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Who is Icy Sedgwick?
Icy is a folklore blogger and host of the Fabulous Folklore podcast. She is based in the north east of England, where she was born and raised amid the folk tales and legends of Tyneside and Northumberland. Icy is fascinated by history, cinema, art, and the occult, and griffins will always be her favourite mythical beast. She also writes dark fantasy novellas, Gothic short stories and the occasional weird Western, and she holds a PhD in Film Studies!
*shiver* Don’t know who the lady was but I don’t think I’d want to go anywhere with her! 🙂 Liked it very much, Icy.
Purty good yarn there, podner!
Blackjack Bud ain’t an honorable man. I suspect there’s a worse fate than Edmund’s awaiting him.
Awesome the way you tied the supernatural element to the western. Well done!
I perked up at “saloon.” Very little in the way of even vaguely Western #fridayflash. Jon Strother better come out and give it a look.
Awesome awesome stuff. I love the way Edmund talks.
This was hilarious, a real fun read “But this is poker” was a ROFLMA moment. I know exactly how Edmund feels sometimes.
Marc Nash
Love it! I can tell you had a lot of fun writing this 🙂
Fantastic writing again, Icy.
The fish out of water device beautifully twisted. The Edwardian gentleman straight from his Club in Gower Street, the hardened, gun-toting Westerner immediately recognisable from his Wanted poster.
Playing cards. Perfect.
I thought you handled the dialogue well; there must have been a temptation to overdo the English gags but you held a tight rein.
If I may critique one tiny area: the descriptive words in the saloon and final para were lovely, delectable, delicious – for the gunfight, I wonder, did they affect the pace a little? The concentration on detail during that scene was visual and if that was the intention then I withdraw the comment, but as a reader, I wanted to snap from look to look, from hand to gun to shot, to shock. Really punch your way through the action.
Just a thought. But another superb piece! I do enjoy reading your Flash.
Janet – She’s my Lady Death. She pops up periodically when she gets bored.
FAR – He’s in my current novella, as it happens.
Catherine – It’s something I’m working on for a future project so thought I’d start now!
John – My WIP is a Western and I’ve been reading up on the Old West…it certainly grips the imagination.
Raven – If there’s only thing I love writing, it’s Victorian English!
Marc – Edmund felt the need to point out the obvious as Blackjack Bud isn’t the sharpest tool in the box.
Chris – Oh, I loved writing it!
ibc4 – Thank you for the comments! I guess that’s how I pictured it in my head so that’s how I wrote it, but I could always take another look at it.
I really enjoyed this one. Great humor early on before it all hit the fan. And it looks like his adventure is just beginning.
Eyes filled with stars? I’ll have to check out the other stories then!
I say Edmund poses like a gentlemen, but he asked for what he got, cheating or not. Great story, Icy!
Loved this Icy! Very interesting reading a Londoner’s western where the cowboy has trouble understanding the king’s English. 🙂 Great dialog there, cool characters and ideas. As usual, staying tuned!
I enjoyed the verbal wordplay between these two and then the fade into the supernatural was a nice ending; even if I was sad that he had to get shot.
Excellent story. Perfect characters, setting and dialog. I can tell you really enjoyed writing this, because it shows in every line. And the mysterious lady in the end…shivers.
Eric – I’ve found myself really enjoying writing Westerns of late, but yeah, I had to provoke a few wry smiles!
Mari – He didn’t actually cheat, but he is a bit smug.
Harry – The dialogue was the most fun part to write!
Aidan – I’m glad you liked it.
Rachel – I love my mysterious lady. She pops up from time to time to remind me to do something with her.
There was no way that tough gambler was going to accept losing to an overedumacated Enlish fop.
Good dialogue and scene-setting Icy, and I love the ghostly ending.
Nice. I love the description of her voice, too. Very creepy, indeed. I’m looking forward to seeing where this one leads.
I loved the dialogue in this – all the way to Edmund cursing himself for not burying his knife in Blackjack’s gun hand.
Nice story to that point, and then the arrival of the midnight-haired young woman just kicked it up another notch.
Excellent stuff.
Great feel, Icy. The slash across the face was visceral.
Smashing dialogue and even an Englishman is able to play a little dirty. Good to see Lady Death back in the action. I reckon she could be a graphic novel character, too.
Adam B @revhappiness
Hey there! I’ve got an award for you back at Randomities. 🙂 http://bit.ly/bunch_awards
An excellent start to a trilogy, I’d say. Looking forward to the follow up stories.
oooooooo, good story, Icy! I liked Edmond and was sad he was dead… until I realized the story was really just beginning. Yummy! Looking forward to it!
Fantastic writing Icy. It flows so well and moves at a perfect pace. I too love the contrast between the modes of speech. Who is this mysterious woman and why does her face fall? Western to afterlife story in one shot. Marvellous.
Love it!!!
A) I’m desperately afraid of ever ending up with this hand in a game of poker.
B) I love Edmund and how easily he offends. “I consider you a natural raconteur and easy wit.” Love it!
c) I love the lady in the death coach- so much imagery there- the millions of tiny stars in her eyes, the voice like a “thousand flies around a caracss”. Really well done!
I found myself trying to cheat and skipped to the end, but the horror of missing the best kept me faithful. How vivid and hooking. I saw Blackjack Bud’s every expression and I felt when he was slashed on the face. Great job at taking me there.
Can’t wait to see what happens next!
Black lips, grey teeth, star-eyes? Oh my God! I don’t understand cards at all, but this hooked me right at the beginning.
I can see why the Blackjack Bud would be offended with that kind of language! Edmund should have been careful when he saw the marks of a past brawl.
On to part2.