Melanie Fraser

Thank you, Seagreen, Sandra, Janette and John.

And happy new year to all Denizens.

That’s a lovely surprise, and for the new year too! Thank you, Ath.

Thank you also to everyone who entered. A very compelling selection of stories, as always, and a wide range of styles. I’ll have a think about what to set for the January competition.

Happy new year, if we’re allowed to say that after 2020 🙂

359 words

Fracture

The room was big, like a workshop, but the machinery was rows of people seated on chairs all facing the same way. Silence nestled beside and around them, cut by infrequent remarks. What dreary weather today, no sign of sun. A bit stuffy in here. I hope we’re not kept waiting long.

The ceiling was open to the roof. Struts m…[Read more]

I haven’t removed the internet connection from my laptop because it’s too useful when I want to check something, but keeping the laptop for writing and using a PC for everything else – emails, online purchases etc – makes distraction less of a problem. When I’m using the laptop I’m in writing mode. It’s a little thing but it helps.

Thank you, Sea, for the challenge. It was a challenge, too! Not my normal kind of writing.

Congratulations, Sandra. An excellent story.

346 words excluding title

Learned Habits

Her flatmate said she wanted a chat, about the apartment. She called it an apartment but with its beige kitchen units, its shower over the bath, its dingy paintwork, it was an old-fashioned flat.

Both women were in their early twenties.

Jess sat down on the sofa. The sofa, said the flatmate. Its…[Read more]

Congratulations, Doug. Sounds like you’re on a roll. It’s lovely having that feeling of not wanting to stop.

Congratulations @seagreen. I love the voice in your story.

Untitled

And the theme for this evening is Armageddon. Car after car heads west into London under a roseate sky, a bursting bloom, seepage of orange and crimson, a lure like a turn-on.

I drive. We all drive.

Earlier today, Clare’s voice on the phone.

– Who is Emily?

Emily. Emily naked.

– Dunno. Why d’you ask?

– You left your…[Read more]

Congratulations @Janette! I really enjoyed your story. And I loved @Athelstone‘s too. So creepy …

Thank you for this post, Richard. I didn’t know the Manchester-Liverpool route was the first intercity connection. My WIP features the Manchester Ship Canal in the 1930s. I believe, though I haven’t checked my notes, that the Port of Manchester docks had the largest private railway system in the country at that time.

Thank you for the…[Read more]