TWATT, Shetland Islands (The Skwib) — Strong entries from both Scotland and Norway have led to a major upset here at the Delicacy World Cup.…
Comments closedCategory: Skwibby fiction
Welcome to the 32nd storyblogging carnival. Storyblogging is essentially just storytelling in blog format. Quite often it is fictional, but as you can see, this edition we have two non-fiction posts too. (I’ve split the entries by fiction and non-fiction, and I posted the one audio submission at the end — for some reason, Quicktime files just don’t work on my computer.) I haven’t submitted anything to this carnival, but if readers are looking for fiction from The Skwib, the best thing to do is look under the “skwibby fiction” category, where you’ll see the latest. You might also want to check out the fiction (short story) section of my website, where you’ll find some of my published work.
Fiction
Ink Magic (part II)
Dave Gudeman at Doc Rampage gives us the entertaining second part of this story.
Description: After his fight with the demonic blob, Steve has a sandwich and then goes home for a nap.
(3017 words, PG)
Opportunity
by Darleen Click at Darleen’s Place
Description: She’s the sweet old lady to the children of the neighborhood, but she’s haunted by her past and one night it all comes home in a frightening confrontation with a stranger.
(2676 words, PG13 (language))
Of all the problems with the Fall, the one Thag found most annoying was Onga’s mania for keeping the cave clear of fallen leaves.
Some years they would all come down in a rush, as though the trees were dropping their furs before “making unkies”. Other years, they would trickle off the trees, letting one or two drops a day, the way Old Man Glunk made water. This year was a Glunk year.
And when wind blew from the south-east, bringing the occasional spat of rain and slightly warmer temperatures, the leaves would blow in the cave. While not out hunting, most of the men-folk had few chores, and one of them was clearing leaves.
They made a game of it, splitting the hunting party into two groups — one who were designated “gatherers” and one who were “hunters”. The gatherers were meant to collect as many leaves in their hands as they could, and take them outside to a designated spot where they would not blow back into the cave. The hunters were allowed to prevent them from doing so, but they could only use one hand — their left — to grab them.
This made for good sport, as most of the hunters were strongly right-handed (as were most in the Thunka Grunka Clan). In fact, left-handedness was seen as a gift from the Beyond; most shaman were lefties, as was Weasel-Scratch-Face-Brother, who held up that particular limb and bade them stop.
“The women are unable to accomplish their daily work with you tearing around like this,” he explained to Thag.
“We try keep fit for next hunt,” Thag explained. “And we get leaves out.”
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Reinhard Heydrich watched his Leader speak with pride, as they celebrated the Beer Hall Revolution, right in front of the BürgerbräuKeller, where it had all began.
Just sixteen years ago, in 1923, Hitler had stood at the very spot where he spoke now, his voice captivating a nation as he promised an end to the injustices heaped upon the German people.
He thought it was ironic. While the perpetrators of those injustices — the French and the British primarily — marked their maudlin November 11th holiday as a day to remember their soldiers killed in the Great War the proud German people had a celebration. By winning power, Hitler had transmuted the Armistice Day into a victory — the Leader’s Day.
Heydrich could not imagine what might have happened if the revolution had not been successful. What might have become of the Fatherland?
Hitler was warmed up now, and Heydrich allowed himself to be swept away in the Leader’s oratory, as he watched from a distance. He should have been standing next to him, but Himmler had grown suspicious of Heydrich’s popularity with the Leader, and not allowed him on the platform with the other Party officials.
A lot of what Hitler said didn’t really make much sense, but that did not matter. What the Leader had was certainty. Perhaps not sanity, but it was his conviction and confidence that was important.
The certainty that Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland were not enough.
The German people needed more land, Hitler said. And it was only a matter of time before they took it. So far the war with France and Britain had been quiet, but in the spring, he knew it would explode.
Then a wall of sound assaulted his ears,
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