The Letter L #atozchallenge #noir #fiction

 

I slowly traced the letter “L” in the thick wool carpet. I left her blood stain to help me keep my edge.

“Lily I can’t let go of this. I know you would want me to help”

I felt a tug was it sleep? a drug? pulling me down, down down…

****

A scream erupted the silence

I took off in a sprint into a darkening alley

that sucked me along

Further and further I ran

There’s a wall no way up, no way around.

Then I saw it an old rusty hinged door.

Blocked

A dame screamed

blood splattered onto the backdrop of the fog

 the door slowly opened

 it was more like a portal to…

The bleeding woman was gone

                                                          the place seemed familiar

precariously

I hung on a ladder

no top and no bottom

just endless rungs.

I could taste the sepia tinged air

the haze burned my eyes

another scream reverberated in the ladder’s metal.

I knew this was not Newcago

it seemed wherever I go

someone needs help

I looked down,

considering.

I pulled my makeshift mask

taught against my face

“Climb I must”

***

Happy Tuesday. If you are visiting from the A to Z Challenge, I took the easy way out and took one of my two posts for Tuesday. I’m writing about elderly issues for most of the challenge.

 

NewCago is a noir, metropolitan area that is plagued with a string of  bad guys and a deadly disease without a cure. (these stories written in 2013.) Sam (a private detective) seems to be the only one who can stay alive long enough to protect the citizens. How long can his luck last???

Advertisement

Lions and …. Monkeys “Oh My” #uganda #atozchallenge

“Here kitty kitty”

I whisper from my seat

looking very un-edible

I don’t rise to my feet

I can hear her breathe

she waits still for her prey

her whiskers flick

not staying to play

*

Monkeys watch from the road

they will jump on your car

if you aren’t careful

they’ll be nearer than far

 

We enjoyed being a few feet away from the lioness. I was glad we were in a very large truck.

We were told not to provoke the monkeys (small and large). From our boat, we watched  a group of tourists (where we had been earlier in the day) being circled by baboons.

 

I continue to enjoy the A to Z challenge tho I got behind because of travel.

Photo of the lioness taken by my friend and host John Pipes.

 

“L” Lust by Matt Harrill

front-cover-229x348 hellbounce

The hawk-eyed man watched them cross the room while he toyed with the woman he had chosen in his dance of lust. The couple had fallen from his spell, their faces scared, the clarity of the alien situation thrust upon them. He realized he himself had become caught up in the moment, and regretted his momentary lapse of concentration. From across the room, a woman alone smiled at him, oblivious to the carnal riot going on around her.

“You never could concentrate on the task at hand, Asmodeus,” she purred, her voice no louder than a whisper yet attuned to his hearing

He smiled and continued administering kisses to the blonde woman he had chosen for his toy. They would be out of sight, but they could never escape him. In between kisses, his teeth grew to needle points, and, with a fierce bite, he ripped her throat out. She dropped to the floor, too overcome by lust to have even registered her peril. Her last thoughts of a lovers’ embrace, her loins tight with anticipation. Nobody in the room noticed.

“All in good time, Belphegor. All in good time.”

 

***

Today is the last day I will be featuring excerpts from Matt Harrill’s novel Hellbounce from the Arc Chronicles. Leave a comment and you name goes in the “hat” for a book giveaway.

Matt Harrill is the author of the trilogy The Arc Chronicles.

Matthew W Harrill lives in the idyllic South-West of England, nestled snugly in a village in the foothills of the Cotswolds. Born in 1976, he attended school in Bristol and received a degree in Geology from Southampton University. By day he plies his trade implementing shareplans for Xerox. By night he spends his time with his wife and four children. (and he writes sci-fi horror).

I have a delightful interview of Matt as well. He really is an interesting chap and his writing is to die for…

Chat with him on twitter @matt_harrill

You can find Matt on Amazon and will be glad that you did!!!

Tomorrow will begin a week of noir fiction with a bit of paranormal thrown in.

540.
546.
559.
5

Leaning #atozchallenge #poetry #cherryblossom #napowrimo

Italy-Pisa-the-Leaning-Tower-closeup-1-RH
Leaning Tower – Robby Hayton

You lean too far

you drop

nuances

into my hands

like cherry blossoms

too heavy for the bough

you are not strong enough

at least not for now

****

cherry-blossom

Graceful you reach toward the sky

in an upward spiral you grow

touching the clouds upward so high

graceful you reach toward the sky

touching the clouds upward so high

one weakness you have that we know

gracefully you reach toward the sky

in an upward spiral you grow

A2Z-2013-BADGE-001Small_zps669396f9 (1)

Nautilus

The Leaning Tower of Pisa – a campanile, or freestanding bell tower, of the cathedral of the Italian city of Pisa, known worldwide for its unintended tilt to one side. It is situated behind the Cathedral and is the third oldest structure in Pisa’s Cathedral Square (Piazza del Duomo) after the Cathedral and the Baptistry. The tower’s tilt began during construction, caused by an inadequate foundation on ground too soft on one side to properly support the structure’s weight. The tilt increased in the decades before the structure was completed, and gradually increased until the structure was stabilized (and the tilt partially corrected) by efforts in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. took 20 years to build because of war.

Its the time of the year to breathe in the beauty of the cherry blossom. There are many activities to enjoy at the cherry blossom festival in Washington DC.

thanks for the photograph by Robbie Hayton of the Leaning Tower in Pisa

and to Crimson Corvus for the Cherry Blossom photograph