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Monty's Book Reviews

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21/07/2024

Fandango's One Word Challenge - Scale Ships Log 3259-08-15 I’ve activated the automatic shutdown on the cryogenic chambers. It’s time to wake up the crew. We left Earth in 2049 aboard the Star ship Santa Maria – named after the flagship of Christopher Columbus, the greatest explorer in the planet’s history. Our mission was to locate the planet Terra 629 which was discovered to have an almost perfect Earth consistent atmosphere and soil/water composition....

Fandango’s One Word Challenge – Scale Ships Log 3259-08-15 I’ve activated the automatic shutdown on the cryogenic chambers. It’s time to wake up the crew. We left Earth in 2049 aboard t…

21/07/2024

Six Sentence Story Linkup Prompt Word : Wire Beads of sweat are forming on my forehead, running down through the gap between my eyebrows, down my cute button nose and then dripping onto my hands as I sit hunched over the improvised explosive device nestled in the corner of the room. I’m receiving instructions over the short wave radio from an expert but it is difficult to think straight when the timer that is strapped to the ten pounds of Semtex is continually counting down the seconds I have left to deactivate the mechanism…...

21/07/2024

(or Feud Glorious Feud) Fandango's One Word Challenge - Feud It all started at school. Stephen and Clive took every opportunity to prank each other. It was small scale at first, hiding each other’s belongings, leaving frogs in their beds in the dorm and other childish games. As the boys got older, the incidents became more elaborate. Clive was a dab hand at forging Steve’s handwriting and all kinds of trouble ensured when he faked letters and notes which were sent to various members of staff....

(or Feud Glorious Feud) Fandango’s One Word Challenge – Feud It all started at school. Stephen and Clive took every opportunity to prank each other. It was small scale at first, h…

20/07/2024

Fandango's One Word Challenge - Withdraw We’d ventured too far into enemy territory and instead of pushing back the Hun infantry, we’d become cut off from our unit. There were just the twelve of us left and I was determined that no more of my men would die today. After the gun fight at the abandoned French farmhouse, we’d buried our dead and hidden the bodies of the N**i soldiers in the barn....

Fandango’s One Word Challenge – Withdraw We’d ventured too far into enemy territory and instead of pushing back the Hun infantry, we’d become cut off from our unit. There were just the …

20/07/2024

Fandango’s Story Starter #158 “This is no ordinary book,” the proprietor of the used book store said to Jeremy. “It’s a gateway to a series of alternate universes” Nine year old Jeremy looked at him in awe. “Are you serious? I can go wherever I want just with this book?” “Within reason my boy, there is a limit to the number of gateways that can exist in a single tome”...

20/07/2024

mindlovemisery'smenagerie photo challenge #254 Image credit Sarah Whiley For the first couple of days we all said how pretty the clouds were, but then the perpetual twilight started to grate. The rays of the sun weren’t able to pe*****te the fluffy quilt that somehow surrounded the Earth. But it wasn’t just the sun, scientists tried to send probes into the cloud mass to take readings but they all stopped transmitting the moment they entered....

mindlovemisery’smenagerie photo challenge #254 Image credit Sarah Whiley For the first couple of days we all said how pretty the clouds were, but then the perpetual twilight started to grate.…

20/07/2024

The Unicorn Challenge - 19/07/24 - Photo Prompt - 250 Words Maximum Photo Prompt © Ayr/Gray In my younger days I was a bit of a fashionista. I’d spend every Saturday shopping for the latest trends and then strutting my stuff in the dance halls and later on the discotheques with my mates. I never had any trouble pulling the birds in my Teddy boy suit, my crepe soled shoes and my neatly coifed quiff....

The Unicorn Challenge – 19/07/24 – Photo Prompt – 250 Words Maximum Photo Prompt © Ayr/Gray In my younger days I was a bit of a fashionista. I’d spend every Saturday shopping for …

20/07/2024

MindLoveMisery'sMenagerie Luck Dip - Random Emoji Prompt I’ve been told time and time again that I think too much, I overthink things, I catastrophize. I’ve never been a glass half full kind of girl So, I was already on edge when I found myself on the wrong side of town. There was an accident on my usual route and my Satnav had ‘helpfully’ rerouted me to a part of town that I’d never seen before....

MindLoveMisery’sMenagerie Luck Dip – Random Emoji Prompt I’ve been told time and time again that I think too much, I overthink things, I catastrophize. I’ve never been a glass half full…

19/07/2024

Friday Fictioneers 100 Word Challenge hosted by Rochelle Wisoff PHOTO PROMPT © Lisa Fox “Don’t’cha just love the wild outdoors Barney?” “Sure do Fred, away from the raptor race in Bedrock” “I brought Wilma here on our first date and we watched the migrating Pterodactyls“ “Betty and me spent a weekend here, you can really see the stars without all the candlelight”...

19/07/2024

Fandango's One Word Challenge - Feign I absolutely detest social gatherings, having to feign interest every time some desperate housewife wants to tell you all about her kids’ soccer teams and that her husband once met Donald Trump. Then there are the married men who feel the need to flirt, sometimes right in front of their wives. It’s mind-numbingly dull and I’d much rather be at home watching ‘The West Wing’...

Fandango’s One Word Challenge – Feign I absolutely detest social gatherings, having to feign interest every time some desperate housewife wants to tell you all about her kids’ soccer te…

15/07/2024

For six long months we’d been hunting for the fabled treasure. I say long months, they just felt long, they were just regular usual length months but its felt like years. The searing heat, the alien food that either sits in your gut making you feel bloated or passes right through your digestive system faster than a speeding Italian taxi driver and bloody Johnny foreigner with their ridiculous rules and unintelligible languages have all contributed to the depressed state I found myself in....

14/07/2024

Story Starter Challenge - "The train clattered along the tracks" Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie - Saturday Mix The train clattered along the tracks heading for the border. The picturesque, chocolate box quality, countryside slipped past unnoticed by my companion and myself. Keep a low profile, we agreed. Don’t attract attention. We’d travelled nearly 500 miles over the last four days, originally on foot, through the forests near Colditz castle, then by the horse and cart that we ‘borrowed’ from a farmyard....

Story Starter Challenge – “The train clattered along the tracks” Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie – Saturday Mix The train clattered along the tracks heading for the border. The p…

14/07/2024

Only Murders In My Mind - Photo Prompt - 250 Words Maximum The professor has always liked his own company, he’d often retreat to his study for hours to do heaven knows what. Over recent days he’d grown somewhat more secretive and a week ago retired to his inner sanctum. He’s not been seen since. For the first five days, the food trays left outside by the maid were duly collected and then returned, but two days ago they started to be returned to the kitchen untouched....

Only Murders In My Mind – Photo Prompt – 250 Words Maximum The professor has always liked his own company, he’d often retreat to his study for hours to do heaven knows what. Over recent…

13/07/2024

Challenge - Word Prompt - Exactly Six Sentences Hosted by GirlieOnTheEdge I woke up bleary eyed with a pain in my head that felt like it was trapped in a vice, due in the most part to the copious amount of alcohol I drank last night in the student bar. I listened for sounds of life from the rooms that I shared with two of my fellows, but all I could hear was the ticking of the clock on my bedside table....

Challenge – Word Prompt – Exactly Six Sentences Hosted by GirlieOnTheEdge I woke up bleary eyed with a pain in my head that felt like it was trapped in a vice, due in the most part to t…

13/07/2024

Challenge - Photo Prompt - 250 Words Maximum “You really want to go through with this? I asked. ” Remember when the Coley twins found seahorses heads in their sleeping area?” “It’ll be fine” replied my octopus friend. “He’ll never know it’s us” “What about when he made Eric the Eel an offer he couldn’t refuse?” I pleaded. “He’s not been seen since....

Challenge – Photo Prompt – 250 Words Maximum “You really want to go through with this? I asked. ” Remember when the Coley twins found seahorses heads in their sleeping area?” “It’ll be …

13/07/2024

Friday Fictioneers - 12-07-24 PHOTO PROMPT © Ronda Del Boccio Working late at the office seems to be the norm these days. The joys of being a paralegal mean that I’m stuck here on a Friday night whilst the actual lawyers are all in a nearby bar doing shots and snorting coke. Don’t get me wrong, I love my job, I would just like to get home at a reasonable hour once in a while....

Friday Fictioneers – 12-07-24 PHOTO PROMPT © Ronda Del Boccio Working late at the office seems to be the norm these days. The joys of being a paralegal mean that I’m stuck here on a Friday ni…

13/07/2024

Challenge - One Word - Invisible I’ve always craved attention. The feelings I get when I’m centre of other people’s worlds. It all began when I was a very small child. My parents would pick me up, tell me stories and talk about me to anyone who’d listen. Then there was school. I was cute and very bright. Teacher’s pet, the other kids said, but I was popular with everyone....

Challenge – One Word – Invisible I’ve always craved attention. The feelings I get when I’m centre of other people’s worlds. It all began when I was a very small child. My parents would …

11/07/2024

I rode into town on a grey looking Thursday afternoon and I sure could use a drink. I’d ridden the 75 miles at a gallop after I received a tip that my quarry was a hiding out in Fool’s Gulch. I hitched my horse to the rail outside the saloon and pushed open the swing doors. Inside it was a typical drinking hole like you’d see all over the west....

10/07/2024

Challenge - Photo - 100 Words Exactly A tiny droplet of water. A microcosm of organisms clinging to existence until the harsh heat of the sun evaporates the life giving liquid. A lonely plant struggles to make its mark in this arid landscape, competing for the sparse nutrients available in the thin rocky soil. But life on Earth is a marvellous thing....

Challenge – Photo – 100 Words Exactly A tiny droplet of water. A microcosm of organisms clinging to existence until the harsh heat of the sun evaporates the life giving liquid. A lonely…

09/07/2024

Challenge - One Word - No Word Limit Challenge word is 'Single' I met him on one of those new-fangled dating apps. His photo showed a middle-aged man with dark brown hair, a Guy Fawkes, van d**e style beard, and a startled smile like he was not expecting the flash of the camera. My friend Marjory warned me to be careful “There are a lot of perverts and weirdos about these days, you’ve got to think about your safety”....

Challenge – One Word – No Word Limit Challenge word is ‘Single’ I met him on one of those new-fangled dating apps. His photo showed a middle-aged man with dark brown hair, a…

08/07/2024

Challenge - Photo Prompt - Up to 250 Words Challenge set by Only Murders In My Mind podcast/blog Ever since I turned eighteen, I’ve made the 300 mile journey to one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen, on a regular basis. It’s so far from civilisation that it’s not sullied by light pollution, making the night sky full of millions of stars....

Challenge – Photo Prompt – Up to 250 Words Challenge set by Only Murders In My Mind podcast/blog Ever since I turned eighteen, I’ve made the 300 mile journey to one of the most beautifu…

07/07/2024

Challenge - Word Prompt (Draconian) Fandango's One Word Challenge Up until I was nine, I lived with my family in a two bedroomed house in the worst part of the east end that we shared with two other families. There were twenty seven of us crammed into the abandoned property that had a leaky roof and mould growing on the walls....

Challenge – Word Prompt (Draconian) Fandango’s One Word Challenge Up until I was nine, I lived with my family in a two bedroomed house in the worst part of the east end that we sh…

06/07/2024

Photo Challenge - 250 Words Max

Challenge – Photo – 250 Words MaximumUnicorn Challenge My sister Claire and I spent all week eagerly anticipating our Saturday visits to the local shopping mall. At least we did, and th…

05/07/2024

Friday Fictioneers 100 Word Photo Challenge

Challenge – Photo Prompt – 100 Words Photo credit Nancy Richy It always takes me back to the incident in India. Smithers and I were trekking up the Ganges when we stopped for tiffin.&nb…

04/07/2024

Flash Fiction - 657 words I awoke to the sounds of beeps and an overwhelming smell of Dettol or something similar. I tried to move but I found I was connected to various tubes and cables. As my vision cleared I could see that I was in a hospital private room. There was a dull ache in my chest and a throbbing in the back of my head like I’d had too much sleep....

Flash Fiction – 657 words I awoke to the sounds of beeps and an overwhelming smell of Dettol or something similar. I tried to move but I found I was connected to various tubes and cables. As …

03/07/2024

New Flash Fiction - A Very Strange Saturday

Flash Fiction – 798 words When I awoke on Saturday morning, I had no idea just how strange the day was going to get. I showered, I say showered but it was a quick wipe round with a damp flann…

02/07/2024

New Flash Fiction - Your Money or Your Wife

Flash Fiction – 481 Words It was market day. Papa had agreed the I could use the carriage to take Ellie, my maid, and I into town to look for a new dress for the party that we were hosting in…

01/07/2024

Flash Fiction - "To So Few"

This story was inspired by the bravery of all the airmen during WWII and in particular to my wife’s great uncle who gave his life when shot down over Holland. He was a Rear Gunner in a Short …

30/06/2024

New Flash Fiction Story - Zorro

Flash Fiction With his beady eyes and his red hair, he creeps into the garden after dark. He slowly circumnavigates the lawn keeping to the safety of the high wooden fence. Crouching amongst the Hy…

29/06/2024

Challenge - Photo Prompt - 100 Words Exactly

Drabble – 100 Words Exactly The soldier crouched in the sucking mud, cringing from the sounds of shelling overhead. The smell of cordite mixed with sweat and human waste stung his nostrils. H…

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