The story of the week for November 2 to 6 is…
Blind Date by Matthew Gregory
There’s so much story told here, almost purely by insinuation and reading between the lines. Chilling.
All posts by Tim
WILLIAM SHAW: Indigestion
The moon had been eaten again.
People glanced through the bullet-proof glass of their homes in the stratosphere, realised the time of the month. None of them worried.
The creature would regurgitate it again soon, bit by bit, its surface shining with saliva.
Perhaps one day it would admit defeat.
William Shaw is a student, blogger, and amateur journalist. He is slightly obsessed with the moon. You can find him on Tumblr, where he writes haiku poetry about Doctor Who.
PAT CAMPBELL: Made To Order
Shelby felt bad about flying off the handle like that, knocking all his precious instruments awry.
It was only a burnt-out fuse after all, and knowing Frankie, he’d just pop a new set of Triple As into her neck and she’d be back on her size thirteens in no time.
Pat Campbell is a retired professor of Drama. She has been writing short stories for twenty-five years and is a published Haiku and Tanka poet. She loves the challenge of writing a complete story in just 50 words.
RUTH Z DEMING: Will She Win the Battle?
On Monday, she looked at the Tarot cards on her bed.
On Tuesday, she fondled the Blarney Stone.
On Wednesday, she rolled a pine cone in her hand.
On Thursday, she kissed the cat goodbye.
On Friday, she wrote thank-you letters.
On Saturday, she slept.
On Sunday, dead of cancer.
Ruth Z Deming has been published in lit mags including Hektoen International, Literary Yard and River Poets Journal. A psychotherapist, she runs New Directions Support Group for people and families affected by depression and bipolar disorder. She lives in Willow Grove, a suburb of Philadelphia. Her blog is ruthzdeming.blogspot.com.
CAROL BROWNE: Possessed
He loved her on sight. Besotted, he followed her everywhere. She neither knew nor cared.
He vowed one day they would be together. It might take years but he could wait.
For now he must content himself with haunting her house.
The dead shouldn’t fall in love with the living.
Carol Browne first appeared on the planet in 1954. She regards Crewe, Cheshire, as her home town and graduated from Nottingham University in 1976 with an honours degree in English Language and Literature. Now living in the Cambridgeshire countryside with her cockatiel, Sparky, when she’s not writing fiction, Carol spends her time as a housekeeper, proofreader, and ghost writer in order to pay the bills.
STORY OF THE MONTH: October 2015
The Story of the Month is chosen from the Story of the Week winners announced from the past month.
The finalists for October were:
Sea and Sky by William Shaw
Cold Callers by Carol Browne
Life Encapsulated by Jon Nixon
A Fleeting Childhood by Jason Huynh
Mama by Lisa Lysen
The winner of the October 2015 Story of the Month, and the $10 prize, is…
A Fleeting Childhood
I love the sense of nostalgia packed into this story, even though it doesn’t directly resonate with my own personal experiences. I can imagine myself feeling the character’s emotions, purely through the strength of this story’s descriptiveness and phrasing. Fantastic work, Jason!
JOHN H DROMEY: Spirited Sibling Rivalry
“Mommy, I’m scared. Is there a ghost in the house?”
“I don’t think there is, Evie. Why do you ask?”
“Well, sometimes when I go into the kitchen, I get chills running up and down my spine.”
“Junior! For the last time! Quit dropping ice cubes down your sister’s dress.”
John H. Dromey has a story in the anthology A Kiss Is Still a Kiss (Next Step Books, 2015).
JAMES P SPITZNOGLE: Those Drugs
I watched him pick up those drugs. More than once.
And I watched him smoke them, or drink them, or inject them. I watched him become them.
And I asked, “Why did you let these things change you?”
“I couldn’t change the world. I changed how I look at it.”
James P. Spitznogle is an aspiring writer from the autumnal hills of West Virginia.
DEANNA VAUGHN: The Dance
Dance with me, he said.
He in his socks, she in her nightgown.
In the light of early morning, they danced. Slowly. Familiar with each other’s bodies, they danced.
“You’ve Made Me So…”
Holding her coffee cup in her hand while they danced.
“Very Happy…”
We watched, then joined them.
Deanna is a newbie to writing and is having a great time writing 50 word fiction.
MATTHEW GREGORY: Blind Date
By 10:00 Max knew she wouldn’t show. He finished another drink, recognizing a tinge of curiosity, something normally fed with an internet search.
But he was out.
Max paid the bill, then left. It was twelve blocks to her apartment, but he had already crossed countless streets of innocent speculation.
Matthew Gregory is a writer and filmmaker surviving in South Florida. Some of his work can be found at geronimatt.tumblr.com.