Thanks to Merrilee Faber over at Not Enough Words and Anna at Quills and Zebras for a fun word challenge!

The rules are this: write a story that is 26 sentences long. The first sentence must start with the letter ‘A’, and every following sentence begins with the subsequent letter of the alphabet, ending with ‘Z’. Easy, right?  Sure…

Here is my crack at it. Let me know what you think.

(Warning – may contain a swear word…)

** Update! Ruzkin over at Scribbles & Dreams is in on the game too!

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All along the seafront they came.

Bevies of them slid through the waves, flopping themselves up onto the darkended shoreline. Charlie wasn’t sure whether to run away, take photos or try and capture one. Digging cold fingers into the sand, he rolled out of the way just as a huge specimen crashed onto the spot he’d been lying.

Elephant seal, he thought, but he couldn’t be sure in the dark – he just knew it was black and shiny.

“Fuck me! Get away, ye big blubbery bastard!” He didn’t wait any longer. In a few minute more, the beach would be overrun with the damn thing. Just one was large enough to crush a man. Kneeling up for a better look, he realised he’d made his decision. Leaving, and leaving NOW, was his only option.

Moonlight greyed the eastern sky, and at last he could make out a path through the dark shapes. Not enough light yet to make out what they were, he thought with a shudder, but enough to get away. One cautious step at a time he crept towards freedom, but a hole in the sand tripped him and his camera felll out of his hand and bounced off the flank of the nearest leviathan.

Photography forgotten, he fled. Quick as thought, he bolted through the patchwork of dark and light. Running at full pelt, he didn’t see the tentacle keeping pace, slithering along beside him.

“Stop!”

Turning to see the source of the voice, he tripped again, sprawling full length on his belly. Underneath him the tentacle wriggled, then erupted out of the sand, rolling him onto his back.

Venturing one terrified glance upwards, Charlie was stunned to see his camera, still intact, held out to him in the delicate webbing of a second tentacle.

Warily he reached out and took the dangling strap in one hand. Xanthous spots shimmered yellowy-green along the gleaming black flesh.

“Yours, I think,” said the voice, a strange blubbery kind of sound.

Zoology definitely didn’t prepare him for this.

Is it just me? Or has 2009 been crazy time for everyone else too? Someone told me yesterday it’s 12 weeks to Christmas, which brought on an attack of end-of-year contemplations.

I don’t indulge in New Year resolutions. But I generally do a kind of end-of-year roundup of what-I’ve-learned and what-do-I-want-more-of. I shan’t impose that on you, gentle reader, but I can’t help reflect on what a weird year it’s been.

And in amongst all the craziness, I have FINALLY complete the manuscript for Kindred Spirit and it has been forwarded to Bernadette Foley at Orbit Books Australia for consideration. You may remember it was one of the works picked up for the inaugural QWC/Orbit Manuscript Development Program in 2008. Clearly, it needed more development than most!

Now I have a new Work In Progress. Working title is Starstruck, but that will change once I think of something better…  ;-)