The Writing on the Wall

Tonight is a night of perceived horrors and frivolity. It is the end of October, the night of Halloween. And with the coming of this night, when the fabric of reality goes all wibbly, when wraiths and spectres slip through the holes and into the realm of men, we see the end of Pictonauts October. Words were written across the skin of paper and the skein of electrowizardy of computer screens, ideas were spun out of whimsy and fear in equal measure. Some people finished, others didn’t. There are causalities in every endeavour and we must not think less of those who didn’t haul themselves across the broken bodies of discarded words and phrases, to the top of Mount Pictonaut and scream into the windy night “I am unbroken! I am victorious!” It wouldn’t be a challenge if it was easy. Even though it really is easy, some people are just fucking lazy (and I love you for you laziness, truly I do). I could make an awful pun about walls and how, with the deadline now reached, there’s writing on them. But I fear that would be almost crass in the ease at which it could be made, I’m better than that. Puns are not the master of me. I can stop any time I want.

Now to the matter at hand. At the start of the month I furnished my scant and disparate readership with the image you see below, the eponymous “Writing on the Wall.” Once again I am delighted to say that I’m not alone in churning out a tale like it were wordy buttermilks. And even more delightfully the wordascopes that I’ve seen are once again all very different.

I personally think I missed the mark with the whole horror thing. I’m not sure what I’ve ended up with. It’s something, that I have no doubt of, but the question is what exactly that something is. The rest of the wordascopes are similarly lacking in bowel loosening terror, they are also not entirely terrifying, more unsettlingly bizarre. They leave you without answers nor explanation. They leave you only with a feeling of deep unease. I think it’s better this way.

The Rogue Verbumancer – A patient in a mental hospital is not entirely what he appears…

Ali “The Terror” George – A tale of punishment and determination.

Andrew “The Thing That Man Was Not Meant To Know” Blair – A story somewhere in the grey and misty regions between body horror and the supernatural. Mr Blair can also be found on twitter at @aagb1884

Remember to check out #pictonautchallenge for updates, information, links and such like. And don’t forget to pop back tomorrow for Pictonauts November.