All Comments by Alkamyst

Quite a good start. Well done. ;-)

Not too Bad at all. Well done. ;-)

Interesting piece. Well done. ;-)

Cool! ;-)

Not too bad at all. Well done. ;-)

Hi guys. Just a quick mention. I've added Chapter Threes to Keysersoze's 'A Churning Storm of Sameness' and jwryt's 'The trail'. Please feel free to peruse and/or 'critique' said pieces as is your wonts. ;-)

Not a bad opener. Well done. ;-)

Great continuation. Well done. ;-)

Whoops! That,of course,should have read not bad 'AT' all. ;-)

Not bad all. ;-)

Great teaser. Interesting to see where it goes. ;-)

Interesting possibilities. Well done. ;-)

Excellent. ;-)

Love the end line. Makes one's mind boggle, especially if one has a twisted mind.
Well done. ;-)

Not bad at all. ;-)

Not too bad. ;-)

Well done. ;-)

Not bad at all. ;-)

Uh-huh! ;-)

It has taken two distinct paths methinks. A little hard to keep track, but as you said, all in good fun. ;-)

Nice add-on. Well done. ;-)

Not too bad at all - a second character. Just as obsessive compulsive, our sexy brunette? ;-)

Great piece. I wouldn't mind adding to it myself . . . but . . . what direction do you wish to head in, 'coz I have a tendency to turn things around a tad. ;-)

Not bad at all. ;-)

Well done. Nice opener. ;-)

Well done. Excellent follow-up. ;-)

Not bad. ;-)

Great starter piece. Well done. ;-)

Good start. ;-)

Well done. ;-)

Again well done. ;-)

Great start. Well done. ;-)

I like it. ;-)

Ha! I can see Renfeld or Igor making an appearance soon. Well done. ;-)

Thanks Honey. ;-)

I'll take that as a compliment . . . I think?
Thanks Honey. ;-)

I tip my hat to thee. Well hell, I've gotta make next weeks rent somehow don't I?
Well done. ;)

Sorry guys, but you all know I just had to do it . . . don't you? ;-)

And yet another twist. This is getting interesting. Well done. ;-)

I like it . . . it's funny. ;-)

Excellent! ;-)

Well done indeedly. ;-)

Cool or what! ;-)

Ditto! ;-)

'Curiouser and curiouser', as said by that strange girl who suffers from height uncertainty. ;-)

Not bad at all. ;-)

Somewhat different. Well done. ;-)

Oh dear! Remind me never to cross you Honey. LOL! ;-)

Nice little entry. ;-)

Great visual. ;-)

Good stuff. ;-)

Yeah, I agree. Well done. ;-)

Ha! Know the feeling. Sometimes you just can't get rid of the little blighters can you. Well done. ;-)

Ditto with Honey, t'ain't half bad at all. Well done. ;-)

A Freudian slip? Is that related to the flip-flop or the wing-tipped pig-stabbers (I think that'a what they were called, those really pointy ones, or was that Madonna's conical bra? I can never remember)? All in all, well done like a pig on a spit. ;-)

Now this is interesting. Well done. ;-)

Is it just me, or does the horse nebula look like an inverted boot sometimes?
Nice twist. Well done. ;-)

Damn! All I do is crap in my boots . . . huh? Um! . . . Feh, c'est la vie. ;-)

It's getting way too interesting. Tongues out for a little sole-shoe shuffle methinks. ;-)

Another doozy . . . shoe bet! ;-)

Real bad . . . and ain't it just grande?
Well done. ;-)

First it was toe to toe, now it's mu to mu. Well hob my nails, dye my khakis and call me grunt. I love it. Do we have a challenge brewing, hhhmmm?
Well done. ;-)

Ugly feet? You can go toe to toe with your unfetishable verbal expectorations if you want, but I prefer thumb wrestling. LOL!
Well done WWB. ;-)

Uh-huh! Fine! ;-) Is that better?
Hey, he told me to do it correctly. Go on, gimme' another valium, please?

I like it. ;)

'I dream of Jeannie, the light brown hare.' Whoops! Sorry, that's Bugs Bunny and Tony Nelson. Willie Nelson? The old dude with the pigtail? Thinks he can sing (oo-er, how nasty of me)? I remember him . . . don't I?
Only joshin' y'all. No . . . really!
Job well done. ;-)

Ha, great comment. Thanks Hebe. Greatly appreciated. ;-)

From its very own orifice (unseen as yet of course) - 'goo, gooet, gooeticus, gooeti'.
Which in goospeak means excellent piece. Extremely well done indeed. ;-)

Excellent piece Hebe. Extremely well done. ;-)

Thanks heaps Honey, and I speak for all of plantdom . . . except for stinkweed . . . serious fertilisation problems there methinks. Damn! ;-)

I give lessons. Five thousand dollars a head, and you get to keep the heads.

Thanks again WWB, and again greatly appreciated. ;-)

You have to be inventive. The right client could pay out a small fortune. It's the calling card you see. You have to leave the right calling card. My preference at the moment is for Tarot cards. Unfortunately, my last client didn't like his reading . . . ? ;-)

Sub. 8? Damn! I wanted to go all the way - crazy, crazy, I not lazy. I are heading through to the mazy fantazy.
Thanks by the way. ;-)

Thanks WWB, greatly appreciated. ;-)

Thanks Honey, I greatly appreciate your kind words . . . mind you, I've always been told that I'd make a great psychopath. ;-)

Great little piece Honey. I've added a piece to it. Hope you don't mind. It's a little creepy, but I think it fits in quite well. ;-)

I'd love to add to this, but there's no way I could match it. Well done indeed. ;-)

Excellent opener. 'The Duel of the Jaded Dragons' (whoops! That should be Jade of course).
Brilliant characterisation. Very well done indeed. ;-)

Just a quick note to say thanks for putting my piece - 'Growing Pains', part of the wonderful Quickie project - up on the front page. In all honesty, I've never had such a great honor, and I have been on a few writing sites.
It's an even greater honor for the simple reason that I write strictly for my own pleasure, and as such, my writing is neither technically perfect, nor good writing (in the accepted definition). The excellent work I have read during my visits to this site (I can't visit here all the time due to work commitments and such like) has really opened my eyes to the amount of talent the world has to offer, and I am proud to be even the tiniest part of it all (and if my old English teacher could read this now she would probably rap my knuckles with and Elizabethan dictionary, or a house brick. Not sure which one is the heavier)
Thanks once again. You have made an older wannabe writer feel a little less. ;-)

I've added my two bits worth for 'Growing Season'. You may find it a little different (Bwahahahahaha!), but, levertheness, I hope you will weed it out and have a reed.
Thanks once again for the comments already. ;-)

Thanks WWB & WBS, it's greatly appreciated. Can't wait till I go through the rest of the quickies. LOL.
I'm a strong believer of curve balls and red herrings, and considering I don't like sport or seafood there's something seriously wrong with me methinks, but having said that I must admit, I do have a soft spot for humour - the zanier, the better. It might not be 'technically perfect' or even really good writing, but one should always write for themselves first, above all else. Of course, that's only my opinion and what do I know - I write about megalomaniacal moggies and plants intent on taking over the entire world. Feh! C'est La Vie . . . ;-)

Im sorry guys. I just couldn't resist it...I mean come on for goodness sake, plot after plot. Romance, Drama, a touch of Horror (hey, telepathic plants? Sheesh! Triffids-The New Breed. Or mayhaps AudryIII). Why not a sprinkling of Sci-Fi. Yes, it is completely over the top, but by crikeys it was fun to write and I offer no apologies whatsoever. ;-)

Plots everywhere. A horticulturist's nightmare . . . whoops! not yet it ain't. Bwahahahahahahaha!
Ahem . . . well done. ;-)

What can I say . . . I like it dangnabbit. ;-)

Aw how sweet . . . pea. Well done. ;-)

Cool or what? Well done. ;-)

Great name for the cat. Personally, I think it should have been 'Catnip' or 'Cactus' or something, just to fit in with the theme . . . but then again - 'Fayt' as in fate can have extremely interesting possibilities. Well done. ;-)

Interesing twist again. We're getting more sub plots than a veggie plot has subs. Well done. ;-)

Romance isn't dead. It's in the greenhouse getting a little blue with Ivy and Red (a better nickname for grape imho). Oh dear, is that then to be a menage a'tree?
If they're not careful there could be little plants popping out everywhere (including AudryII).
Think of all the sequels: 'Attack of the Killer Cumquats', 'Night of the Ravenous Rhododendrons (?)', 'Dawn of the Deadly Daffodils', or even worse - 'Madder Rose'.
When will it all end?
. . . oh, by the way, well done. ;-)

Bugger! I've run out of herbaceous punnets at the moment. Oh well, p'raps later. Well done. ;-)

Ah, the plot reapens. And so shall we sow what's going to happen next? Stay pruned. ;-)

It's getting interesting. I may just have to continue reading it.
And so are the 'hays of our chives'. Well done. ;-)

Nice little add on. Well done. ;-)

No sour mash here.
Mmmmmm! Fruity. ;-)

Thanks for your kind words **Wolf, I appreciate it greatly. ;-)

Well done. Nice lead in to who and what he is. Still needs to come back into the present though before the 'supposed' climactic ending. ;-)

Excellent job. Same quibble as with the other two chapters, but still briliantly executed.
Well done. ;-)

Not a bad attempt. On a side note, c'mon guys, do you seriously think that a ten chapter saga is going to have a fulfilling, if not satisfying, end? I have been writing my saga for twenty years (on and off that is) and it has ranged from before time (taking into consideration that time is after all a human-created concept) to the end of time. Best of luck is all I can say
Now, back to this chapter. As with the last chapter, the fact that it is a flashback should have been placed within its confines, unless you are doing it as a completely separate entity. Short? Maybe, but I have and always will say that the length of a piece should not detract from one's enjoyment, and it certainly does not make the writer either lazy or any worse a writer. All in all I think it was a fairly good piece and a reasonable follow-on apart from the minor quibbles.
Well done. ;-)

Good follow on. Only one minor quibble; midway through your chapter, it may have been advantageous to other writers to refer back to the present, letting everyone know that it was indeed a 'tale' being told by a hunter to his prey (read flashback). Aside from that, I don't feel any action was needed in this specific chapter. After all, there's still a lot more to come, right?
Job bleedin' well done. ;-)

Apologies for the bad lettering and spelling. It appears as if my brand-new second-hand laptop has keyboard issues. Oh well, c'est la vie! ;-)

Extremely well done. The flash forward was actually well-timed in my opinion, and I shall try to explain why. An epic story (and poetry to some extent) can go through many generations, from storyteller to storyteller; from one time period to another (in fact, I'd like to see it go into the future - cyberpunk come technomancer type pieces). Although it may seem disjointed, each telling of a 'certain tale' so to speak enhances and adds other dimensions to the entirety of the saga. Arnon is about to tell his version of just one of these tales, and each and every different telling of a tale will have a link that ties everything together. And therein lies the true and epic Saga.
good job. looking forwar to reading the rest of the 'tales'. ;-)

Good rhythm. Job well done. ;-)

I'd leave it as it is. Sagas never can be perfect simply for that very reason - it's a saga. Do you honestly think the Bards of old ever worried about perfection, especially as most were in the thick of the battles right alongside the warriors.
Good job. ;-)

LOL! Excellent little twist (well, not so much a twist as giving it a little sense of humour) on the whole saga idea. The last verse was a gem. Odd as some may think it seems, many epic poems I've read do follow that simple rhythm. I clap my hands in appreciation . . . damn, I forgot about the lights.
Well done. ;-)

Beautifully rendered, epic-wise. Well done indeed. ;-)

Nice continuation. Well done. ;-)

It's different. Whether for better or worse is irrelevant. I like it. wel done. ;-)

Not too bad at all. Well done. ;-)

Great job. ;-)

This isn't too bad at all. Well done. ;-)

There's a miniscule sense of Poe in there somewhere. Well done. ;-)

Excellent job. Everything that can be said has been, but I will add that in true Gothic style, an inanimate object becomes a threatening character of its own. I like.
Well done. ;-)

A lot can be said, and intoned, in a single sentence. Short or long is irrelevant if the story sets a good pace and makes sense. The dream sequence was excellent - a sense of foreboding, or serendipity or even good fortune - there are so many ways this story can go. As long as the Gothic feel is still present, as it is here, what more can anyone ask?
Well done. ;-)

Good ending WWB. You've done us all proud. ;-)

Excellent job. Fairly good character background for Malachi; that little snippet of his past really adds to the story. Being the beginner of the story, I probaly would've gone a different way . . . but then that would have spoilt the enjoyment of the overall story, wouldn't it.
Job very well done. ;-)

Agreed. I like the use of the cat being an almost integral part of the story, almost like a native american's animal totem or a witch's litle companion (can't think of the correct terminology off hand) and with Darkheart's special talents . . . ?
A couple of minor quibbles - just general grammar and spelling etc. - nothing to overly distract from the piece. I did find it started a little slow, but it soon picked up with great effect. Darkheart as a suspect? Interesting!
Job well done. ;-)

I'm quite tetched. Thanks heaps . . . oh, I always find a good dose of 'salts' certainly clears things up rather adequately. Also good for removing bloodstains. ;-)

Bugger! Ignore the merrors in that lamst comment. I didn't wrote it I dom't nake mistakes lyke hat . . . honest. :-)

I doff (?) my hat to you. Well comntinued. I wom't quibble about the French, it's still a tickler of a chapter. ;-)

Thanks tbh, appreciated. ;-)

I like it. ;-)

. . . great piece! ;-)

Breathe in...breathe out...breathe in...breathe out...breathe in...
Thanks Hun (hope ya' don't mind?) I'm tetched, or is that meant to be touched? Never can decide between them two. I sometimes use the pen name of 'Tanyon Jochia Blood' - please do not missapproriate this moniker of mine mishievously or malevolently else I be most mad, morose and somewhat quite mean - and I remember a short-lived wrestling 'superstar' (yes, I admit it. I find the WWE extremely entertaining) simply called 'Mordecai'. And with a little jiggery-pokery and a tiny sprinkling of word wizardry I came up with 'Darkheart'. Marvellous things words. Them that are those that we so delight in playing with, and, what's more, a tonne of feathers or a tonne of bricks?
Now, where was I . . . ah yes . . . breathe out . . .
Sorry about that. I sometimes have a tendency to go a little crazy. Thanks for your comments, greatly appreciated. ;-)

As with any written work, a first chapter could be the greatest opening chapter ever created, but it ain't worth crap, holy or otherwise, if it ain't got the rest to support and continue the story. To give it the substance, legal or otherwise (where's that damned syringe?). LOL
PD's were and are addictive - each consequent chapter maintaining the reader's interest in any way possible, and most of the time were always better than the chapter preceding it - that was/is part of their charm.
Having stated that . . . uuummm . . . what was the question? ;-)

Too messy, besides, who's going to clean up the mess? LOL
Thanks NB, much appreciated, but you'll, 'crap' so to speak, all over my entry . . . not too much though, eh? ;-)

Comments? Comments! Damn, do you mean we are supposed to comment on pieces?
Quirky little piece. Well done. ;-)

Great idea NB. Methinks you are thinking smart.
I've just added a couple of more, 'chapters' so to speak, to my 'Seriously Peculiar Happenstances'.
Relatively short, but I hope you find them entertaining anyhoo. ;-)

Well done indeed. 'Nuff said. ;-)

Dawn of the Dead in Cloverfield just between Dracula's Tomb and the double-screen Drive-In. Hot-dogs and Sodas included in the price of the ticket. Come one come all, open Mysteries door for an unnerving surprise. Foul he cries - give me absolution . . . or is that meant to be absoluteness? Oh deary me, the answer unknown I must confess. LOL.
Well done.

A cup is a cup. Empty - it is but a shell. Full - it has substance and meaning. Discard it and it becomes refuse. Keep it and it becomes a favorite companion.
Bit like life really, ain't it. ;-)

Quite a good piece. Many differing avenues, many plot and subplot possibillities, and, what's more, it's a good 'real' Sci-fi. Well done. ;-)

I've done my bit. If you don't like it let me know and I will bow out graciously. Thanks for the comments already. ;-)

Definitely a different feel from chapter one, and no, there's nothing wrong with that. Shows individuality and uniqueness.
Well done. Like the light-heartedness of your approach to the piece. ;-)

Definitely Southern Gothic. Job well done. ;-)

That is true. There were/are many different types of PD, from Gothic to Fantastical, and from Boy's Own (and Girl's Own, not to be non-PC (?)) Adventures to Westerns. Pulp fiction is also as sub-genre.
Contemporay PD's would be the likes of the Dr Who novels and the novels created from RPG's like Dungeons and Dragons etc,. There was even a phase of really badly written stories, mostly horror and crime.
When I was editing and publishing my small-press magazine, I received a lot of stories that could've quite easily fitted in with PD's. Some great stuff, and some not-so-great of course.
I hope you didn't take my comments the wrong way. The reason I stated about the blood and gore is because you were lucky enough to get the monster story (see what happens when you relax one day too long. LOL), and I'm actually quite jealous. But that's neither hither nor thither. Most of the Horror/Monster/Crime PD's, as far as I can remember by the very few I read many, many years ago, were generally over-the-top and violent.
Having stated that, my apologies if taken the wrong way, and as WWB sais, there's no real need for a rewrite; let's just see what the rest of the chapters turn out like. ;-)

A glib bib for a niggled rib. Trouser dousers not for wowsers. LOL.
Thanks a lot WWB, appreciate it. I'm proud that you mentioned I've set the bar high, considerinbg I always hated sport whilst wearing a younger man's clothes, especially the high jump. Could never get my leg over . . . strange how some things never change ain't it. LOL.
Thanks again. ;-)

Thanks Djinn. I appreciate your kind words. I tried to stick as close to Goth-like as I could, plus all the blood, guts and gore of course. Most of my really early stuff was quite visual, wordy and gothic to a point, so it was a lotta' fun. Looking forward to reading all the other chapters of all the pieces. Thanks again. ;-)

Not a bad piece at all. Well done.
Only two minor complaints: a couple of spelling errors at the start (unfortunately, a great story can be sadly marred by errors, no matter how minor), and where's the blood and gore? Where's the Pulp? Blood, intestinal fluids and scatterings of grey matter should be literally dripping from the page. One of the other gems of 'Penny Dreadfuls' is the fact that they are all over the top. Overzealously technicolor and exageratingly (sic) violent.
Give us the red.
Still, well done. ;-)

Thanks guys. I appreciate your kind comments no end . . . but . . . if the truth be known, basically they're just random eruptions from a tetched and volcanic mind. Humourous? Yes. Rhyming? Yes. But wise and magickal? The board's still out on that one.
Still, thanks again. ;-)

I've actually never tried anything like this, but I have a piece that may just fit in as chapter one of the crime thriller. It's actually a short, complete story, but I think I may just be able to modify it a tad.
Gothic? Well that does actually depend on one's definition. Anything can have Gothic elements in it. One person's Pulp could be another person's Goth.
Anyhoo, see what ya's all think.
If no good, well, I'm sure someone else will put their talons up.
So, how do we start? ;-)

Yeah . . . that's cool! ;-)

Needless to say, the probable possibilities of the exactitudinousness of this abundantly eloquent farcicality deems further improvicationally, and not withstanding, unrehearsed contemplationary investigations.
Well deed in done.

Some gloriously goopy green gunk. No wonder rolling stones gather no moss, the stuff slips off the squished froggy fondue.
Isn't it amazing that in the old days, during witchcraft and the like frogs and toads were supposedly collected for their heartstone (a 'stone' of magickal power somewhere in their heads . . . go figure.)
I liked it, well done. ;-)

I'm tetched.
Thanks for the great compliment. I agree with your comments in relation to randomness and hilarity 100%, of course, I'd be silly if I didn't wouldn't I.
Now, having said that, hello, welcome to my story and . . . um . . . what was the question again? ;-)

Thanks, I appreciate it.
I hoping to add more to it soon.
Thanks again. ;-)

It's not a bad piece, good possibilities. It needs a little work, but overall it's alright. ;-)

Once a piece is published, it can't be edited anymore unfortunately.
I wouldn't mind trying my hand at adding a chapter to your piece if this is alright with you. Let me know what you want or expect from your story and I'll try to continue it.

Thanking you muchly, and am looking forward to having some serious fun . . . no, I can't say that's an oxymoron because I know many welders who aren't.
Thanks again. ;-)

I like this piece.
'Nuff said methinks. Well done. ;-)

Indeed it is.
Is what you may well ask?
Is quite possible that I too am an unmentionable thing - the accursed 'new basher'.
A daunting challenge I assure you as I have never been to Newbash. In fact, if the truth be known I've never been out of my own state . . . of mind. Which, as it happens, brings up another relevant point.
If you know what this point is please let me know.
Having stated that, greetings, and may you welcome me to 'Storymash.'
Of course you may.

A female friend of mine once quoted that 'dogs are female - women are bitches'. LOL
No offense intended. I like the humour in this work. It's well-written and I think it has great possibilities for a humourous children or teen's story, or an injunction against Mother Nature until she apologises to you.
Well done. ;-)

Not bad at all. Your story has great possibilities. But, of course, all praise needs a balance. One minor complaint - you've got the beginning of a great Ghost/Gothic piece. That last line has got to go, just my personal opinion. Why mention Wall street, stock exchange, payrises etc. at all, unless that's what junior is crying about; 'oh the inhumanity. They be getting a better wage than I. Whoa is me.' Ahem! Sorry, couldn't resist that.
Aside from my silly ourburst, I quite like the possibility of what this piece can be capable of.
Keep it up. ;-)

Gadzooks! Methinks that I have missed a challenging challenge that has challenged the challenger moreso than the challengee. Some glorious prestidigitation of oral plenitude. Either that or 'a word by any other definition will still spell complete'
Me? Personally, I'd go for Challenge #2.

Hey, thanks for the great compliment. And no there won't be any dead parrots, but there may be an albatross or two on sticks somewhere. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say more'n'more. ;-)