Narrelle M Harris: writer | editor | songwriter | crafter
Words are like oxygen
I’m back at the Improbable Press fiction prompt coalface, last week urged on by the words ‘A broken instrument’, ‘single’ and some pictures. The broken instrument made me think of how PG Wodehouse is always quoting Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s The Idylls of the King about ‘the rift within the lute’. And so, here we are. Pop over to Improbable Press […]
» Read moreImprobable Press’s latest prompt included bees, and then I thought of that old tradition that the bees must be told when their keeper dies. And then I thought of Sherlock Holmes being away during WWI as a spy. And then I thought of John Watson. And then I thought of this. The Dancing Bees It is spring and we bees […]
» Read moreThis week’s prompt from Improbable Press made me think of Australian poet, Adam Lindsay Gordon, and how I’ve often wished there had been somebody to rescue him. Gordon’s poems are generally much more glum than his most famous few lines suggest, but I’m glad he’s known best for the hope than the despair. Stand Like Stone Cal knew it wasn’t […]
» Read moreHere we are again, with a story prompted by the Improbable Press blog. It seems my mind lately is rather fixated on metamorphis. The Only Daughter of Time The sun blazed hot outside but within the colonnade the air was cool and fresh. Outside smelled of hot dust; inside of earthy stone and antiquity. Ruins, partially reconstructed for the delight […]
» Read moreB Cubed Press’s fundraising anthology Oz is Burning has been released, just a little behind its original timing to coincide with the NZ Worldcon! B Cubed commissioned the stories as a response to the devastating bushfires of February 2020 (how long ago that seems now) and a portion of the proceeds will be going to WIRES. Australian and New Zealand […]
» Read moreMy mind is definitely taking a lot of apocalyptic turns when I write to the Improbable Press prompts – but then I try to make them less grim. I’m not too sure which one this story is. Pop over to Improbable Press to read what others have done and to try out your own prompted fiction! Chrysalis Nobody survives Chrysalis. […]
» Read moreAfter a sudden run of work, I’ve finally had time to write some more lockdown fiction to the Improbable Press prompt this week! Bone Deep The ocean floor is made of bones. The earth’s great rocky bones of quartz, mainly, but others too. The calcium of shells and skeletons, the structures of coral and whales and clams and the great […]
» Read moreThis story comes from Clan Destine Press’s 1 June writing prompt. Flotsam ‘It’s not really umber, is it?’ Didi, pressed closed to Galatea’s side, ceased peering at the sea to blink her bemusement at her new companion. ‘Sorry?’ ‘The umber ella. It’s not umber. Perhaps like raw umber, but more like bone. And white, of course.’ Galatea’s dark eyes were […]
» Read moreInspired by an Improbable Press prompt! Connectivity I know better. Of course I do. But broke, living in my car, and denied the necessary freedom of internet access for the sixth day running prove too much for my caution. I have job applications to lodge, even with my small hope of success, and no data left on my phone. The […]
» Read moreThis story was inspired by the 26 May Clandestine Press story prompt. Party Trick “Never have I ever been late for a date!” declared Mira with a grin. Of the four others playing the game, only Alec took a drink with her. “Unholy demon of punctuality,” Daisy said, making a wobbly sign of the cross. “Courtesy costs nothing,” replied Mira […]
» Read more