Words for Wednesday & IWSG December 6

This challenge started a long time ago. Now it has turned into a movable feast with Elephant's Child as our coordinator; and the Words provided by a number of people.

The general idea of this challenge is to make us write. Poems, stories, subtitles, tales, jokes, haiku, crosswords, puns, ... you're the boss.
Use all Words, some Words, one Word, or even none of them if that makes your creative juices flow. Anything goes, only please nothing rude or vulgar.

 It is also a challenge, where the old saying "The more the merrier" holds true.

So Please, remember to follow the links, go back and read other peoples' stories. And please leave a comment after reading. Challenges like this one thrives on interaction, feedback and encouragement. And we ALL need encouragement.

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The prompts for today as for every Wednesday in December are provided by WiseWebWoman, and made public at EC's blog.

For today we had:
Oysters
Herringbone
Puffin
Needle
Broom
     and/or
Hummus
Crochet
Locket
Sprocket
Market

Back in August I had the half-baked idea that one of the poems in Olav's fake magic potion book actually did work.

We left Olav, Susan, Heidi age and Lis sitting at the beach waiting for the full moon to rise early and them to test the verse.

Let's see what happens.


The beach was strewn with shells and other remains from big and small sea creatures. And when they dug a hole to bury the remains of their egg rolls Olav was sure, he had found an oyster shell, but Susan had to tell him that oysters did not live in the waters around Unicorn Farm, and that it was probably just a very old black clam.
They also found a couple of herringbones and the deteriorating beak of a puffin, Olav knew what it was, the others suspected it to be a discarded toy made from plastic.

Then the moon rose, and as soon as it had cleared the horizon Tage intoned the verse from Olav's book:

Monster, monster from the sea
come to shore and speak to me.
Full moon waning in the gloom,
Hero rising for his doom
Suppress partner, pressure go!
Trash can ballet, warrant too.

Straight as a needle the water jets rose from the water, Susan made a start, as if to run for her broom, but Heidi caught her hand, and they remained standing on the sand, watching.

The monster surfaced. It was long and sleek, reeking of overripe hummus, its scaled flanks towered over the children, when it neared, but its voice was surprisingly gentle.
"What do you want from me, human child?"
"I would like to know the meaning and purpose of that verse," Tage said.
"The meaning is obscure, lost to the mists of time, unravelled like an old crochet blanket." The monster spoke slowly, ponderously. "The purpose of it is to summon me, but only once a century do I heed the call. Tonight was the night."
The children looked at one another and back at the monster.
The monster spoke again. "Since you all seem guileless, not intent on abusing me or your powers ..." it looked at each of them in turn, its phosphorescent eyes boring into theirs. They met its scrutinizing gaze, afraid and curious at the same time "Since it is so," the monster continued, "I'll give you this locket. It belonged to a seafarer, long lost at sea. Maybe it'll lead you to treasures and riches. Maybe it'll only tell you where he bought his sprocket at the market before he set out on his last journey. Farewell young ones."

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Today is also the first Wednesday of the month. Time for the monthly Question from the Insecure Writers' Support Group

December 6 question: Book reviews are for the readers. When you leave a book reviews do you review for the Reader or the Author? Is it about what you liked and enjoyed about your reading experience, or do you critique the author?

My answer: This is the hardest question yet! I hardly ever read a book review, and the few I have written for my blog were all written as part of some challenge and read just like some, I could have written for a school assignment long ago.

Really reviews are not my thing. I like to read the book and like it or not, independent from what others might think. Also for this reason I do not read the prologues, forewords, preambles or what ever they're called until I have read the book.

The answer is: I tell about what I liked or not about the book. If the book is filled with typos, spelling errors or inconsistencies, I tell about this too, as I think it is of importance for my reading experience.

If I ever get to publish a book, I am not going to read the reviews of it. But I like to be corrected, and have learned to say 'thank you' to anybody pointing out my mistakes.