Flash Fiction Friday 4-29-11: "A Stolen Kiss is Sweetest"

(Source: Untitled image by Will Santillo)

God, why did I let myself be dragged into this? Liz thought. She scanned the room, looking for someone, anyone, who had two brain cells to rub together. These people are like a flock of chattering magpies. Lots of noise, not a damn thing to say. And I'm too hot and this wine is terrible and that music is crap and god, I hate this.

And then her eyes fell on Adele, and Adele turned and stared back, pinned Liz to the wall with that searing gaze, ignited her from crown to toes. And Adele smiled a long slow smile, and mouthed one word: “Bathroom”.

And Liz stumbled robotically towards the bathroom, heart hammering, breath already coming hard and fast. How does she do this to me every single time? she wondered.

And Adele followed, the lock clicking behind her. She advanced, bearing Liz back, Liz's mouth opening to accept Adele's hot tongue, feeling Adele's hands ripping her blouse open, wanting Adele's nipping teeth on her hard nipples, Adele's fingers buried in her pussy, wanting Adele, all of her.

Adele pulled back, grinning. “My lovely, lovely Liz,” she purred. “I have something for you.”

And Liz's eyes went wide as Adele opened her slacks to reveal the biggest strap-on Liz had ever seen. She shuddered, and spread her legs. “Oh yes, baby,” she moaned. “Now.”

“Right now,” Adele agreed, and thrust hard.

(Click for details on FFF!)

Your challenge for today was to use the picture above and write a flash fiction of 120-240 words. Additionally, I provided a key phrase I wanted to see used somewhere in the submission:

"...hard and fast..."

Nobody's checking word counts, or for the key phrase, but you're only cheating yourself if you break the rules. Unless you're doing it to earn a spanking (in which case, see me after class).

Special Bonus Director's Commentary Track:

I'm always curious about lesbian and gay relationships. I've read a lot of stuff that indicates one of the pair usually plays a dominant role, "playing the guy" if you will. Adele and Liz are my attempt to play out that kind of dynamic. I kind of wish I had more room to develop these two, and may do so later on. I picture Liz as the academic, intellectual type, possibly a scholar or an art gallery owner, overtly feminine but hiding her sexual appetite from the world. Adele I see as head of her own business firm, the kind of woman who dresses in business suits and wears her hair short, looking like something out of a Patrick Nagel print, knowing that people call her "butch" and not giving a damn about it. I imagine that she met Liz at her gallery and immediately moved in, knowing that Liz wanted someone to guide and teach her, finding to her surprise that Liz was enthusiastic and very unlike the drab personality she presented to the world.

In any case, I found this picture delightful, a moment of pure passion between two people who are obviously very much into each other. Lust? Love? Infatuation? Or just a power exchange? It seemed it could be interpreted lots of different ways. I think it's all of those, for these two. And I think it's hot as hell. I hope you enjoyed the pic and challenge this week.

Please note that I am no longer collecting the participants list. If you are playing along this week, please leave your link below using the widget. It will appear in the text of the post itself, not in the comments, so everyone that's playing will be listed here. This frees me from having to chase people down to find out if they're playing or update the Friday post several times for late entries. Your cooperation is appreciated.

In any case, the participants list is below. Go check them out, and thanks to all who played along.



Check back here on Monday for the next challenge! And if you have any photos or artwork you'd like to see in a future challenge, please send them my way. 

-- PB

Flash Fiction Friday Challenge for 4-29-11

(Source: Untitled image by Will Santillo)

Sorry about last week's break, folks. It was unavoidable. Still, we're back this week and ready to go with another FFF! Thanks are also due to Lexi who stepped in at the very last minute and provided another challenge for you folks. Lexi, you rule. (But then again, those of you who read her already know that...and if you aren't already reading her, why the hell not?)

Your challenge for this Friday, 4-29-11, is to use the picture above to write a flash fiction of 120-240 words. Since everyone seems to be enjoying the required phrases, please use this phrase in your submission:

"...hard and fast..."

As usual, nobody's checking word counts, or the key phrase, but you only cheat yourself if you break the rules. Unless you're breaking them to earn a spanking....in which case, see me after class.

My take on this pic will go up by 12:01 AM on Friday morning. If you are participating this week (and the more the merrier), simply stop by any time after that and leave your link using the widget in the body of the post. Then everybody will know you're playing along and they'll come leave nice comments on your entry. Everyone wins!

Here's a button for you if you want to include that in your post. Use it to link back to the challenge post, if you like, or link to the Flash Fiction Friday FAQ if you'd rather do that. That Flash Fiction Friday FAQ is also the link you should visit if you're new to the whole FFF thing and have questions. I want everybody to enjoy this, after all.

(Click for details on FFF!)

Check back here on Friday for my take on the challenge and the list of participants, and then again on Monday for the next FFF challenge! And as always, if you have any photos or artwork you'd like to see used in an upcoming week, send them my way.

 -- PB

No FFF this week

No FFF this week, folks. Late notice, I know, but I'm flooded. Next week as usual.

-- PB

Flash Fiction Friday 4-15-11: "Shadows and Light"

(Source image: "White Drape" by Ricardo "r/ace" Acevedo)

I stood staring out the window, back rigid, shoulders hunched against the hurt. She sat on the couch, legs drawn up, eyes hooded and empty. Gray twilight was invading the room. Darkness grew and deepened as the silence stretched.

“So that's it, then?” she wanted to know. “Three years together, and now this?”

I couldn't, wouldn't, answer her. I couldn't draw in the air, couldn't force words past the agony blocking my throat.

“Don't I even get a farewell fuck?” she whispered, and her voice broke.

I turned to her, and there in her beseeching face was all the love I'd hoped for. Hoped for, but never had. And now it was too late. But it was wrong to end it like this.

In the gathering dark, with shadows encroaching on the floor, veiling our faces, we made love one last time. And it was sweet, so very sweet, to feel that warmth, to keep from drowning.

(Click for details on FFF!)

Your challenge for today was to use the picture above and write a flash fiction of 60-160 words. Additionally, I provided a key phrase I wanted to see used somewhere in the submission:

"...the gathering dark..."

Nobody's checking word counts, or for the key phrase, but you're only cheating yourself if you break the rules. Unless you're doing it to earn a spanking (in which case, see me after class).

Special Bonus Director's Commentary Track:

Not much to say this week, I'm afraid. I'm in the grip of a powerful melancholy that's threatening to deepen into full-blown depression, and it shows in this piece. I'd originally intended this to be more smoldering, more upbeat, more sensual, but when it came time to write, this was what came out instead. 

Please note that I am no longer collecting the participants list. If you are playing along this week, please leave your link below using the widget. It will appear in the text of the post itself, not in the comments, so everyone that's playing will be listed here. This frees me from having to chase people down to find out if they're playing or update the Friday post several times for late entries. Your cooperation is appreciated.

In any case, the participants list is below. Go check them out, and thanks to all who played along.



Check back here on Monday for the next challenge! And if you have any photos or artwork you'd like to see in a future challenge, please send them my way. 

-- PB

Flash Fiction Friday Challenge for 4-15-11

(Source image: "White Drape" by Ricardo "r/ace" Acevedo)

Your challenge for this Friday, 4-15-11, is to use the picture above to write a flash fiction of 60-160 words. Since everyone seems to be enjoying the required phrases, please use this phrase in your submission:

"...the gathering dark..."

As usual, nobody's checking word counts, or the key phrase, but you only cheat yourself if you break the rules. Unless you're breaking them to earn a spanking....in which case, see me after class.

My take on this pic will go up by 12:01 AM on Friday morning. If you are participating this week (and the more the merrier), simply stop by any time after that and leave your link using the widget in the body of the post. Then everybody will know you're playing along and they'll come leave nice comments on your entry. Everyone wins!

Here's a button for you if you want to include that in your post. Use it to link back to the challenge post, if you like, or link to the Flash Fiction Friday FAQ if you'd rather do that. That Flash Fiction Friday FAQ is also the link you should visit if you're new to the whole FFF thing and have questions. I want everybody to enjoy this, after all.

(Click for details on FFF!)

Check back here on Friday for my take on the challenge and the list of participants, and then again on Monday for the next FFF challenge! And as always, if you have any photos or artwork you'd like to see used in an upcoming week, send them my way.

 -- PB

Flash Fiction Friday 4-8-11: "Rebirth in Flame"

(Image title unknown, by François Miville-Deschênes; artwork provided by Wordwytch)

Here I stood, on the shores of the lava fields of Kilauea, masturbating violently. The urge was inexplicable, but it was too strong for me to ignore.

In almost no time I was fountaining urgently, my semen splashing into the fire and vaporizing. Yet even as it hit...

A deep rumble heralded Her arrival. The lava burst and boiled, spraying high as She emerged: a being of molten ire, glowing orange-red, perfectly formed, beautiful and terrible beyond belief.

She shook Herself, spraying lava droplets in all directions. “Who has awakened Me?” she boomed, Her voice the crackle of flame and hiss of steam escaping. “Who calls me?”

Her eyes fell on me, standing stunned on the shoreline with dick in hand. “Oho!” she roared. “Come, then. It's been centuries since I took a consort. We'll see if your seed is that potent every time.”

She gestured. Sheets of flame coalesced around me, but didn't burn. I felt them sinking in, right down to my bones. My vision went red and I felt a liquid shifting as I was forged anew.

I stepped out onto the lava sea and approached Her. Her eyes flared white-hot with anticipation as my glowing rod rose high. She embraced me, and we flowed together, and I knew there was no going back.

(Click for details on FFF!)

Your challenge for today was to use the picture above and write a flash fiction of 111-222 words. Additionally, I provided a key phrase I wanted to see used somewhere in the submission:

"...molten ire..."

Nobody's checking word counts, or for the key phrase, but you're only cheating yourself if you break the rules. Unless you're doing it to earn a spanking (in which case, see me after class).

Special Bonus Director's Commentary Track:

I had so much fun writing this, you can't even imagine. Several people mentioned a while back that they do like my fantastic and fantasy tales, so...well, who am I to deny that?

The artwork was one of those pieces which engendered such a range of ideas that it was simply a matter of choosing the one I was happiest with. First I considered the idea of a secret observer watching a flame spirit dance in her lava pool and capturing her for himself. Then I thought about making it a solitary thing, a fire goddess enjoying her bath, pleasuring herself as the flame burned. Then I wondered how it would be if a mortal summoned this goddess almost by accident, but she refrained from burning him to a crisp because she liked what she saw. I seized on that one and ran with it. The only problem I had was explaining why he suddenly had the urge to masturbate into a lava field. I dealt with that (and with the fact that he wouldn't be able to get closer than about six feet because the heat would be too intense) by the simple expedient of ignoring it completely. Hopefully the result was nevertheless enjoyable. 

Please note that I am no longer collecting the participants list. If you are playing along this week, please leave your link below using the widget. It will appear in the text of the post itself, not in the comments, so everyone that's playing will be listed here. This frees me from having to chase people down to find out if they're playing or update the Friday post several times for late entries. Your cooperation is appreciated.


In any case, the participants list is below. Go check them out, and thanks to all who played along.





Check back here on Monday for the next challenge! And if you have any photos or artwork you'd like to see in a future challenge, please send them my way. Thanks to Wordwytch for providing this week's artwork.



-- PB

Flash Fiction Friday Challenge for 4-8-11

(Image title unknown, by François Miville-Deschênes; artwork provided by Wordwytch)

Your challenge for this Friday, 4-8-11, is to use the artwork above to write a flash fiction of 111-222 words. Since everyone seems to be enjoying the required phrases, please use this phrase in your submission:

"...molten ire..."

As usual, nobody's checking word counts, or the key phrase, but you only cheat yourself if you break the rules. Unless you're breaking them to earn a spanking....in which case, see me after class.

My take on this pic will go up by 12:01 AM on Friday morning. If you are participating this week (and the more the merrier), simply stop by any time after that and leave your link using the widget in the body of the post. Then everybody will know you're playing along and they'll come leave nice comments on your entry. Everyone wins!

Here's a button for you if you want to include that in your post. Use it to link back to the challenge post, if you like, or link to the Flash Fiction Friday FAQ if you'd rather do that. That Flash Fiction Friday FAQ is also the link you should visit if you're new to the whole FFF thing and have questions. I want everybody to enjoy this, after all.

(Click for details on FFF!)

Check back here on Friday for my take on the challenge and the list of participants, and then again on Monday for the next FFF challenge! And as always, if you have any photos or artwork you'd like to see used in an upcoming week, send them my way.

 -- PB

Flash Fiction Friday 4-1-11: "Gray Eyes, Grave Matters"

(Source image: "Dita's Bear" by Sean McCall)

“Yes?”

“Lew Wainwright. You wanted to see me?”

“Yes, please come in.”

She had cloudy gray eyes, peering at me through a smoky haze. And a voice that sounded like it was lost at the bottom of a well: frail, timid. She wore a drab dress that tried but failed to hide her figure. I admired the architecture as she walked ahead of me.

“Drink, Mr. Wainwright?”

“Sure.”

The neck of the bottle chattered against the glasses as she poured. She was nervous about something, but damned if I could tell what. She downed half hers in a gulp and wandered away across the room.

“Mr. Wainwright...”

“Make it Lew, please.”

“Lew, then,” she agreed. “Thank you for agreeing to help me.”

“I haven't.”

She looked confused. “But...”

“I said I'd come out and listen. I still haven't heard anything about what's eating you.”

“All right, then,” she said softly. “Here.”

I whistled. The photograph she'd handed me showed her in a position only a husband should see.

“Blackmail?”

“Yes,” she whispered. “I want these destroyed. If you can find them, and the man who took them...”  She shivered, then: “You can have what you see here.”

I laughed. “That's the bunk, sweetheart. What's to keep me from taking it right now?”

And she shrank back into the recesses of the sofa as I approached, gun already in hand.

(Click for details on FFF!)

Your challenge for today was to use the picture above and write a flash fiction of 100-200 words. Additionally, I provided a key phrase I wanted to see used somewhere in the submission:

"...smoky haze..."

Nobody's checking word counts, or for the key phrase, but you're only cheating yourself if you break the rules. Unless you're doing it to earn a spanking (in which case, see me after class).

Special Bonus Director's Commentary Track:


I've been reading entirely too much crime noir lately -- Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Ross Macdonald, Cornell Woolrich -- and so when I went hunting through my stash of FFF pics and saw this boudoir-style pic, I was immediately catapulted into a seedy world where all femmes are fatale, all private dicks are world-weary, and everyone double-crosses everyone else. I was on fire with possibilities, and I came up with several little tales. Only one problem: I'd forgotten about the short word count. I simply couldn't shoehorn it down to anything less than the 248 words I have here without leaving out important bits. So, for the first time I've gone over my own word limit.

That said, I do mostly like how this turned out. Some of the sleuths in crime noir fiction are almost as scummy as the criminals they hunt. Sam Spade, for example, has an affair with his partner's wife, strikes a woman, beats up a suspect for information, lies to the police, and laughs when the woman who loves him is sent to jail. The world isn't black and white in crime noir, but shades of gray. I wanted to reflect some of that -- a private dick who decided to take his reward before he'd wrapped up the case the dame brought him. His first name is a nod to Macdonald's Lew Archer, one of the best of the crime noir series.

Writing in this style is damned hard, though. Good crime noir is sparse, terse, barely descriptive. It's not just the dialogue and the phrasings, it's the atmosphere in general. I can enjoy the hell out of reading it, but I am never really happy with the results when I try to emulate it myself. Hopefully you do like it.

Please note that I am no longer collecting the participants list. If you are playing along this week, please leave your link below using the widget. It will appear in the text of the post itself, not in the comments, so everyone that's playing will be listed here. This frees me from having to chase people down to find out if they're playing or update the Friday post several times for late entries. Your cooperation is appreciated.


In any case, the participants list is below. Go check them out, and thanks to all who played along.





Check back here on Monday for the next challenge! And if you have any photos or artwork you'd like to see in a future challenge, please send them my way. 


-- PB