Okay, Steemians! It's time for another exquisite corpse, where several writers tell one narrative in a relay succession. One writer starts it off, usually me, then hands the narrative off to another participant, who then hands it off to the next writer, and so on until the story is finished.

We've done two of these so far, and I'm amazed at the level of commitment and dedication, not to mention the talent, that everyone is bringing to the table. Some writers have received their first @curie votes participating in this exercise. So dust the cobwebs out of your imagination and let's go for a funky ride!

Image from Pixabay.

Legs of Exquisite Corpse #2

Exquisite Corpse #2 was titled "Get Off My Farm, Punk!" and began with me laying the groundwork in what I thought was surely going to be a brain-twisting challenge, but everyone pulled it off quite nicely. It began thusly:

Quetzalcoatl burst through the fog and slid into Main Street in Flushing, Queens with a jolt of energy he hadn't known since exploding through his mother's birth canal. His feathers were on fire and his serpent head twisted so that his neck appeared to be tied in knots while his face and eyes examined the big city landscape behind him. The tractor beneath his cockatrice-green body puttered to a standstill, blocking traffic in both directions.

From original post, but Pixabay first.

Part 2

@sarez followed up very well with the second leg of the story, which started off with these words:

The sound and din of the road died away as the door of the ladies room closed behind Quetzalcoatl. He was surprised to find the huge mirrors along one wall and could not resist preening in front of them. He did look like a god and when he ruffled up his feathers, Yes! just like this - He looked very nice indeed. Then a small woman stepped out of a stall and banging the door shut she stalked purposefully toward the wash basins. She glanced at Quetzalcoatl on her right and muttered "And I thought my mother-in- law was a dragon!" and went on with her ritual of washing hands and brushing hair and so on.

From the original post.

See what the fuss is about here.

Part 3

Never a disappointment, @quillfire kicked me in the surrealities and I got to see my name (my real name) in print for the first time in I don't know how long (a few hours, I guess). His exquisite, and riotous, prose started off swiftly in this manner:

“So, what have we got, Sammy?”

“Charcoal,” mused Fire Captain Sammy DeMoine. With a gallows-smile, he turned and stepped towards the blackened remains, now encircled by yellow crime scene ribbon. “Jack … Alice Louis. Alice … Detective Jack Hampton. He’ll be solving the mystery of your spontaneous combustion,” DeMoine proffered with a gesture towards the corpse.

From the original post.

Catch it in all its glory.

Part 4

@ireenchew threw her own squirly girlies in with this drastic opening:

Cihuacoatl and Quetzalcoatl walked the streets of Manhattan in silence. Both of them in their own deep thoughts.

From the original post.

Nosedive right in.

Part 5

@fromage is another writer who never disappoints. He took the story in quite an unexpected direction with this meta beginning:

So here we go.

Hmm.

Gonna go get some tea.

The kitchen floor was cold. Should have put on socks. The kettle scraped along the grate above the burner. What was I going to do with this one. Maybe I could...

From the original post.

Read it here.

Part 6

@dranuvar is a very talented writer and a bit on the underrated side. He took the narrative to a whole new level with this opening:

In The Alley:

So, is it enough to make a BBQ or something?, God knows I’ll need to do something big for Sheryl if I want to be forgiven for ruining our dinner… again…

From the original post.

Catch it right here.

Part 7

@blueteddy is ever crafty and delightful with her prose, and she didn't disappoint either with this awesome beginning:

Hotel Lobby

Hampton smiled politely at the hotel clerk. It didn’t appear to help. The swat team had just made their way up the stairs and the girl looked like she was going to give in to a panic attack any second now. He hated resorting to shows of force like this, but according to his witness the suspects were dangerous. He was risking a lot with this move. The courts would say one little boy who had just seen someone baked alive and a mystery phone call weren’t reliable witnesses. Generally he would agree, but it was this or put out an APB on a snake and a bird with a fondness for gold jewelry.

From the original post.

Read it here.

Part 8

@bennettitalia had the unfathomable task of pulling up the rear and tying up the loose ends (which is not really an expectation of the exercise). Boy, did he take that task on! His masterpiece begins like this:

Quetzal cleared his throat. "Yes. Unfortunately, yes. That is the situation. I have to... er... obtain an audience. To ask Prince Asmodeus. For... help." His voice faltered at the last two words, so that they were barely audible.

From the original post.

Check it out here.

Part 8b

Writing one ending wasn't enough, so @bennettitalia decided to keep going and tie up all the ends. So his part of the story keeps going with this genesis:

Boots. That was the sound. It was the sound of bootheels clicking on cobblestones. And it fucking sucked.

Ride this wave right here.

Word has it that he's working on a part 8c. More power to him! As he's working on publishing that, it's time to start another one. Are you ready?

Exquisite Corpse #3

Now that you've got a taste of what several imaginations working in tandem, or not, can do, why not join us for another wild ride? I've got a special twist for the next one. So far, @quillfire has volunteered to get in. Who else wants to join?

The rules are pretty simple. All you have to do is pick up the narrative that goes before yours. Then hand it off to the next writer. Tag all participants so we can keep up with the story. Your part of the story should be 300 to 3,000 words, and you can take it in any direction you want. I'll pick the theme and set the order of the writers. Try to publish your piece within a three to five day window from the previous leg of the story.

So who's in? Let me know in the comments below. We begin when this post pays out.

Get your weird lit on:

The Biblical Legends Anthology Series

Garden of Eden	Sulfurings	Deluge
At Amazon	At Amazon	At Amazon

Limerents in the Bog

At Amazon

While you're here, check out the backside 5:

• Blocktrades contest entry
• Poetry Sunday: Siege
• Steem Monsters Starter Pack Winner, and a Good Laugh
• Winners: Farmpunk Fiction and Steem Monsters Starter Pack
• Steemit Business Plan Competition Entry

Review Me, Please

Created by @EdibleCthulhu
#speculativefiction