Thursday, February 27, 2014

FSF Challenge - Misunderstanding


Lillie McFerrin Writes
This week's writing challenge from
Five Sentence Fiction
Lillie McFerrin Writes ) is based upon the prompt:

Misunderstanding

What it’s all about: Five Sentence Fiction is about packing a powerful punch in a tiny fist. Each week Lillie posts one word for inspiration, then anyone wishing to participate will write a five sentence story based on the prompt word.



This is why I never took dancing lessons...




Save The Last Dance



Image "Rose And Pistol by Pong" courtesy of Pong at www.freedigitalphotos.net



    "Misunderstanding, my ass," she said as a faint whiff of smoke rose from the end of the barrel. "You could dance with her just fine, but with me you wouldn't even try!" 
    As she opened the door to leave, she met face to face with the woman she despised, the one she saw with her man in that very room just a week before, and was so enraged she yelled, "What the hell do you think you're doing here?"
     "Uh—I'm here to give Mr. Wilson his next dancing lesson. I really hope he's available because he wants to surprise his girlfriend soon—and he's already paid."

Yes, my friends, he has already paid...

Stats:
  Words: 106
  Characters: 452
  Sentences: 5 (of course! ...via the liberal use of the em dash.)
  Words per sentence: 21.2



Image "Rose And Pistol by Pong" courtesy of Pong / FreeDigitalPhotos.net



Shameless
plug
section!
The horror anthology,
includes my poem,
The Ballad of Drunken Jack.
Available on Amazon for Kindle or in paperback.
The zombie anthology,
Haiku of the Dead
by Dreamscape Press,
includes my poem,
Hunting Season.
Available on Amazon in paperback.



Writers! Share the best blog post, story, or poem you've written in 2013 here: Best of 2013


© 2012-2014 K. R. Smith All rights reserved

Thursday, February 20, 2014

FSF Challenge - Sunshine


Lillie McFerrin Writes
This week's writing challenge from
Five Sentence Fiction
Lillie McFerrin Writes ) is based upon the prompt:

Sunshine

What it’s all about: Five Sentence Fiction is about packing a powerful punch in a tiny fist. Each week Lillie posts one word for inspiration, then anyone wishing to participate will write a five sentence story based on the prompt word.



This week's story takes us on a road trip to the other side...




One-Way Trip



Image source: http://lilliemcferrin.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/9271_1280x800.jpg


    "The sun certainly is bright coming through that break in the trees ahead," said Kyle as he walked along the tree-lined lane with his wife.
    "Yes," she replied, "and it's playing tricks on my eyes. I don't remember the road taking a turn like that."
    "That's odd, because I was thinking the same thing."
     They looked back to get their bearings only to see themselves lying in the road, entwined in the erratic tracks of a car whose driver had lost control, and the crew of an ambulance in a frantic, but futile, attempt at revival.

Stats:
  Words: 96
  Characters: 433
  Sentences: 5 (of course!)
  Words per sentence: 19.2



Shameless
plug
section!
The horror anthology,
includes my poem,
The Ballad of Drunken Jack.
Available on Amazon for Kindle or in paperback.
The zombie anthology,
Haiku of the Dead
by Dreamscape Press,
includes my poem,
Hunting Season.
Available on Amazon in paperback.



Writers! Share the best blog post, story, or poem you've written in 2013 here: Best of 2013


© 2012-2014 K. R. Smith All rights reserved

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Phony Kindle



eBooks are great for those on the go. They allow you to carry a good-sized library right in your pocket. Amazon's Kindle is one of the leaders in this area, and they make it easy by providing software to turn your PC, tablet, or other device into a Kindle reader.

One of those other devices happens to be my Android phone. A rather old Android phone.

I had installed the Kindle software on it some time ago, and to be quite frank, it left a lot to be desired. It was slow and prone to crashing, but it worked well enough to allow me to read a number of books while on my way to work without having to carry an additional electronic device. After a while, however, things got worse. It began to get slower even after upgrading, took forever to launch, and crashed so much that I finally uninstalled it.

Noticing that I had an alert on the Kindle software on my PC that told me I needed to upgrade, I thought I might try to re-install it on the old phone. And so my troubles began...

I downloaded the new version and, after giving it permission to access most of my life's secrets that are stored somewhere on that ancient phone, told it to install itself, which it did. Sort of.

Since I had de-registered the phone, it wanted me to re-register the device. So I put in my e-mail address and then attempted to put in my password. At this point, it locked up and eventually rebooted, all without any external input.

I repeated this process several times before I decided to check the amount of remaining memory. I believe this is the first time I've ever seen a negative number on that screen.

So I moved the application to the SD memory card, and the results were the same, only it took less time to crash.

At that point, I did an uninstall of the Kindle software. Then I downloaded and installed it again.

This time, it let me put in my password before locking up the phone and crashing.

Once more (with gusto), I did the uninstall and re-install. This time, however, I moved the application to the memory card before starting the program. I attempted to register the device, and this time the process worked, albeit slowly. Then when the program finished setting itself up, it told me my library was in the archives, and so it was.

Just to be certain this was no aberration, I shut the program down and re-started it. It came up almost immediately. I brought one of the books back from the archive to my pseudo-Kindle, and it opened almost as fast as my regular Kindle. I tried this multiple times, and the process was repeatable and successful.

I now have a truly functional and useful eBook reader. I may never upgrade again. Or be able to buy another phone.

My advice is to copy that program to your memory card right after installing it and before attempting to read a single word of any eBook. I'm hoping that's the secret should I need to do this again.

.


Image source https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-tUnSh4hL1b0/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAfkM/sBKy2FMBy1s/s120-c/photo.jpg


 



Shameless
plug
section!
 
The horror anthology,
includes my poem, The Ballad of Drunken Jack.
Available on Amazon for Kindle 
(yes, even the Kindle on your Android phone)
or in paperback.

© 2012-2014 K. R. Smith All rights reserved

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

FSF Challenge - Strength


Lillie McFerrin Writes
This week's writing challenge from
Five Sentence Fiction
Lillie McFerrin Writes ) is based upon the prompt:

Strength

What it’s all about: Five Sentence Fiction is about packing a powerful punch in a tiny fist. Each week Lillie posts one word for inspiration, then anyone wishing to participate will write a five sentence story based on the prompt word.



This is a follow-up from the last FSF challenge...




Words of Encouragement



Image source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1954665-womens-normal-hill-ski-jumping-olympics-2014-potential-stars-in-debut-event


     Donna had nearly fallen asleep in the grim silence of her room when her rehab nurse knocked, peeking inside to see if she was in her room. Reluctantly, she wheeled herself through the door, and as they entered the clinic's rehabilitation area, passed in front of the television just as the Olympic ski jumping competition began.
     "I used to be athletic, too, but now I'm so weak—I'll probably never even be able to walk, let alone run."
     "For the moment, it's more important that your mind be strong than your legs," said the nurse, "so that you will have the courage to keep trying."
     Donna, with a groan of resignation, pulled herself up onto the parallel bars used to retrain damaged legs to support the weight of a body, and began her routine—again.



Shameless
plug
section!
The horror anthology,
includes my poem,
The Ballad of Drunken Jack.
Available on Amazon for Kindle or in paperback.
The zombie anthology,
Haiku of the Dead
by Dreamscape Press,
includes my poem,
Hunting Season.
Available on Amazon in paperback.



Writers! Share the best blog post, story, or poem you've written in 2013 here: Best of 2013


© 2012-2014 K. R. Smith All rights reserved

Friday, February 14, 2014

This Week's Free Photo - Night Snow



This is a bit of a surrealistic scene in the snow this week. It almost looks like a squadron of UFOs, but they're just the lights in a parking lot. The snow was coming down quite heavily at the time - which it seemed to be doing all week. I've shoveled enough this year...


Image "IMG_9531_C.JPG" ©2014 K. R. Smith - www.theworldofkrsmith.com - may be used, in whole or in part, with attribution.


Stop back again! I'll have another photo for you next week (or fairly soon thereafter...)!



Image "IMG_9531_C.JPG" ©2014 K. R. Smith - www.theworldofkrsmith.com - may be used, in whole or in part, with attribution.


Shameless
plug
section!
 
The horror anthology,
includes my poem, The Ballad of Drunken Jack.
Available on Amazon for Kindle or in paperback.

© 2012-2014 K. R. Smith All rights reserved

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Another Submissions Update



This is another update on my submissions...



Image "Feathered Quill And Ink Pot" courtesy of Simon Howden at www.freedigitalphotos.net


I noticed that Fringeworks has posted Newsletter #5 Winter/Spring 2014 on their site, and it has updates for both of the following stories:


The Fisherman and His Wife: (Short story - humor/fairy tale) Accepted a long time ago for inclusion in Fringeworks Grimm and Grimmer series (in volume 4), it is now scheduled to be published sometime before 09/30/2014 (which for some reason they consider quarter 2). That's about a year later than the original schedule, but at least I have a date.
 
Skarett's Treasure: (Short story - humor/horror/pirates) Also accepted a long time ago by Fringeworks (for the KnightWatch Press imprint called Dead Men's Tales). They now list it as a Fringeworks project to be published before 12/31/2014. That's a long time away, especially since the new editor, Mellissa Black, sent me an e-mail a few weeks ago saying there were only four more stories (including mine) to edit. While it could be out earlier, if it does take that long, it will be over a year past the original planned publication date. But again, at least I have a date and some news. If or when it does show up, it's hard to say if it will be a Fringeworks or KnightWatch imprint.
 
While I do think the folks at Fringeworks are honest and working hard (a number of problems were beyond their control), I do think they took on more than a two person team could handle. They have added staff, so maybe they will be more responsive in the future. It does make people think twice about submitting to them. From their blog, they make note that:
  •  19 books are currently available to buy
  •  41 books in development are (sadly) behind schedule
  •  18 more books are in development (but not behind schedule)
  •  17 further books are planned (But not yet scheduled)
  •  1 book was withdrawn pending revision (New Tales of the Old Ones)
  •  2 books were cancelled (Descent of Fan & Letters from the Lodge)
That's a lot of work for a small crew. And there has been little visible promotion of the books that are available. I'll let you know how things (eventually) work out!



Shameless
plug
section!
The horror anthology,
includes my poem,
The Ballad of Drunken Jack.
Available on Amazon for Kindle or in paperback.
The zombie anthology,
Haiku of the Dead
by Dreamscape Press,
includes my poem,
Hunting Season.
Available on Amazon in paperback.



Writers! Share the best blog post, story, or poem you've written in 2013 here: Best of 2013



Image "Feathered Quill And Ink Pot" courtesy of Simon Howden at www.freedigitalphotos.net


© 2012-2014 K. R. Smith All rights reserved

Thursday, February 6, 2014

FSF Challenge - Ache


Lillie McFerrin Writes
This week's writing challenge from
Five Sentence Fiction
Lillie McFerrin Writes ) is based upon the prompt:

Ache

What it’s all about: Five Sentence Fiction is about packing a powerful punch in a tiny fist. Each week Lillie posts one word for inspiration, then anyone wishing to participate will write a five sentence story based on the prompt word.



A sad tale this week, with no picture. I couldn't find one that fit the mood.




Visions of the Past

Donna watched him jog by with a girl she didn't know, her ponytail bouncing in unison with her steps, his smile visible even from across the street. Her legs, strong and shapely, carried her down the lane, moving effortlessly through the morning mist. They made an attractive couple, or would have to anyone else. Donna looked down at her bent and useless limbs and realized that was her life, the life before the accident, when Brad used to smile at her. She rolled her wheelchair away from the window and into the darkness.



Shameless
plug
section!
The horror anthology,
includes my poem,
The Ballad of Drunken Jack.
Available on Amazon for Kindle or in paperback.
The zombie anthology,
Haiku of the Dead
by Dreamscape Press,
includes my poem,
Hunting Season.
Available on Amazon in paperback.



Writers! Share the best blog post, story, or poem you've written in 2013 here: Best of 2013


© 2012-2014 K. R. Smith All rights reserved