tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56294032012-01-24T11:37:30.854-05:00flashersShort fiction in a hurry
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Copyrights of all content on this webpage belong to David Alan Jones and may not be used without express permission of the author.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.comBlogger2261100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-90000613555581811352010-02-08T14:44:00.001-05:002010-02-08T14:45:40.213-05:00New Digs,I am moving my blogging efforts, paltry as they have been, over to Wordpress. Here is the link to my new blog: http://davidalanjones.wordpress.com/-- david j.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-80666793820585381472010-01-15T21:54:00.000-05:002010-01-15T21:55:27.774-05:00Where'd the previous flash story go? I had to take it down, because I have sent it to Flash Me magazine for consideration.-- david j.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com29tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-70769449123323142322010-01-08T05:19:00.002-05:002010-01-09T13:12:19.550-05:00Following is my winning entry in the Aphelion Webzine flash fiction contest for December 2009.Winter of My Disc ContentSamantha held a cup of cocoa under her nose and blew steam from its frothy surface. Despite the aroma, she found she had no real desire for the stuff. After two mugs the third was just a brace against the cold. It was either this or the bourbon, and she knew what lay at the end Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-50539163374549039452010-01-07T21:14:00.002-05:002010-01-07T21:19:03.605-05:00Plotting a novel; a real, honest, in my opinion professional novel is arduous work. I'm proud to say I've nearly completed story arcs for all the characters that matter, along with back stories for each. I'm about half done with the plot skeleton outline I'll use for the actual writing. If all goes according to plan (that's the working title of this story--PLAN), I'll start the actual writing Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-60186557865715430352009-12-19T14:45:00.001-05:002009-12-19T14:45:16.372-05:00I read an article last year by a woman who said her husband is bad with directions. He had traveled with a friend to a business meeting and upon returning they shared a rental car to get home from the airport which, unfortunately, was about four hours from their hometown. About halfway, they traded places, the friend too sleepy to drive anymore. The hapless husband took over and drove nearly Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-81370938040255562052009-12-15T15:41:00.002-05:002009-12-15T15:47:16.690-05:00I broke one of my cardinal rules of writing, but I did it for a good cause. I put my novel down for two weeks in order to pen a middle reader novella for my son. The finished product seems strong to me, but authors can't always see the leaves for the branches when it comes to their own works. My wife and two good friends are reading the rough draft readers copy now. They'll let me know if Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-48759100787378409462009-11-29T18:50:00.001-05:002009-11-29T18:52:29.790-05:00I have a story in the Aphelion monthly flash challenge for November. I can't say which one is mine, but feel free to vote for the most articulate, brilliant, well-written entry (that will be mine). ;-)Here's the link: http://www.aphelion-webzine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1598Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-3467826763506116682009-09-10T17:03:00.004-04:002009-09-10T17:05:34.127-04:00Today's Word: OpinionsOpinions are NOT like assholes. Every asshole can be put to proper use.Opinions are like brains. Everybody has one and they all think theirs is worth something.-- david j.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-89080117284585404762009-08-28T14:40:00.002-04:002009-08-28T14:44:39.145-04:00Water fell from a hole in the sky – about nine thousand gallons an hour. The water was not particularly interesting. It was brackish, filled with common trace elements, and it smelled of sulfur. It posed no particular threat to the Earth. What made this water interesting was that it poured from a black, two-dimensional circle six hundred feet in diameter about four thousand feet above the Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-61390597366311816402009-08-08T22:18:00.001-04:002009-08-08T22:18:43.930-04:00Today’s Word: Anomie (A recycle from 2003)The mid twenty-first century saw an anomie of the middle class as conservatism and moral integrity weakened like pillars under the crushing arms of a long-haired Samson. Three generations -- these later deemed by scholars as the weakest links in the human evolutionary chain to date -- caused the downfall of western culture through a slow erosion of Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-34054061628660034372009-07-24T23:38:00.002-04:002009-07-24T23:41:57.345-04:00I am writing a novel called Plan. Who knows what I'll call it in a few months, but for now it is called Plan same as its parent novella. I had already begun writing it two days ago when my wife suggested a new character. Her suggestion was spot on and I knew right away she (the new character) was spot on for the job. Of course, I had already written a scene that would involve this new Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-82271974421852826892008-03-19T20:54:00.002-04:002008-03-19T20:54:41.082-04:00Today's Word: EatI think I'll eat me some Rice Krispies. I love them things.-- david j.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-13105446856730769392008-03-02T10:53:00.002-05:002008-03-02T11:12:24.776-05:00Today’s Word: ProfundityJerry would be an iconoclast. He would delve into the human psyche, plumb the heart’s inner recesses, drive a miner’s wedge between the known of human experience and the yet-to-be-discovered. No mere banalities would serve as killing blade in his hunt for literary perfection. Profundity would be the order of the day. Every Day!Jerry grinned as these words appeared on the Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-27798800262438207192007-12-19T08:50:00.001-05:002007-12-19T08:50:57.580-05:00The WheelByDavid Alan JonesI am braced by the sound of the wheel turning, its jangle hammering on the soft, early autumn air. With my hands pressed hard into the pockets of my plaid coat, I watch the wheel, spinning in the harsh glare of upright floodlights. It is a monster, filled with monsters, and so it makes a monstrous sound.Sometime in late summer, no one bothered to mark the date, the Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-88317658270851229912007-12-04T18:28:00.000-05:002007-12-04T23:05:56.825-05:00Today's Word: SufferI was thinking. . .It's sad when you grow so old that people no longer laugh when you trip and fall. Better to suffer embarrassment than pity.-- david j.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-15806806681880015382007-07-17T18:13:00.001-04:002007-07-17T18:13:49.669-04:00Today's Word: SpeakYou don’t teach a dog to speak and then ask it if it still wants to eat cats. Of course it still wants to eat cats, only now it can have them delivered off the internet.-- david j.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-10219316918236959822007-07-12T20:34:00.000-04:002007-07-12T20:35:07.616-04:00Today's Word: SquareMy first idea would not fit into 1k words. I went back to square one and found a little tale up in the right hand corner, right there in a tiny crack -- I had never taken such a hard look at square one; its surface is uneven and rough and pitted. -- david j.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-10237669100005331282007-06-08T21:49:00.000-04:002007-06-08T21:51:06.379-04:00Today's Word: WittyWitty people don't have to cuss. If you aren't so witty. . . to hell with it.-- david j.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-84482568572488405402007-04-28T17:02:00.000-04:002007-04-28T17:07:52.206-04:00Today's Word: Simulation"So you see, we're not really on earth, though I don't doubt there once was an earth -- probably long since destroyed by its own sun," said George Trenlor, president of the Lucas Falls chapter of the Society for and Enlightened People (SEP)."We're really in a big computer simulator," said Kaleb, a news reporter for the Lucas Fall Observer."That's right," said George with aDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-22052071235036610392007-01-30T22:01:00.000-05:002007-01-30T22:02:03.752-05:00Today's Word: BurnThe stomach burns only what the brain earns.-- david j.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-2574347331056285872007-01-29T22:34:00.000-05:002007-01-29T22:48:00.126-05:00Today's Word: CabalKristie's face was askew. Her pouting lips hung from the right side of her jaw. Her nose dangled from her left cheek. One eye was large, bulbous, and knobby like an overgrown yam. The other stretched around the curve of her temple so that the lashes spread out like blades on a fan. The rest of her head seemed normal enough, though her hair was dishevled from sleep. Her body tooDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-3664557649404579832007-01-27T00:16:00.001-05:002007-01-27T00:16:22.233-05:00Today's Word: StaticRoger sat before his computer, clicking away, guiding his screen through site after site with no real direction. He had nothing to do. Sharon was in the shower and the kids were in bed. He had plenty of time to potato-surf wherever he liked. A sound came from down the hallway. It was a small and tinny like the squelch of a CB between stations. Roger lifted his head, Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-85407259727702741662007-01-25T23:41:00.000-05:002007-01-25T23:42:08.305-05:00Today's Word: FealtyOvern stumbled, nearly losing his balance to the morasse of blood-soaked earth at his feet. His enemy, the Martin King, rushed forward, trying to take advantage of Overn's misstep. He thrust his sword at the Stromerean warrior's side, but Overn was too young and too fast for the king. He gained his balance by pushing forward into the slide and then twisted his whole frame Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-22883856093114496662007-01-24T22:22:00.000-05:002007-01-24T22:24:36.742-05:00Recommendation from the author:If you haven't read David Brin's Kiln People then you should.That is all.-- david j.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-72718784559635932042007-01-17T22:10:00.001-05:002007-01-17T22:13:28.670-05:00Today's Word: DamEverything was silent.Father was driving the old '42 Ford with both hands on the wheel. He wore his brown suit, derby hat, and an expression of mild concentration. Mother sat beside him in her blue Sunday dress, her hands folded primly in her lap.Little Roy sat in the back alone, watching the thick forests that fronted the road pass by. The trees gave suddenly away to a Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-40753255724307611342007-01-16T21:50:00.001-05:002007-01-16T21:51:38.996-05:00Today's Word: Loafer"And then there's the matter of your chef's shoes," said Mama Yont, the head cook at Echoes Town and Country Bistro."My chef shoes?" said Ray.Mama Yont pointed at the brown loafers on Ray's plump feet."You wore them into my kitchen. You came here with the expectation of preparing food. Those must be your chef shoes."Ray looked as his loafers and then looked at the nearly Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-21621107254443343952007-01-15T15:49:00.000-05:002007-01-17T19:20:41.594-05:00Something I had forgotten.Do a page search for "The Deal Closer" (no quotes).http://www.deadmule.com/content/index2.php?type=archive-- david j.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-68516482533668191242007-01-13T23:12:00.001-05:002007-01-13T23:12:49.662-05:00Today's Word: CharyThe giant Toriean sloth is a chary animal. It spends most daylight hours suspended from high tree branches out of the sun. But at night, when most plains predators have retired, the sloth hunts in packs, wielding rudimentary spears and rough clubs. Far from docile by moonlight, the Toriean sloth is a ruthless, merciless killer of anything larger than a rat. -- david j.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-18341929152418018662007-01-13T01:24:00.000-05:002007-01-13T01:29:18.311-05:00Today's Word: MellowOld King Card mellowed in his old age. He no longer frequented the brothels on Angel street nor did he often host great feasts to honor his brave knights. Instead, Card led a simple life of tottering about his ancient castle sentencing every third person he saw in a given day to death by torture. It wasn't much of a sport, but he thought it kept him spry and it did wonders forDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1168534707086036932007-01-11T11:57:00.000-05:002007-01-11T11:58:27.106-05:00Today's Word: Sonorous Dragons did not shit where they ate, but that was only by virtue of their length. Gorge, servant to her majesty the red dragon Stynaserian during the eighth decade of her life, discovered early in his career that dragon's ate much and shit man-sized mounds. In fact, it seemed to Gorge, after only three weeks service to his smoldering queen that his job of Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1168468247197794652007-01-10T17:29:00.000-05:002007-01-10T17:30:47.206-05:00I'm still alive. I'm still writing. I'll be writing here again soon.-- david j.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1138894326813691022006-02-02T10:31:00.000-05:002006-02-02T10:32:06.826-05:00Today's Word: GrammarDear Old GrammarOur Grammar lived in an apartment above an alehouse. She was a dear old Grammar, full of pith, with a steady hand at the spinning wheel and sharp tongue at the table. On Sundays, after church, Grammar played three-card gleek with her blue-haired friends, swapping gossip and betting toothpicks. She was, on the whole, level-headed. But it was Grammar's house andDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1138033372055991332006-01-23T11:22:00.000-05:002006-01-23T11:22:52.066-05:00Today's Word: IncommunicadoWe fired several low orbit flares, hoping to rouse some interest from the passing fleet, but the enemy ignored them. Without phased sub-tuners, fractal ansible emitters or even prehistoric push-button radios, we are held incommunicado from out compatriots. Alone and starving. -- david j.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1133581735266110972005-12-02T22:48:00.000-05:002005-12-03T05:08:07.663-05:00Today's Word: YeomanLord Tartar gagged as the poison seized his airway like a hangman's noose. He clawed at the heavy brocade collar about his neck, but found no relief. Silently, and red-faced, his eyes squirmed about the table as his high-born lady and noble children began to take notice. "Harvard?" asked his wife, the first hint of alarm creeping into her refined tones. "Da?" saidDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1133145843479010222005-11-27T21:43:00.000-05:002005-11-27T21:44:03.486-05:00Today's Word: PbbbbtPbbbt world!!-- david j.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1133056589523703052005-11-26T20:53:00.000-05:002005-11-26T20:56:29.533-05:00Today's Word: RaceDavid sat before the empty computer screen imagining the worlds he might create, longing to tap out fame or money or both from the plastic keyboard. After two hours, with nothing to show for his time beyond the byline, David decided maybe he should become a race car driver instead. Look out Gordon.-- david j.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1125960611160187722005-09-05T18:40:00.000-04:002005-09-05T18:50:11.166-04:00Today's Word: PopularAuzor Reece eyed the human sitting before him. "You don't believe the All-Point is slowing drawing all matter and energy back into itself?" asked the Auzor."No," said the man."Then what, sir, is your religion? To what diety do you owe your being?"The human stared, his eyes never moving from the old Auzor's face."The popular and favorable opinion of friends, family, and Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1125542648257869722005-08-31T22:42:00.000-04:002005-08-31T22:44:08.266-04:00Today's Word: BoxSometimes it's okay to think inside the box, especially if you're a hobo.-- david j.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1125364281300426642005-08-29T21:11:00.000-04:002005-08-29T21:11:21.306-04:00Today's Word: PlacateIn the center of the Plaza of Pride stood Nerl of Plint, a poor bean farmer who had died not ten minutes before, having run afoul of a mother bear. "How did I get here?" asked Nerl of no one in particular since there was no one around."You died," said a thick, deep voice behind the farmer.Nerl turned and found a skeleton dressed in a hooded shroud. Tall it was, probably Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1125281508200018412005-08-28T22:01:00.000-04:002005-08-28T22:13:43.070-04:00Today's Word: DiffuseThe wedding picture created a clear metaphor.The bride beamed, smiling her horsy teeth at the groom who lay abed out of frame. Light from a tenth story window cascaded the background, making the world seem to glow white, tinting the bride's curly locks a high shade of blonde, framing her face in its shine and setting off the vivid white of her dress. Monitors -- heart rate, Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1125194476484250122005-08-27T22:00:00.000-04:002005-08-27T22:01:16.490-04:00Today's Word: NumberOf course we can find you. We've got your number. We're the NSA.-- david j.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1125074257547099092005-08-26T12:37:00.000-04:002005-08-26T12:37:37.553-04:00Today's Word: BagatelleAfter surviving shrapnel in both legs during the war, cancer shortly after the war, the loss of his wife and a particularly painful motorcycle accident, Terry thought gallstones would be a mere bagatelle.He was wrong. -- david j.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1125021125520734672005-08-25T21:51:00.000-04:002005-08-25T21:52:05.526-04:00Today's Word: DecrepitudeSo worn down, turned-under and washed out were the villagers who survived the forced march that their bodies quickly fell into a bewildering decrepitude even after several days of rest.-- david j.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1124931732515601402005-08-24T21:01:00.000-04:002005-08-24T21:02:12.523-04:00Today's Word: CurmudgeonAt a time when the echoes of war reverberated near and far, casting all the land of Leros and Den into dark pools of doubt and fear, the robber bands of Zyflos the Really Smelly appeared. Of course, Zyflos wasn't the man's real name. He HAD been Zyflux the swineherd until he took up crime as a profession and gave himself a name befitting his new robber baron status. Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1124852361743018222005-08-23T22:59:00.000-04:002005-08-23T22:59:21.750-04:00Today's Word: TyroDickie wore the red stripped coat, tie and hat which made him at least look the part of a soda jerk, though he was merely a tyro. School had just let out and he had run all the way to beat the traffic coming out of the cross town rivals, Westside and Eastman. Mr. Peterson, the shop owner, was in the back doing something and had left Dickie to "mind the store". Dickie hoped Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1124732433397466272005-08-22T13:39:00.000-04:002005-08-22T13:40:33.406-04:00Today's Word: How-toThe answer IS NOT in one of these how-to books on writing novels.-- david j.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1124689454552084822005-08-22T01:43:00.000-04:002005-08-22T01:44:14.556-04:00Today's Word: NovelNovels are hard to write well.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1124677390050124472005-08-21T22:22:00.000-04:002005-08-21T22:25:28.286-04:00Today's Word: BuergermeisterIn the infinitesimal center atom of your eye dance the waves that form all things; little strings that curve and bind, sewing up the universe in patterns of life and muted elements: suns and rocks and beating hearts.In this mix of gyrating vacuum, where all things come together, one string reigns -- the buergermeister of all string theory -- with supreme energy of lifeDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1124587898464916622005-08-20T21:31:00.000-04:002005-08-21T19:46:08.886-04:00Today's Word: FloccinaucinihilipilificationAstus hitched his powder-white skirt upward by the single strap cinched round his muscular right shoulder. Silver paint bled off his papier-mâché short sword, coating his palm, but the young actor ignored it.His cue was coming. The Italian, Adolfo, had reached his single monologue, bellowing like a gelded bull before the lovely Celeste, the finest Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1124501969484398222005-08-19T21:37:00.000-04:002005-08-19T21:39:29.490-04:00Today's Word: PennyThe saying, "A penny for your thoughts", must have been created by a woman. A man wouldn't pay THAT much.-- david j.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1124424967126349232005-08-19T00:15:00.000-04:002005-08-19T00:16:07.130-04:00Today's Word: PasticheLarry brushed a lock of unruly dark hair out of his eyes revealing his thunderbolt-shaped scar. With a sinking heart, he raised his wand -- the one with the sphinx eye and wyvern scale center -- as the boogie-blight circled overhead, stealing all the joy from the world."Inconceivablous!" shouted Larry, with a flick of the wand.The boogie-blight yelped as a ray of pure, Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1124241056541655992005-08-16T21:10:00.000-04:002005-08-16T21:10:56.546-04:00Today's Word: NuminousNo matter the subject matter; no matter the genre, all my stories eventually take on a numinous aspect.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1124147540171999482005-08-15T19:04:00.000-04:002005-08-15T19:12:20.180-04:00Today's Word: AdvectionCoker bent his brown body over the flames, his bone necklace dangling precariously in the heat. With one hand he sprinkled beach sand over the fire, mumbling the ancient Rite of Rain, swaying as the words escaped him like bubbles rising from a sink full of sudsy dishes.He seemed so certain, with his nappy hair and thick beard that rendered his mouth invisible. I hadn't Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1124078109383103232005-08-14T23:54:00.000-04:002005-08-14T23:55:09.390-04:00Today's Word: Gestalt"I said we shouldn't box men into categories that restrict their free exercise of rights, even rights inside a maximum security prison," said Larry."Yes, but your point is silly, baseless, and ill-conceived. You're looking at this issue from a pea soup perspective," I said."What exactly is a pea soup perspective?""You see everything as clouded; all filled in with soup, but Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1123984162224163982005-08-13T21:48:00.000-04:002005-08-13T21:49:22.230-04:00Today's Word: DiseaseFor some women, pregnancy is a sexually transmitted disease.-- david j.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1123899411130869842005-08-12T22:12:00.000-04:002005-08-12T22:21:42.926-04:00Today's Word: SnapThree more bolts snapped in half under the scaffold's flimsy rails. Terrence gripped the walkway fence like a man clinging to a rope. Finally, the last bolt gave way and the whole superstructure fell. For a moment al was quiet echos as pieces of bolt and loosed metal clanged far below, then the deafening crash of the silo's metal stairs hitting the firing pad far below.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1123813545308043632005-08-11T21:46:00.000-04:002005-08-11T22:27:52.263-04:00Today's Word: NugatoryJanet surveyed the near empty box of chocolates. Her fingers sifted the crumpled wrappers, seeking the telltale weight of chocolate encasing a mystery filling. Somewhere near the middle she found it, a gold foil surprise.Cherry? Cream? Caramel?With slow, sultry deliberateness, she pulled the edges, spinning the prize till it came free.Toffee? Cocoa? Brandy?Janet slipped the Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1123648211381231342005-08-10T00:20:00.000-04:002005-08-10T00:30:11.390-04:00Today's Word: CaptiousThe imagination is a canvas on which one can paint the most vivid colors, record the most compelling sounds and mark the most telling emotions known to humanity. Its vibrant recordings keep all that is blessed, repugnant, defiled and sacred in life in sharp and murky detail to be experienced over again though the moment that held them is lost. Then, when the inner critic Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1123471586345758222005-08-07T23:24:00.000-04:002005-08-07T23:28:28.800-04:00Today's Word: ChilledSeeing Madam Toots alive and well chilled Dana's heart to the last ventricle.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1123381403965697062005-08-06T22:00:00.000-04:002005-08-06T22:23:23.973-04:00Today's Word: Punctual Corporal Kain arrived at the post testing center twenty minutes early. It never hurt to be punctual, mom always said. A cluster of men in plain clothes stood outside a steel door marked: Army Research -- No Admittance Without Authorization. The doctor, one Captain Robert Tensley, who had ordered Corporal Kain's physical after recovery from a running injury, had told him Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1123293042374018692005-08-05T21:45:00.000-04:002005-08-05T21:50:42.380-04:00Today's Word: ProgenyThat life is unfair is plain to seeJust have a look at our friend the beeBuzz and work and carry all dayWith no time to rest, tarry, or stayWork for the queen and do her willUntil at last your wings will stillNo sex, no mate, no progeny for youJust another drone on the honey making crew-- david j.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1123207529724784512005-08-04T22:05:00.000-04:002005-08-04T22:09:53.056-04:00Today's Word: FoibleRoyson, hero of the four day war of vermin, strained against the thick ropes binding his wrists and ankles. The fiber was far too thick, the knots too tight for him to break free, but he thought if he could only rub enough blood on them he might slip loose."No use trying to win free, boy," said the crone as she chopped mixed vegetables into her man-sized cauldron. "I've Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1122855310181013942005-07-31T20:14:00.000-04:002005-07-31T20:15:10.183-04:00Another Today's Word: BackI turn 30 today. I'm back!-- david j.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1122855263626666902005-07-31T20:12:00.000-04:002005-07-31T20:14:23.633-04:00Today's Word: TeemTremik, Katel, and their child, Gram, stood on the last green hill of their journey, overlooking the fabled city of Lastel. Years and tears and toil had brought them here, first carrying little Gram then watching him toddle along the trail, then handing off burdens to him as his back and arms grew strong from labor.Katel cried and Tremik held her. The city teemed with life. Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1109621355642028872005-02-28T15:05:00.000-05:002005-02-28T15:09:15.643-05:00Today's Word: GhostSeven ladies passed us by, meandering towards the misty lake. We watched them grow ever more white as they trundled along. It seemed as though the fog absorbed them in tiny portions like ghosts dissipating into the murk. They were beautiful those ladies. Where have they gone?Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1107450244867363532005-02-03T13:02:00.000-05:002005-02-03T12:04:04.866-05:00Today's Word: Camel
I watched that fog smooch my room window
Like a wayward camel pressing
Its moist lips against the pane
Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1106972084945636242005-01-28T21:40:00.000-05:002005-01-28T23:14:44.946-05:00Today's Word: Predator
They hobbled, for both had sustained injuries debilitating to their gaits, into the bright sunshine and cold, wintry air. A smell like rotting fish and potatoes made them clamp their mouths shut. Roman pointed to a narrow fissure in the rock. Putrid green steam rose from it in a relentless stream.
"I'll never go back in that place," said Kate. She held one grimy, Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1106902214351964052005-01-28T03:49:00.000-05:002005-01-28T03:50:14.353-05:00Today's Word: Wait
Death comes to those who wait.
Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1106624411862127732005-01-24T22:39:00.000-05:002005-01-24T22:40:11.863-05:00Today's Word: Sonorous
Dragons did not shit where they ate, but that was only by virtue of their length. Gorge, servant to her majesty the red dragon Stynaserian during the eighth decade of her life, discovered early in his career that dragon's ate much and shit man-sized mounds.
In fact, it seemed to Gorge, after only three weeks service to his smoldering queen, that his job of chamberlain Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1106363200860558512005-01-21T21:51:00.000-05:002005-01-21T22:10:04.406-05:00Today's Word: Topsy-turvy
Jimmy didn't like the way Rob leered when he said the name, as if Rob had spent too many nights just a little too drunk, thinking of Nancy, killing her in his mind as bendy smoke rose about his face.
Rob was no killer, at least Jimmy didn't think so. But tonight, with the jarring and yet soft barroom lights in his eyes, lighting them like two little lanterns in twin Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1106109311723549622005-01-18T23:12:00.000-05:002005-01-20T08:39:41.516-05:00Today's Word: Alpo
Twelve angry men chased Hubert through the abandoned warehouse. Small arms fire broke the silence in booming coughs, but Hubert was not hurt, and so he ran on.
Outside the warehouse lay a defunct parking lot, grown through with golden rod and crab grass. Hubert's footfalls upon the cracked macadam were like the thrumming gaffaws of a madman, echoing off the empty buildings Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1106021058559101832005-01-17T22:43:00.000-05:002005-01-17T23:04:18.560-05:00Today's Word: Gray
I never been one much for sci-fi. I mean it has its place and all, but I’ve always liked shoot-em-ups and the like when I go to the movies and I don’t read. So telling about this is like picking glass out of your foot, it don’t feel good, but it’s gotta happen.
The beginning was in my backyard; me barefoot, smelling wet grass and dog shit, courtesy of my neighbor who hasDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1105639632242137422005-01-13T13:06:00.000-05:002005-01-13T13:39:43.996-05:00Today's Word: Dwindling
The money stopped flowing and the prison ran defunct. For well on a year the warden kept his guards working for food, cutting prisoner rations down to 800 calories a day, killing not a few by slow starvation. But, when it came down to the add-lines on the warden's dwindling prison assets manager, such losses were beneficial -- more food for the rest, more time to push Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1105342013834169512005-01-10T02:21:00.000-05:002005-01-10T02:26:53.836-05:00Today's Word: Smarmy
We looked out upon the gray sea, our hunger such that sand would have seemed a fine meal, but there was no sand, no harbor, nor even lone rocks jutting up from the gentle waves. There was only water, poisoned and cool and the smarmy look of the captain who, we all agreed, had surely horded a hundred day's rations in his sea chest under lock and key.
Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1104811552125587992005-01-03T23:03:00.000-05:002005-01-03T23:05:52.126-05:00Today's Word: Unwieldy
The new story grows unwieldy even as I delve into its secret places. The witch is sly but caring, the mother is cruel but in love, the girl is innocent but murderous.
The baker prepares a poison pie. He too shall die.
-- david j.
Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1104468516030137442004-12-30T23:45:00.000-05:002004-12-30T23:48:36.030-05:00Today's Word: Egg
Willa laid an egg. It was black and it wiggled. She watched it break, horror petting her mind like a kind master. A babe lay there. A boy. His hair and eyes were black as the egg's shell; his teeth large and brilliant white.
"You've been a bad mommy," said the boy.
Willa gasped.
The egg boy jumped from his crib to stand naked and slimy before his horrified mother.
"Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1102345297515976682004-12-06T10:00:00.000-05:002004-12-06T10:01:37.516-05:00Today's Word: Despotic
Thank God for despotic pride.
Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1101783957157821842004-11-29T22:05:00.000-05:002004-11-29T22:05:57.156-05:00Today's Word: History
Beware, there is history in your future.
Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1098899817331949672004-10-27T13:56:00.000-04:002004-10-27T13:56:57.333-04:00Today's Word: Channel
Adrift in a sea of black and star
Man reaches out for what is far
He wishes to travel the channel of time
To break all seasons, cycles, and rhyme
But man with his mind trapped in white bone
Knows not the answer though the answer is shown
Time travelers all his teeming race be
Fleeing from the now to infinity
He races off to dream his dreams
Of raucous plans -- time Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1098821326108086442004-10-26T16:07:00.000-04:002004-10-26T16:08:46.106-04:00Today's Word: Rodomontade
After Wilford had lost the bet, we found that his red-faced rodomontade, much like the man himself, contained no spine; nothing to shore up his slick boasts, for he wouldn't go near the Seine, let alone drink a glass of its noxious water.
Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1094604985295346672004-09-07T20:54:00.000-04:002004-09-07T20:56:25.296-04:00Today's Word: Smile
Tight sit Summer and Spring
At either end of the school year
Like the curly ends of a long smile
Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1094513028110228242004-09-06T19:18:00.000-04:002005-08-06T23:04:54.196-04:00Today's Word: StupidBelow is an email I received this afternoon. It is an example of pure stupidity. This is a message to all criminal minds planning to commit some crime that involves convincing your fellow human beings that you are affiliated with a professional organization: LEARN TO SPELL AND USE PROPER GRAMMAR. Commucation is key to crime.WARNING: This is obviously NOT an authentic letter Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1094263424353324122004-09-03T21:50:00.000-04:002004-09-03T22:03:44.353-04:00Today's Word: Woman
Poor woman. She is the saddest half of humankind. On her shoulders she bears all the burdens of the species: menstruation, pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum, quiet worry for overgrown children and childish husbands.
From birth she is told to be frilly and sweet, yet she is expected to bear the greatest pains in life, far beyond those leveled on man.
Woman deserves Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1093827355007112032004-08-29T20:55:00.000-04:002004-08-29T20:55:55.006-04:00Today's Word: Copse
Trace spied the dogs and men from atop a hillock. They were ten men and twelve hounds, all stout as if fed from the same house and hand. All of the men, save one, wore the black uniform of a Puleese. The one, their captain, and a man of some renown, wore a similar suit, but his was forest green with a golden badge shaped like the sun at dawn stitched onto the breast.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1092055595362113922004-08-09T08:45:00.000-04:002004-08-09T08:46:35.363-04:00Today's Word: Unexpected
An unexpected turnabout is fair play.
-- david j.
Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1091955275236573282004-08-08T04:50:00.000-04:002004-08-08T04:54:35.236-04:00Today's Word: Petrarch
Petrarch pointed at the river and said, "The water is the past, which we pour into this gourd -- that is today -- so that we might drink tomorrow."
I shook my head, bemused. "It's all Greek to me."
Petrarch frowned. "To the Greeks their Greek. I speak Italian."
Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1091842718154533382004-08-06T21:37:00.000-04:002004-08-06T21:38:38.156-04:00Today's Word: Final
No story today. Just a comment. Summer finals are upon me. How can something be such drudgery, and yet, somehow, fun?
-- david j.
Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1091493199156213852004-08-02T20:32:00.000-04:002004-08-02T20:33:19.156-04:00Today's Word: Gravity
Gravity loves my pants.
-- david j.
Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1091296407278358382004-07-31T13:52:00.000-04:002004-07-31T13:57:06.446-04:00Today's Word II: Brain
Silly body, tricks are for brains.
-- david j.
Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1091260571852325752004-07-31T03:55:00.000-04:002004-07-31T03:56:11.853-04:00Today's Word: Yay
I'm 29 today. . . yay?
-- david j.
Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1091148078173120522004-07-29T20:41:00.000-04:002004-07-29T20:41:18.173-04:00Today's Word: Billingsgate
"I'd knock up every whore in Billingsgate to get my hands on that silk ship out of Yedo," said Bill, then spit into the scuppers.
"I'd drink ten gallons of slime and piss from the Danube for them pickings," said Jan, nodding his lice-ridden head.
"Shut your holes," said the Captain-General. "Silk's for women like you. I'm taking us after that golden city in the Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1090785563593264712004-07-25T15:48:00.000-04:002004-07-25T16:01:08.636-04:00Today's Word: Habit
The older missionaries in the village had that habit of speaking about their spouses in the third person Amish even if the person in question was standing right there.
Doc would say, "Sister Jenkins and I worked in Guatemala for ten years before this assignment." Then he would take her weathered hand in his own -- a wholly unconscious action I think -- and smile, Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1090682817488975452004-07-24T11:24:00.000-04:002004-07-24T11:26:57.486-04:00Today's Word: Wheeee!
My son, Alex (5), and daughter, Grace (3), watching the Hot Wheels™ movie:
Grace: That’s a bolcano.
Alex: That's not a volcano, Grace, that's a loopy-loop.
Grace: That's not a loopy-loop, that's a car.
Alex: (GameCube controller in hand, controlling nothing but his imagination) That's my car, I hit the boost.
Grace: (Begins to sing nonsensical song) Forever. . . day (Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1090544751037682872004-07-22T21:03:00.000-04:002004-07-22T21:05:51.036-04:00Today's Word: Exciting
"So what part of the movie were you in?" she asked, her sexy green eyes flashing.
"Well, you know that part where Rainslar says, 'Finally, a worthy opponent'?"
"Oh my God, that's the best part." She leaned closer, intent, completely wrapped up in his story.
"Yeah, I was the opponent defeated just before that!"
-- david j.
Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1090378990897966972004-07-20T23:02:00.000-04:002004-07-20T23:03:10.896-04:00Today's Word: White
It's too hot to be sad. Sad is for a white world; a frigid time when cold winds wrest the tears from your eyes. Sleet, like stony white cheeks, drizzles the earth, beating a soft tattoo that is all the sadness of man striking the earth with unrequited frustration.
-- david j.
Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1090291843712727782004-07-19T22:49:00.000-04:002004-07-19T22:50:43.713-04:00Today's Word: Apostate
I'm apostate and I have a headache.
-- david j.
Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1090038720004683892004-07-17T00:27:00.000-04:002004-07-17T00:32:00.003-04:00Today's Word: Smallpox
And to think, our current climate of terror might have been very different if smallpox hadn't killed the Christians besieging Mecca a few hundred years ago.
-- david j.
Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1089880832534378992004-07-15T04:38:00.000-04:002004-07-15T04:40:32.533-04:00Today's Word: Tired
Writing while tired is a frustrating experience.
-- david j.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1089806446190941692004-07-14T08:00:00.000-04:002004-07-14T08:00:46.190-04:00Today's Word: Deity
Camben Sorrowspriest fingered the crystal medallion which hung against his chest. Another month without incident and he might have retired from his position as royal advisor to the king of Selerous. Two weeks at the least and he could have been well away south, enjoying some spring festival in one of the larger villages along the Seedcatcher valley. But no longer. NeverDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5629403.post-1089229683434724382004-07-07T15:46:00.000-04:002004-07-07T15:49:02.923-04:00Today's Word: Write
Never ask the writer how the book reads. Rather, ask how the book writes.
-- david j.
Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188364665930925477noreply@blogger.com0