Jane Jago's Blog, page 461

The Thinking Quill

Bonjour my little love muffins,

It is one, the beloved and multi-talented Moonbeam Farquhar Metheringham IV, world-renowned author of the classic ‘Fatswhistle and Buchtooth’ and patient teacher who, via the medium of this ‘Thinking Quill’ seeks to inform, educate and excite – via the vulgar coils of the Interwebs  – the hearts and minds of a growing band of Readers Who Write.

Today, my Muse and I feel sportive and light and do gambol about in the water meadows of imagination in a harmony so...

Friday Friends: Brittle Riders

An extract from The Brittle Riders: Book III by Bill McCormick.

Worlds can change on the tiniest thing. History, written by the winners, tends to edit out
the minutiae and record the broader stories. One item that historians would edit out happened now. Which is a shame, because without this event the rest would never have happened.
Nature called and it was Sland’s turn to answer. It was almost even-fall and they could
hear the survivors setting up camp on the shore. They’d decided to wait un...

A Bite of… Bill McCormick

Q1: Would you prefer to be an alien living on earth or an earthling living on an alien world ?

Well, since I, pretty much, know how to be an earthling I’d prefer to stay as such and live
on an alien world. This is especially true as I have travelled extensively and find that alien environments are comfortable to me. I can learn new customs, meet new beings, maybe try their spicy foods. I love spicy foods. Plus, years of hard living have taught me that what happens on Zebulon Beta Prime stays...

Coffee Break Read – The Life Battle

 

Hanna stood barefoot in the centre of the ring, her hands hung empty at her sides and she looked at nobody. ‘Breathe’ she reminded herself ‘breathe and focus.’ She held herself quietly quiescent, wondering who or what they would send against her this time. Being the champion held its own dangers and she knew the crowd was currently inimical. She was lean and scarred, and carefully emotionless. She had no glamour, and she didn’t know how to get the people on her side. All she knew how to do...

You are old…

You are old you should find sex a bore
Or an underpaid marital chore
You shouldn’t enjoy
A naughty young boy
On a rug on a campervan floor

© jane jago 2017

Tales From Alternate Earths – Reviewed

Tales From Alternate Earths: Eight broadcasts from parallel dimensions from Inklings Press, reviewed by E.M. Swift-Hook. Since this was written Daniel Benson has won the Best Short-Form Alternate History Sideways Award for his contribution to this anthology 'Treasure Fleet'. Brent A Harris & Ricardo Victoria were also finalists for their 'Twilight of the Mesozoic Moon'.

There is surely no other step-child in the weird and wacky family that makes up the genre known as ‘Speculative Fiction’, wh...

Twenty-three minutes

We have twenty-three minutes to live
The inexorable numbers tick past
We have given the most we can give
And the seconds are running down fast
We have no contact with home
There is no way we can say goodbye
In the end we will each die alone
Wink out in the blink of an eye
We have twenty-two minutes to live
Each breath is becoming a task
Like sands through an eternal sieve
Our lives are away dropping fast
The clock is irrelevant now
As each chest heaves and ratchets in pain
Oh Lords let us end...

Halloween Horror – The Ghost Writer

As a (more or less) retired whore with an address book full of the names (carefully coded) and preferences of powerful men from all across the globe, I suppose it was only a matter of time before I was offered money – a truly obscene amount of money – to write my memoirs.

Being a sensible sort, with her declining years to provide, for I accepted the advance and started writing. But, you know what, I may be an exceptional shag, but as a writer I suck.
*giggles rudely*
No matter how hard I trie...

Address to a Pumpkin.

Hail the harrowed pumpkin!
Tormented, scraped and cut,
Your entrails ripped out from within,
To bake pies with your guts.

Hail the hallowed pumpkin!
Thy glorious grinning face,
Carved from the orange of your skull,
Brings grim mirth to this place.

Hail the hollowed pumpkin!
Upon the doorstep set
Your eldritch light and feral look
Will guard the household yet.

Hail the hero pumpkin!
When brightly lit your grin
Doth scare and freet uncanny beasts
And keep us safe within.

E.M. Swift-Hook.

Monday Meme – The Longest Day

Arena do Battaglia just before dawn on the longest day of the year. The place is heaving, every seat and every standing space is taken. People are chanting, and screaming, and eating chilli dogs and churros.

The marching band sweats under the arc lights as it plays songs of the revolution and marches in perfect time. Troupes of mostly naked gymnasts prowl and leap and perform feats of near-impossible balance. There are fire eaters, lion tamers, maestre with their estudas strung behind them co...