Sunday, 10 March 2013

Fiction uhm... Sunday.

Because I have been absolutely swamped with life's weird curve-balls the last two weeks I have yet to actually post anything for fiction Friday. Today I was catching up with the blog-sphere that we writers frequent and pretend to not manically follow to every last letter when it comes to advice. One of the ones I have stuck with for ages is Terrible Minds by Chuck Winding. This weeks flash challenge provided us with a random sentence generator that would inspire us to write our story. 
Seeing as I have feeling a bit meh about my writing skills lately I decided to take a chance and presto I had a 1000 words in little over an hour that I was pretty satisfied with myself. Maybe it will turn out to be a longer story as it kind of doesn't have a real ending but more of a teaser. It is an idea from back when I was beginning to contemplate writing steampunk/urban LGBT stories (haven't quite given up on the idea yet) that didn't evolve into what I wanted from it. 
I drew the following lines from the random generator btw:

An arc swears on top of the satellite
The bust reads against the young passenger
On top of whatever method cracks the respective applicant
The essence turns outside the symbolic bias
Over the blame staggers a misfortune
A homosexual turnround gossips over an icon
This alleged exponential forgets the complex
A grandmother positions the scope
Within the girlfriend turns a crown
The snack thinks? 

And I went with the last one after much deliberation and help from the husband. Hitman grandmother was a close second though. Maybe I will write that for next time. Without more chit-chat here is the story I got out of my sentence. As usual please comment here on my blog, on my facebook page C.B Rabbich or even send me an email
                                 
                               Prey tell?

Victoria caught the eye of most men and some women stood in line outside the Hellraiser, New York’s hottest club of the moment. Well aware of the effect her powers would have on them she flicked her hair playfully as she strode to the front of the queue. Her pale skin, bright blue eyes and most importantly her long slender ears that marked her as one of elder races immediately earned her the respect she sought after and she was let in.
Adjusting the strap of her dress slightly she flashed a smile at the wardrobe dweeb and was allowed to bring her bag with her into the dark of the club. It was early in the evening but already the place was packed with 20-somethings dancing to some horrible droning music that Victoria had no love for.
Some of the older members of the council preferred to go to posher clubs where all the humans were screened first for suitability or went to markets which sold imported goods, but she had no time or use for such an expensive pet. She was young and not so dependent on feeding, so she was doing fine on a steady diet of small snacks. Besides, she enjoyed the thrill of the hunt and the fact that her snacks did not need to be the sniveling butt-kissing type of humans that followed their masters everywhere in order to soak up a little bit of the glamour of the Elven High court. Her way also meant that the pathetic humans would flock to her and practically throw themselves at her feet, but she would have a choice and tried to always go for the curious but not convinced types which would give their goods up willingly but who, out of fear, wouldn't try and contact her again to achieve the same reward of ecstasy she knew they felt during her feeding.
She surveyed the room hoping to find some eye-candy that was not too dolled up and her eyes fell on a small group of women nervously looking around the room themselves. It was clear from their ridiculous hair accessories and pink t-shirts that they were here only because the bride-to be, now seen with a somewhat similar blonde girl grinding against several men on the dance floor, had requested they go here. Victoria guessed that most of them were drinking none alcoholic drinks and would like nothing better than to be home in their beds curled up with a period romance. They would be easy to convince without over-using her powers and would no doubt prefer to go back to their dull lives and forget everything that happened tonight. One girl in particular caught her attention. Petite and dark haired, the girl’s features reminded Victoria a lot of someone she knew but she couldn’t quite connect the dots. In her long life she had met many people and eventually, she resolved while she started her walk towards a free table close to the group, there were bound to be humans that bore resemblance to each-other. The girl raised her head and looked directly at her and Victoria could see the cogwheels working inside that pretty little head of hers. Normally humans would break contact as soon as they realized what she was, but this one just stared unnerved by the presence of an elder. The snack thinks? Interesting. The game was on.
She sat down but kept her eye-contact with the girl. Victoria felt a shiver of something run down her spine. Was it fear or lust? It was a long time since she had been afraid of anything. She had been blessed with good looks which meant that as long as humans existed she would never struggle to find willing subjects that didn't mind sacrificing a bit of their life-energy to her in exchange for just being in her presence. The girl stood up and excused herself to her friends who were either texting or watching the soon to be bride on the dance floor with disinterest. Her prey was coming to her and she had not used any of her powers. This was rare…   
As the girl sat down on a vacant chair at her table, Victoria felt only the tiniest amount of fear in her inner being. Something about this young woman was not quite right. The music switched, as on cue, to a slow ballad.
“I’m Karen.” The human made no gesture to shake hands.
“Victoria Azenda.” Karen nodded.
“I know who you are.” Victoria’s eyes widened slightly at this. She always chose different clubs, different towns, and different days. Had she seen this girl before and lost the memory of her somewhere in the haze of the many feeds?
“Have I?...”
“No, you have not fed on me. But that is why you are here right? To feed?” Victoria could only manage a slight nod of the head. Her snack really did think. Karen continued.
“We need each-other Victoria Azenda, more than you think. You need to feed and I need information. It should be a fair trade.” Victoria narrowed her brows. Who was this human to demand anything of her? She reached for her purse but Karen stopped her with a warm hand on her arm that sent surges of power through Victoria like she had never felt before that made her gasp for air.
“What… are you?”
“I am the only thing standing between you and a terrible evil that has just been unleashed. They are coming for each and every one of you and there is nowhere you can hide!”
Victoria took a sharp intake of breath as she yet again locked gaze with the young woman and suddenly understood who she was.
“How is that possible?” Karen flashed a smile not quite human.
“Oh I think you will find that my father has many secrets and I am just the cherry on the top of the delicious ice-cream.”     

Wednesday, 6 March 2013

World-food Wednesday - Ideas for sushi

Short post as I am absolutely trashed from working in the garden for two days in a row. When I mean work, I of course mean raking, digging, carrying heavy stuff around and today crawling on the ground pulling up weeds. And although it is very gratifying work I am watching the now cloudy sky with some kind of hidden agenda that it might start raining and I can have a rest tomorrow.

Anyway food of the week is one of my personal favorite dishes of all time; Sushi. Now I know what you are thinking, I don't like raw fish and isn't it hard to make?

As to the making of the sushi there are a lot of rolling guides on youtube and various other places that can show you the basics. Everyone has a different way of rolling and it is a just a matter of jumping into it and finding out what works for you.

The raw fish can be avoided by using a number of other combinations. In our house we have our personal favorites (husband does still not eat raw fish) We stick to making the closed rolls as they are easy to manage, but have made in-side out ones and nigiris as well. We always use cucumber in ours.

Ideas for filling:
- smoked salmon, avocado, cream cheese or wasabi mayo.
- marinated smoked salmon (marinate in soy, lime, sesame oil), avocado and cream cheese.
- Pickled beetroot
- Canned tuna stirred with a tiny bit of yogurt and optional caviar.
- Sauteed carrots
- Cheddar or feta


Only real advice I have for people; make sure you have a very very sharp knife to cut the buggers as they otherwise collapse. Have fun with it, it has sure brought lots of giggles into our household. 

Saturday, 2 March 2013

Silly Saturday


Silly Saturday with a serious message. I have someone in my writing group suggesting that everyone should join in on her webpage and release a chapter of their new book every month until done... For free of course. So not only would she generate massive attention for her own things (which she does not put online) but we would get no pay for our work. To this I have found the following picture: