appeared from behind trees. He approached me and I shivered, uncertain. Then he was before me, gesturing to the boxes, smiling.

‘I-I don’t understand’ I stammered. But I realised that I did. I did understand. It was a sign. I was supposed to find these boxes.. why? The man chuckled softly. I had felt lost; I had come to China searching, though I had not been aware.

Crack. Woken from my reverie, I saw the man disappear behind the trees. I reached out for the boxes; as I touched the wood of the first I felt my body lighten, my heart lift. I sat to pull out the small glossed treasure, stroking the hinges as I raised its lid.

The shock of colour as the tiny butterfly flew free from its confines held me raptured. Blues and crimsons and yellows and golds, silvers and emeralds and an array of oranges, warm as saffron and bright as apricot. When it had flown around a little, it hovered, poised above me, and so I held out my hand. And there it flew, landing on my flesh, soft and firm. The spice and the sweetness filled the air around us.

“Hello, little friend’ I said. And the peace of the world settled in my soul.

*

I asked Samantha what prompted this piece and she said…

 

Book review – for readers and writers – no.104: Morgen Bailey reviews The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett

Today’s book review, of a comedy novella, is brought to you by yours truly, Morgen Bailey. If you’d like your book reviewed or to send me a book review of another author’s book, see book-reviews for the guidelines. Other options listed on opportunities-on-this-blog.

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett

Synopsis: The Uncommon Reader is none other than HM the Queen who drifts accidentally into reading when her corgis stray into a mobile library parked at Buckingham Palace. She reads widely (JR Ackerley, Jean Genet, Ivy Compton Burnett and the classics) and intelligently. Her reading naturally changes her world view and her relationship with people like the oleaginous prime minister and his repellent advisers. She comes to question the prescribed order of the world and loses patience with much that she has to do. In short, her reading is subversive. The consequence is, of course, surprising, mildly shocking and very funny.

This novella is available via http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Uncommon-Reader-Alan-Bennett/dp/1846681332 and http://www.amazon.com/The-Uncommon-Reader-Alan-Bennett/dp/1846681332.

Review (of the audiobook)

The story starts with Queen Elizabeth II – thanks to one of her noisy corgi dogs barking in the grounds of Buckingham Palace – discovering the local council’s travelling library. She borrows a book, with help from one of her kitchen-hands, Norman Seakins, and her love affair with books starts. This sees Norman promoted then – without the queen’s knowledge – ‘demoted’ (to become a creative writing student at the University of East Anglia) although their paths cross again later.

During the journey of the book (and a few journeys of her own), the Queen takes every opportunity she can to read even while waving from her carriage. Resentment builds from her staff, and less-than-understanding family – on one occasion one of the books, she’s told, was taken for a suspect package and blown up. As we are lead to believe is true in real life, the Queen is very savvy and while no one knows whether she’s read this book, it’s an homage to her, her being beautifully portrayed throughout.

 

Author Spotlight no.399 – Alan Place

Today’s Author Spotlight, the three hundred and ninety-ninth, is of multi-genre author Alan Place. If you would like to take part in an author spotlight, take a look at author-spotlights.

From an early age, Alan found he had a talent for telling stories, but it wasn’t until he read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Silver_Sword did he realise, being a writer may be his calling.

All through his school days, he was never happier than reading, or telling stories; he was more often found in the library than playing sports; in later life he found out this probably saved his life as he suffered from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypertrophic_cardiomyopathy , an inherited illness which kills otherwise healthy athletes suddenly, and for no apparent reason.

In between the dream, and the realisation of a dream, was a little thing called “life,” and it took over 50 years to reach a stage where he had the time to write.

His earliest stories were westerns, but he as yet hasn’t done any for sale; five years ago after he became disabled, he decided to take up writing, and made a rep for writing ghost stories. These have been good sellers in the UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00BNDHL0U and he has been in the Amazon top 20 Ghost Anthology section several times.

Three years ago he started a blog http://alsdomain.weebly.com/which will close this month  http://alsdomain.weebly.com/whats-happening/it-doesnt-matter-anymore other than contact with a few close friends, and his friends on  https://www.facebook.com/groups/665685033479843/ and http://thepeacockwriters.weebly.com/ he will effectively be off line.

And Alan’s emails close with: “A writer without an audience, is like a one-handed clap.” Harlan Coben, Bristol, April 9th, 2014. :)

*

And now from the author himself:

 

Flash Fiction Friday 156: 6-word stories

Welcome to Flash Fiction Friday and the one hundred and fifty-sixth piece in this series. This week’s is the nineteenth bunch of 6-word stories by a variety of authors, together with their 6-word biographies!

6-word stories

by Chong Teck SIM – aspiring Singaporean writer

• Small lamps. Rangoli floor paintings. Deepavali.
• Re-igniting old pains. Past love.
• Sweet innocence. Ever-lasting marriage. Golden anniversary.
• Creaking doors. Pitter-patter footsteps. Mischievous poltergeist.
• Every morning. Unexpected roses. Secret admirer.
• To my beloved: no refund permitted.
• Tear-soaked face. Photograph. Departed lover.
• Two students. Holding hands. Puppy love.
• Anonymous donor. A blank cheque. Charity.
• Love misses a stop: my heart.

by Sal Buttaci finds humor in life

• Words of kindness transcend all tongues.
• In sleep no one is harmed.
• Life is measured with a thimble.
• The last great war was not.
• Counting to six, use both hands.
• Can “I do” be empty boasting?
• Find your purpose and live it.

by Mark K – a writer? Trying hard.

• Snail racing: Not an exciting sport.
• Twenty-twenty vision but he’s deaf.
• My Teddy bear died last night.
• Airline stewardess joins mile high club.
• When she went, my world stopped.
• Then diamond tears track furrowed cheeks.
• I’ll so miss her child-like smile.
• Her voice is like an angel’s.
• The door closed, my lips trembled.
• Sweet silence reigned, she’d left me.

by Samantha Wilcox, navigates life through writing

• Mix up, mothered the wrong child.
• Two men, three girls, one sigh.
• Her assistance declined, she left carefree.
• Ignored his call and walked away.
• Colorado snowfall brightened the dark firs.
• She failed and so I won.
• Excited, needed to share, chose you.
• Icy, moved fast, bad move, dead.
• Wrote this and more inspiration came.
• Degree’s done, job’s unfulfilling, still searching.

by Awen Thornber. Creative dreamer. Cancer survivor.

• Flash fiction. Short story. Became novella!
• Flees England, becomes Huguenot. Flees France.

by Geoffrey Iley: hedonist, romantic, aspiring wordsmith

• Will you… please? No! Goodbye.
• I demand your money! No! Bang!
• Where? Just here? ¾ enjoyable? Ooooh!
• Help! What? Can’t hear, sorry. Aaaaaargh…
• Candle snuffed… whose hand grips mine???
• (Enriched plutonium) + (psychopath) = extinction.

by James Holden works as a geek.

• But you were beautiful, back then.

by Mary Annie: writer at her best.

• The car screeched. And she screamed.
• Sang, danced, dined. To no avail.

by Suzanne, Pear-shaped, pushing 50, risking all

• Daughter bride chooses hyphen, maintains identity.
• Matriarch flees. Ocean restores. Family rejoices.
• Boy turned man. Loved her back.
• Grampa spoiled us flea market Sundays.

and then some from yours truly… Morgen Bailey, Morgen With an E

• Valentine’s Day. I’d expected something else.
• Generous lover, lonely wife, guilty feet.
• Concerto plays as he proposes. “No.”
• I love AC/DC. The band too.
• Watching movie, sinking into the sofa.
• Bought duct tape. Lover or killer?

*

Thank you, everyone.

If you’d like to submit your 6-worders (up to ten per blog post, although you can send as many as you like and I’ll either pick the best ones or if I like most / all of them, schedule ahead) and / or 500-word max. stories for consideration for Flash Fiction Friday take a look here.

 

Guest post: How To Put Together A Multi-Author Box Set by Elizabeth Bailey

Today’s guest blog post is brought to you by romance novelist Elizabeth Bailey.

How To Put Together A Multi-Author Box Set

A collection of authors writing in the same genre is a must. The five of us in our box set are all Regency writers, so that was a good start.

How do you find them? The obvious way is to look amongst your writer friends and acquaintances. Often writer groups put out anthologies together. But if you are going to put out full-length books, you may have to go further afield. Do you belong to a writers’ organisation?

We are all members of the Romantic Novelists’ Association in the UK, and we often meet at events. We know each other, not necessarily well, but we were able to locate enough writers in the same genre from this large pool.

The hardest thing to face is that you want writers of similar calibre. This means taking a good look at your own ability and level. You may not be a bestselling author, but are your books of good enough quality to align with those who are? How experienced are you compared to the rest?

Also look at your prospective fellow authors. Check out their books. Would you read them? Would you be happy to recommend them? These are important considerations, because you all need to be rooting for success together, and you must believe in the value of the box set. Fortunately, our five contributions match very well in terms of quality, and we all like reading each other’s books.

Each author then has to decide which book will go in the set, ensuring no two books are too alike. Having chosen the book, you need to decide which platform to publish it on. Then make sure that all the books are available and meet the criteria of the platform. Amazon, for example, has a number of exclusivity clauses, depending whether or not you go into its Select program.

One of the authors has to take responsibility for publishing the box set on their account on the platform, and be willing to share out the profits after costs are met. All the authors need to agree on a publishing date and a promotion campaign, each one playing their part in getting the box set noticed.

Don’t forget the cover! It’s worth paying out for a good one as you need the box set format and a really attractive come-on general picture that will work for all the stories. Proofing is a must! You don’t want typos and errors all over the place. We each proofed the whole thing, so there were five pairs of eyes going over it and we must have caught most of the mistakes.

 

Book review – for readers and writers – no.103: Morgen Bailey reviews Settling a Score by Michael Ross

Today’s book review, of a short story collection, is brought to you by yours truly, Morgen Bailey. If you’d like your book reviewed or to send me a book review of another author’s book, see book-reviews for the guidelines. Other options listed on opportunities-on-this-blog.

Being a writer and editor, I read and review books with both hats. If you’re a writer reading this review and found it useful, do let me know.

Twenty Short Stories: Settling a Score by Michael Ross

Synopsis: What does it feel like to take another person’s life? Will the good deeds we do come back to us in different forms? Should we always trust our instincts? Is it ever too late to turn back? These are of some of the questions posed in this imaginative collection of short stories involving amongst others; a public executioner, a super hero who’s half man-half wolf, a failed celebrity writer, a disillusioned taxi driver, a father and daughter facing the end of the world, an ugly journalist, and a policeman seeking justice. Some of the many characters in this intriguing and imaginative collection of stories where all the characters have a tale to tell. A collection that will surely leave a mark on the reader.

This collection is available via http://www.amazon.co.uk/TWENTY-SHORT-STORIES-Settling-Score-ebook/dp/B00G4E5038 and http://www.amazon.com/TWENTY-SHORT-STORIES-Settling-Score-ebook/dp/B00G4E5038.

Review (of the eBook, using Mrs Kindle’s text-to-speech function)

The collection, as the title implies, has twenty stories (listed and reviewed below). I love titles and often with short story collections, I pick and choose the order in which I read them, leaving the most intriguing to last (these being the third, twelfth, thirteenth, fifteenth and seventeenth).

 

Book review – for readers and writers – no.102: Morgen Bailey reviews Samantha by Kevin Morris

Today’s book review of a single short story is brought to you by yours truly, Morgen Bailey. If you’d like your book reviewed or to send me a book review of another author’s book, see book-reviews for the guidelines. Other options listed on opportunities-on-this-blog.

Being a writer and editor, I read and review books with both hats. If you’re a writer reading this review and found it useful, do let me know.

Samantha by Kevin Morris

Synopsis: Samantha tells the story of a young girl forced into prostitution in the city of Liverpool. Can Sam’s love for Peter, a man she meets in a nightclub, save her? Or will Sam end her life in the murky waters of Liverpool’s Albert Dock?

This story is available via Amazon UK (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samantha-K-Morris-ebook/dp/B00BL3CNHI) and Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/Samantha-K-Morris-ebook/dp/B00BL3CNHI), and Kevin’s website is www.newauthoronline.com.

Review (of the eBook)

The story starts in Peter’s point of view where he’s at a club with his friends, Mark and Lisa, but he goes off with Sam when she invites him to leave and Mark and Lisa have apparently disappeared.

Although Peter and Sam know each briefly, the attraction between is obvious, if not a little gushy at places.

Barry, Sam’s pimp, is horrible and well-written so we can’t like him. Some antagonists have redeeming features but Barry has none and his description felt realistic.

I enjoyed the narrator saying that Peter hated the Wetherspoon’s pub chain (‘They signified all that was wrong with modern society’) because it’s my partner’s favourite.

Although we don’t see much of him, Billy is probably my favourite because there’s a ‘reveal’ around halfway through the story, which I won’t spoil for you.