I’m on a roll with writing, a very short story mid-week and a short story this weekend. This is my first murder mystery. It’s imperfect; I tried to do something, but the constraints of space had me streamline the plot, but I didn’t want to go for a short novel, and the full plot would have come out about 30-50k words.
Continue reading “Short Story: Murder on the Belet Nagar”Tag: adventure
Block Breaker #7
I’ve not been writing much. I did NaNoWriMo in the two years I’ve been absent, but outside of that, lots of planning, but nothing actually going onto a page. I’ve got pretty terminal writer’s block, but as I mentioned in my vlog (Vlog 16th July 2022 – A New Start and Old Problems – YouTube) I want to get back to writing… so excitingly, after a month, I’ve finally done that. I wrote a little short story, and here it is – my first non-NaNoWriMo story in years
Continue reading “Block Breaker #7”Daily Flash Fiction Challenge 27: Saviour’s End: Part One
This is the 27th in a series of 365 Flash Fiction stories I’m writing. You can find out more about the challenge here.
Saviour’s End: Part One, by Jonathan L. Lawrence, 26th December 2012
Word count: 997
Theme: action, kids, protector, deceit, assassins, protection
The story:
Jackson wished he could leave him, just leave and never look back, but he couldn’t. He had made a promise, “Look after this man, with your life if you have to,” his father as he lay dying in a pool of his own blood.
Now he was shepherding the guy with no usable skills through London’s seedy underside. They couldn’t go to the authorities, they couldn’t rely on friends, only on each other – which amounted to only on Jackson.
Jackson spent the days searching for food, and drink, trying to survive, while he just sat there too out of it to be useful. Occasionally he would come round enough to cook what Jackson brought home, but it was rare.
Continue reading “Daily Flash Fiction Challenge 27: Saviour’s End: Part One”
Daily Flash Fiction Challenge 26: New Year Wash Out
This is the 25th in a series of 365 Flash Fiction stories I’m writing. You can find out more about the challenge here.
New Year Washout, by Jonathan L. Lawrence, 26th December 2012
Word count: 794
Theme: adventurous jobs, danger, extreme sport, will to survive, survivalist, new year’s eve
The story:
Carl Whitney dropped noisily into the drain. There were places he would much rather be, but this New Year’s eve he was needed here, no one wanted their New Year’s eve parties disputed by issue from a drain after all.
“Guys, it’s Carl, it’s only knee deep,” he reported over his walkie talkie as he splashed onwards looking for the supposed blockage.
“That’s the report of sector sixteen alpha fourteen,” came the reply, “Just keep looking it’s raining East of the city it’s going to be messy in the flow today.”
“Copy Michael,” Carl said resuming his search with his trusty torch.
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Daily Flash Fiction Challenge 25: The Fisherman’s Son
This is the 25th in a series of 365 Flash Fiction stories I’m writing. You can find out more about the challenge here.
The Fisherman’s Son, by Jonathan L. Lawrence, 26th December 2012
Word count: 876
Theme: father and son, bonding, learning the ropes, the paths of our fathers, sci fi, civilian sci fi
The story:
“Okay, let’s just fix that right there, shall we?” the captain said with fatherly tenderness.
Jack just looked at him, he was eight but didn’t say much. This was the first time his father had taken him out on his old boat.
“Fix that line!” the Captain shouted down to the deck. Jack looked out over the railing, down below men scattered around fixing cables in place.
“All set for star drive, Captain,” the first mate said.
“Course set?” Captain asked his first mate.
“Alpha Centauri, on the slow route,” the first mate confirmed.
“The word is go,” the captain said, then turned to his son, “Okay I want you to hold on to this handle, it’s going to be a bumpy, and it’s always scary the first time you go to star drive.”
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The Christmas Fic – Daily Flash Fiction Challenge 24: Santa’s Lost sock
This is the 24th in a series of 365 Flash Fiction stories I’m writing. You can find out more about the challenge here.
Santa’s Lost Sock, by Jonathan L. Lawrence, 25th December 2012
Word count: 956
Theme: Christmas, children, wonder, adventure, santa claus
The story:
It was the night before Christmas, well you know the drill. Jolly Old Saint Nick was doing his international rounds, even with the special stop watch that let him stop time, every year it got harder and harder. Santa though never gave in, he would be doing this until the end of time.
He was currently flying Algeria, stopping at every home on his list, gaining entry by a multitude of means, but ideally through the chimney if one was present. He was the ultimate traditionalist after all, and the magic dust allowed him to squeeze down a chimney easily.
Continue reading “The Christmas Fic – Daily Flash Fiction Challenge 24: Santa’s Lost sock”
Daily Flash Fiction Challenge 14: To The Ends of the Earth and Back
This is the 14th in a series of 365 Flash Fiction stories I’m writing from 2nd December 2012 until the 1st December 2013. It’s intent is to keep me writing throughout the year, and not just in November. you can find out more about the challenge here.
For Her, Anything, by Jonathan L. Lawrence, 15th December 2012
Word count: 728
Theme: action, adventure, treasure hunt, clues, mystery
The story:
“Fucking Wales,” Leron Ruiz swore in Spanish.
“It cud be wuss, it cud be france,” his guide on this leg of his quest pointed out. Nathan Smith was, what he affectionately described, a Brummie, he’d been helping Leron get around this country to some pretty unusual spots. As far as Leron was concerned all of it was unusual. A week earlier he’d been in his offices in Texas, he was a private investigator there, a pretty low rent one at that. Then a huge fish walks in the door, and offers him a boat load of money to track down some secret map.
Of course he’d refused, the guy wanted him to go to Egypt. There were professionals for that kind of thing, and if they weren’t taking the job then clearly it was for a good reason. Then the old man had been shot outside the doors of his office. Sniper shot the police said, at least five hundred feet. The guy had left the folder with the job details, and Leron may have forgotten to mention it to the police.
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Daily Flash Fiction Challenge 10: Jack Lead – 2HB
This is the eighth in a series of 365 Flash Fiction stories I’m writing from 2nd December 2012 until the 1st December 2013. It’s intent is to keep me writing throughout the year, and not just in November. you can find out more about the challenge here.
Jack Lead – 2HB, by Jonathan L. Lawrence, 11th December 2012
Word count: 999
Theme: action, adventure, world domination, evil mastermind
The story:
“I own the future,” industrialist Peter Crowfield said emphatically. “You are just part of the master plan my friend.”
Jack felt used, for the past month he thought he had been working, non-stop it felt, to save the planet. Only to find his boss who had been helping him was actually some insane criminal mastermind.
“I’m sure you’re wondering what next,” the megalomaniac said to the tied up employee. “Well first we’ll make a demonstration, then we’ll make our demands.”
Jack wanted to say something clichéd like Peter would never get away with it, but Jack was bound and gagged.
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Daily Flash Fiction Challenge 9: Light Speed
This is the eighth in a series of 365 Flash Fiction stories I’m writing from 2nd December 2012 until the 1st December 2013. It’s intent is to keep me writing throughout the year, and not just in November. you can find out more about the challenge here.
Light Speed, by Jonathan L. Lawrence, 10th December 2012
Word count: 1,000
Theme: random acts of violence, crazy, anthropomorphic animals, revenge
The story:
Captain Twigg stood up from his chair, faced the camera’s squarely and held out his hand.
“Next stop…” he held a pause for longer than was comfortable, “Alpha Centauri.”
It was all horribly contrived to Second Lieutenant Carlisle, who was sat two meters away, facing away from the cameras, gladly. He considered it an honour to be on board human kind’s first manned faster than light ship, but he also knew far too much about the cluster fuck this mission had already become. For now he must focus on the mission, those were his orders.
Without skipping a beat he reported on time, “Vector eighteen, three hundred kilometres per second.”
“Hmm…” the captain sat back in his chair thoughtfully, “We need to go faster.”
“Increase velocity, thrusters to maximum, helm,” first lieutenant Jordan Sinclair ordered.
“We’re on schedule,” the Second Lieutenant pointed out, wary not only of the mission parameters that called for no heroics in testing the new engines, but also the thought of being stranded where no one could come rescue them.
“We’re going beyond human knowledge, Second Lieutenant,” the Captain stressed the Lieutenant’s rank, “The people of Earth aren’t looking for safety, they want to see us fly high. The collective breaths of an entire world are holding on to see what we can do, let’s not let them suffocate,” all the time looking at the camera. Second Lieutenant Carlisle realised this would go in his blog tonight, an tale of the Captain’s bravery in the face of the cowardice of his underling.
Continue reading “Daily Flash Fiction Challenge 9: Light Speed”
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