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Flash: Too Close

Erin Penn

Photo by Carlos Arthur M.R on Unsplash

Spitting out sand and dirt, Megan rolled over as she regained consciousness, into a thorny something which tore into her business coat, but the tweed fabric prevented the plant from scratching her. Where was she? The sun was beating down on her like she was at work. It was hot, fucking brutally hot, way beyond being outside in Richmond in July. The sand and dirt burned to touch. She had been … what had she been doing??

A shadow crossed her, bringing relief from the scorching sun. Megan looked up.

The flyer.

She swallowed hard.

(words 95; first published July 10, 2022 – from a picture prompt for a Facebook writing group. Aim is about 50 words)

Getting Closer Series
Getting Closer (9/27/2020)
Too Close (10/4/2020)

Other Cool Blogs: Magical Words 3/18/2011

Erin Penn

Photo by Sarah Mae on Unsplash

The preposition gnome stared at me through the grass. His evil stare hinting, daring me to stand up and run away. But, no, I shall prevail over his grammatical limitations and make my writing gleam.

Kalayna Price has given me the understanding to build the weapons in her Magical Words post “The Preposition Gnome” on 3/18/2011:

Look, I’m not an English major. Understanding what prepositions are, and how to use them best to make lean exciting writing isn’t easy. Ms. Price’s blog gave me insight to this grammar word division.

Female Scribes

Erin Penn

From the British Library Manuscript Viewer: Isidore, Bishop of Seville, Etymologiae. Folio 23 right

Did women write?

Did women make manuscripts in the medieval times or earlier?

“What is the earliest European manuscript in the British Library’s collection that was created by a female scribe?” – the last question was asked of the British Library and they answered it in “Female Scribes in Early Manuscripts.” Follow the links in the Bibliography.

Quick answers:

Yes, women write – now and in the past.

Yes, women created medieval manuscripts. Entire nunneries were devoted to creating manuscripts for the Church to provide to their patrons.

For a full manuscript, that is a known creation due to notes made by the eight women who worked on it, The Isidore, Bishop of Seville, Etymologiae from 1130-1174 may be the earliest. Earliest written piece in any format by a female of the British Library may be a birthday invitation from the second century BC.

Bibliography

British Library Digitised Manuscripts. “Harley MS 3099 – Isidore, Bishop of Seville, Etymologiae”. (last viewed 4/10/2022; note as of 4/26/2024 link no longer works)

British Library Blogs. “Female Scribes in Early Manuscripts.” 2017 March 08.  https://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2017/03/female-scribes-in-early-manuscripts-.html (last viewed 4/10/2022; note as of 4/26/2024 link no longer works)

Flash: Getting Closer

Erin Penn

1156430 © Michael Iwasaki | Dreamstime.com

Twenty-four floors up and you’d think the Civic Assistant Supervision offices should always be brightly lit during the daylight hours in their glass building, but the office building across the street stood even taller and gave welcome relief from the afternoon sun, allowing the air conditioner time to catch up. The shadow had crept away to the north side about an hour ago, leaving Megan sweating again under the seven o’clock summer sun hitting her desk. Her most recent promotion had moved her closer to the window, making her debate the benefits of further promotions on days like today.

Days where a jail break left one of their subcontractor-employee guards dead, six injured, and twelve fugitives outside their containment. With the help of satellites, software recognition, and local law enforcement, Megan lived up to her name Bloodhound and nine were back in custody and two more about to be recaptured. Leaving only one left.

The dangerous one.

The one who hadn’t responded to the nano-neutralizers Dr. Masters had created for the powered criminals.

She adjusted her screen yet again away from the glare. Flyers usually couldn’t help flying, and so many satellites pay attention to the air. Weather, missile observation, and aviation monitoring only scrapped the top lichen off human’s fascination with monitoring the sky. Megan wiped her forehead, ignoring the quiet around her. Only her supervisor remained. All other services had passed down the line to their California branch.

Her powers were minuscule compared to most, too narrow an application, but perfect for finding people. She nudged the mouse to click a different satellite download. Her gut said she was getting closer to her prey.

Her area desk darkened as a cloud crossed the sun, bringing welcome relief from the heat, except the edge of the shadow didn’t carry the soft diffusion of a cloud. The dark shadow was too solid.

Looking up from the screen to the outside, Megan saw a very different object between her building and the sun.

(words 332; first published May 30, 2022 – from a picture prompt for a Facebook writing group. Aim is about 50 words)

Getting Closer Series
Getting Closer (9/27/2020)
Too Close (10/4/2020)

Other Cool Blogs: Mythcreants – Female Characters

Erin Penn

Photo by Nicolas Ladino Silva on Unsplash

How can….???

Have you not lived among women your entire life!?

I mean over half the population of the world is women!!!

Oren Ashkenasi over at Mythcreants goes over “Eight Absurdities We Force on Female Characters” (posted Aug 4, 2018)

  1. Lone Representation – or what I call “Smurfette”. The only female in a full-length novel makes people angry, because as the sole representative – whatever she is is incomplete. (Likewise having only one person of color in a large cast makes no sense.)
  2. Special Women Fighting Styles – “The physics of murder don’t change based on gender.” — I LOVE this quote!
  3. Feisty – Yeah. Can’t even begin my reactions to this one.

The list of the absurdities goes one and definitely worth the read. Again the URL for the full article is: https://mythcreants.com/blog/eight-absurdities-we-force-on-female-characters/

Takeaway start each character from the baseline of human and go from there.