SUMMER STORIES – JOHN DROMEY: By Choice or By Chance

Submissions, Summer Stories, , , ,

Grand Prize Winner: “Artistic” Category

“Summer camp, backyard, or wherever; who’s camped overnight in a tent?”

A virtual forest of hands sprang up in the crowded classroom. After hesitating briefly, the foreign exchange student raised her hand, as well.

“You’ve stayed in a tent?” Mrs. Saunders asked her.

“Yes,” Maria said.

“When?”

“After the earthquake.”

John H. Dromey has had a short story published in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, a mini-mystery in Woman’s World, plus fiction online at Liquid Imagination, Mysterical-E, and elsewhere.

SUMMER STORIES – JOE MALONE: Family Picnic

Submissions, Summer Stories, , , , ,

Grand Prize Winner: “Amusing” Category

We’re a feral family. Live out in the woods.

The kids begged for a picnic.

We gathered some tubers and roots and headed for the nearest subdivision.

Found a house with nobody home. Spread out our picnic on the dining room table.

Little Susie saw a cockroach bug and shrieked.

Joe Malone is living in a mud hut in South Sudan. Read more from him at http://joem18b.wordpress.com/.

SUMMER STORIES – ALEXANDER KEY: Forest Sounds

Submissions, Summer Stories, , , , , , ,

Runner-Up 2: “Artistic” Category

“…The rusty axe still dripping blood.” An unexpected campfire pop startles us. We laugh.

“Time for bed, everyone. More stories tomorrow,” I say.

Later in my tent, I lie awake.

What was that?

Only forest sounds, but still foreboding.

All the kids are sleeping, except the one inside of me.

Alexander Key teaches high school when no one is looking.

 

SUMMER STORIES – CRAIG HOLZSCHUH: My Deerest

Submissions, Summer Stories, , , , ,

Runner-Up 2: “Amusing” Category

“I know we are bad for each other, but you add something special to my life I’ve never felt before. Our closeness makes me feel faint. It wounds me that they say we would be better apart.”

“To separate us would kill me.”

“And me as well, my deerest Tick.”

Craig Holzschuh (1973-present) is an American writer. He is best known for amusing stories and an overreliance on spell-check. His pseudonyms pout in jealousy.

SUMMER STORIES – EILEEN MCINTYRE: Same Time Next Year?

Submissions, Summer Stories, , , ,

Runner-Up 1: “Artistic” Category

Mike and Dan attached weights to fishing lines and baited hooks. They cast and waited for the telltale pull. They wanted “Barney”.

Hours dragged by and the sun dimmed. Water splashed; other fish danced on the lake.

Mike and Dan swore they heard laughter as they trudged to their tents.

Eileen McIntyre is a writer from Northern California working on her first mainstream fiction novel. One of her essays will be published in an anthology by the end of the year.

SUMMER STORIES – NATHAN BARBER: The Perils of Stargazing

Amusing, Submissions, Summer Stories, ,

Runner-Up 1: “Amusing” Category

“The stars are looking positively wonderful tonight.”

“Indeed they are! Couldn’t have hoped for a clearer night for a spot of stargazing!”

“You know, there’s a lot you can learn from looking at stars.”

“You mean like navigation?”

“That, and the fact that someone seems to have stolen our tent!”

Following the completion of his degree, Nathan Barber is now reading as many sci-fi novels as he can, to find the perfect doomsday machine to make best use of his skills as a nuclear engineer.

JOSCELYN WILLETT: The Assignment

Amusing, Submissions, ,

She scanned the classroom filled with adults looking for a second chance at life, predicting her neighbor’s answer: My name is Dan Clark and I am an alcoholic.

Then she bowed her head and scrawled her own upon the notebook: I am someone who cannot describe herself in ten words.

Joscelyn Willett consistently has trouble deciding which ice cream flavor to order, so always orders chocolate. It’s a solid choice.

ALEXANDER KEY: Rules of Adulthood

Amusing, Submissions, , , ,

Again, leaving the grocery store, to the side of the exit, I see that large cage of big, bouncy, colorful plastic balls.

I want one each time I see them, but my wife and grandkids assure me I’m too old to play with such things anymore.

When did that happen?

Alexander Key teaches high school when absolutely desperate for attention.

LOTTIE NANCARROW: Feeding the Darkness

Odd, Submissions, , ,

Black cats come every night. They sit at my freshly cleaned porch and miaow.

Begging for food, so I feed them.

Begging for shelter, so I help them.

But they keep miaowing for more and I can’t take the noise. I shut them away, but they keep coming back.

Begging.

Lottie Nancarrow is a girl who spends too much time in her thoughts.

M.CHRONISTER: Sakura Ascendant

Adventure, Submissions, , ,

Sakura ascended to the Throne amid cheers. The Vizier stepped forward.

“Highness, she is an undeserving peasant!”

In the silence, Sakura heard the twang of a bowstring. Her sword sliced the arrow before it could impact the Vizier.

“Seems deserving to me,” said the Emperor.

“Objection withdrawn!” gasped the Vizier.

M. Chronister is a long-time writer of all lengths of science fiction and fantasy.  While so far unpublished, she persists in creating stories that will please and entertain, and perseveres in submitting them.