Urban Planning

In the sky, pale lights flicker under the cover of the clouds, scattered in sacred geometry. On the ground, they’re lined up in rows, following the grids of the city, the levels of the buildings. They’re part of the Design.

Earnest drives his taxi and tries not to see it. He tries not to see the way even the rain drops have a beat to them. He tries not to hear the way even the sirens come in patterns.

A woman hails him and he pulls over. She climbs into the back seat and smiles at him. Her eyes glow like nebulae.

“You can feel it, can’t you?” She shakes her head. “I’m sorry.”

His grip tightens on the wheel.

“You need to drive,” she whispers. “They’ll be coming for you.”

And in a window, he sees a man with shadows for a face looking down at him.

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Word Count: 148

This is for Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers. Thanks to Priceless Joy for running the challenge and Pamela S. Canepa for providing the prompt photo!

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Doctor Who Discussion: The BBC Marketing Team Needs to be Fired

Welcome to the penultimate Doctor Who Discussion, as Jaden C. Kilmer and J.A. Prentice discuss the first part of the Series 10 finale, World Enough and Time. For our discussion of the poem from which the title comes, see our upcoming series J.A. Prentice talks about Elizabethan poetry while everyone else falls asleep.

Read on for almost as many SPOILERS as the BBC Marketing Team has already provided.

Return to the Scene of the Crime

He pushed open the door to the old shed, now overrun with crawling vines, bursting through every gap in the thin white walls. The desk was engulfed in a swarm of green.

Apart from the wear, it was just as he’d left it. Nobody had found it: not his family, not the police, not some wandering hikers. His sanctum remained secret.

The vines rising up like snakes around him. He stroked them and smiled, looking at the pulsing, writhing mass in the shed corner, surrounded by old bones.

“We begin again,” he whispered. “And this time, they won’t stop us.”

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Word Count: 100

This is for Friday Fictioneers. Thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for running the challenge and Sarah Potter for providing the prompt photo!

Doctor Who Discussion: Like the Da Vinci Code Meets *SPOILERS* But Good

Welcome to yet another Living Authors’ Society Doctor Who Discussion! Join Jaden C. Kilmer and J.A. Prentice as we examine the latest Doctor Who episode, Extremis. 

Warning. There are Spoilers ahead. Everyone who has read the Spoilers has chosen Hell. Proceed with caution.

A Quiet Place

Cheerful fifties tunes greeted Tara and Greg as they walked into the diner, a bell chiming behind them. There wasn’t a speck of dust in the place.

“Hi, folks!” a waitress said. “What brings you to our diner?”

“We needed somewhere quiet,” Tara said. “Somewhere to relax.”

The waitress smiled. “That’s usually what it is.”

The world flickered, like a bad signal on a television: counter rippling with black mold, music slowing, the waitress’s face rearranging itself like a jumbled jigsaw.

Tara blinked and all was normal again.

“So,” the waitress asked, leaning close, “what can I get you?”

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Word Count: 99

This is for Friday Fictioneers. Thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for running the challenge and Roger Bultot for providing the prompt photo!

Doctor Who Discussion: Even the LAS Hive Mind Didn’t See That Coming

Welcome to the Living Authors’ Society Doctor Who Discussions, where the arguments are made up and the scores don’t matter. Join J.A. Prentice and Jaden C. Kilmer in our look at the latest Doctor Who episode: Oxygen by Jamie Mathieson.

There are SPOILERS past this point. And believe me, this episode had a big one, so consider yourselves warned.

Doctor Who Discussion: Pre-Emptive Chibnall Bashing, Boredom, and Cybermen in Casablanca

Welcome to another Doctor Who Discussion with Jaden C. Kilmer and J.A. Prentice. This week, we’ll be reviewing Knock Knock. Join as we use our little grey cells to examine and debate the latest episode of Doctor Who, written by Mike Bartlett and guest-starring the brilliant David Suchet!

Be Warned: There are SPOILERS below the tag!