Instigation

+ Bind a book in something dastardly...but avoid the obvious (lemme guess: skin, right?). + There's a campaign afoot to nominate Cthulhu for president (http://www.cthulhu.org/). Create a Lovecraftian story that satirizes today's politics. + Write a short-short with the title "Surgical Puppet Theater" *** Congratulations to Kathleen J. Trimmer who recently published a short-short called "Getting Off Death Row" in Cthulhu SM (3:13) based loosely on a past Instigation prompt. If you publish something instigated by this department, let me know and I'll mention it here!

+ What does the moon say to the lycanthrope? Write a monologue. + A wife suspects her husband is a serial killer when he's not. Script their argument one night when he comes home late from work. + Torture a competitive eater. Don't use hotdogs. *** If you publish something instigated by this department, let me know and I'll mention it here!

+ Dramatize an electroshock therapy session in second person, future tense. + Sketch a humorous conversation involving the devil's accountant. + Adapt the features and traits of any cartoon character into a "real" creature or man, exploring the freakish results. (e.g. What would a "Spongebob Squarepants" creature >really< be like, if living flesh in the real world? Write it out, obliterating the original reference to the cartoon in the process.) *** If you publish something instigated by this department, let me know and I'll mention it here next issue!

+ Reveal a horrifying disfigurement behind a woman's veil. + Something is "bulging" beneath Charlie's sweater. Jane is obsessively fixated on this. Dramatize the revelation of Charlie's hidden surprise. + Create a character who has no fingernails. What happened to them and what surprising skill can he perform without them? *** I'm sad to report that my weekly "Instigation" column will no longer appear in Hellnotes newsletter, because it is a newsletter no more. Moreover, the "Wee Small Hours" flash fiction webzine has been canceled. But not to fear: Hellnotes is still alive under the editorship of David B. Silva,…

+ Place a deaf person in a burning building. First sentence: "(S)He didn't hear the alarm." + Place a wheelchair-bound character on a sinking ship. + Dramatize the methods of a "slow" serial killer. *** Instigation is a WEEKLY department in Hellnotes newsletter...who also now publishes a new online magazine of stories based on my prompts, called Wee Small Hours!