New Chapter!

The new chapter of Gargoyle is up!

https://www.jukepopserials.com/home/read/355/?chapter=0&p=0

Please register for free and vote! Thank you!

~ Alice

Untitled #1

Hi again!

Just a short piece today, inspired by this and this.

There were parties here, in my honour

'Til you sent me away.

It's the same as it always was, high and empty and wood-lined. Stairs coil upward, to the stars painted on the ceiling, scattered around the silver chandelier that hangs with the weight of the moon. At night it shone so softly, catching in the folds of their dresses as they spun. Coral pink and blue and yellow, lace edged and hand sewn. Men in suits of a blue so dark it looked black on their light skin, waistcoats with gentle whorls of paler blue and yellow ties buttery against their cream shirts. Feet that know the age-old patterns, hand in hand across the warm pine boards. Orbiting each other, close but not that close, moons and planets switching places, thrown from partner to partner in chaos always so delicately planned. The grand lines of piano and violin, an orchestra so much a part of the building that it might have been carved into the walls, cornicing so life-like as to play the rhythm of the dance with their plaster fingers. Time never touched it. Even now, empty as it is, not a thing hangs out of place. Spiders have not dared touch it. Dust never rests its weary wings.

It's the same as it always was.

But life has left it behind. 

-

~ Alice 

Chapter Three

Oh boy.

This one was a big job. No speed editing for me! Hah. But it's better now, so go and read it, here.

You can't read it without registering, though. Sorry 'bout that, but it's free to join.

Alice.

The First Bit of Fiction

This is a bit of an odd piece. It's inspired by two things; 1) These drawings, and 2) this song. That should give you the right atmosphere.

-
I'm A Painful Truth.

--

I'm a collector.

You don't know me.

You never will, though I know you.

I know the origin of the chain around your neck (belonged to your mother, though she never wore it, never wanted it. Never wanted to be chained to your father like that, with his fists and his knuckles and the flat of his palm, and the light that only whiskey brought to his eyes.)

I know the origin of your boyfriend's tattoo, Clara, black and dripping on his wrist. It scatters ground glass on your heart when you see it.

I know the origin of her tombstone, too. (Granite. Stirling Hill.)

I know the origin of the bell above my door. It was first rung on a Saturday. By another Clara, funnily enough. She'd only been dead a few hours.

Go on, take a look around. No hurry.

There's a cabinet, do you see it?

Yes, that one.

Antique, you know. I got it in London, just before it burnt up. Would have been a waste of time, really, if I hadn't seen it in the window, but I did, so it wasn't. Beautiful thing, isn't it? Go on, you can touch. This isn't a museum, for somebody's sake. Go on, have a look. Tell me what you find.

First drawer. Labelled 27. Contains fourty-five shattered egg timers and a length of string.

Second drawer. Labelled 7:3. One apple seed and a blonde hair, in a twist of brown paper.

Third drawer. Labelled “D: Even More Appalling”. Sixty four teeth, including four slightly curved canines, the tips brown-stained.

Fourth drawer. Labelled “JTR.”-;

That's enough now.

I know the origin of all of it. You do too, if you think about it.

Not many people do.

You see, I get a lot of people through here. Nobody really likes to look. Run in and out, they do.

Not that I mind, exactly.

I can see why.

Mind if I take your photograph, sweetheart?

Oh, just for the collection.

-

-Alice

Hello!

Hello.

I already said that, didn't I? Ah, well. I'm Alice Paladin (You can call me Alice. Or alternatively "Hey! You!". I don't mind which.)

I write things. I listen to music, and read, and watch science fiction - but mostly I write. I've been writing down the world inside my head since I could hold a pen, and now I'm pretty sure I'm good enough to share it with you lot.

So yes, that's what this blog is. My first novel is serialised here, and you can email me here. Shorter pieces are going to posted on the blog, as are a few other ramblings, though I'll try not to go on too much. Can't promise anything, though*.

-Alice

*However I can promise that "The Gargoyle Of Saint John's" will always be updated on Fridays, probably (but not always) between 7 and 10pm GMT. If I'm going to be late I'll tell you here first.