Lovely day for a beheading…

Reginald was strangely blasé about the whole thing.

Occupational hazard of being part of the landed gentry, I guess!

He’d had a good run of it, taxing the hell out of his serfs and romping in the haystacks with an array of morally elastic wenches. So what if his coiffured head was shortly to be separated from his velvet covered body?

He was led to a field awash with spent chopping blocks and the discarded cadavers of his extended family.

‘Looks like you won’t be getting those 30 guineas I owe you uncle Francis!’ Reginald gave the executioner a wink. ‘Man, I’m tired of winning!’

 

Written for: Friday Fictioneers

He woke up and it was all a ludicrous dream that he later wrote up into a best-selling novel…

…For his crimes against humanity Dan Brown found himself on a blackened island at the centre of a sulphurous lake. Amidst noxious flames demons whispered that the pope was out to get him and that a sacred manuscript had been secreted somewhere deep inside his colon…

 

Written for: Twittering Tales

Nemesis Convention…

‘Last year’s Nemesis Convention was held in a heavily fortified hollowed out volcano!’

Des Troyer slammed the door on his cape and cursed.

‘Times are tough my friend,’ Kat Tastrophy replied menacingly.

‘It looked way nicer on the invitation.’

‘Well, that’s what happens when you miss your sales targets three quarters in a row. Successfully dissolve a few more superheroes in acid and we’ll see about holding the next meeting in space.’

‘Oh no, look, Booby-Trap’s car’s parked out front!’

‘That’ll be where the front door went.’

‘God I hate that infernal temptress, always out-blackmailing me…And I never know where to look!’

 

Written for: Friday Fictioneers

They grow up so fast…

August 12th – A day that would forever go down in infamy – the day we harnessed the power of children’s adrenaline. It seemed so simple at the time – take them to a fairground, let them become excited, or better still, a little afraid, (painlessly) extract the chemicals from their tiny bodies and convert them into chalky bricks of unbridled combustibility.

The energy crisis was solved over night!

But then came the drawbacks.

The children became bored with their escapades and ceased to produce the desired fight or flight responses, but by then the world’s economy had been built upon their backs, forcing scientists to find new and ingenious ways to stimulate the release of hormones, heightening tolerance, pumping up body mass and creating something wholly other – unwieldy, petulant and indestructible.

If only we’d gone with green energy, or fossil fuels, or even good ole nuclear – anything but this…

 

Written for: Friday Fictioneers

Ostrification…

Back when the world was young a selfish seed was sown. It plunged its roots deep, taking in more nutrients than it should and depriving the flora amongst which it flourished, till finally, tall and proud, it experienced a new sensation – thirst.

For generations to come, children played under its pale branches, never stopping to wonder why it was the only tree to stand petrified in a sea of green.

 

Written for: Twittering Tales

Pope invents game: Rock, Papal, Scissors (#Six Word Stories)

2. Michael Bay’s coffin transforms into Decepticon

3. British queue achieves polite repressed sentience

4. T-Rex forms prehistoric band “Marc Bolan”

5. Dalek confirmed as worst callcentre accent

7. Bono finds what he’s looking for

8. Territorial Army refuse to share barracks

9. First rule of acronym club: N.T.Z.A.R.G

10. Cannibal takes wife’s hand in marriage

 

Previous six-word stories…

Six Word Stories

Filters…

What little effort it would take to snip the silk strings and banish you from my home – a fleeting act of domesticity.

But what if I leave you be? Let the web reach out and encroach, let the dust reclaim…

Let the phone ring to silence…

…the friends fall away…

…the Career careen off the rails into sidings.

Liquidate and eek out – conventions unbinding.

Unkempt, bedraggled, utterly free.

Not dementia or defeat.

Something other.

Something…

The moment passes

A duster makes light work of a spider’s domain.

A fever dream is, once again, held at bay…

 

Written for: Friday Fictioneers 

Pipe-Dream My Ass…

Tragedy struck today at The Science Expo. This photo captured the terrifying moment when Dr. Karen Roe, inventor of an invisibility serum, sat down on Hal Froom, founder of Shrinkray.com. A publicist for the famously roguish womaniser stated ‘It’s the way he would’ve wanted to go.’

 

Written for: Twittering Tales

Insect Overlords…

George emerged from his cell with a skip in his step.

‘Proboscis Saturday!’

All the S’s.

Sssssssss.

So much better than ‘Compound Eye Wednesday‘ – No alliteration there.

Sure, he’d have to listen to Gary banging on about how he used to be a hedge-fund manager, but the work was easy and he could let his mind wander, such as it was.

The apocalypse had been a positive boon to the intellectually challenged – an affirming experience – the great leveller.

And as for those with a proclivity for submissive activities…well!

George scrubbed away with a big fat smile on his silly ole face.

Gary mumbled something impenetrable about investing in derivatives…

 

Written for: Friday Fictioneers