nazi high-commandIf one presumes that one’s chosen vocation will not cause one to brush up against societal taboos, one should think twice before joining the nazi high-command.
Bonus points for using all the prompts in a single sentence!
thirty-sixthClaudia thanked the semiskilled employee as her thirty-sixth and final item traversed the scanner and made its way down to the steel-clad staging area for conveyance into a sack, her choice of wood-pulp or petrochemical composition, and surrendered the necessary currency to atone for all these items’ removal from the shelves, and wondered if her inner smile showed at all as she produced also that instrument of rebate, a coupon rare and wondrous that would regain her all the money and more from this accursed edifice, this store that had hardened her soul and rounded her back. Yes, at last she would be avenged.
operatorNiggling doubts plagued the Countess as she waited, gold-plated telephone pressed to her dainty, shell-like ear, and mussing her elaborate coiffure in much the same way Dirk had done during their one night of hedonistic abandon all those weeks ago, for the operator to place the call that would forever change her life, and the attitudes of all the women in her social circle who were so unremitting in their pessimism.
Bonus points for using all the prompts in a single sentence!
unmeaningBernice, steely eyes inscrutable and finger tense upon the trigger, thinking of the words Leopold so aptly chose to illuminate unmeaning, and thinking also of her wanton youth in Shanghai, but not listening to the inane preaching of the tent-revival charlatan, lastly thought, “Please shut up so I can read my book!“
Bonus points for using all the prompts in a single sentence!
encounteredFelicity learned, years later, and after much heartbreak and broken promises, not to mention a sullied reputation and a destroyed credit rating, that she should have trusted her first impressions when she initially encountered the savvy Arch-Duke of Kiev, and not rushed headlong into fulfilling her girlish fantasies.
Bonus points for using the prompts in a single sentence!
you know that’s not allowedBurton frowned at the model landscape, then frowned at Spinrod across the table.
“Hey. There’s a cow on the roof. You know that’s not allowed.”
“Are you sure?”
“Pretty sure.”
Spinrod frowned now. “Do you think anyone else will notice?”
Burton nodded solemnly.
Spinrod tapped his temple. “What if it wears a saddle. We could use the pommel exemption.”
Burton sighed. “That’s only for aquatic installations. How can you be so ignorant?”
misinterpreted the gestureAbout the Author
Rune Skelley has always been naturally athletic, even back in the 20th century, before such things were in vogue. For several years Rune enjoyed a writing partnership with the dark-haired and fleshy novelist Augustus St John, until a misunderstanding involving sign language. Rune attempted to sign, “I’m hungry,” but Augustus misinterpreted the gesture. This lead to their falling out, of which St John said dully, “It’s over.”
Rune Skelley’s smooth-edged skull echoes with the barking chorus of the muses. Rune’s ultimate ambition is to buy a small Pacific island.
Today we offer two versions of the same prompt, one written by Kent and one by Jen. This prompt is a simplified form of the stichomancy prompts we use most often. Instead of phrases or sentence fragments, we have a short list of words that must be included.
Kent’s take:
In the tumultuous midst of a fracas
Said the dizzy lad, “Here’s where your mistake is
Although I’m quite slender
I assure you my gender
Has no curve: my bosom all fake is.”
Jen’s take:
“All I said was I like the gender with curves,” Sam said, gazing out the window at the flaming chaos below.
Gina replied, “Well, Samantha, this is a pretty conservative town. An announcement like that coming from the new librarian is bound to make some of the gentry dizzy.”
“I suppose you’re right. I should have expected it. But, Gina, this fracas is making me horny. Take off your spectacles and kiss me!”
Today we offer two versions of the same prompt, one written by Jen and one by Kent. This prompt is a simplified form of the stichomancy prompts we use most often. Instead of phrases or sentence fragments, we have a short list of words that must be included.
Jen’s take:
“Murderous physicians fill me with fear-joy,” Joanne told her concerned therapist. “Doctors in general frighten me with their looks of caring concentration, their probing questions, their needles, and nasal-lights. And yet, their deadly intentions, the dangers they represent, are a turn-on.”
Kent’s take:
Fear-joy heightened all Carlos’s senses in the waiting room. The idea that he was perhaps waiting to see one of the murderous physicians he’d read about made him giddy, stoking the fetishistic core of his mind to a white glow. He directed all his concentration at a magazine. Outwardly, no one would know of his agitation. He did not look at all concerned.
In this special holiday edition, the stichomancy prompt phrases were all taken from Christmas carols. Not that Kent let that cramp his style. Happy Boxing Day!
Atop the desolate hill, the fire is slowly dying, revealing five golden rings among the embers. Dvortmund has come here, heedless of the wind and weather, to enact the rite of binding, and sanctify his bid for power.
Once, Dvortmund was a jolly, happy soul, but when his family cast him out he became a twisted maniac. Soon they will pay.
He sprints down the hill toward the manor house, laughing all the way. His laughter alerts the sentries, who shoot him with muskets. The shots bring forth his family, and they assemble around his fallen form.
“Last time there arose such a clatter, I got presents,” proclaims his nephew.