Posts in short story
100 Themes 018 - Rainbow

I was trying something here; writing without planning. Yes, it's writing a myth as well. But the Mother character has just sat down and is telling this story, or at least that's how I wanted it to come across. There are holes in it, because it's not planned, and she finishes it rather hastily because she's fed up, maybe, or the child wants to sleep. I'm quite pleased with it, as simplistic as it is.
 

 

“A story, is it? Very well.” Mother sat on the seat next to my bed, her knitting needles clicking quietly together. I sat up, suddenly not at all tired despite the heaviness of my eyelids. My duvet was warm, my pillow was soft and the fire crackled in time with the clock on the wall.

“My tale begins hundreds, no, thousands of years ago, and on a world far from this one. 

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short storySteve Cook100 themes, fable, myth, story, theme, vignetteComment
100 Themes 017 - Blood

My first thought on looking at this theme was 'Oh god, not vampires'. There seemed to be so many clichés when it came to blood. It runs thicker than water. The rivers run red with it. It always tells, etc etc. Dripping blood, puddles of blood, violence. At time of writing, my capital city, London, is undergoing riots for no apparent reason, and I'm sure there is blood being shed. It's appalling.

This is no less melancholy, but I tried to write it slightly light-heartedly. This person, I feel, is practical about such matters, and knows it would be silly to grieve overlong.

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short storySteve Cook100 themes, blood, death, family, vignetteComment
100 Themes 016 - Questioning

I debated doing lots of things with that theme, 'questioning', but then this crawled out of somewhere. It's pretty horrible, if I say so myself, and though I could have strung it out longer, I needed to end it. I knew where it was going anyway ^^

 

“Where… where am I?”

I blinked, but it didn’t make the bright light go away. My eyes hurt from its glare, and I turned my head, tried to raise a hand to shield myself. My wrists were tied to the arms of the chair I was sat in.

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short storySteve Cook100 themes, beheading, terrorist, torture, vignetteComment
100 Themes 015 - Silence

I was in a pub with my wife the other day, and there was a poster up advertising a 'Psychic Event'. One-to-one psychic readings for just £30. Seems like a lot of money, but I guess sometimes there can be a certain amount of catharsis in the things they say. We were reading one of those crap magazines, and one of the readers had written in saying that she was upset as she had slept through her husband's last breath, and it was torturing her with guilt. The psychic replied that he had waited until she had slept so that he knew she was peaceful through it. We thought that was actually a really nice thing to say, and might have removed a huge weight of guilt from that person.

Anyway, I was inspired by that and the theme to write this. Enjoy.

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short storySteve Cook100 themes, psychic, spirits, vignetteComment
100 Themes 014 - Smile

Had lots of fun with this one, it's broken in the head. A lot of my stuff is at the minute :D Not sure why, but it's fun!


“And, last but not least, the trophy room.”

Their hollow smiles stared down from the walls; a slow count showed fifteen heads, all ages and ethnicities. DCI Neil McCormick swallowed, suddenly feeling a little grey, and moved forward slowly. The handcuffs attached to the suspect jingled as he was pulled along behind. Each head stared out into space as he began his monologue again, blinking behind thick glasses.

“I had to replace their eyes with glass ones, of course; medical prosthetic eyes, very realistic. The skin has been specially treated, and it won’t ever show age. I’m sure you’ve already worked out that, in every case, a large flat blade not unlike a guillotine was used in the beheading. Each one of these has been made exactly to the strictures of the order.”

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short storySteve Cook100 themes, murder, police, trophy, vignetteComment
100 Themes 013 - Misfortune

This is an idea I've had rattling round for ages, and I'm not certain this does it justice. Basically, there are two girls in America who are different people, but joined at the hip, literally. What they do is spectacular, driving cars fluidly, that sort of thing. Amazing.

But is it a threesome if they have sex? They've only got one set of sex organs, y'know? What if one's a lesbian? Are they bisexual by default? Is masturbation lesbian sex?

So here's my version; not about them, because they're real people, but about two boys with the same issues...

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short storySteve Cook100 themes, sex, twins, vignetteComment
100 Themes 012 - Insanity

This one was just silliness, I suppose.

 

“Is there anything I can say that will stop you?”

“Nope.”

I shook my head. Damn him, why did he have to be like this? Were all little brothers so infuriating?

“Tell me again what you’re going to do.”

“So that you can pick it apart.” He grinned, his freckled cheeks shining in the bright midday sun.

He turned and pointed at the thundering waterfall. Its rumbling underpinned every sound, and, inured to it, I knew that I would feel its absence when I moved away. There were a few tourists wandering around, one kid with a balloon.

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short storySteve Cook100 themes, daredevil, niagara, vignetteComment
100 Themes 011 - Memory

I've been without reliable internet recently. Moved house, that's why, and damned internet companies take so long to connect you. I guess I should have gotten onto it quicker. Anyway, here are a few stories.

 

The raven shifted its feet on his arm. Why? This wasn’t one of the skittish creatures that so often flew high overhead, or perched in the trees. What was the significance of this one? It was sleek, plumage black as night; and, as night is seldom black, it held hues of purple, blue and grey, caught in the weave of feathers.

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short storySteve Cook100 themes, memory, norse, raven, vignette Comments
100 Themes 010 - Breathe Again

I couldn't think of this in any way but the most violent. It's not very long; it IS only a vignette, though.

 

His weight crushed down on me, arm pressing in under my chin. I opened my mouth, tried to draw a breath, but there was just nothing to pull in. I could feel the cold cobbles, wetness soaking into my shirt and pressing a pattern into my back.

He was crying. How strange, a part of me thought.

“Why did you have to do it? Why? God, why?” He was almost whining, and if we’d been in the middle of one of our many arguments I would have needled him for it. Is it any wonder I found comfort and safety in his brother’s arms?

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short storySteve Cook100 themes, abuse, rape, vignette, violenceComment
100 Themes 009 - Drive

"You have to want to do it. It won't just come to you."

I sat in my seat, trying not to be noticed. The seats were plastic, linked together in rows of about forty. How had I ended up right in the middle of the room?

"If you don't have the drive to get what you want in life, how do you think it will happen?"

He was about fifty, lights shining off his bald head, stalking back and forth over the stage. His energy was obviously meant to be catching, but… seriously?

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short storySteve Cook100 themes, drive, motivation, vignetteComment
100 Themes 007 - Heaven

It was a cold day in Hell, and Uriel could feel it. Fallen only lately, punished for staring down human women’s tops, he was shivering so much that feathers were drifting from his wings to land on the snow.

He hugged his knees to his chest, his night-dress gown not holding the heat in at all; a thin dribble of snot worked its way down his pointy nose, mingling with the residue of many tears.

The crunching of feet on the snow brought him back to reality, and, wiping his face, he stood up. A demon was coming. It was short and round, a hooked bird’s beak with tentacles for hair. It stopped in front of him and coughed, politely covering its mouth with one fin.

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short storySteve Cook100 themes, angel, devil, heaven, hell, vignetteComment
100 Themes 006 - Break Away

This has always amused me :D I've often wondered why the Gherkin looks that way, and this is the answer. Pfft, yeah.

 

006 – Break Away

The day that London took to the stars in search of a new planet to colonise began much like any other. The sun rose, bringing life to the city, and people shook cereal into bowls in hundreds of hungry households. The Underground, the clogged arteries of a dying corpse, were crammed with bored commuters, fanning themselves with ragged copies of free newspapers. The smell of coffee brewed fresh in a hundred different imitations rose to the heavens.

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short storySteve Cook100 themes, London, rocket, skyscraper, space, vignetteComment
100 Themes 005 - Seeking Solace

Another piece of writing. Not enough work being done on the editing at the moment, but I'm up to Chapter 15, over two-thirds of the way through. I've also just been offered a full time job from the place I'm currently contracted to and I hope to start with them soon :D

Here's another piece of flash-fiction to tide everyone over.


005 – Seeking Solace

“Damn it, where are ya?”

I run desperately through the shopping centre; what was it with people, couldn’t they see that I was in a rush? Fat Americans and old-timers suddenly deciding that now, NOW was the moment to stop, to stand and stare and check their phone and chat with other sheep. I bring myself up short in front of a thick knot of people, all the while looking around.

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short storySteve Cook100 themes, child, lost, new job, solace, vignetteComment
100 Themes 004 - Dark

“Bah,” Joe moaned, “there’s only dark chocolate in the cupboard. I hate dark chocolate.” I tried to hold my serious face as I watched this six-year old screw his face up and stick his tongue out. His freckles stood out on his pale face, rapidly blending in as the blood rushed to his cheeks.

“Joe, you’re going to have to put up with it. That’s life; we can’t always have what we want, and sometimes we have to make do with second best.”

“Did you do that with Daddy?”

Just like that, the whole conversation changed. Children have a habit of doing things like that, I guess.

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short storySteve Cook100 themes, beaten, child, chocolate, vignette, wife Comment
100 themes 001 - Introduction

I've decided to make use of a writing thing to help me warm up into my writing. It's one of the 100 Themes Challenges from deviantArt, and I'll be posting them here. It's not edited or anything, barely even checked through. Just something to warm up with.


001 - Introduction

“My name is Valerie Carr; you can call me Val.”

The woman was about my height; that was what struck me first. I’m quite tall for a woman, and it’s strange enough to make mention of it.

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short storySteve Cook100 themes, brothel, interview, introduction, prostitute, vignette, warm-upComment
The Grass is Always Greener

I've moved to this blog for my writing, as the previous one was focussed entirely on one project, whereas I've produced a lot more than that over the last year and a bit. So this blog will be dedicated to all my writing, and also for typing up things I've learned through writing.

To get things going, here's a short story that I'm trying to get published. It starts in a decidedly rural setting, but soon descends into a mix of sci-fi, mild horror and a keen thread of black comedy.


The Grass is Always Greener


It all began when Gerald Merryhew discovered that intelligent cows tasted better...

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short storySteve Cookcow, farm, farmer, murder, sci-fi, short storyComment