This is the post about Bookshelf’s new flashfiction edition to Maurice’s blog.
A new book containing a compilation of short stories, written by a number of authors for the bookshelf flash fiction page, will be released in the new year, which will have my piece ‘The Metaphorical Truth?’ in it.
Flash! Friday is 1 years old, congrats! Which means it’s competition time for all, all week!
I thought I’d take part AGAIN! We had to write a piece from the image given, and it had to be no more or fewer then 350 words. Pretty tough… But below is what I wrote. It’s an ambiguous piece with lots of imagination, leaving it up to you (the reader) to decide what’s real and what isn’t.
This is the picture supplied below…
Dragon of Halong Bay (Vietnam). Photo by LoggaWiggler.
So from that picture, this is THE METAPHORICAL TRUTH? by T. J. Blake (350 words)
I lean over-board, seeing my reflection down in the ripples the dragon creates.
I look ahead to see a hexagon piece of blue sky, and the sun beginning to be smothered by the clouds.
The irregular sizes of land around us scattered unevenly, as we bobble in the centre of the lake.
I stand behind the dragon feeling its layered, semi-circular scales on the top of its head under my flat palm.
“It isn’t real you know?” I hear Dad say behind me, containing his laughter within his chest and throat.
“He is.” I sigh.
I continue to stroke him, looking at the land nearest to us on my left. I watch a teenage boy and girl holding each other, gazing into each other’s eyes. She wears a white and blue hatchet dress; he wears his knight’s uniform.
He steps away from her on the high land, her eyes widen. Her light pink lips open as she takes a step back. He kneels down, his mouth moves like a prayer.
She smiles, runs up to him and he lifts her up as they kiss.
The dragon continues to glide along the water, moving closer to the clusters of land. I see the tops in destruction. The edges crumbling, the grass burnt, people fighting with swords and bows and arrows. A king is hiding behind his knights, until they are tossed aside, some in the water and others hit the rocks. The king begs I hear his screams echo towards me, until an arrow pierces through him, hitting the dragons left side of his neck.
I see a body in the water, a young knight and a blue and white hatchet dress floating on the water.
I blink, the arrow disappears.
I look across the water to the knight to see tangled seaweed floating over the ripples. I look away from it and instead look ahead at the route the dragon will take. I stroke the dragon’s head and move my hand down to the left of it, feeling the hole of the arrow.
I look behind to dad, he’s gone.
So, what did you think? Feel free to let me know. Check out Flash! Friday’s site and have a go yourself.
I have officially started writing the next instalment of Endurance, ‘Endurance: Apocalypse’ (Endurance 2). For those of you who have read Endurance, it will be as gory, as action packed and I hope as unpredictable! I’m writing it when I can, hoping for it to be completed early(ish) 2014!
I also have a new mystery thriller book idea which I am developing at the moment. I could possibly begin writing it at the beginning of next year.
I do however have two other book ideas as well as the mystery thriller idea to pick from so we shall see what I decide to write. Who knows I may need to ask the opinion of you to help me decide.
So, very exciting prospects for the end of 2013 and beginning of 2014, with my next book ‘The Author’ coming out hopefully within the next few weeks and possibly ‘Endurance: Apocalypse’ out at the beginning of next year, and then more writing with my 3 other book ideas for the rest of 2014 and maybe 2015!
T. J. Blake #Author 