Musician, Songwriter and now Poet, Saliend Drand (aka Mike Pickering) is working on his first book.
To date he has written many short stories he calls Quarter Tales. It was a challenge he set himself starting with a random line set a fifteen minute timer and see when the story goes. The only rewriting allowed is to check spelling etc but content should be straight from the mind to the page.
One example of a quarter tale is at the bottom of this page.
Into Poetry? Like things a little darker?
The Dark and the Light is a collection of over 40 original works published by Mike Pickering. Available for download here, it may be free if you have a Kindle account.
He writes simply and honestly, capturing thoughts and emotions the moment they occur. The dark sense of humor compliments the gravity of some of the poems and one is left feeling more in touch with the idiosyncrasies of life, death, love and cynicism
Proud to have one of my works included in a poetry collection.
“The World at War” – Poems From The Battlefield
isbn 9781844186419 By Forward poetry
Quarter tale #28.
The line was ‘She smiled at him as he approached’…. 15mins to write – go.
She smiled at him as he approached, a smile that she had cultivated for just this occasion. On seeing this, everyone knew the next few minuets would be life changing for somebody.
A figure in black knelt before her, his head bowed and his flowing gown trailing the full length of the black carpet that lead to her thrown. Under this train of satin, things moved, shapes came and went, occasional puffs of smoke emanated and assaulted the olfactory organs of anyone that had the misfortune to be near. Slowly the figure raised his head, his eyes met the gaze of the queen.
‘You know why you are here?’ She asked
‘For your pleasure’ he replied
Smiling the queen closed her eyes and remembered. She recalled the day they met. The power in their embrace, the pleasure as they touched, the completeness she had once felt.
‘That was a long time ago’ she said ‘things are no longer as they were. Our paths have separated, you have made your own way and now I shall take mine’ as she spoke her expression darkened. ‘Where is it?’ She said.
“It?. It? You choose a small word for something so magnificent. I was hoping you would recognise the importance of IT (he emphasised IT disparagingly) after all we together conceived ‘IT’ for us to share for eternity and now you say IT as if it were a thing of little consequence, a nothing, an illegitimate backstreet romance, a moment of error, a bastard of our union. You cannot choose my path my lady, I however can change yours.
‘Do not cross me Loki, I will destroy you’ she stood, dark and foreboding, her colours faded, her rage growing.’give it to me -NOW’
‘My lady? Said Loki calmly, ‘I have no desire to cross you, after all I am your servant, you made that clear a millennia ago.’
He stood and walked toward her. As the two figures approached, the energy in the room increased. Bolts of lightning flashed between them and they began to shine with the brightness of a million suns. Now face to face she was helpless. Her love for him was far greater than any other power she possessed. Stuck in its grip her smile returned.
‘My lady’ he whispered and they embraced. She felt warmth surge through her body quickly turn to pain as the blade of his knife cut deep Into her flesh.
In an instant several things happened. From under the train of his gown, several creatures appeared. Each more grotesque than the previous one, they writhed like newborns. Within seconds they began to stand and moments later they were in on the gathered assembly of beings, tearing flesh and devouring all.
From his gown, Loki produced a small globe. It was shining blue and within a swirling mass of colours jostled for dominance. He held the globe to her face.
‘My lady, is this what you want? He snarled. His dagger still in her heart he turned it and penetrated her deeper. ‘I loved you more than my own life, you were my master, my love, my everything and you took that away’ he said. ‘ my ambition, as you put it, was to love you, nothing more but you had to listen to others. You decided not to love me and it was you who cast me away’ he barked.
“For centuries I have bottle up my rage, my hurt, my pain. The orb we created to contain our love is now a mausoleum to it. Pain, death and hatred have replaced the love and now I will put your filthy heart, broken and black into the void for eternity. Together your love and my hate will battle to the ends of time.’ Pulling the dagger from her he thrust it directly into the orb. As he did, the orb began to shake. He held on as long as he could but it became to powerful. The orb expanded, in an instant there was a blinding flash of light as the orb exploded.
Seconds later, Loki stood and regarded the scene. All around him was shadow, his demons shone in the darkness their eyes bright with fire and fury. In the shadow he could just make out the form of the palace. He turned to look at the body of the queen. He could make out her faint shadow light in the gloom. She was slumped on her thrown, her power no longer effective, her love gone forever. Her pail blue eyes offered no comfort, there was no meaning in her gaze.
“What have I done’ he cried…..
13.71. Billion years later, on an atom of a sliver of a chip, of a piece, of a chunk, of a fragment, of a tiny part of that shattered orb, the first human took her first breath In a universe filled with both love & hate.