The Air Has Color

It's salmon.

It is no mist, no veil, no illusion.

The sun gave me a twilight gift.

It is meant for all of us.

It is on the trees, on

people's skin, on the air.

I breathe in the gift

and smile without smiling.

Note: The picture was taken by yours truly in the vicinities. I suggest you click on it to enlarge if you want to have a better grasp of what I felt when receiving this wonderful gift. :)

#ZombieLuv News!

Aye, aye! We have news, zombie lover folks!

We've got almost 40 entries on the Zombie Luv Contest, which in our view is huge! We're totally *doing crazy dance*, heh.

There's some great stuff there, which makes it all the more difficult to judge and choose a single winner, even if there'll be at least one honorable mention.

We need more time to decide, so we'll make the winner's big announcement on July 22th.

Please bear with us. It's just an extra week. ;)

Also, we feel that the poll was too large in options and too short in voting time. We'd like to give you more time to read and choose your favorites, this way you can also help us out with our dilemma. (the honorable mention one ;)

That's why we're extending the poll up until July 20th, midnight EST.

Another reason for this extra time is that the blogger widget wasn't working well for everyone, the lazy bastard! heh

The solution I came up with is transferring the poll to the comments. I'll consider all votes accepted by the widged so far, and I'll compile the votes you leave on the comments in a spreadsheet.

The poll's result will be announced on the same day as the contest's winner.

Here are the guidelines for voting:

• You may vote for as many entries as you like. Just name them on the comments.

• Anonymous votes will be disregarded.

• Contestants may vote for themselves, but they must vote for at least one other entry as well.

• If the widget has decided to work for you, please be a good sport and refrain from voting again. I have no way of controlling this.

You'll find the complete list of entries at the bottom. Have a great reading time! :D

*

Now, since you'll have an entire extra week to read all these fantastic stories, you can also take a peek at the my interview at The Penny Dreadful twitter chat -- Tuesdays, at 4pm EST -- where I talked about how the contest came to be and other things.

I had much fun and I hope you'll have some reading it too. :)

Psst, don't miss the chance to explore the TPD's website. Awesome stuff in there!

Finally, I'd like to show you the funny poem Tony Noland wrote on a single tweet.

I loved it and felt most honored, Tony. Thanks! :D

#zombieluv contest is done

be weeks 'til we find out who won

but lose or win

it all made me grin

Thanks, Mari, this contest was fun!

It seems you have some foreseeing ability, as originally it should take only a week to know who won, heh.

*

List of entries by order of submission:

-- Forever, by Angie Capozello

-- At the End, by AJ Brown

-- Island Nights, by Laura Eno

-- Love After Death, by Joanie Rich

-- Romeo and Juliet are Dead, by Tony Noland

-- Heartless, by Monica Marier

-- And Then There Were None, by Emma Newman

-- Three Steps, by Tomara Armstrong

-- Scent of a Zombie, by KeMari

-- Love is Just Another Weakness, by Mia Hayson

-- Dead Flames, by Angel Zapata

-- Lloranda, by David A. Hernandez

-- Advantages, by Rebecca Thompson

-- Burning Zombie, by Erin Cole

-- Yes, by Casper Wood

-- Light, After All, by Mark Antony Crittenden

-- Cooties, by Donald Conrad

-- Rose, by Delia

-- Undead Love, by David G. Shrock

-- Gonna Fucking Do Ourselves In, by Lee Hughes

-- Chained Love, by Eric J. Krause

-- A Small Misunderstanding, by Gracie Motley

-- Benching a Wolf, by Cathy Olliffe

-- Tainted Love, by Melissa L. Webb

-- For the Love of Mike!, by Sam Adamson

-- Something Not Hunger, by Matt Merritt

-- The Tell-tale Beat, by Nishida C.

-- Til Death Do Us Part, by Stefanie Howerton

-- All-consuming Passion, by Barti Ddu

-- The Lovely Tale of Toothgroan, by Nathan Dean

-- The Balad of Nate and Carla, by David D. Sharp

-- Chick-Chick-BLAM: A Headshot Love Story, by Gabriel Gadfly

-- Leaving Gary, by Jason Beymer

-- Marrying the Dead, by Lexx Clarke

-- Charcoal Muse, by h.lee

-- Dead, Long Dead, by Tim King

-- The Forgotten Thing, by C. Dominique Gibson

Zombie Luv Contest Closed for Submissions + Poll

Edited to add: Except for the list of entries and the gratefulness for the people quoted here (check them out!) the dates and voting system have changed. For more information click here.

That's it folks! The winner will be announced on July 15th, so stay tunned! ;)

We had 37 entries to the contest, so I think I can call it a success? heh

Thank you everyone for your awesome entries, for all the tweets and shout outs, and for your hilarious zombie-talk.

A special thanks for these people who kindly helped spreading the word about the contest in their own special way:

>> Jodi McArthur, of Fiction Author Jodi McArthur, for her awesome blog post.

>> Joanna Penn, of The Creative Penn, for a most generous tweet.

>> M. Jones, of Zombie Romance webzine, for her enthusiasm and shout out about the contest.

>> Jon M. Strother, of Mad Utopia, for sharing the news to the awesome #FridayFlash community.

>> Anne Tyler Lord, of Don't Fence Me In, for featuring the contest on her weekly writing news, the Coffee Klatch.

>> Roland D. Yeomans, of Writing in the Crosshairs, for being such a gentleman and spreading the word about the contest on his blog. Roland, I forgot your twitter name! *head on desk* Please tell me on the comments (or elsewhere) so I can add a link? :)

>> Chris Allinotte , of The Leaky Pencil, for his hilarious zombie adds.

>> Jemi Fraser, of Just Jemi, for her kindness on twitter.

>> Jason Warden, of Experimental Muse, and Shane Benavides, of I Amuse Me, for being such good sports. :)

Soo, I had much fun, but it's time to get me and Randomities back to life.

"What? You can't undo death!" you say.

Of course I can't!

However, since I know some very powerful wizards -- who you'll get to know on the zombie dragon series ;) -- I've asked them to work on a potion or spell to help out on my condition. These guys are good!

I took the potion just after midnight GMT (as per instructions) and after some weird stuff happened all my limbs are perfectly attached again and I can actually breathe! Hurra! heh

See how Randomities got its looks back? The wizards said that unzombifying Randomities was much easier than making my concotion. *grinz*

Now that I'm alive again and I can think better, it's time to get to work on judging the entries.

Hey, why don't you help me out?

I've mentioned that there'd be an honorable mention published here at Randomities, right? Tell me which is your favorite entry and influence the judges opinion on the honorable mention!

Since I really want to know your opinion, the pool will be up until July 14th, midnight EST. There are so many good stories that you can vote for more than one entry. ;)

Here's the list of entries. Happy reading! ;D

-- Forever, by Angie Capozello

-- At the End, by AJ Brown

-- Island Nights, by Laura Eno

-- Love After Death, by Joanie Rich

-- Romeo and Juliet are Dead, by Tony Noland

-- Heartless, by Monica Marier

-- And Then There Were None, by Emma Newman

-- Three Steps, by Tomara Armstrong

-- Scent of a Zombie, by KeMari

-- Love is Just Another Weakness, by Mia Hayson

-- Dead Flames, by Angel Zapata

-- Lloranda, by David A. Hernandez

-- Advantages, by Rebecca Thompson

-- Burning Zombie, by Erin Cole

-- Yes, by Casper Wood

-- Light, After All, by Mark Antony Crittenden

-- Cooties, by Donald Conrad

-- Rose, by Delia

-- Undead Love, by David G. Shrock

-- Gonna Fucking Do Ourselves In, by Lee Hughes

-- Chained Love, by Eric J. Krause

-- A Small Misunderstanding, by Gracie Motley

-- Benching a Wolf, by Cathy Olliffe

-- Tainted Love, by Melissa L. Webb

-- For the Love of Mike!, by Sam Adamson

-- Something Not Hunger, by Matt Merritt

-- The Tell-tale Beat, by Nishida C.

-- Til Death Do Us Part, by Stefanie Howerton

-- All-consuming Passion, by Barti Ddu

-- The Lovely Tale of Toothgroan, by Nathan Dean

-- The Balad of Nate and Carla, by David D. Sharp

-- Chick-Chick-BLAM: A Headshot Love Story, by Gabriel Gadfly

-- Leaving Gary, by Jason Beymer

-- Marrying the Dead, by Lexx Clarke

-- Charcoal Muse, by h.lee

-- Dead, Long Dead, by Tim King

-- The Forgotten Thing, by C. Dominique Gibson

The Sweetest Trolls #2: Lady's Hands -- #FridayFlash

This is the second installment of the Troll Serial. To read from the beginning, or to find past and future installments, click here.

*

Blackberries! Aimee shouted silently.

She dropped on her knees, pressed her hands together and prayed to Holy Mary, letting her tears follow the rhythm of her words. She then feasted like the small and fragile wild animal she’d become.

Her golden-white curls were tied behind her head, but it wasn’t enough to prevent the dishevelment on her hair. Oh, how she missed her mother’s quick work with the brush! She promised herself that she’d never complain again if mother were harsh on undoing the knots that her thin hair frequently produced. Aimee’s dress was ripped in several places, she’d lost her shoes and the basket she should be collecting wood with, when she got lost.

She had lost count of the days and nights of hunger and thirst. Only because of St. Mary’s protection she had been ignored by the wandering bear on the first day, and the trolls that almost squished her sleepy body like a bug the night before.

She raised her head to the sound of water. The fruit’s juice wasn't enough to satisfy three days of thirst, so licking her black stained lips she walked towards the sound. She would run if she had the strength to, but she felt too weak. She had always been the skinny one, the delicate girl that would become a lady some day.

As the sound grew closer she accelerated, surprised to find herself sprinting uphill when discerning the scent of the river water. She never thought she’d salivate when seeing a cascade. Tripping and falling, Aimee threw herself in the margin, drinking avidly. She washed her hands and her face and smiled to the dancing rainbow above her head. The day was warm and the cool water was inviting, so she took her clothes off and untied her hair, splashing the water like a little girl. Letting it carry the weight of her body Aimee closed her eyes, her strained muscles relaxing.

A thought startled her. What if there were people watching her? She covered herself with her hands, her chin kissing the water. She scanned the surroundings, seeing only trees, stones, and— Oh no, two men!

She took a deep breath and went below surface like the boys did in the early days. She arrived at the opposite margin, glad that the men hadn't noticed her. One was looking down, and the other had his back turned to her.

She cocked her head. They were very still indeed, these men, and they seemed oddly large. Not bothering to dry herself, she got dressed with her eyes fixed on them, noticing how well they blended with the stones behind.

Are these statues? She thought.

Cautiously, she climbed the hill and crossed the stream above the waterfall, hiding behind the high stones that had protected Kutril and Katran the night before. Kratan had his chin on his club; he was looking at Kutril’s feet when the sun rose. Kutril was looking up, at Aimee’s direction.

Aimee laughed out loud; what a silly girl she was! These weren't men at all, they were trolls made into stone.

Fools, she thought.

There was nothing to fear, so she circled the rock, climbing down to where the stone trolls were, and gave a good look at them.

Their non-human features conveyed not the horror of her childhood nightmares, but a deep sadness. She felt sorry for these poor lost souls. She would practice compassion, she decided. If they didn’t look this ugly, maybe God would receive them in His arms. St. Mary would be proud of her. She smiled to herself, hoping it wasn’t too late.

Aimee set to work at once. She made garlands and placed on the statue’s heads and shoulders. She took quite a while to find sufficient flowers to their large heads and shoulders so when she finished her task the sun had passed its peak hours ago. Famished and exhausted, she fell asleep between Kutril’s feet.

*

<< Back to episode 1                   Go to episode 3 >>

Go to the beginning

Note: John Wiswell wrote one of his Bathroom Monologues about trolls and ogres. If he's right I'm afraid I failed to meet the writing challenge, as my trolls would be actually ogres. (dumb-dumb and all) I'm no mythology expert, but I'm really curious about it, so if you'd like to share your own knowledge on the matter, I'd really appreciate it. :)

Random Cool Things #7 - Zombie Luv Webcomic

Lena S., from Fictious Flashes, pointed me to this awesome webcomic zombie love related, by Shazzbaa. Thank you Lena!

You can click on the images here at Zombie-Randomities to enlarge, or visit her webpage here.

Please notice that, if it were the case, this story would not qualify for the contest, as it's about a zombie and a human. Entries for the Zombie Luv Contest must have romance between two zombies. ;)

Now, talking about the contest, we have yet 4 days to go until the deadline (July 10th) and there are already more than 30 entries! All the judges are very excited! :D

If you stick around at Randomities next week, you'll see that while we (the judges) make a decision you'll have the opportunity to give your own opinion on the entries.

Psst! If the pool results are expressive, they may influence on who's going to get the honorable mention. ;)

Now have fun with this awesome flash comic! :)

The Sweetest Trolls #1: The P Word -- #FridayFlash

This is a writing challenge suggested by my twitter friend @JSterlingS, which theme is "falsely persecuted non-evil trolls". I hope you'll have fun. :)

They ran as fast as they could, their long legs surpassing the mob's rage. They climbed the hills near the village; sprinting through the deepening forest they arrived at the woods where rocky walls and high waterfalls hid them from the peasants. Panting, they arrived at a small clearing with the river a few meters away. They set to rest, listening to their rumbling stomaches.

"I don't understand," mumbled Kutril after the two of them gathered their breaths, "we were just after the goats."

Kratan shook his head sadly. He scratched his skull and snapped his fingers. With an enlightened grin he motioned Kutril conspiratorially to approach him, but they didn't measure the distance well and hit their heads against each other.

"Once," Kratan whispered, massaging his forehead, "I heard a villager talking to another. There was a big word I can't remember."

He banged his club against the nearest rock in frustration, making the ground shake.

"Idiot." Kutril snorted. "Big words have no use to us, and you shouldn't make noise."

"But this one was important," insisted Kratan with a whining voice, "it started with a 'P', I think."

"A 'P'?" asked Kutril, puzzled.

"It's a letter you moron, from the alphabet."

"Alpha what?" Kutril asked in awe.

"You know, those signs humans use to put words on paper."

"Ha! I knew it!"

"You did not," said Kratan, leaning forward, holding his knees.

"I did too, dumb-dumb who doesn't know the difference between a goat and a stone."

"That was an accident! How many times do I have to say that it was too dark that night? There was no moon and the sky was cloudy."

"Yeah, this is what you get trying to eat a goat alive. Don't you know what these are for?" teased Kutril, swinging his own club fashionably.

Kratan's shoulders hunched and Kutril continued with his favorite teasing game, "Your goat got you a week in bed. I still don't know how you got that out of you."

He laughed at his own joke, just as he did every day.

"It was supposed to be a big goat," said Kratan, pouting.

He didn't even try to explain anymore how its form was so similar to the real thing, and how hungry he was that night. He crossed his arms and turned his back to his friend.

Kutril was abashed; Kratan has never reacted like this before. Not knowing what to do he looked at the waterfall. Illuminated by the moonlight, the distorted moon looked like a dancing woman with a fluid transparent dress.

He dozed a bit, lost in a thoughtless moment. Looking back he saw Kratan's large ears and his moving shoulders. He let his head fall to his chest, remaining like this until a memory came to mind.

"Hey Kratan, did you know I heard the humans talking too, just yesterday?"

Kratan looked over his shoulder with watered eyes. "You did?"

"I did!" Kutril smiled broadly. "It was something about a girl."

"What about the girl?" Kratan turned to face his long last companion.

"I didn't understand everything, but I guess they miss her."

"Her family misses her?" Kratan sniffed.

"Think so." Kutril nodded. "But there was more, they were talking about trolls too."

"Trolls? What do we have to do with it?"

"Dunno."

"Maybe they want our help to find her?" said Kratan, with a light of hope in his eyes.

"I don't think so," said Kutril with a fearful voice. "Humans don't like us, you know?"

"I know you idiot. I'm just thinking."

"Hey! Now you're the one being cruel!"

"Sorry?" said Kratan with trembling lips.

"That's okay," said Kutril. He looked up to the hazy sky and added, "Anyway here comes the sun. We'll have to talk tomorrow night."

And they were both transformed into stone, with empty stomaches and puzzled minds.

*

<< Back to episode 1                   Go to episode 2 >>

Go to the beginning