#FridayFlash - After It All

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Image by adpsimpson, edits by me

Grey clouds scudded across a flat, empty sky. Far below, the countryside stretched between deserted cities. Every day brought a further encroachment of wilderness into the urban wasteland. Grass grew tall in the narrow lanes between the abandoned blocks of flats, and weeds pushed up through cracked concrete. Rusting cars stood in the street, smashed into one another where occupants had collisions in their hurry to leave. Moss coated discarded possessions in overgrown gardens, and tree roots erupted through tarmac as the forest retook the roads. No animals moved in, as there were no animals to move, just as there were no longer any people.

Crates of goods that would never be bought or sold sat on rotting pallets in forgotten warehouses. Dust lay thick on nylon carpets in vacant flats, and TV screens reflected empty rooms. Belongings with no owners became mere objects, unused and unloved. Houses were no longer homes, instead simply tombs to bygone consumerism. Days passed, seasons turned, and the peace continued.

Yet somewhere in the depths of the silence, between the emptiness and the darkness, something moved.

Something growled.

#FridayFlash - Keeping Watch

Tweet The knot of tourists huddled on the pavement, the late November rains lashing their battered umbrellas as they clustered alongside the wall. An overgrown tangle of bushes and grass lay on the other side of the wall, and a house stood beyond the wilderness. The tourists stared at the large bay window on the upper floor, a window that gazed out at the seafront promenade.

"Just another couple of minutes, then it'll be 3pm. She'll appear like she always does. Like clockwork, she is." The gruff old man in the threadbare flat cap jabbed his cane at the window.

“I’ve seen her afore. Tall, she is, in a black dress, buttoned right up to ‘ere,” said a man near the back of the group. He motioned to the top of his neck with his hand. “Black bonnet, too.”

The tourists stared at the man, fitting the description into their mental image. They all knew the story of the Woman in the Window. Legend had it that the house belonged to a couple named Ledersmark, and when the husband was at sea, the wife would wait for an hour at the window every day for sight of his vessel. On 15th November 1893, she arrived at the window at her customary hour and watched the returning vessel break up on the rocks in the bay. She died of a broken heart the same day. Every year, on the anniversary of Mrs Ledersmark’s death, she appeared at the window, as if still awaiting the return of her husband.

Somewhere in the town, a church bell chimed 3pm. The tourists huddled closer, staring at the window, waiting for Mrs Ledersmark to appear. By custom, she should fade into view, as though someone were retuning the picture on an old television set.

The window remained empty. The tourists stood for ten minutes, craning their necks, and clutching their sodden guidebooks to their chests as they fought for a glimpse of the Woman in the Window. Emily stood at the back of the group, her patience running out as the seconds ticked by.

“What are you waiting for?” A soft voice sounded behind her.

Emily turned around. A tall woman in a black bonnet stood behind her. Her great dark eyes reflected all of the sadness of the world back to Emily.

“Y-y-y-you.”

The rest of the group turned to see who was speaking, annoyance etched on several faces that someone might be talking during such an important event. Jaws dropped to see the identity of the speaker.

“We were waitin’ for ye, lass,” said the man in the flat cap.

“But as you see, I myself shall wait no more.”

The group watched as Mrs Ledersmark walked away from the group. She drifted along the broad promenade toward the harbour, oblivious to the rain soaking into the pavement.

Emily wasn’t sure, but she thought saw a male figure waiting in the drizzle.

[Film Review] Insidious Chapter 2

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I'll be upfront with you, I genuinely had no idea how James Wan intended to continue his 2011 film, Insidious. With the seeming possession of the main protagonist, Josh Lambert (Patrick Wilson), the death of the psychic hired to help his son, and the house in confusion following an astral travelling jaunt into the Further (a spiritual realm, akin to Limbo, that exists alongside our physical reality), I really didn't see how he could make a sequel. Reviews have certainly been mixed and the reception mostly lukewarm, but for my own part, I rather enjoyed it.

In the first film, Josh's son Dalton (Ty Simpkins) went astral travelling (apparently such a talent runs in families) but strayed too far from his body. Imprisoned by a demon that looked more like Darth Maul, Dalton couldn't get back in order to wake up, and he spent most of the film in a medically inexplicable coma. Hence the decision by Josh and wife Renai (Rose Byrne) to turn to Elise (Lin Shaye), a psychic who thought she could help by sending Josh (also capable of astral travel) into the Further after Dalton. Trouble is, Josh was haunted by a mysterious old woman, intent on possessing Josh's body, and it isn't Josh that comes back.

Fast forward to Chapter 2 and the Lamberts are now staying with Josh's mother, Lorraine (Barbara Hershey). Strange happenings are still going on, like the piano playing by itself in an empty room, or baby Kali's babywalker switching itself on. Lorraine begins to see a mysterious woman in white wandering through the house, a woman who physically attacks Renai when she's home alone. Indeed, these scenes of ghostliness are some of the best in the film, using taut suspense to unsettle the home. All is not at all well.

Specs (Leigh Whannell) and Tucker (Angus Sampson), the amusing ghost hunting nerds from the first film, are devastated at Elise's death, but accidentally discover footage shot in 1986 of Elise's first meeting with a teenaged Josh, during which he was made to forget his astral travel abilities to keep the old woman at bay. Along with Carl (Steve Coulter), a psychic present at the 1986 meeting, Specs, Tucker and Lorraine begin contacting Elise, and investigating exactly who this shadowy figure is.

The film is not without its flaws. There is a lot of explaining - no character can do or say anything without feeling the need to expound at length about the why and the what of almost everything. Wan, believe me, the audience gets it. The motivation of the old woman is to regain childhood...so why target Josh when he's an adult? Josh's gift is originally described as unique but given Dalton's ability, that's clearly not the case. Surely it stands to reason that others can do the same thing, and the old woman would be better off looking for someone else to persecute. There's also a time travel paradox, since apparently time does not function in the Further, meaning the present day Josh, trapped in the Further, can now influence the hauntings from the first film, and also the seance in 1986. Of course, time travel paradoxes only exist if you accept the premise that time is linear, and given the spectral construction of the Further it's entirely possible that time would not behave in a linear fashion, but I don't want to get into existential discussions here. The motivation of the woman in white is also unsatisfactory, and I felt the final denouement was just too 'neat', as if Wan realised he needed to keep running time down and simply tacked on an ending.

That said, there's much to admire. The set design of the Lambert house is far creepier than either of the houses in the first film, being more of a Victorian homage to claustrophobia. The character of Dalton is a revelation, given far more to do than in the first film, and he proves to be a resourceful, brave and intelligent character. Renai even surprises with sudden bursts of courage, despite her propensity to run around screaming, and Specs and Tucker balance the suspense with their 'bromance' bickering. Patrick Wilson is truly astonishing in his dual role as Possessed Josh and Trapped in the Further Josh. Possessed Josh is creepy and genuinely unsettling, and I hadn't thought Wilson capable of such dexterity. While I'd like to sit James Wan down and have a solid discussion about use of narrative in a Gothic horror film, I do think there is a lot to admire in his direction, and Insidious 2 veers closer to his recent success, The Conjuring, than the original film.

I wouldn't recommend Insidious 2 for anyone who hasn't seen the original film, but those who enjoyed the first film, and the eerie world it created, then I'd highly recommend Chapter 2.

Four blunt pencils!

#BookReview - Traitors

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I can't believe it's a year since I wrote a review of Carrie Clevenger's Crooked Fang, but here I am again with my review of the novella-length follow-up, Traitors.

Again narrated by sexy vampire bassist Xan Marcelles, Traitors picks up shortly after Crooked Fang. Xan is without a band, and bored in Pinecliffe, Colorado. The presence of Nin, a different breed of vampire, seems to give him something to muse about, but she's not especially trustworthy.

A late night phone call from his shadowy kinsman, M, brings Xan's past right into his present, and he's forced to pick up the threads of his previous work as a hitman of sorts, cleaning up the messes left by others. In essence, he's pretty much The Wolf from Pulp Fiction, just more prone to violence and happy to shoot on sight. Nin invites herself along, and the pair head off to Traitors, by turns both bar and vampire nest in Texas.

The thing I've always liked about Xan is, surprisingly, his humanity. He makes mistakes, and admits to them, and his fondness for humans makes him a likeable protagonist. He does stupid things, but when it comes down to it, he gets the job done, each time hoping that this time, he'll get left alone. Normally I don't like vampires due to their attitude problem but Xan's desire for peace and quiet makes him a lovable rogue. In Traitors, his time among humans has blunted his edge when required to fight, which makes Nin a useful addition to his life, and stops Xan from being one of those dull 'perfect' invincible heroes (*cough* Superman *cough*). He actually gets hurt, but he just keeps on swinging.

This being Xan, his soft spot for the ladies means there's obvious chemistry between Xan and Nin, and while I have to admit I found it really difficult to warm to Nin, she's not one of those princess type characters who needs to be rescued by the big strong men. Nin's more than capable of kicking butt on her own terms, and for that alone I suppose I have to salute her.

Traitors might only be a short work, but it's packed with action, and sets us up nicely for whatever the next instalment might be. Highly recommended, with five blunt pencils!

You can buy Traitors for your Kindle here or from Smashwords, here.

Handknitted Notebook Cover

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I've talked a bit about the new Twitter community I've found, #craftblogclub, which meets on Tuesday evening between 7 and 8pm UK time. Our fabulous founder, Emma Berry, set us all a creative challenge for September - I finished this last week but it's taken me until now to post! Our challenge was to create a notebook cover using whichever craft we liked. As much as a sewn cover might have been quicker, sewing has never been (and I suspect will never be) my forte, so I decided to knit one. I even went so far as to concoct a pattern myself.

This is the first time I've written a pattern, so I hope it makes sense. If you want to adapt it, bear in mind the central chevron pattern is worked in blocks of twelve stitches and sixteen rows, but you can always add more stocking stitch rows for the flaps, or more for the spine, if your notebook is bigger than mine. You'll also need to take yarn into account - I've used 100% acrylic DK as I had some lying around - I didn't have enough so part of the back flap is knitted in a different colour, but a 100g will easily be enough. My notebook measures 21cm by 16cm and is 1cm thick.

Using 4mm needles, cast on 48 stitches using your preferred method.
Row 1 - Knit.
Row 2 - Purl.
Repeat these rows another eighteen times so you have 20 rows of stocking stitch.

Now begin the pattern for the front cover. There is a moss stitch edging so on each right side row, add (k1, p1, k1, p1, k1) to either end of the chevron pattern. On each wrong side row, add (p1, k1, p1, k1, p1).
Row 21 - Moss stitch band, (yfwd, skpo, k10)x3, moss stitch band.
Row 22 - Moss stitch band, p36, moss stitch band.
Row 23 - Moss stitch band, (K1, yfwd, skpo, k7, k2tog, yfwd)x3, moss stitch band.
Row 24 - Row 22 - Moss stitch band, p36, moss stitch band.
Row 25 - Moss stitch band, (K2, yfwd, skpo, k5, k2tog, yfwd, k1)x3, moss stitch band.
Row 26 - Moss stitch band, p36, moss stitch band.
Row 27 - Moss stitch band, (K3, yfwd, skpo, k3, k2tog, yfwd, k2)x3, moss stitch band.
Row 28 - Moss stitch band, p36, moss stitch band.
Row 29 - Moss stitch band, (K6, yfwd, skpo, k4)x3, moss stitch band.
Row 30 - Moss stitch band, p36, moss stitch band.
Row 31 - Moss stitch band, (K3, k2tog, yfwd, k3, yfwd, skpo, k2)x3, moss stitch band.
Row 32 - Moss stitch band, p36, moss stitch band.
Row 33 - Moss stitch band, (K4, k2tog, yfwd, k1, yfwd, skpo, k3)x3, moss stitch band.
Row 34 - Moss stitch band, p36, moss stitch band.
Row 35 - Moss stitch band, (K2, k2tog, yfwd, k5, yfwd, skpo, k1)x3, moss stitch band.
Row 36 - Moss stitch band, p36, moss stitch band.

Repeat this block three times - the pattern block should be 48 rows. That finishes the pattern for the main cover. Knit ten rows of stocking stitch, continuing the moss stitch pattern at either edge.

Repeat the above pattern block of 48 rows, continuing the moss stitch edge, for the back cover. Knit twenty more rows of stocking stitch for the inside back flap, and cast off. With right sides facing, sew the edge of the flap to the cover at either side for the back, and repeat for the front. Turn the right side out and slip onto your notebook!

#FridayFlash - Alone No More

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Image by Foobean01, edits by me

Lily arrived by accident one day, a dark haired doll among a box of blonde angels, and Mrs McGarry had never quite known what to do with her. For a time, Lily had shared a shelf with them, and late at night after the shop was closed, she'd tried talking to the other dolls. They never replied, just staring straight ahead with their glassy stares.

During the day, they all sat on their shelf opposite the door. Lily watched each day as another little girl came empty-handed to the toy shop, and left clutching her brand new doll. Occasionally one of the girls would pick Lily up, and she would smile her best smile, wondering what sort of owner this little girl would be, and then she would be put back on the shelf having simply been moved to make way for the blonde dolls behind her.

Mrs McGarry sold the last of the blonde dolls one rainy Thursday afternoon. Lily watched the doll disappear out of the door in the carrier bag of a father eager to please his daughter on her birthday. With the shelf to herself, Lily felt sure she'd be chosen now. She'd be a good doll, happy to play dress up and accompany her owner where she went.

A large cardboard box arrived on Friday morning, and Mrs McGarry unpacked a new shipment of dolls. Lily's heart sank at the sight of so many new blonde rivals. The dolls were arranged on the shelf, and Mrs McGarry lifted Lily higher, to the top shelf. Her new companions were unfashionable tin soldiers, a scruffy teddy bear and enough dust to stuff a pillow.

"The same thing happened to us, you know," said the bears, a brown gentleman with gingham patches on his paws.

"Don't worry, ma'am, we all take care of each other up here," said one of the soldiers.

"Why didn't any of the little girls choose me?" asked Lily.

"You can never tell what children are looking for. Mostly they just want the same as everyone else," replied the brown bear.

Days passed and Lily continued to watch the new arrivals leave the shop with their new owners. Once or twice, little girls looked up and saw her, perched on the edge of the shelf looking down, but none of them returned her smile. The days turned into weeks, and soon Mrs McGarry was decorating the shop for Christmas. An elderly woman spotted the brown bear and bought him for her friend who had apparently never had a teddy of her own. Even the tin soldiers were taken down from the shelf, bought by an antiques dealer for his Victoriana-obsessed son.

Two days before Christmas, Mrs McGarry arrived at the shop early. She saw the shelf opposite the door and screamed. Every single one of the blonde dolls, arranged so beautifully for her seasonal display, had been maimed. Tufts of hair lay all over the floor, and deep cuts mutilated the vacant expressions of the dolls. The ornate scissors that she usually kept behind the till for cutting wrapping paper lay on the floor.

An hour later, her daughter arrived. Glenda was not the hysterical type, and she packed away the butchered dolls while Mrs McGarry created a new display with toys filched from other parts of the shop. At the centre of it sat Lily, fetched from the top shelf and dusted down. Glenda straightened the doll's dark curls and wiped a smudge of dirt from her nose. She couldn't remember Lily's smile being so hopeful before.

How to use Google +

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Many of us have spent time focussing on blogs, Facebook and Twitter as a means of connecting with others and promoting our work, although recent years have seen an explosion in social media possibilities. We can now promote work through Pinterest, Instagram, Google +, and countless others besides. Despite its initial popularity, I think Google+ hasn't caught on quite the way it should have done because people aren't entirely sure how to use it. This post is intended as a quick introduction to its main features, and how you can use them to promote your work, and connect with others.

Circles
Circles are a brilliant addition to social media, allowing you to filter your news feed according to specific groups of friends, and you can post to certain circles to make sure that you have a modicum of control over who sees what. For example, you might have circles for fellow crafters/writers, colleagues, family and other friends. Your colleagues might not be interested in whatever you've been making or writing lately, in the same way your family might not be interested in work-related posts. When adding friends, simply add them to the right circle (people can be in more than one circle) and choose that circle when posting. If you're not bothered who sees what, you can just select 'Public' or 'Your Circles' - the former makes the content public, the latter means only those people you've added to any circles can see it.

Hangouts
Imagine a version of Skype that actually works, and lets you connect via video chat to several people at once, and that's what the hangouts function is all about. Hangouts aren't 'closed' so anyone involved can invite someone else, so you can end up chatting to people you didn't know beforehand.

Posts
When you create a post, you get the opportunity to add a lovely focal image at the top of the post, which is a wonderful way to showcase photos of your work, or photos related to the content of your post. It's much more visual than Facebook, with its piddly thumbnails. I post photos of the things I've made into a specific album, and look how big and lovely the images are when they show up in my newsfeed. As for photos, if you've got an Android phone, you can opt to have photos instantly upload to Google +, and it's then up to you to choose which to actually post publicly. It's a nice feature if you're worried you might lose your phone - and therefore your photos.  If you host your blog on Blogger, you can also integrate your account with Google + for cross-posting.

There is also an option to email the members of your circle to let them know you've posted something on Google +. Personally, I find this massively intrusive - I'll check Google + when it suits me, in the same way I keep track of blogs in Feedly so I don't need an email to tell me when a new post has gone up. Use this feature with caution because you don't want to be accused of spam, particularly if the post you're emailing about is a sales pitch.

There's a social media rule of 80/20 - 80% of posts should be about things besides yourself, and 20% are you and your product. Give people a reason to engage with you. I post a lot of links to web posts I find interesting, with a personal recommendation as to why I find them interesting. I only post links to my own writing once a week for my free flash stories on my blog, and even then, I'm not selling.

Profiles
The profiles on Google + are rather extensive - I've taken advantage of the 'skills' feature in the 'Work' box to add all the things I do in my spare time as I see them as skills, not just hobbies. I could fill in the employment box but I can't see the point at the moment as I'm using Google + for my writing and handmade crafts work, not my actual day job, but if I wanted to connect with my colleagues, then it would be easy enough to add my current and former jobs.

Make sure you upload a good profile photo as this will appear in Google search results if people search for things you've posted about. The benefit? People are more likely to click on a link if it looks like a real person wrote the post.

You also get the option to put a cover image on your profile, and it's a lot bigger than the one Facebook lets you have. Your maximum size is 2120 x 1192 pixels so you've got plenty of pixels to make your image look clear as a bell. Make sure your image scales properly, and bear in mind where your profile photo will appear so you don't cover up a vital part of your cover image. As well as a profile, you can also set up a page as well, particularly if you have a blog you want to promote.

You can also add links to your presence elsewhere, such as Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram etc., making it easier for your new Google + contacts to find you elsewhere too.


Communities
Communities are a lot like Facebook groups or Twitter #hashtag communities, but again, posts have images attached, so it looks a bit nicer than the page full of text that can comprise a Facebook group page. You can find other people with your interests and interact with them. I'm only a member of six communities currently, and I don't interact nearly as much as I should, but it's a good set up and a good idea so I'm going to focus on engaging with other people as much as I can.

+1
Add a +1 button to your posts so people can show they approve - it's a little like the 'like' button on Facebook. If you have a powerful presence with a lot of people that you engage with, it'll boost your search rankings on Google. Also, if you link your website to your Google+ profile, your photo will appear whenever people search for topics you've discussed on your blog.

It does sound like a lot of work, and building a profile and a friend base can seem like a lot of hard work, but regular engagement on Google + will help your Google ranking for websites and pages. You can categorize your friends, and you won't have to pay to promote your posts. Google + has more of a visual bias than Facebook, meaning all of your lovely images of your crafty work won't go unnoticed!

Come and find me on Google + here, or on Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter!