17 October 2025

Published October 15, 2025 by rochellewisoff

The next photo is the PROMPT. Remember, all photos are property of the photographer, donated for use in Friday Fictioneers only. They shouldn’t be used for any other purpose without express permission. It is proper etiquette to give the contributor credit.

PHOTO PROMPT © Lisa Fox

The photo prompt this week is of a forest/park. There is a picnic table to the right in the background. The tree in the foreground has an unusual rounded branch on the right side of the trunk that arches almost to the top.

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Genre: Historical Fiction
Word Count: 100

TAKE ME UNDER YOUR WING

“Run, Havah!”

The sound of her mother’s last scream filled Havah’s head and pounded in rhythm to her footsteps. Beech trees loomed in the forest ahead; their gnarled roots circled above the ground like dancers at a wedding feast. They whispered somber melodies.

Rocks, frozen grass and thorns stabbed the soles of her bare feet. There had been no time for shoes, no time to dress.

Who would pray for their souls?

She forced her heavy mouth to shape the Hebrew prayer— Kaddish—prayer for the dead and prayer for the bereft. “‘Magnified and sanctified is your great Name …’”

The excerpt I shared this week is from my first novel PLEASE SAY KADDISH FOR ME. It’s available on Amazon. More about my books HERE

15 August 2025

Published August 13, 2025 by rochellewisoff

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. The next photo is the PROMPT. Remember, all photos are property of the photographer, donated for use in Friday Fictioneers only. They shouldn’t be used for any other purpose without express permission. It is proper etiquette to give the contributor credit.

The photo is of an old graveyard. It looks like it’s beside a church. At any rate the headstones look to be quite old.

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The following story is a rerun from ten years ago as I’m still on vacation visiting my brother. Actually at this point, I’m bidding a fond farewell to him. The photo is also a rerun. Some of you wrote stories for it. Feel free to rerun yours as well.

Genre: Historical Fiction
Word Count: 100

WHERE THE GRAPES OF WRATH ARE STORED

“Water…somebody…please.”

Clara knelt next to the Union soldier and held a cup to his lips. The stench of feces and decaying flesh made her stomach roil. Her back and neck ached from three nights without sleep.

“Don’t you remember me, Miss Clara?”

At once she recognized the bright child from her long ago Texas schoolroom.

“Of course I do,” she whispered. “Save your strength, David. We’ll talk later.”

In one heart-stopping moment something ripped through her right sleeve. The cup dropped and David fell back, quivering in the agonies of death.

Clara Barton never mended the bullet hole.

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18 July 2025

Published July 16, 2025 by rochellewisoff

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The next photo is the PROMPT. Remember, all photos are property of the photographer, donated for use in Friday Fictioneers only. They shouldn’t be used for any other purpose without express permission. It is proper etiquette to give the contributor credit.

PHOTO PROMPT © Sandra Crook

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Genre: Historical Fiction
Word Count: 100

Another WWI hero denied his due in his own time.

WHAT DID YOU DO IN THE WAR, DADDY?

Twelve-year-old Elsie listened with rapt attention to Uncle Jim, Daddy’s army buddy from the war.

“There I was, bleeding in that French field, waiting to meet my maker. Then here comes your daddy, larger than life, slings me across his shoulders and runs back to the bunker under enemy fire.”

“Daddy never told me.”

“He’s too modest. It angers me that he never got the Congressional Medal of Honor he so deserved—because he was a Jew.”

War’s not about medals.” William Shemin shrugged. “I love my country.”

Elsie ground her teeth. “Daddy, someday I’m going to right this wrong.”

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21 March 2025

Published March 19, 2025 by rochellewisoff

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The next photo is the PROMPT. Remember, all photos are property of the photographer, donated for use in Friday Fictioneers only. They shouldn’t be used for any other purpose without express permission. It is proper etiquette to give the contributor credit.

PHOTO PROMPT © Sandra Crook

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Genre: Fiction
Word Count: 100

SHINE ON

Granddaddy leaned back in his threadbare recliner. The faraway gleam in his faded blue eyes told me a story was coming.

“Ginger stew. Mommy mixed in brown sugar and ginger. According to her it’d cure jest about anything.

“Rainwater made the best moonshine. And ya needed good tree cover in the woods. A-course it weren’t legal. We was always lookin’ over our shoulders for the law.”

“Why’d ya do it?” I gasped. “Wasn’t ya scared?”

“It was our cash crop. Scared? Nah. It’s like dating a woman that’s married,” he chuckled. “If it ain’t got risk, it ain’t no fun.”

21 February 2025

Published February 19, 2025 by rochellewisoff

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The next photo is the PROMPT. Remember, all photos are property of the photographer, donated for use in Friday Fictioneers only. They shouldn’t be used for any other purpose without express permission. It is proper etiquette to give the contributor credit.

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If this photo prompt looks familiar to you, it’s because it’s a rerun from Aptil 2016. I’m sort of rerunning my story from that week although it needed tweaking. 😉

Genre: Fact and Fiction
Word Count: 100

SOURCE OF KNOWLEDGE

At a critique group I shared an excerpt from my historical novel set in 1904.

“‘…The taller officer, an imposing presence with dark skin, fascinated Havah. Although she had read about them in Professor Dietrich’s books about Africa and American history, she had never met a Negro face to face.’”

“I hate to burst your bubble,” said another writer with self-assured conviction. “I doubt there would’ve been a black officer back then.”

Returning her smug smile, I opened my Kansas City history book to a photo of Lafayette Tillman on horseback. “Second one on the KC force.”

.

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11 October2024

Published October 9, 2024 by rochellewisoff

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he next photo is the PROMPT. Remember, all photos are property of the photographer, donated for use in Friday Fictioneers only. They shouldn’t be used for any other purpose without express permission. It is proper etiquette to give the contributor credit.

PHOTO PROMPT © Mr. Binks

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Genre: Historical Fiction
Word Count: 100

THREE STEPS AND A HOP

Ettore patted Jerry’s head. “How’s it going small fry?”

Twelve-year-old Jerry squared his shoulders, stretched to his full four-foot-three-inches, glaring up at his six-foot-tall eighteen-year-old brother. “Who you calling ‘small fry’?”

The youngest of eleven siblings, he’d always be the shortest.

Over the years his lack of height served him well as an actor and a stuntman. His hand and footprints appear in front of the famous Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood.

Puffing on his cigar, eighty-year-old Jerry Maren reminisced about his part in The Wizard of Oz. “Great times. That mangy mutt made better money than us Munchkins did.”

20 September2024

Published September 18, 2024 by rochellewisoff

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The next photo is the PROMPT. Remember, all photos are property of the photographer, donated for use in Friday Fictioneers only. They shouldn’t be used for any other purpose without express permission. It is proper etiquette to give the contributor credit.

PHOTO PROMPT © Lisa Fox

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The following is a repeat and if you remember it, bless you. It means you’ve been on board the FF bus for seven full years! 😀

Genre: Historical Fiction
Word Count: 100

RADIUM DIAL

“Jinny was barely growed. 1914-1934” Her lower lip quivered as she traced the dates on the headstone with a frail finger. “She earned $17.50 a week painting them glow-in-the-dark clock numbers.”

Wind gusting across St. Columbus Cemetery chilled me. “Let’s get you home, Mrs. Abbot.”

“Not yet. I want you to see.” She seethed and brandished a Geiger counter probe over her sister’s grave. “Jinny took sick. Strange. Her jaws done crumbled. Died like the other girls at her factory. The doctors made lame excuses. Damned liars is what they was.” The machine sputtered. “That sound like Diphtheria to you?”

To know more…lots more CLICK HERE.

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28 June 2023

Published June 26, 2024 by rochellewisoff

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Genre: Historical Fiction
Word Count: 100

WHEN YOUR IMAGINATIONS COME TRUE

“Can Lucy and Katie eat with us?”

Grandma shook her head. “Nonsense. It’s for sure and certain they’re imaginary, Maud.”

“They aren’t nonsense. They live in the fairy closet behind the bookcase. I’m going to write about them.”

“Enough!” Casting his steely-eyed gaze at eight-year-old Maud, Grandpa pounded the table. “Ladies don’t write.”

Maud later wrote, “Down, deep down under all the discouragement and rebuff, I knew I would ‘arrive’ someday,”

During her lifetime Lucy Maud Montgomery published twenty novels, including Anne of Green Gables, over five-hundred short stories, an autobiography, and a book of poetry. She indeed, had arrived.

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14 June 2024

Published June 12, 2024 by rochellewisoff

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The next photo is the PROMPT. Remember, all photos are property of the photographer, donated for use in Friday Fictioneers only. They shouldn’t be used for any other purpose without express permission. It is proper etiquette to give the contributor credit.

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Genre: Historical Fiction
Word Count: 100

WE BEGIN WITH THE YOUNG

“I like the pretty golden bird on the cover of this book, Opa. What’s it about?

Herrick gently took the blue, leather-bound volume from his granddaughter.

“This was given to me a very long time ago.”

“Will you read me a bedtime story from it?”

Gathering Gretchen onto his lap, Herrick closed his eyes and remembered the day the youth leader had issued him a fresh uniform and the virulent tome. So proud he’d been to serve his country. So fervent.

Herrick fished a pack of matches from his pocket.

“Nein, Liebling. I ‘ve a better plan für dieses buch.”

LAST DANCE WITH ANNIE is available to order in hardback, paperback or ebook, HERE, HERE, and HERE! Also available on Amazon Canada, Australia, UK, Germany and New Zealand.

26 April 2024

Published April 24, 2024 by rochellewisoff

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The next photo is the PROMPT. Remember, all photos are property of the photographer, donated for use in Friday Fictioneers only. They shouldn’t be used for any other purpose without express permission. It is proper etiquette to give the contributor credit.

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The following is admittedly a seven-year-old rerun. I’ve been extremely distracted of late and didn’t feel I could get away with another “my muse didn’t show up story.”…which she didn’t. 😉

Genre: Historical Fiction
Word Count: 100

FAMILY TREE

“‘And they lived happily ever after.’” Leah shut the storybook.

Shifra’s raisin-brown eyes, round as bottle caps, sparkled. “Bubbie? Did you love Grandpa at first sight?”

“He was only eight when we met. Mama took him in…hid him from the khappers, bad men who snatched little Jewish boys from their homes and made them serve twenty-five years in the Czar’s army.”

“Did she hide him in the closet?”

“No she was smart, my Mama.”

“He was like your brother, right?”

Leah pointed to a tintype on the table of two little bonneted girls and grinned. “More like my sister.“

*****

Below is my first attempt at creating a reel on Canva and posting it to Instagram. It works on my end if I click the picture. Let me know how it works for you.

The ebook can be preordered HERE, HERE and HERE! Release Date is June 4! If you’re not an ebook fan, paperback and hard back copies will be available on and after June 4! 😀