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Friday, August 12, 2011

WHERE IN MYTH ARE WE? _ FRIDAY'S ROMANTIC CHALLENGE_plus I HATE YOU AS ONLY THE UNDEAD CAN HATE!_Tessa's I HATE YOU blogfest entry




The night tolls with midnight's ghost-bell chimes.


It is Friday once again.


Time to meet Francine's and Denise's ROMANTIC CHALLENGE. This week : CONFUSED

http://fridaynightwriters.blogspot.com/

{My Tessa's I HATE YOU blogfest entry follows this}

My 386 word entry is from BLACK ROSES IN AVALON to blend in with yesterday's post. Blake Adamson traveled to the fabled brothel, THE PRINCESS ALICE

(a "gentleman's club" for the Marquis de Sade at heart),

in Victorian London to whisk Fallen, the Last Fae, away from the sadistic demigod, Abbadon Sennacherib.

Frantic to find some haven safe from Sennacherib, Blake uses an ancient enchanted dagger as a rudder to sail the seas of time and space. But to where?
Trusting an enchanted blade to save the girl I loved from the most evil being I had ever met seemed the right thing to do just a moment ago.

But now I was having doubts. Big ones. “Too Late” ones.

Our table sat in a small glade bordered by towering, ancient trees.

I tried to swallow and couldn't. Bending time and space had never gone so smooth for me before. And instead of feeling good about it, I started to get paranoid. Had Sennacherib helped me? Had he wanted me herded here? I remembered the rage in his voice and shelved that idea. From across the table, Fallen looked slowly about. She whispered in a dead calm way as if quoting from some scroll she had read long ago.

"Each blade of grass stirs with magic. Each branch sways to the breath of eternity. And each path leads to dream citadels whose misty towers murmur echoes of ancient glories never to be reclaimed, yet never to be forgotten."

I forced my throat to work, "What you said."

I sat back in my chair, tilted at an angle on the uneven grass. So this was Avalon? I could believe it. Webster had mocked me as a little poet, but even I was at a loss to describe what I was seeing.

The very air seemed to shimmer with tiny flecks of stardust as arrows of sunlight shot through the dark, hollow cathedrals of centuries old oaks. The thick branches swayed to a breeze I couldn't feel, as if the trembling trees were alive and startled at our sudden appearance. The low splashing of bubbling water came from the shattered remains of a black stone fountain. One lone, haunted-eyed marble nymph stared at me as if in silent warning. I could almost hear the echoes of Pan's pipes lamenting the intrusion of a mere mortal into this realm of faerie.

Fallen husked a whisper, "You really have taken us to Avalon. I - I have never been here ... at least not in what memories are left me."

"L-Left to you? What are you talking about?"

She smiled bitterly. "We of the Tuatha de Danann also know how to bend time and space."

Her eyes grew haunted. "But unlike you, we are left with minds wiped clean afterwards."
***
I HATE YOU blogfest entry : I HATE YOU AS ONLY THE UNDEAD CAN HATE!

http://tessasblurb.blogspot.com/

[From the soon-to-be published, THE LEGEND OF VICTOR STANDISH :

Victor Standish and his Victorian ghoul friend, Alice Wentworth, have survived more horrors than a Stephen King movie. Almost. It seems Victor has died saving his hero, Sam McCord.

The angel of Death has come for him. Alice insists on coming along, as do Father Renfield and the mysterious Sister Magda. They are standing at the head of the stairs leading down to the haunted jazz club, Meilori's] :


Everybody and their cousin could read my mind it seemed. Now, it was time to use it for me instead of it being used against me. I focused all the will I had and thought at Father Renfeild :

‘Now, Padre, now! Hold Alice. Hold her tight!’

“Ow, lad,” he snapped. “You didn’t have to shout.”

Alice frowned, “I heard noth ….”

She yelped as Renfield grabbed her from behind. Magda added her arms around Alice, too. I smiled bitterly. My girl sure struggled just the same. Then, she stabbed me with her words as I raced down the stairs.

“I hate you for this, Victor. I HATE YOU!”

She screamed, "I trusted you! Trusted! Do you know how hard that was for me after all these years?"

My steps slowed. "Yes, now you realize what you have done. I hate you, Victor. I hate you as only the undead can hate. I hate you so that there is no pity, no compassion, no ghost of the love you have killed by doing this! My hate will burn long, LONG after you die. I HATE YOU, VICTOR STANDISH!"

I stopped halfway down the steps and slowly turned to Alice, her neon blue eyes flaring and said, “D-Don’t let those be the last words I hear you say, Alice. P-Please.”

Black tears streamed from her strange eyes as she stiffened as if I had stabbed her as she mewed, “Dolt, imbecile, moron, dunce! Of course, I love you.”

I smiled despite my heart breaking. “I like it when you talk dirty to me, Alice.”

She whimpered, then managed to squeak out the words, “You are Victor Standish, and you will find a way back to me.”
***

17 comments:

  1. Alice and Victor have a strange love-hate relationship!

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  2. When two souls have been so bruised in their lives as they have it could be no other way! Thanks for visiting and caring enough to chat, Roland

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  3. (Confused!) I love the sprinkled rose fresh out of the rain or someone's treasured garden.

    Hmm, a man in a brothel...it's getting better already. At least he went there to rescue his lady love.

    It's awesome that he's able to bend time and space. It reminds me of a wrinkle. The rest is just exquisite writing...the way you equate life itself with nature's breath...lovely...poet, definitely so. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. You have a great weekend! :)

    Darn, you must have updated this to show the I hate you deal. When those love-hate relationships get their differences settled, they're the ones that forge the greatest passion.

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  4. Hatefest: ahhh that's the best kind of hate, right there! Poor Alice. I assume that Victor has good reason for this seeming betrayal?

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  5. Hi,

    So love this: "Each blade of grass stirs with magic. Each branch sways to the breath of eternity. And each path leads to dream citadels whose misty towers murmur echoes of ancient glories never to be reclaimed, yet never to be forgotten."

    Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful! Poetic prose as though travelling across the mists of Avalon! If you ever saw it rise (the mist)across the Vale of Avalon and could see how it creates islands out of singular hillocks you'd know how I visualise the above prose. ;) One day I'll post up pics!

    best
    F

    Ps I've completed reviews of French Quarter Nocturne & Adrift in the Time Stream. Will post up on my blog on Sunday, with long list of reviews I've been sitting on. Just some of 2011 reads, so far. Will try and post to Amazon over the weekend, too.

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  6. Hello Roland.
    The cover for "Black Roses In Avalon" is impressive.
    Excellent visuals. The music you've chosen is the perfect accompaniment too.

    Awesome!

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  7. Laila :
    Yes, and if you read THE PATH BACK TO DAWN, you'll find that Blake went there with an angel he freed from Hell. (She said she was sorry! LOL.)

    Thanks for the very nice words about my writing. Sometimes I fear it is too lyrical for some tastes, but I've decided to just write what I would like to read! Thanks again, and you have a great weekend, too. Sigh. I'll be working.

    Amalia :
    Yes, he was going to meet the Angel of Death, who had come for him. He wanted to spare Alice dying the last death. Thanks for liking my entry, Roland

    Francine :
    I really do want to see those pictures. This Avalon actually exists in New Zealand in my convoluted mythology. In my mythos, England and New Zealand are connected cosmically -- that is why when it is winter in Britain, it is summer in Avalon.

    I'm looking forward to reading what you think of FRENCH QUARTER NOCTURNE and ADRIFT IN THE TIME STREAM. I have since improved their formatting, by the way. I'm still learning! LOL. Roland

    Andy :
    Didn't Leonora do a fantastic job with that cover? And I love ACROSS THE STARS! Thanks for visiting and chatting, Roland

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  8. Love both! And whow, that's quite some hate...and yet, not really hate at all, is it? Funny how that turns out to be the case in so many stories... ; P

    Thanks for taking part!

    Tessa.xx

    ps. pop in friday next to see who wins which book!

    xoxo

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  9. I love her last words! This was so full of conflict and angst. I loved it.:)

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  10. Tessa :
    Yes, Alice is so afraid of being betrayed that she sees betrayal where there is only love. And poor Victor is only a male teenager - and you know how helpless they are around girls they love! They are the undead equivalent of Romeo and Juliet ... in the haunted French Quarter.

    I joined in for the sheer fun of it. Me and Victor race for the feel of the blood pumping in our veins and muse! Thanks for visiting and staying to chat, Roland

    Raquel :
    Conflict and angst : the story of Victor's and Alice's stormy love affair. Thanks for visiting and staying to talk awhile. So many are just window lookers. Roland

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  11. I hate you as only the undead can hate. I hate you so that there is no pity, no compassion, no ghost of the love you have killed by doing this! ....

    I love that your characters are so poetic even they're so angry and full of hate :)

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  12. I found it... YAY, so worth looking for it. I thought you just did the Romantic Writer's this week.

    You know how I feel about Victor and Alice. What a couple .... What a romance .... What passion. Amazing for two teenagers. Well, one teenager and one century old teenage ghoul.

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  13. "One lone, haunted-eyed marble nymph stared at me as if in silent warning. I could almost hear the echoes of Pan's pipes lamenting the intrusion of a mere mortal into this realm of faerie..."

    Magical piece, I'm totally into it! The descriptions, like the one above, were all so enchanting. Loved it.

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  14. Damyanti :
    Alice was born in the Victorian Age and schooled as children were in that time.

    Her style of speech is still steeped in that culture. Victor, of course, is a crass child of the streets -- but his intellect is keen and excellent so that he can match her wit for wit.

    Except during this exchange, which tore his heart out.

    Thank you so much for enjoying this little excerpt.

    Michael :
    Thanks, Michael. And Alice & Victor like you back. Just stay a respectful distance from her though, if you hear her stomach growling!~

    babyrocka :
    It really made my afternoon when I read you liked my excerpt, making me feel I did the magic and mystery of Avalon some justice. Roland

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  15. confused- I love the tone of your stories, they always leave me with raised hairs on my arms!
    Lxxx

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  16. Laura :
    Thank you so much. Your words made my weary, hurried, stressed morning the better for having read them! Roland

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  17. Hi Roland,
    I apologise for commenting so late.
    I had trouble finding your post.

    I feel like such a beginner writing to you. I am still learning about what romantic writing is.

    I've added a postscript to my post.
    Visiting is optional.
    Best wishes,
    Anna
    Anna's RFW No 14 - "Confused"

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