The Curved House has been hosting the Visual Verse anthologies for a good long while now, but I’ve only recently learned of it. Their monthly writing exercises are a good way to keep the writing craft warm.

The word count cannot exceed 500 words. For someone like me, that’s a serious challenge.

The story of Dandy Meters is a quirky fantasy with a surprise ending. Here’s an excerpt:

Dandy Meters always twisted reality to his will. He once saw ghost gum trees in a book about Australia, and got an idea. He tapped the book with his finger, and sneezed. It was a simple, little sneeze.

Hundreds of ghost gum trees sprouted, no, they exploded out of the ground like the long, frenzied arms of zombies. …

}} Click* to access this story at Visual Verse.

Visual Verse: An Anthology of Art and Words, edited by Preti Taneja, Volume 9, Chapter 9, The Curved House, Kington, England, July 2022.