Month: February 2021

This may be the final post that I get chance to write for the Silent Eye… that decision has been taken out of my hands. I spent much of last week in hospital, having, as many of you know, been diagnosed with incurable small cell lung cancer last September. It has been an interesting and informative journey on so many levels as familiar things have been stripped away and a gift of love left in its place… rather like the tooth fairy leaving something of real value in place of a discarded incisor.

First to go was the illusion of near-immortality that gets us through life, one way or another. We know there is a certain inevitability about life leading to death, but we tend not to apply it to ourselves until we are forced to pay attention. Dealing with the situation that made me sit up and listen meant…

Hello everyone and a warm welcome to Parts 1) and 2)of the entries for my weekly: “Fiction in A Flash Challenge 2021.  Week #38.

Today I’m featuring contributions from entry 1)By John Howell and Entry 2) My own contribution.

Last week I set the following Challenge:

Hello everyone and welcome to my new “Fiction in A Flash Challenge!” Each week I’ll be featuring an image and inviting you to write a Flash Fiction or Non-Fiction piece inspired by that image in any format and genre of your choosing.  Maximum word count: 750 words.

Here is the image prompt.

This one-line contribution by John Howell.

“Big shot TV tuna or no, you can’t do this, Charlie.”

John Howell can be reached here …

Visit at Amazon.https://www.amazon.com/author/johnwhowell

 Twitter:

Author Blog Fiction Favorites:

Here is my own contribution.

SYNCHRONICITY.

Jeremy secured the beach canopy, then hurriedly spread out the blanket…

Happy Friday! I rarely do promotional posts on my catalog of back titles (note to self: do this more often) but I wanted to give a shout out on my romantic suspense / mystery novel, Myth and Magic. My publisher has placed it on sale today for $1.99, so if you’ve been on the fence about this one, now is the perfect time to snatch it up!

You’ve probably figured out by now that I have a “thing” for spooky old houses. In the case of Myth and Magic, the home in question has been converted to a retreat for corporate employees trying to “unplug” from the world. Naturally, it has a sordid and sinister past. Oh, and did I mention the book is set during October with a lavish Halloween party at the end? A Halloween party where something goes very wrong.

BLURB:
AS CHILDREN THEY PLAYED…

Liminal

Her sable brush roamed the canvas. Delicate strokes of umber and ochre for the barren branches. Burnt sienna for the dying autumn leaves.

She paused. Amused.

Had she painted autumn’s abandoned twigs? Or young buds, heralds of the coming green? She savored her newfound uncertainty. Fall or Spring? Snow a foretelling of what was to come or a last gust of cold breath before the skies turned blue?

Her lover leaned over her shoulder, adding bergamot to scents of oil and turpentine. “Why the gray skies?”

She angled a smile. “Because the liminal world is rarely black and white.”

~*~

I wrote (3) 99-word stories for the Sue Vincent Rodeo over at Carrot Ranch. Then, I read the fine print and discovered I could only submit (2). Uh oh. Decisions, decisions. Well, this is the one that I didn’t submit.

Remember that submissions…