Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)
This is the Six Sentence Story bloghop.
Each week, Denise invites all to link their prompt-centric sextile-sentoid stories so that we might enjoy a good read. And, speaking for ourselfs, improve our skills by consorting (and figuring-out-how-they-did-that) with writers of no small breadth of style or depth of imagination.
Previously, in the Whitechapel Interlude…
Like most above average, (in intellect if not social standing), young adults, Anselm and Sarah viewed novelty as the only essential condiment to the banquet of life. As the morning carried them towards noon and their meeting with the mysterious Count St. Loreto, the dimming of the sky was too-easily dismissed as the gathering of tree-cloaked mountains to either side of the road north to Brașov. For some, fortunately rare people, darkness is both noun and verb.
Hey! before I forget, we have a ‘guest’ this week. ceayr commented on last week’s Six Sentence Story post and there was something in his comment or maybe it was his writing style, that reminded me of a friend in high school. Anyway. I said to ceayr, I said, “Hey! you wanna do a walk-on?”
He said, ‘Yes, it would be my honor.’ So head over to his place (after reading this Six first, of course)… see what the damages are. I’m looking forward to it as he promised a Six not constrained by ‘any rule’. (lol)
In the past, ‘walk-ons’ have ranged from direct offshoots of the narrative of a specific post, as Pat Brockett and Valerie did very effectively a number of years ago, to more recently, a parallel universe-take that Ford concocted, creating a character that left no doubt in the Reader’s mind she was very familiar with the Whitechapel section of Victorian London.
*** Hey!! Sixarians!! Looks like there was a mis-manifestation of projected realities! (yeah, like that ever happens to clarks) But just swapped electrons with ceayr and he’ll have his walk-on Six rolling out next Thursday… 09/30/2021 Be there or be square***
Prompt Word:
Method
“Sire, all is ready for your guests.”
Count Cyrus St. Loreto, a muscle and sinew embellishment to the carved stone chair that served to anchor night sky battering at the glass dome of the grand hall, relinquished his hold on the woman, and with a flick of a wrist, acknowledged the demands of the day ahead. With the deadly grace of a panther, Evangeline stepped out from his embrace, crossing the great room and into a vestibule under an arc of gold-leaf letters on the lintel: ‘Modis in Insania‘
The whispers of servants and staff stirred the quiet air along passageways and empty rooms, like the internal soughing of the circulatory system, lacking only the muffled syncopation of a heart to assure visitors there was a difference between the surrounding mountains and the castle.
Cyrus stirred from dreams of a Garden and endless daylight, suspecting there might come a time when regret succeeded in leaching the passion out of avarice; the irony of the true curse of the apple of Eden, the need to satiate the insatiable, brought a smile to his lips, a vestigial gesture of a lost humanity.
Rousing himself, he recalled a time in the Far East when, in the midst of a night of debauchery, he confided, in a voice loud enough to cut through the din of the crowded tavern, to his companion, a humble monk he’d taken pity on, “Gautama, my friend, take it to heart, all of this,” waving at the guests, concubines, waiters and money-lenders, servants and cooks, “These trappings should forever remind you that the indulgence of desire is the root of all suffering in this death-ridden world.”
About clarkscottroger
I like his suspicion: “there might come a time when regret succeeded in leaching the passion out of avarice”. So Count Loreto was the source of Gautama’s insight.
thanks
The thing I love it about time travel/fantasy is when the author suggests that the romantic version of a history may have been ‘enhanced for marketing purposes’.
I mean, a paper lantern swinging in the night (knocked out of stability by god-knows how many dancing girls), surely is not as effective a sacred and impressive an image as a Bodhi tree, am I right? lol
You are right, indeed, lol.
It looks like Anselm and Sarah are in for more than a little novelty to spice up their visit.
I certainly hope so.
A big unknown for me (at this point, such is the extent of my commitment to seat-of-the-pants writing) is what will happen with Sarah’s hunter demon that inhabits part of her mind. Cyrus may be in for a surprise.*
* technical corner, writers only: it’s not so much the narrative the arises from each character as I get to know them better and better, it’s the interactions between them that gives me a stomach ache. I mean, I’m still trying to write a story that with time, effort (and an injection of technique) should be a standalone book. But then again, while this exercise is still fun, I trust I’m enhancing my skill set as I put words on screens.
always great and I had those collapsing dolls when I was a kid…wonder what ever happened to them?
So often it’s because we desire the wrong things. Excellent six.
I especially liked this line in the previously in section:
For some, fortunately rare people, darkness is both noun and verb.
Great six, thank you.
I stand in applause. Most excellent Six. I’m waiting on eggshells for the meet between Anselm, Sarah (and her “ride”) and the Count.
thankee
I am intrigued by your reading style even more than that of your writing. I don’t remember ever uttering the word ‘honor’ which, in any case, I would have spelt correctly. (What do you guys do with all the unused ‘u’s? Perhaps you match them up with the ‘s’s you save by adulterating ‘maths’ to remind yourselves of where you live?) You also appear to have an interesting definition of ‘walk-on’. I have to ask ‘Who is walking on where?’. Ah well, not to worry, if the lovely Denise offers a suitable word next week I’ll see if I can feed your ego just a tad more. As Shakespeare says, it’s all rock n roll.
Saving them up to buy a cargo container full of definite articles to ship over to your neighbors to the south… There is definitely some foul word-play going on
Good point (no, not pint...point) about the expression ‘walk-on’; according to one of my favorite sites, Online Etymology Dictionary:
damn! Does a non-speaking role in rhetoric require one to disconnect the keyboard? (Sorta of Fiction Minus One*)
(From the original ‘Little Shop of Horrours’ (not the god-awful remake)
*the actual Music Minus One
CE – “It wasn’t me, your Honour!” 😁
Everyone – I like the American English economy and logic of spelling, like ‘tire’ for tyre, ‘thru’ for through, ‘center’ for centre, ‘program’ for programme, ‘gray’ for grey, but it never looks as pretty on the page as British English. I’ll be first to say that as someone from Birmingham UK I butcher the language the moment I open my mouth, and you don’t even want to hear me trying to speak French, but at least on the written page I sometimes get it right :)
There are some horrible Brit English words like ‘Leicester’ (Lester you might spell it in US?) Edinburgh (Ed-in-Burra), and Wensleydale Cheese (Whens-lee-dale cheeze).
American Englishers seem to love their letter ‘Z’ – ‘specialized’, ‘centralized’, ‘realized’ etc. Again, makes sense phonetically, but still looks weird (to me).
Clark – congrats on the latest episode! CE – look forward to your walk-on soon! I had a lot of fun making my Whitechapel Interlude walk-on last time around.
I only have two issues with English 0.1 a) the dropping of definite articles and 2) the insistence on pronouncing methane as meee thane.
I’m looking forward to C’s walk-on (employing my favorite metaphor for the Six Sentence Story ‘hop). That by all indication he’s got a Marshall 100 head on a single slant cabinet and a pedal board is making me think we’re in for a treat).
Clark!
I act as emissary for Cassa Bassa who, it would appear, had difficulty leaving a comment. Please note the following left earlier as a comment on Wednesday’s “It’s Six Sentence Story Thursday Link Up!”:
CASSA BASSA
September 25, 2021 / 3:55 am
Love Clark’s six, in particular the intro, I could not comment on his post, so here is my comment. =)
Is Cassa trying to comment from the WP Reader? I can never reply to or ‘like’ Clark’s posts in my Reader, and always have to come directly to the post to do so. Don’t know if it’s a Clark setting or WP error?
[WP!!! WP!!!]
lol