Quote by sprite

Just got word that the Canadians are building a wall to keep us out.

Lol, and who foresaw that in a Lush story ... I give you my Punk competition entry (Handmaiden meets Bladerunner) featuring the free states of the world paying for Canada and Mexico to build walls to keep you know who out:

I thought a vacation in the Australian Alps would be a bit cooler, its reached 37 C every day! But there are yellow tailed black cockatoos (there must be a story in that innuendo) and not Sydney's ubiquitous sulfur crested white ones.

I really would like to find the time to write in Eliot's memory, I have an idea so we will see.

Congratulations to all who entered and particularly WW, LyfBuz and Ensorceled for their three stunning podium stories. A fun competition with lots of different takes on the theme.

Quote by KimmiBeGood

It’s 27 degrees F here. If you each pick a place to start licking, I might thaw out by Valentine’s Day.

What a coincidence, it's a cool 27 here too ... though I understand C does differ a tad from F.

In a few hours, (6 to be precise,) Piquet and I will be doing the Meet the Authors #3: Oceania Edition in the forum. See you there.

Unusual fact South Australia (where Piquet lives) is 30 minutes behind the four East Coast States (New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania.) It was one an hour behind and some business people wanted Adelaide to be on EST and 30 minutes was a compromise.

Quote by sprite

thanks for reminding me to suspend you.

But but but, suspension ... then what happens when I finish fourth.

Evening all, so sorry to hear about PJH. A lovely man, RIP.

Weather, well ... in the high 30's today (that's 90's for those who still do F.) And the three year old was prepared, he'd assembled swimming paraphernalia early (like his Xmas body board) beside the front door; mama took the hint and the harbor water was perfect, (it will be much more than a hot minute before I take him to one of Sydney's surf beaches.)

The TV news included the Northern Hemisphere, God knows how they choose what to show but tonight's clips were Lexington in Kentucky (I thought of two Lushies) and Harrogate in Yorkshire (a couple more Lushies.)

Heads up, on January 9th, Piquet and I will be part of the third Lush 'Meet The Author' event. It's an official Lush event where we two Aussies will chat, perhaps wittily, about our work and our experiences as authors here on Lush. The event is in Forum : Chat and will be hosted and moderated by leftlingula. (starting time in the links below) I hope you can drop by and ... Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi.

A lovely surprise to wake up to, thanks Kimmi and your twin for organizing and judging. And thanks to all who entered and those who read and enjoyed the stories, congrats to Susie and WannabeWordsmith whose hint stories I loved.

Only ten hours till 2025 (and being a quarter of the way through the century.)

Happy New Year to you all; may 2025 bring you health, happiness, and lots published stories. I have finally mapped out a blue story (how ever did writers manage last century with out google,) and should get time to tart it up in the next week or so.

As the clock struck midnight, the fireworks’ barrage lit up her astonished face. He smirked, imagining she’d twigged he’d ring in 2025 by proposing after the last firefly flickers had fallen from Sydney’s Harbour Bridge.  

But her hand, investigating scuttlebutt, had furtively snuck into his mate’s shorts.  She kneaded the ginormous swelling cock-meat and whimpered. Eyes closed; her salacious New Year’s resolutions weren’t the usual monogamous ones of new fiancés.  

High 20's C, extreme bush fire warning. Expecting 35 C tomorrow.

Quote by Ensorceled
Anyone interested in a little friendly wager? For the SS comp over on the blue site: Lush writers vs. SS writers? Team Blue vs. Team Red? Best average score? If you write for both sites you get to choose your team. I'd be Team Blue.

Lol, as my results are way better on Lush than SS I'll have to go team Red.

It's 7:30 am on Christmas Eve and I've done the fruit and veg shopping before most of the crowds. Now off to work and then on to the first family festivity, my uncle's tradition Christmas Eve shindig. Been so much fun so far, seeing Christmas through the eyes of one very excited three year old.

Merry Christmas to you all. Enjoy and remember the sunscreen, it's hot out there this time of year.

Two flash competitions, I have only just recovered from the Lush one (mind you I had two goes at it and went with my second attempt,) but I have what I think is a cool idea for the SS competition. Molly clarifying that it doesn't actually have to be about snow came as a relief as I have no experience of snow, but now I think snow is going to get a mention.

Quote by LYFBUZ

looks around It is quiet in here. I'd like a root beer float please, preferably with vanilla Haagen Daz. The Comp entries are pouring in, I wouldn't want to be a judge. Lots of great stories including by some of the regulars around here. Its a balmy 34F here, I might take my bike out.

It was 34 (or more here too) but balmy isn't the word I would have used. Humid with an expletive in front of it would be more accurate.

Looking forward to reading more Competition stories, the ones I have read so far have been so very good.

It's Christmas, so sunscreen up and stay hydrated 😇

Evening all, so hot and humid down under ... I should say enough of that innuendo, Annie. Except I wrote a whole flash about that, thanks to all who have checked it out. It's a fabulous competition, I've really enjoyed the ones I have read so far. Hope you all have a good Sinday.

The Ghost of Christmas Past

I'm in, early (well in the sense of not being a day or two before the competition closes) for once

Quote by JamesLlewellyn

OK, so – does it have to be about Christmas? Would another religion's Winter Festival do?

Asking for a (feckless) friend…

What, it has to be a winter festival?

No flashing of my summer Christmas midnight Mass story in the Competition List, you mean ... End Northern Hemispherism I say.

Quote by JamesLlewellyn

Good morning, y'all! It's the first day of Advent for those of us who subscribe to the Christian calendar.

And the first day to open a door on your Advent Calendar, for those of us who have them.

Where did the year go?

Alright, so his grandparents bought him a Bluey (I hope I do not have to explain Bluey, as it is the most watched show in the US despite being about a family of Brisbane cattle dogs) advent calendar, with chocs every day till Christmas. The first was consumed at 7:45 am on the first and then a meltdown was occasioned by a parent saying the second choc would be tomorrow.

Hope your summer, whoops some are less than summery atm, is going well, here the jacaranda has fallen, the humidity is rising and there is only one seasonally appropriate song for us all:

Congrats to all who entered, the top ten and in particularly the podium three. I've not read as many as I would like, but did manage three of the top four, which were a testament to the quality of writing on Lush. I also loved many of the stories outside the top ten, which shows how deep quality runs.

As always, thanks to those who entered, who read and commented, who organized and who judged. Thanks also to those who read my story; bring on the next competition.

Quote by deviantsusie

34 stories in so far and almost a week to go.. still a few regulars missing - can we get odds on a raunchy last minute entry with an Aussie slant and colloquial wordplay?

The quality in this one is really good.. It's taking me a while to get through them.. must be over 200K words all in so far.

Last minute, I so dont know what you are talking about. Just submitted, 50 minutes before midnight on the 17th. But that's Australian midnight, so in reality I have plenty of time before the US time guillotine falls.

Quote by Ensorceled

And one more, a story by that devious bastard Verbal. It's a tentacle-sex story he wrote back in the day. He says it's the best thing he ever wrote here, but be forewarned he has a pretty high opinion of himself.

https://www.lushstories.com/stories/monster-sex/beneath

This is one of my absolute favourite Lush stories, which inspired my approach to my two tentacle stories ... though I do like Purr (the Verbal and Sprite cowritten story ) just as much if not a little more.

Interesting, Post Covid the US economy seems to have performed better than comparable countries. I had read in our local press in the lead up to the election that US median household income in 2023 was over $80,600, an increase of 4.0 percent, having adjusted for inflation. I thought the Democrats would get credit for that, jobs and even inflation where the US really has out performed many other countries.

Then I googled today and saw this Median Income breakdown, which may have more explanatory power:

No high school diploma $36,620 + 1.1

High school, no college $55,810 + 4.3

Some college $73,610 +3.1

Bachelor’s degree or higher $126,800 + 3.1

Congratulations to all, especially those now with the coin, and thanks to Kimmi for organizing. Lots of fun 😘😘

Quote by KimmiBeGood

I hope you all had fun! Winners announced tomorrow! 😊

But it's already tomorrow here, like fifteen minutes into All Saints' Day, the 1st of November EST ... oh, I see, you don't mean that EST. I will take myself to bed then.

“Everyone started eons ago, Mom!”

“Irks my intuition, Faith; no hijinks, limited candy!”

With mom tricked, Faith’s Halloween treat was the almost-slutty—undies optional—outfit in Mandy’s wardrobe.

Mandy began at the foreboding Gothic mansion; Faith blushed, entranced by Lilith’s black leather corset. “Trick …” 

Her friend interrupted, “Or naughty treat!”

With randy Mandy fucked, Miss Lilith’s toy-filled dungeon seduced the virgin trick-or-treater into her dissolute sapphic, albeit sugar-free, coven.

I popped in, but got distracted (8:30 am Friday) by work so didn't actively participate. So good to learn a little more of Ines and Carlton's approach to their craft, writers sharing experiences is always a fabulous idea. One issue for me, having entered the chat well after the beginning, I didn't see what had been discussed before I arrived: was that me or the function of the software?

For a girl who always starts with the beginning then the end of a story, the Whodunnit presents a unique challenge. I've written a 3000 word opening I like, and a 1500 word conclusion I like ... but how do I craft a disingenuous middle? My role model so far is a certain influential Agatha Christie story, but I don't want this to be too English (though it's set in England.) There's a bit of hard boiled Raymond Chandler style in my Aussie narrator.

I'm in two minds, to continue or to start again, but binning close to 5000 words is a tad traumatic.

Quote by Jen

Just to clarify, I don't want this comp getting too narrow, or want people to pore over the technicalities.

If people want to be creative with their writing, that's fine. Plot twists are fine. The only elements I'm looking for are:

1. There's a crime

2. The story eventually reveals who did the crime

3. It's fucking hot.

Generally in a whodunnit, the perpetrator isn't revealed until the end, so if you want to write about a crime that it seems like one person has done, and it turns out to be another, that's fine in my book.

If you want to reveal the perpetrator halfway through instead of at the end, that's also fine, but the initial actual perpetrator should be unknown.

So not necessarily this from Wikipedia: 😇

A defining feature of the whodunit narrative is the so-called double narrative. Here, one narrative is hidden and gradually revealed while the other is the open narrative, which often transpires in the present time of the story. This feature has been associated with the Russian literary terms syuzhet and fabula. The former involves the narrative presented to the reader by the author or the actual story as it happened in chronological order while the latter focuses on the underlying substance or material of the narrative.QN4TnPpOjpTXWoOM

The double narrative has a deep structure but is specific, particularly when it comes to time and a split gaze on the narrative itself. The two tales coexist and interweave with the first tale focusing on the crime itself, what led to it, and the investigation to solve it while the second story is all about the reconstruction of the crime. Here, the diegesis, or the way the characters live on the inquiry level creates the phantom narration where the objects, bodies, and words become signs for both the detective and the reader to interpret and draw their conclusions from.

Quote by sprite

so... murder or theft - any opinions?

Just thinking through a plot and at the moment the answer is ... both.

I have a title (and not much else The No 1 Lesbian Detective Agency. Which is of course a play on a modern detective series.

As for sheep brains, the real test is sheep testicles which I have seen on a menu as (not in these parts I might add,) mountain oysters.

Congratulations and thanks to all who entered, read, commented, organized and judged. Special congrats to those on the podium, unfortunately life kept me so busy that I only read 20 percent of the stories and only three in the top ten. One was TheShyThespian's which I totally loved; I will have to find the time to read many more inside and outside that top ten.

Newcastle NSW