Hooray! It's First Friday again, and three great authors have described,
in 150 words or less, what they saw in this picture. Each one had an entirely different idea.
This is how creativity works. Wonderful examples.
HALLINAN
For thirty
years, Andres played his guitar in the corner of the little Barcelona bar as
the clientele changed from working-class people to thugs and gangsters from the
wharves, to slumming aristocrats, and finally to gay men and women. But Andres
played on: seguedillas, flamenco, classical.
On the night Andres didn't show up for work, the bartender went to his
one-room apartment and found it empty, except for his guitar. No effects of any kind. The bartender brought the guitar back and
leaned it against Andres' chair. In the
1990s the bar was closed and shuttered for the last time. A year ago, the building was scheduled for
demolition, and the workmen found a room rotten with damp, the walls cracked
and peeling, everything shrouded in plaster dust. But the guitar leaning against the chair in
the back corner: it looked like someone had dusted it every night for years.
LANE
“Thank
you . . . thank you.” He nodded to the enthusiastic crowd that overflowed the
smoky basement club. Breathing in the sweet smell of weed, he flashed his best
boyish grin at the table nearest the stage. Three sexy chicks, all giving him
the eye. He’d go home with at least one
of them – shit, maybe all three. If a
good looking guitar player couldn’t get laid…
He shifted his butt on the
stingy-seated folding chair and struck a tentative chord…
His wife’s voice shrilled down the
stairs. “Damn it, Mort, can’t you shut the basement door? You couldn’t play guitar fifty years ago; you
can’t play it now, you old fool.”
The door slammed; the nightclub
disappeared. Alone in the dank, mildewed basement, Morton sighed and watched
another leaf of paint peel loose and drift, like a discarded dream, to join the
others littering the floor.
MONAJEM
Rafaela DaVinci bared her fangs.
“You put my guitar in the dungeon?”
“Strictly speaking, it’s a cellar,”
I said mildly. Damp, with peeling paint and fractured linoleum, sure—but it was also the closest time
portal. “I propped it against a chair.”
She snarled, all flying hair and
furious eyes. “That guitar cost ten
thousand bucks!”
“So it’s the perfect bait,” I said.
“Titus can smell an antique from eons away, and if he opens the portal to take
it…”
“I can get back to the future.”
Where she wouldn’t have to hide her fangs.
“Where I’ll have to buy back my own damned guitar!”
“That’s where my brilliance comes
in,” I said. “I’ve rigged the pickup inside the guitar. Any noise in there and
we’ll hear it. You’ll have ten seconds
to cross the portal, snatch the guitar—
The portal opened, squawking a warning through the pickup. Rafaela
ran.
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| The Fear Artist - Amazon |
ABOUT THE
AUTHORS
Timothy
Hallinan
Timothy
Hallinan is the Edgar-nominated author of the Poke Rafferty Bangkok thrillers,
the Junior Bender Mysteries, and the 1990s cult-favorite PI novels featuring
Simeon Grist. His newest Poke Rafferty
novel, THE FEAR ARTIST, received stars from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and
Library Journal. Hallinan also edited
SHAKEN, an ebook anthology of stories, with 100% of the proceeds going to Japan
tsunami relief, will soon release an ebook called MAKING STORY: 21 WRITERS ON
HOW THEY PLOT.
Hallinan wishes to acknowledge that
the Barcelona
bar was stolen, or rather inspired, by the bar in GITANA by Sam Reaves,
masquerading as Dominic Martell. http://www.timothyhallinan.com/ His blog is in his website.
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| Under the Skin--Amazon |
Barbara
Monajem
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| To Rescue or Ravish?--Amazon |
When Arabella Wilbanks flees a
forced betrothal, the last person she expects to find at the reins of her
getaway hackney is Matthew Worcester. It’s been seven long years since they
gave in to their mutual desire, but Matt still burns with regret for leaving
her without a word. He should escort her to safety, but the chance to reclaim
her proves impossible to resist...
Barbara Monajem started writing at eight
years old. She has wandered from children’s fantasy through mystery to
paranormal and now historical romance. Today’s little effort is her first stab
at science fiction.
Stop and say hi to these super authors. Tell us what you think or join in. We'd love to hear from you.
