KINSHIP

Microfiction Monday, ABC Wednesday, more prompts below
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GURU TONY

Microfiction: The tanker sailed without me.
I’d gone green, you see. It crept upon me
slowly. We all have our reasons. Mine
began with sea sickness.

KINSHIP

Kinship is a vital aspect of society. In feudal times, marriage and
extended kinship was the anchor to power. Even in Mafia, such ‘kinship’
is at the heart of its success. Sadly, though, kinship is being degraded
nowadays. We are all ‘individuals’ instead. This is an error, for as well
as being a way to power in the past, it is also a defence against
power. It was a level of influence between state and individual. With
family in decline, the influence of the state becomes total.

I’m now on Facebook

BRIT NEWS: As Britain’s party
conference season begins we’ll see
a glimpse of the new round of politics. A
coalition govt announces its spending review in
October. Is it necessary or ideology? Unions are becoming
vocal. Labour’s new leader will soon be known. Interesting times.

GREEN NEWS: UK Energy Secretary says there is an important place
for nuclear power. No, no, no!!! Big Biz is only in the green dabate to
prove alternatives inadequate so they can go totally nuclear. It has to
as Big Biz requires big, expensive systems to exist. Alternatives are
cheaper and small biz friendly, so Big Biz would be out.

CRIME NEWS: UK watchdog blames retreat of police from streets
for rise in anti-social behaviour. It’s more than that. The
police removed themselves from community, allowing
yobs to rule, and people to think of police as
other than them. They have failed
to do their job.

READ WITH MUMMY

The Magazine Post with a gentle hint of horror

One Single Impression
Friday Flash 55 – Writer’s Island
One Shot Wednesday

MONUMENT

A monument to all the ghostie tales,
Lightning flash, ectoplasmic trails,
All our horrors turned to stone,
Don’t sleep by here unless you atone,
Nightmares will come and ghosts will flock
Afterlife, entombed within the rock

FLASH 55 – THE SÉANCE

Fiction: ‘I’m telling you, it was rubbish,’ said Jenny as she returned
home to her husband. ‘The medium went into a trance and made
contact, but I knew it wasn’t right. The messages were all wrong.’ ‘So
she was a fake,’ he said. Which was true. Her husband hadn’t been
contacted by anyone since his death.

WHIMSY

Scratch your cheek, tug your hair,
Whenever it’s done, don’t despair,
Don’t know it’s happening ’til it’s done,
That’s why it’s so much fun,
And immediately you decide you did imbue,
When it was me, the ghostie behind you

© Anthony North, September 2010

Try my Pictures of Life, a novel

JACK THE RIPPER

Microfiction Monday, ABC Wednesday, more prompts below
Try my Paranormal Flash now!

POLLY TICKS

Microfiction: Be free and walk in white
man’s shoes, they were told. He carried
the shoes, not knowing, yet, whether
freedom is what they had.

JACK THE RIPPER

Jack the Ripper killed at least 5 prostitutes around Whitechapel,
London, in 1888. Or did he? Forensics of the time said he did. Letters
sent said he did. But the reality is, forensics was in its infancy, and no
one letter gives detail of more than one murder. And prostitutes were
being killed all the time. As I see it, we have 5 separate murders, some
of the killers sending letters to put the police off the scent as fear of a
monster began to grow. Jack the Ripper never existed – he was simply
a brilliant example of media hype.

I’m now on Facebook

WORLD NEWS: Think tank says
threat from Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan
is exaggerated. It wasn’t at first, but it is
now. Any administration always has a need to
sensationalise a demon more than it should be. It helps
to keep people frightened and needing control.

HEALTH NEWS: Ofsted advises 1000s of pupils in England are
wrongly labelled as special needs. I often worry about the rise of
‘conditions’ nowadays. I don’t deny their reality, but in defining them
do we create much of the problem?

WORLD NEWS: As the pope visits the UK, a reflection. We hear a
lot about paedophile priests, but let’s remember the vast
majority of priests have done good work. But does
this extend to the Vatican? Apart from
patronage of art, I cannot think
of one good thing it has
done in history.

FUTURE ZONE

What’s ahead … and Beyond!!!

One Single Impression
Friday Flash 55 – Writer’s Island
One Shot Wednesday

JOIE DE VIVRE

To feel the warmth through gentle breeze,
Radiant sun, how much you please,
I smile at life, joyful, renewed,
Such moments – perfect – thoughts imbued;
Emotion chips make androids thrive,
Pity humans no longer feel so alive

FLASH 55 – MONSTER VOYAGE

Sci Fi: They’d wondered about awareness on such a long space
voyage. Were they conscious in any meaningful way as the alien ship
came alongside? Clearly they all died as the monsters came aboard –
violently – setting off the alarms and bringing them out of suspended
animation. A fearful dream, they were ready as the ship came
alongside …

FISHERMAN

Plastic bags and oily sludge,
Killed all the fish in the sea, as such,
But there was a myth that there was one,
Still in tune with Earth’s natural song,
He sat in the boat for ever more,
Rod of tears, sunken jaw

FISHER OF …

Catch another from its land,
Resplendant light lends a hand,
Fishing for everything there is,
In this glorious universal fizz,
Mix to form a peaceful stew,
Join the alien abduction queue

© Anthony North, September 2010

Try my Pictures of Life, a novel

INNOCENCE

Microfiction Monday, ABC Wednesday, more prompts below
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PROF ISAAC GALISTEIN

Microfiction: Sisters should never have
children, they thought. No matter how
fashionable aunties are, nephews
always think of them as retro.

INNOCENCE

Don’t we hate what the west is doing to the planet. We’d all be green
if we could. The reality is WE could never be green enough. It is the
system that must be green – in other words, commerce and industry.
Big Biz will play at green, but is not committed to it. Does this make us
innocent? Sadly, no. Big Biz only succeeds because we buy into it. If
we really said ‘no,’ things would change very quickly.

I’m now on Facebook

BRIT NEWS: Some 6 million Brits
have been hit by tax errors. They used
to say that computerisation would make things
easier. It seems to me there are more errors nowadays
than ever before. Is total computerisation in admin a good idea?

SCI NEWS: Stephen Hawking has finally discounted God. Big Bang was
inevitable due to the law of gravity through spontaneous creation. But
is this theory replacing God, or becoming God?

MEDIA NEWS: So an insignificant Pastor has placed his Koran
burning on hold. I should think so. I’m all for free speech,
which includes telling him what a vile idiot he is. But
a question: why do we know about it?

THE CRIME POST

It would be criminal not to read it

One Single Impression
Friday Flash 55 – Writer’s Island
One Shot Wednesday

PASSING BY

A woman’s scream in the night,
Two drunks shout and have a fight,
Another purse snatched by the lout,
Painted girls – sex they tout,
It goes on no matter how we try,
All because we just pass by

FLASH 55 – THE ROAD

Fiction: My partner and I had decided upon a couple of days of
freedom. Maybe we’d watched too many road movies, but off we went.
We drove; partied; did things we shouldn’t; vandalism; burglary. Then
back to work, hoping we’d get away with it. It was a stroke of luck we
were put on the case.

REDWOOD

Wolves and thieves made you enter with dread,
So much violence turned the green wood red,
They’d had enough by the time they advanced,
Time, it was, for society to be enhanced,
So they looked on the past with a terrible frown,
And they went and chopped all the red woods down

© Anthony North, September 2010

Try my Pictures of Life, a novel

HALO

Microfiction Monday, ABC Wednesday, more prompts below
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BLOGGER BARD

Microfiction: Little boat, big churning ocean.
Friendly but misunderstood. The sea always
tries to see people off with a wave.

HALO

We all have a symbolic halo, defining ourselves by our personal morality.
Once upon a time, morality was more exact, with clearly defined
standards of behaviour. It’s a good thing this is no longer the case, as
much of that morality was imposed by the powerful. But is the free-
for-all we have now any better? Instead of dictat, maybe we need
generally agreed guidelines – not mandatory, but just enough to stop
that halo slipping and tripping you up.

I’m now on Facebook

EDUC NEWS: As university
places become rare in UK, they’re
beginning to look at GCSE results when 16
to see who are the committed ones. This is a bad
step. What next? Assessment & advice before they’re off the
potty? The machine society requires tailor made cogs, I suppose.

MEDIA NEWS: BBC boss says Murdoch’s Sky is becoming dominant
force in Brit TV but isn’t investing. Very true, which outs the
disease of modern media. It is supposed to be the
spotlight on culture, but in working for profit
alone, the lack of culture takes away
our investment for the future.

RATTLER’S TALE

A Voyage of the Imagination

One Single Impression
Friday Flash 55 – Writer’s Island
One Shot Wednesday

THE PASSING

Pass right by, gone in a flash,
No time to repeat, no rehash,
Life is like that, often a bitch,
We’re stuck with results, no magic switch,
So when we think of things passing by,
Remember they have outcomes, often sly,
And prepare yourself well ahead,
For happy results, instead of dread

FLASH 55 – NO SEX PLEASE

Fiction: He was addicted to sex, but as he got older it became a
burden. ‘You’re putting too much stress on your heart,’ his doctor
advised. ‘If you don’t stop this addiction, you’ll kill yourself.’ Well, he
fought his addiction – he really did try – but in the end … I suppose it
was a kind of suicide.

BREAKTHROUGH

Smash the wall, talk it out,
Found a treasure, no more doubt,
Fight a war, sue for peace,
Hopes for all conflict to cease,
Breakthroughs, though, can often vex,
Sorting a problem leads to the next

BRIT NEWS: Overseas aid will target
projects that assist national security, says
govt. Well, that’s it then. Assistance will forever
have an agenda. The worth of a life becomes dependent
on whether a Brit life is at risk or not. If you don’t threaten us,
don’t expect any help.

BRIT NEWS: Blair’s memoirs are out. Boozed too much; loved his
loo; wants us to SO understand why he went to war;
doesn’t apologise – for New Labour, or Gordon
Brown … read all about Dr FrankenBlair
and his Monster!!!

© Anthony North, September 2010

Try my Pictures of Life, a novel