Friday Firsts {6} Preston’s Ghost

Hosted By : Well-Read Reviews

[Story Title] Preston’s Ghost

[Author] Commander Pants

[First Sentences]

Preston first encountered the ghost while on his way back from the loo. It was late, and he had been sleeping off a good few single-malts, so perhaps it was understandable that at first he didn’t notice her coming.

Finish reading the story here!

[Did this make you want to read the rest of the story?]

Yes and I’m glad I did. It was a fun quick read with an ending that will have you laughing out loud. I can’t wait to finish up Whom God Would Destroy by the same author (be sure to look for that review at the end of the month!).

Friday Firsts {5}

Hosted By : Well-Read Reviews

[Story Title] Lost for Words

[Author] Kenneth Yu

[First Sentences]

When she was young, the words flowed freely, fearlessly, seemingly forming on their own into sentences and paragraphs, pages upon pages, blending together until they became stories.

Finish reading the story here!

[Did this make you want to read the rest of the story?]

Yes and no. I ended up finishing it because it was the 2009 winner of the Halloween Flash Fiction Contest. Overall, I’m glad I read it.

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Friday Firsts {4}

Hosted By : Well-Read Reviews

[Story Title] Cinnamon

[Author] Neil Gaiman

[First Sentences]

Cinnamon was a princess, a long time ago, in a small hot country, where everything was very old. Her eyes were pearls, which gave her great beauty, but meant she was blind. Her world was the colour of pearls: pale white and pink, and softly glowing.

Finish reading the story here!

[Did this make you want to read the rest of the story?]

Yes. It was a quick read. However, I found the end anti-climatic. Perhaps I’m missing something…

Friday Firsts {3}

Hosted By : Well-Read Reviews

With the encouragement of Cara at Ooh Books! and the permission of Well-Read Reviews, I made some new buttons for Friday Firsts. Feel free to use them if you would like If you want to see more of my designs, or need a new header or button, head over to my design site : tSG designs.

[Story Title] The Fool, the Stick, and the Princess

[Author] Rachel Pollack

[First Sentences]

There were once three brothers who lived in a poor country far away. The two older brothers were very clever and everyone said they would do well in the world, even in a land with so few opportunities. But the youngest was nothing but a fool. He had never learned to read, and even the simplest tasks eluded him. Told to fetch wood, he would set out determined to get it right, but before he got to the back of the house and the woodpile he might see a rabbit and try to imitate its hop until he fell over laughing, the woodpile long forgotten. Or worse, he might see a rainbow and fling the wood in the air as he lifted his arms in happiness. The Fool, as everyone called him, simply loved rainbows. Whenever he saw one he would throw his arms high above his head, no matter what else was happening. People would shake their heads and worry what would become of him.

- Click here to read the rest of the story –

[ Did this make you want to read the rest of the story? ]

Yes. And I’m glad I did. It was a fun read.

Friday Firsts {2}

Hosted By : Well-Read Reviews

[The Story] Falling Star

[Author] Cheyenne Legend

[First Sentences]

One day in the long ago, two young Indian girls were lying on the grass outside their tepee on a warm summer evening. They were looking up into the sky, describing star-pictures formed by their imaginations.

“That is a pretty star. I like that one,” said First Girl.

“I like that one best of all–over there,” Second Girl pointed.

First Girl pointed to the brightest star in the sky and said, “I like the brightest one best of all. That is the one I want to marry.”

- Read the rest here -

[Did this make you want to read the rest of the story?]

YES! I love to read Cheyenne stories in general (since it is part of my heritage) but mix that with a story about stars and I’m hooked!

Friday Firsts: The Regime of Austerity

Friday Firsts is hosted by Well-Read Reviews

The first line can make or break a reader’s interest. Just how well did the author pull you in to the story with their first sentence? To participate in this weekly book meme is extremely easy.

Grab the book you are currently reading and open to the first page.

Write down the first sentence in the first paragraph.

Create a blog post with this information. (Make sure to include the title & author of the book you are using. Even an ISBN helps!)

Did this first sentence help draw you into the story? Why or why not?

I found out about Friday Firsts via Ohh Books! and I’m stealing her idea of sharing the beginnings of short stories that can be found online. I’m also stealing her short story from this week because I LOVED it and want all of you to read it. (Promise to find my own next week!)

{The Book – Short Story} The Regime of Austerity

{The Author} Veronica Schanoes

{First Sentence – Paragraph}

Under the Regime of Austerity, Stella can no longer afford much color. What she gets she uses on her hair and her eyes, even though all the magazines say that’s a waste. Hair falls out and eyes tear up, and eventually the color wears away and she’s left with nothing until her next ration coupon. The magazines recommend using color on things like coats and shoes, things that last a long time and don’t get washed often. These days there are a lot of gray people walking around in bright blue coats with green shoes. Lately it’s become popular to use color on the inner walls of your home. There are a lot of people walking around completely gray, and it’s hard to tell whether they’re trendy or simply too poor to afford any color at all.

Read the rest here.

{Did this make you want to read the rest of the story?}

YES! As soon as I left a comment on Ohh Books!’s post I headed over and read the rest of the story and I really loved it. It made me think of Jasper Fforde’s upcoming novel Shades of Grey which comes out Dec 29, 2009.