"The war goes well," the sergeant said, as he #issued the conscript a pair of ill-fitting boots and an obsolete rifle. "You'll be a hero," the officer said, as he shuffled toward the front. "He was a fool," his mother said, when they handed her a flag. #vss365

The problem with public #transport, she thought as she clung to a strap while the bus crawled through rush-hour traffic, was the inverse ratio between the two components. That, and the distinction between public and politicians. #vss365

Writing is an imprecise #science: while it can make testable predictions about the natural world, those predictions often onion. #vss365

Think of a #number, any number. Multiply it by the number of times someone asked you to think of a number and you panicked because there are too many numbers and you blurted out "Seven!" because everyone says seven but you were supposed to keep your number in your head. #vss365

I've heard it's possible to write a #vss365 every day, but I think that's a #myth, like Pandora's fox and the Truth Fairy.

She developed a system to #measure the surreality of individual dreams using only a thermometer and a talking penguin. The scale went from "Fish, please?" to "And we have erased the electric planet to its former quarry," but in centigrade. #vss365

Fiction woven from a true lie and art (10) #vss365 #literature

School had taught her the most basic logic principle, the #law of excluded middle: what is, is, and what is not, is not. Most days, she felt illegal. #vss365

In the #language of dust, silence is a scream. #vss365

She thought of herself as a social scientist: improving her economics by using psychology to persuade rich men to overlook her history in favour of her #geography. #vss365

tick, tock time's running out in the near future every ignoramus will be #famous for long enough to shame us #vss365

She was drawn to an older man because she thought his life experience might broaden her #education. To be fair, she did learn a lot about discipline and just how small an outfit could be while still qualifying as school uniform. #vss365

After forty years with him, she had finally achieved #domestic bliss. It all hinged on a simple compromise: she would sit at whichever end of the sofa she wanted, and he would sit on the mantelpiece. #vss365

as a #creature teacher my class would need to feature sufficient depth for my students to reach a full understanding of the nineteenth-century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche while seeing to it that in the process I do not myself become a creature #vss365

I have decided to make writing my #business, in the same way Donald Trump made casinos, steaks, vodka, and tertiary education his business. #vss365

"Do you celebrate #halloween?" "Is that like Kanamara Matsuri in Shinto?" "What?" "To be honest, I've never found one good enough to regard as sacred, but if I ever do, I'll certainly be celebrating." #vss365

#Ray always seemed like such a sunny guy, right up until his death. #vss365

#argent: (noun) a sophisticated pirate. Etymology: coined in 1684 as a nom-de-pillage by the buccaneer Extended Jonathan Silver, Esquire. #vss365

today I will #experiment with joie de vivre and merriment testing the null hypothesis that hope ain't where my pathos is #vss365

shadows #creep up the wall no one throws a lifebelt for the sinking sun darkness comes #vss365

"I discovered I have a #Heliacal cat! She's already ascending to the Rarified Layer!" "Do you mean Jellicle, and Heavyside Layer?" "No, I mean the dog built a rocket. He's just launched her into space, heading for the sun." #vss365

She sips hot chocolate in the dark, sitting at their cold kitchen table. It's a sleep disorder, the doctor said, he has night #terror. Him! He never woke up with hands on his throat. #vss365

#Martian parents still frighten their young into behaving with tales of the common cold. "If you don't eat your red weed," they might say, "I'll send you to Earth without a hankie!" #vss365

time out of mind seventeen signs #unseen assent assigned declined, maligned sub routine #vss365

how I cope caffeine for #energy dopamine to direct the caffeine codeine to make the dopamine possible nicotine to reward the dopamine and keep it flowing basically, I'm a heroine #vss365

Her grandmother used Brooke Bond tea leaves, steeped in a Brown Betty teapot, strained into a china cup perched on a delicate #saucer. Her mother uses teabags, dropped and drowned in a mug. She drinks instant coffee, the caffeine powering her anemoia. #vss365

Fun fact: there are more #atoms in a glass of water than in the whole Pacific ocean. Most people instinctively don't believe this, because they think the Pacific is real rather than a mono-molecular hologram built by ancient aliens to lure human sailors to their doom. #vss365

He'd #hover at the bar like a hawk suspended in a cornflower sky, and with the same unwavering focus: prey. But she knew how blind even hawks could be: he'd never spot the bait was poisoned, not if she looked mousy enough. #vss365

There remain many unanswered questions about AI. For example, can an #android get a hemorrhoid if it's training to parse a daily log? #vss365

People were drawn to her #unearthly beauty, usually by her tentacles. "Am I pretty?" she would ask as she dangled them in front of her eldritch maw; she took their screams as affirmation. #vss365

Never trust scientists: entomologists recognise four hundred thousand different #beetles, but they can't even agree on which one was the fifth. #vss365

"Why are you drunk and not working?" "We've got no vehicles." "What happened?" "Canadian ninjas took the whole fleet." "So you downed a bottle of forty-year old Scotch because Canucks with nunchucks stole our dump trucks?" "Yep. Expect an influx of #deluxe upchucks." #vss365

an expensive school taught a defensive rule: senses fool; a voice soaked in honey smoke and money, the southern grown #undertone of a comfort zone; his linen suit hid a sinful brute; the Mr Clean front of a libertine #vss365

"Get me a #piranha sandwich and make it… with a soft, brioche to balance out the greasiness of the fried fish without masking the delicate flavour." "Do you want capers?" "No, I don't enjoy them." #vss365

The hood of the shapeless #raincoat sagged over her downcast eyes. She saw a few inches of pavement in front of her feet, and that was enough. #vss365

"What's up?" "I've lost my #verve. The doc gave me some drugs, but they don't seem to be working." "You should try a Libertine." "What's that?" "A new cocktail. Old Monk rum and Minute Maid peach juice." #vss365

"Tangerine, clementine, or #libertine?" "What's a libertine?" "A new hybrid. It's a cross between a blood orange and a finger lime." #vss365

white #ash staining the land the locals call it snow they take their washing and their children in #vss365

Some days, writing and real life #clash. #vss365

appreciate #associate appropriate assimilate #vss365

She wanted to watch a video promising powerful techniques to improve patience, but there was a twenty-second unskippable #advert before it started. #vss365

she’s #elastic she’s got a horse part made out of plastic she uses it in ways quite gymnastic 'cos she ain't no nun she’s got a mister and God only knows where he's kissed her but on the palm of his hand is a blister 'cos he don't get none #vss365

#pulp: cotton stripped made wet beaten into sheets bound used for shameful stories #vss365

each fleeting moment became its own contingency, an urgent #oasis offering opportunities to flourish and we drank #vss365

the past seen through a glass darkly masked by a whisky #blur whatever hope seemed sparse was only wish deferred #vss365

I suppose my reluctance to write for #vss365 might spring from anxiety about exposing my tract to #scrutiny. I know it's natural for them all to be different, but I'm worried that people will think mine is weird.

I haven't managed to write a story for the last three #vss365 prompts. Could this be the day I succeed? #Perhaps.

Remember, not coming up with a #vss365 story every day isn't a #catastrophe, because a catastrophe is a feline punctuation mark which indicates possession (of everything).

Error #19925: Story #extrusion has been halted due to congealed reality in the mixing zone. Clear the blockage, and try roll forming before re-engaging. #vss365

Due to a recent surge in peculiarity, words are temporarily out of #stock. We apologise for any inconceivable. #vss365