Miranda Kate's Blog, page 9
May 17, 2023
Mid-Week Flash Challenge - Week 295
This week's picture is by photographer Swen Stroop. He calls this one Full Circle. It is of the Callanish Stones in Scotland. He has some amazing shots from various places in the world, definitely worth having a look.
Another Tricky tale as I ramp up to writing book 3 in June. Testing out some ideas and seeing how they feel. The last Tricky tale was on Week 293.
The General Guidelines can be found here.
How to create a clickable link in Blogger comments can be found on lasts week's post here.There is also a Facebook group for Mid-Week Flash, if you fancy getting the prompt there.
Nexus Point
Tricky reached thepeak of the hill and looked across the craggy land, all dishevelled and broken.The trees were moving in at the edges, but hadn’t yet covered it. There weren’tany dwellers here; the ground was mostly volcanic rock and granite. A couple ofhundred years hadn’t broken it down enough to be workable. But the trees wouldfind a way and one day it would flourish.
And then she saw it. Her mother had said itwas here: the stone circle.
It was astounding what had survived theshift, but Tricky knew that this had been laid in such a way it wasn’t going tobe easily moved. Strong power lines lay across the Earth and despite the disruptionof the shift, they didn’t move. Plus they knew how to erect things back then –not in the time just before the shift, but a few thousand years before thatwhen this had been built.
Humans before the shift thought this wassome kind of religious effigy – which seemed to be what they thought aboutanything they didn’t understand. But it was just the bones of a house; a largehouse for its time, probably a meeting house, maybe where they traded, but justa house. Religion didn’t take hold until the dark years a couple of thousandyears later, when humans became so populated that greed took over and wars wereraged. Religion became a useful tool to manipulate folk, take over their landand putting them into servitude, while milking them at the same time: ‘give us yourtreasures and it’ll buy you a ticket to absolution after you die’. What a greatcon! And Tricky thought she was tricky!
The shift had occurred at the peak periodof such behaviour and brought it all crashing down around their ears. It’s whathappens; nature finds a way to cleanse much better than any imaginary god.
Still this circle was a sight to behold,and the energy shone all around it, making it glow. As she moved closer, thegolden energy it emitted encompassed her, and she breathed it in. But it didn’tfill her up like other energies, instead it washed her own, polishing it untilit glowed in the same way. Tricky felt renewed.
She moved into the circle and stood in itscentre. The point where it came together was the strongest and it was here shewas going to try an experiment.
If she had it right, this would be whereshe could open a line to multiple pockets of times, sort of a nexus point. Butshe wasn’t sure.
She brought out her obsidian with a pieceof germwort wrapped round it, and opened her tin of creasy. She took in a deepbreath, feeling the golden air going into her lungs and blew across the stone.It sparkled. Then she sprinkled a pinch of creasy over it.
She was thrown back by the loud crack that displacedthe air, and a gap appeared in front of her running way up above the stone circle.It had layers. She was looking at multiple places on top of each other, like abookshelf. She could pick and choose where she wanted to go. Or in this case,where she planned to leave him.
Most of these pockets weren’t accessibleanywhere else on the landmass, because there was no where else this powerful.And being able to return was unlikely unless you could find a point over thereas powerful; it could take years. Tricky was grateful to the ancient civilisationwho’d built this, but she doubted they had known. They were probably just drawnto it and been oblivious like most people.
It didn’t mean he wouldn’t know about thisplace though, he might, but did he know what it could do? She doubted it. Evenher own mother hadn’t known. And until this moment it had been just an inkling inTricky’s suspicious mind, which only developed after extensive research now shehad her books back.
Tricky preened herself a little. Oh yes,she was the true master of time. She knew that. He liked to distract himselfwith too many things to honestly understand the purity of it. He fiddled aboutin the now, using it for his personal gain. He pretended to be a great mentor,but none of his underlings came close to their full potential and he liked itthat way.
If Tricky achieved this she was doing thema service – and the rest of the landmass. Without Gandalf, aka Douglas Bottle,lending the network his gifts, they would no longer be able to manipulate andcon others into doing their bidding. You needed power for that, and he was theirlink to it.
Oh yes, if she could pull this off theymight be able to settle down to living and build their society in a healthyway. Ridding herself of her would-be assassin was just an added benefit. Oh yesit was.
So now she knew, what next? She’d spotted aparticular dark little place about half way up. Yes, that would do nicely, butnow to work out how to lead him there. Tricky set her tricky mind to work on itas she closed up the opening, safe in the knowledge she might have a solution.
May 15, 2023
Happy Publication Day to Kill The Goblins! 🥳
May 10, 2023
Mid-Week Flash Challenge - Week 294
This week's picture prompt is a painting by artist Tomasz Alen Kopera. This particular painting doesn't appear on his site though, but instead on another gallery that hosts his work, Artèclat. I've seen pieces of his art before, but don't think I've used one yet.
I've cheated a little with this week's image. It reminded me of a story I wrote a long time ago for a weekly contest called Mid-Week Blues Busters, and I also put this story in my collection, called Mostly Dark, published back in 2016 and is now a permanent free book. (if you look on Amazon, if it isn't free, then let me know). But it works so perfectly for this image and upon reading it again, I thought I'd share it here.
The General Guidelines can be found here.
How to create a clickable link in Blogger comments can be found on lasts week's post here.There is also a Facebook group for Mid-Week Flash, if you fancy getting the prompt there.
Soul Search
Lucille stopped in front of the subtly litsignage, knowing it was the place she had seen in her dream. The pull withinher was strong; the excitement in her core peaking.
She entered the club and no one at the doorbatted an eyelid. When shown the card at the cloakrooms she knew she was in theright place; the image on the other side burned in her mind. Her response wasmet with a quick nod and smile.
When she walked inside, the music made herfeel like she had walked into a time warp; its singular note filling the room.The people stood around as though waiting for something, and for a moment shewondered if it was her. Then the beat started and the dancing resumed.
When she approached the bar, she was handeda drink. She sipped it and delighted in its accuracy. Speech was rendereduseless here, allowing the music to permeate.
Her mind was flooded with images andthoughts. The eye contact she made drew her in, engaging her in dialogue, tappinga previously untouched depth within her. She had finally arrived. She was amongkindred souls.
Lucille looked round for him, he had to behere; he’d been the main player in the dream, going by the name of Rohan. Andthen, as if on cue, the people in front of her parted and there he was, on theother side of the dance-floor, standing with a group of people.
He looked round as though someone hadcalled his name – and she realised that she just had. The smile that spreadacross his face when he saw her made her soul yearn. He wasted no time crossingthe room to reach her and embraced her like a long lost lover.
When their lips touched, her mind reeled ina white light that filled her entire being. When they broke apart she held hisface and looked deep into his eyes. Moments from their past lives flowed likean exchange of ideas as they caught up to the present. They had found eachother again.
May 2, 2023
Mid-Week Flash Challenge - Week 293
This week's prompt is a photograph taken in the “Livraria Lello & Irmão”, better known as Livraria Lello (Lello Bookstore), located in a beautiful neo-gothic building in the historic center of Porto, Portugal. Opened in 1906, it is one of the oldest Portuguese bookstores and has an invaluable historical and artistic value. 1995, the bookstore was restored and modernized, also creating an art gallery space. In 2013, it became a National Heritage Site, classified as a Monument of Public Interest.
This particular photo is apparently by Reinhard Görner, a German photographer. Prints are being sold for upwards of 6K which is a bit of a shock, seeing as you could visit this place and take your own picture - granted there might be people in it, but still, to be this is an indication of something wrong with a society that will pay that much for a single photo.
As I prepare for the next Tricky Tales book, the third in this trilogy, but not the only series of Tricky books I think as more ideas manifest. The last time I visited Tricky was Week 289.
The General Guidelines can be found here.
How to create a clickable link in Blogger comments can be found on lasts week's post here.There is also a Facebook group for Mid-Week Flash, if you fancy getting the prompt there.
Chestwick
Tricky was familiarwith Chestwick; she’d spent time here off and on over the years. On the wholeshe wasn’t a city lover, but when she walked into the book emporium sherealised the value of having access to such a place. If she could come hereevery day and browse she’d love it.
This place was new to her; they had takenyears to refurbish the old building that housed it. Both craftsmen and partswere in short supply so it was indeed a wonder to behold as you walked throughthe doors and came face-to-face with such an amazing staircase and ceiling. Thegrandeur and elegance was breath taking.
She took a moment to take in the beauty andadmire the detailed workmanship. It showed trained skills were returning to theworld, and that was something to be excited about. And then the books; therewere rows and rows of them.
Tricky had been lucky enough to grow upwith an extensive library at her fingertips; her parents had gathered manybooks, some literally when finding old ruined properties and combing throughthe remains. It had paid off and given her knowledge about a lot of things.Both her parents had been avid writers too, making sure everything was recorded.
Tricky might not have access to those booksanymore, or have them in her possession, but she had an idea where they’d endedup and planned on gathering them again. She had at least salvaged the handwritten tombs her parents had written. She had them neatly tucked away in oneof her many time pockets. They were safer there than in any building.
This building was protected by the city andthe laws that had been created by The Baron and his community to serve thepeople. And these books were for all to enjoy. But if things went dark againwho knew what might happen to them.
Tricky ran her fingers over the covers,using her energy to pick up their contents as she searched through. Were thereother books that had belonged to her family here? She hoped so. She hoped thatwhen her parents house had been scattered among the cockroaches that broughtabout its downfall some of them might have travelled here. Afterall, they hadmanaged to rid themselves of a few of those people now, and the network wasgetting smaller.
One book made her stall, and she paused tolook at its spine. Yes, yes, it was the very book her father had used to teachher about her own energy. It had been based off Tesla’s findings and a rarityeven before the shift.
She pulled it out and browsed through it,flicking through to the back. And there it was, the faint marks she had beenhoping to find: her father’s coding in pencil. She snapped the book shut andtucked it under her arm. If this was here, then the other must be! The lootershad no idea of the value of what they had stolen from her family if they thenreturned it so easily for public consumption.
She continued her search, this time withmore enthusiasm and just as she was about to give up hope, she found it. Ohyes, the book that could be the undoing of her assailant, the big fat oaf! Ifthis was here, then he didn’t have that knowledge. Had he known of itsexistence? Tricky didn’t think so. Her father was one to keep his findings tohimself, or only sharing them with those he trusted, and Douglas Bottle was notamong them. He had known Bottle, she was sure of that, so maybe there’d been areason; maybe he had known Bottle was corrupt.
Either way, herein would lie the answer toher being able to run rings round the bloated hippy. She would dim the garishlybright clothing he saw fit to swathe his over grown body in; she would bring anend to him, if not actually, this book provided her with the know-how of doingit metaphysically. Oh yes, his time in this world would now be shortened.
But first she had to find a way to keephold of these books. You were allowed to come and read and even to borrow, butto take permanently was more Tricky. But Tricky she was and would always be. Noone would even know she’d been here – or the books either.
April 28, 2023
Review: The Very Secrety Society of Irregular Witches, by Sangu Mandanna
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu MandannaMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
This was a read for my bookclub, and I thought it might be a bit too 'soft' for my taste, being that all the reviews and marketing call it a 'cosy romance', but it has swearing in it, and a detailed sex scene towards the end which I didn't think was standard for anything 'cosy' books.
The writing itself flowed really well and I was drawn into the story within the first few paragraphs. The only other witchy books I have read are from Terry Pratchett's discworld, and I will say I found them compariable in some places, as it was light and engaging, especially with the opening scene as we observe a witch gathering from the main character's point of view.
There is a romance in this book, (obviously as there is a sex scene) but it wasn't the main focus. The main focus was the story of tutoring three witches and joining a family and the main character finally finding somewhere she belonged. It was an easy to engage with all the characters and care about them. I look forward to discussing it at my book club.
View all my reviews
April 26, 2023
Mid-Week Flash Challenge - Week 292
This week's picture prompt is by Colbriere A., Hong Kong, Thailand based photographer. This picture is taken at Lake Baikal, Russia back in 2015. They take amazing photos, and especially on their Facebook page which is more up-to-date with pictures. Loads of inspiration.
A bit of a climate dystopian tale this week.
The General Guidelines can be found here.
How to create a clickable link in Blogger comments can be found on lasts week's post here.There is also a Facebook group for Mid-Week Flash, if you fancy getting the prompt there.
Break
I cracked an eye open once I registered thesound I was hearing. It was water … moving water; sloshing, splashing, movingaround. It had been a long time since I’d heard that sound outside of a panover a fire.
Bright sunlight glowed through the ice andI shuffled myself closer to the opening of the cave to get a better view. Alake. I could see, a lake.
I pulled a hand out of my sleeping bag tomove hair out of my eyes. I had to be seeing things. But no, it was stillthere, a huge expanse of water – wet, running water. But how?
And then I felt it, on my skin, the sun andthe heat of it. I hadn’t felt heat from the sun in over a decade. No one had.
Could it be true? Was it over?
Then I heard other sounds, people sounds,they were waking up all along the shore. There was laughter and high fiving. Ifought my way out of my sleeping bag to join them.
“What the fuck?! I thought I was seeingthings,” I called over to Jesse.
“I know, mate, it’s unbelievable. No more meltingice over a fire. And soon we should see some greenage.”
“Yeah but it won’t be green.”
“It won’t take long,” Maddie reassured me. “Notwith these temps, this is incredible.”
“The ice age is over!” The very wordsseemed incredible as I said them.
“You might be being a bit hasty there mate,”Marcus didn’t want me to get carried away. “Melting the surface of the water doesn’tmean it will stay this way for long. It is mid-July by the old calendars, thepeak of summer, and we aren’t seeing that kind of melt on anything else.” Hepointed towards the shoreline, and my eyes followed the arc as I looked at thesolid ice still up there. There wasn’t any dripping or rivulets of water.
“Don’t dampen his enthusiasm, Markus.”Maddie defended my excitement. “This is huge! Even if it is only brief, it’s abeginning.”
“Yeah, but are we high up shore enough? Willthe water rise? Otherwise we’ll need to find somewhere else to settle.” Marcuswasn’t going to be persuaded not to worry.
“Not just the water rising. If the cavesmelt we will need to find new homes. These were only caused by the developmentof the glacier when we were plunged into this. If there is indeed a melt goingon, we are going to need to find higher ground.” Brady had always been thepragmatic one.
“Can we all just take a breath, and enjoythis historical moment for a second?” Halle called over the noise.
We all quieted. She was our leader. Shekept us all on an even keel, and that wasn’t easy. We were all scientists withdifferent specialities and liked to express our opinions about everything. We’dbeen thrown together as it seemed only those that knew how to survive an iceage actually could survive one.
“The lake has begun to thaw, as we can allsee. This could well mark the beginning of the end of this stage of the iceage, or at least a shift in temperatures. But this is not just a result of theair temperature shifting a couple of degrees – it hasn’t risen enough to domore than create a thin layer of water on top, at most, which would quicklyfreeze again at sunset. I believe a warm current has come in from somewhere,and being that this is a land-locked lake, it concerns me what that might be.Plus the speed of the thaw; the ice was solid all day yesterday, no significantchange. This lake is over 300 miles long, what could thaw it so quickly, andovernight too?”
We all paused, our minds racing as welooked at each other.
“I can only imagine there’s a vent of some sortcausing a warm or even hot current,” Jordan offered.
I baulked. “You mean, seismic activity? Wedidn’t feel anything.”
“It might not be in this lake. It couldhave happened elsewhere and the warm or even hot water began flowing in and outfrom tributary rivers.”
“We need to science the shit out of this,”Parker stated. He liked the hustle of the team working together – in fact weall did, which is why we had come together. And he was right. We needed to getmoving and start running tests. Days were short when you had a lot to do.
I rushed back to my cave to get my equipment.It felt good to finally have a purpose again, one that ended with hope.
April 19, 2023
Mid-Week Flash Challenge - Week 291
This week's picture prompt is a digital creation by Ciara, or Aura, as she calls herself online, and She Freaks, She Speaks, over on Facebook. She actually have a whole selection of these baths as well as Moon Crescent shape ones, but this was the one that spoke to me to be written about. She also has a shop where she sell crystals and crystal jewellery. If you like that sort of thing there's a lot of choice.
Short and sweet this week. Just what came into my head.
The General Guidelines can be found here.
How to create a clickable link in Blogger comments can be found on lasts week's post here.There is also a Facebook group for Mid-Week Flash, if you fancy getting the prompt there.
Happiness
She knew he wantedto make her happy, but she wasn’t sure buying her a stained glass bath was whatshe meant. It was beautiful and functional, and lying in this rainbow bathwater,made that way by the light reflecting through the different coloured stained glass,was delightful, but it had nothing to do with their relationship.
It wasn’t beautiful things she needed tomake her happy, it was an attentive, loving partner. Mostly he was absent – notphysically but mentally. He’d come home and either switch on the telly or thegaming machine. He barely spoke most of the time. And she understood that hiswork was demanding, and was grateful for everything he provided, but she feltinvisible, transparent, much like this bath.
When out socially, he might admire her whentalking to others, and pretend she was the most beautiful thing on earth, but oncehome, it was like she had no substance. She was like this bath, beautiful to behold,but when the door was shut, it was like it wasn’t even there.
She wanted to have vibrant conversationswith him and know his thoughts and feelings on things. She wanted to feel connectedand not just in bed at night when he was in the mood.
She wanted to believe he loved her, butagain, like the bath, she felt functional. She took care of the house, thekids, the day to day. She organised and tidied and had all the time in theworld to do her own thing. But she didn’t want to do her own thing all the time,by herself every day, day after day for the rest of her life. She wanted a lifewith him, a life together, where they shared conversations, interests, friends,and had a social life.
She had tried to explain this any amount ofways but still he just thought she was unhappy about some minor thing that hadhappened, or something from the past. He didn’t actually understand what she needed.
She sighed, sinking lower into the warm enchantingwaters of this beautiful bath.
And if she chose to go? He would never understandwhy. He would just tell himself he couldn’t make her happy, when really he nevertried.
April 12, 2023
Mid-Week Flash Challenge - Week 290
This week's photo prompt is by Sortvind over on Deviant Art, a Norwegian artist. He posted it back in 2007! He hasn't posted since 2016, and I haven't been able to track him down to anything recent. Anyway, he calls this Stay Focused II.
Short and sweet this week - and dark.
The General Guidelines can be found here.
How to create a clickable link in Blogger comments can be found on lasts week's post here.There is also a Facebook group for Mid-Week Flash, if you fancy getting the prompt there.
Drop Dissociation
He was intrigued howthe black and white pattern on the walls reflected in each drop of water as itfell, shining in the glare of the single naked light bulb, before landing onhis face. He had managed to stop caring about the sensation, and diverted the panicit aroused, instead turning his mind to the droplets themselves, letting thefascination of the perfect reflection and defined checkered pattern take overand consume him.
It carried him away from this place oftorture, where they were trying to get him to speak. They hadn’t worked out yetthat he couldn’t. Their enemies were also his enemies. They had taken his voicebox some years ago and he couldn’t tell them anything while they kept his handstied behind his back.
They seemed to think this kind of persecutionwould help them, but it wouldn’t. They’d never be able to catch them if theycouldn’t understand who were their friends and who were their enemies. Theywere foolish people from a land so far away they had no concept of life here,either what it had been or what it was now.
This wasn’t hard. He could lie here as longas it took them to work out that they were wasting their time. He had learntlong ago to see beauty in the tiniest of things; it was the only way to survive.And here he was again observing each drop as it fell like they were coming fromanother dimension … and maybe they were. They seemed to slow down when hewatched them, as he waited for them to tumble in the light and take up thepattern of the walls. He could dream of being in another dimension, steppinginside one of those droplets and vanishing from this place. And mentally he didjust that. He had all the time in the world.
April 5, 2023
Mid-Week Flash Challenge - Week 289
This week's picture prompt was created by William Eubank, an American film director, screenwriter and cinematographer. He shard it on twitter with the words: 'Eyes open, heart braced ...'
Another Tricky tale. She's definitely on my mind as I begin to work out the next book. This one goes on for much longer than this and I plan to use it in new collection I am working on, so I have only included the first part of it. I wrote about Tricky last week in Week 288.The General Guidelines can be found here.
How to create a clickable link in Blogger comments can be found on lasts week's post here.
There is also a Facebook group for Mid-Week Flash, if you fancy getting the prompt there.
Master of Time
It was huge and itwas bright, and everyone could see it, Tricky was sure, but she was alsofascinated. How had he managed to create something like this? It wasmesmerising.
She stood on the edge of the woods, keepingherself cloaked by the trees, not daring to step out onto the road, staring atwhat looked like a giant open portal in the middle of the sky. It moved too, ina slow circular motion. She could see different skies from different dimensions,and lines of different coloured energy wrapping round all of it like roots of atree.
It was a trap, it had to be. It’s how hewould lure her in and convince her of his powers. Tricky knew tricky when shesaw it. It could be a projection of some kind. She knew there were people onthe landmass busy trying to bring back that kind of technology and some of theold machines from before the shift still worked if they could generate a powersource.
But this was big, and even though she’dbeen standing here a while with the sunsetting on this strange phenomenon, shehadn’t seen any movement – even the trees were still, probably admiring it too.
She sent her energy out to it, andimmediately felt immense amounts of energy swirling in and around it, as shesuspected. She even took some of it in, only heightening her interest more.
Should she attempt to enter? She was amaster of time after all, and this was definitely her thing. But she worriedshe wouldn’t be able to handle such power. She was just one tiny piece next tothe realms of that. Oh how she wanted to go in there, and discover what was init. Oh yes, this was her thing alright, and he knew that.
Did he really have that much power to createsuch a thing? One man – a pompous bloated one at that? She scoffed at the ideathis could be a natural occurrence. Something this big? No, this was aman-sized anomaly.
Nature had a way of knowing how to createand sustain boundaries. It didn’t split and part things without good reason,like when a species gets too big for its boots and destroys things on an epicscale. Then nature has to step in and do something to correct the balance, likeshifting landmasses to release pressure and correct the bio rhythms of theplanet.
But rents in space and time? No, thatwasn’t nature’s thing at all. It was manmade - one particular man in thisinstance. Tricky was impressed. Maybe he did earn his nickname, Gandalf. Maybehe was a mighty wizard … just not a likeable one.
What to do? Go in or stay out? This wasTricky’s weakness. It piqued her curiosity and her paranoia at the same time.Curiosity killed the cat they said – but it had nine lives, so it didn’t matterif it cost one or two. She’d done alright for herself so far; come close todeath a couple of times, but she could hold her own.
And this? She needed a piece of this. Ohyes she did.
She turned back into the woods andtravelled through the trees, moving closer until she could feel energy pulsingright through her. Her body tingled from top to toe – it was marvellous!
She approached it from the side. It had asound now like rushing wind. There were other sounds within it, but shecouldn’t define them. They could be animals or birds, or even other humans. Or thesound of so much concentrated energy.
When she was right up against it, she couldsee into the dimensions. Some seemed to be all sky but there were stretches ofland in some too. If this was a trap she wasn’t quite sure what she was meant todo with it. Was he in here somewhere? How would he know where and when she entered?Was it booby trapped? Was he going to jump out and grab her? It’s not like shewanted to find him – not really, but as the saying goes, trick your enemybefore they trick you.
And he would trick her. Then he’d kill her.Oh yes. He had no compunction about that. He wanted her dead. And to be honestthe feeling was mutual. Usually Tricky wouldn’t go in for such dramaticthoughts and murder was definitely NOT her thing. But in this case, it wasdefinitely a matter of who would get who first, like one of those old westernbooks her dad loved to read. They were always standing there ready to drawtheir guns and shoot the hell out of each other. Except there were no gunsanymore. If any turned up they were immediately melted down. Metal was tooprecious, and so was human life too. Humanity had at least learnt that sincethe shift. Although fat wizardy types and his cronies might think differently.But they didn’t have guns now, they had magic instead. And staring at this bigswirling rupture it could be just as deadly.
It was then that Tricky realised shewouldn’t be going in. Oh no, she had to shut this thing off. Close it up beforesome innocent happened across it. If she was going to chase him into anotherdimension, she was going to be the one controlling the when and where of it.
April 1, 2023
Review: Hard Man by Jack Rollins
Hard Man: A Dark Chapter Press Unlimited Short: H by Jack RollinsMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
A brutal short story. I was hooked from the opening and enjoyed the first person POV as though the main character was talking to me in a pub.
The rough setting with dealing and fighting and a touch of territorial gangs in pubs felt familiar as I have been in those pubs and met those people - even broken up some of those fights, though maybe not 'quite' as violent!
A quintissentially British read about the rougher side of life. Really enjoyed it. But it's not for the faint hearted, being blatant and graphic.
View all my reviews
