I am grateful to karmasoup for her wonderful suggestion for a topic.

A HORSE IS STILL A HORSE, OF COURSE

“Parents are everything,” said Hank Albers, as he stared into Belle’s big brown eyes.  “Mine were a mess, but yours were the best.”  His parents had bankrupted Albers Racing, one of the premier horse racing stables and home of three Triple Crown winners, ( Read more... )

SARGESarge sat quietly at the foot of the stairs. He wanted to savor the moment. In a few minutes, he would climb them to the stage and address the newest batch of applicants to the Academy. When he finished, that would be it, his career would be over, a thought which saddened and scared him. What would he do next ( Read more... )

Intersection #2 with hwango.

Hwango and I began with the same starting point: the idea of putting your troubles under a rock, walking away, and leaving them behind.  We traded a few ideas to see if the idea was workable, but we did not know what the other would write after that.

THE ROCKBrigadoon was the last of the magical towns, but even its magic was ( Read more... )

Intersection Partners: halfshellvenus and rayaso ( Read more... )

Coblyn/Coblynau: Welsh goblin/goblins.

THE LAST OF THE COBLYNAUOgof was sitting around, drinking too much elfwater beer and throwing the empty bottles out of the entrance to his cave, hoping to hit a squirrel.  He loved fresh Squirrel Surprise for dinner.  He heard the bottle shatter on the rocks and knew it would be stale bread and cheese rinds ( Read more... )

THE RETURN OF CTHULHUOnce you’ve been to Hell, there’s no way back, especially if you’re the monster Cthulhu. His true home was inside the brain of H. P. Lovecraft, who wrote him into existence in 1928, but then died only nine years later. Like all fictional monsters, he was cast into the Tenth Circle of Hell on the death of his author ( Read more... )

A SUCCESSFUL STORY“A successful [story] is not made of what is in it, but of what is left out of it.” Mark Twain ( Read more... )

A DIFFERENT LOVE STORYWhen Mark was relaxed, with nothing on his mind, his right leg could be counted on to remain still.  It was a very agreeable limb.  When agitated in thought, his leg went right along.  Right now, it was pumping up and down like a sewing machine.  This caused the breakfast table to shake; the table had no opinion on the ( Read more... )

This story uses all three topics, like last time. Since Gary requires that I choose a single one and I already used “Glass Cliff,” the topic for his purpose is “Blood Harmony.”

IN SEARCH OF HARMONYThis wasn’t a singles bar; any idiot could see that. Or a cop bar, a franchise bar, or even, strictly speaking, a sports bar. It was a one sport bar, ( Read more... )

CLIFFHANGER

William C. Michaels was putting the final touches on the plot for his next bestselling thriller. It had everything his fans wanted: a clever, elusive villain; their favorite hero, Detective Steve Larson; and a surprise ending. The champagne was cold and waiting, all he had to do was finish outlining the final scene.

“Murder by The ( Read more... )