Hello friends! Happy last few weeks of summer! I took a cruise around Boston harbor in a (replica) schooner and managed to catch a shot of the sail being raised and whipping in the wind. It feels like an apt metaphor for the speed of my life these days. Whoosh, whoosh!
I don’t have a lot of time, so I’m writing short pieces: flash fiction or even shorter. Press 53 has a 53-word story contest every month, and I’ve been giving those a try. I’ll post one that didn’t win below
I also successfully submitted a story to the Queer Sci Fi 300-word flash fiction contest for their annual fund-raising anthology. “The Queen of Birds” will be in the anthology coming out later this year. Check out their Facebook group if you want to learn more about it and about LGBTQ+ speculative fiction in general.
And I’m thrilled to announce the my story “The Princess Book” will be in the forthcoming anthology The Bicyclist’s Guide to the Galaxy: Bike & book SFF stories. The Kickstarter is funding now! Please take a look, pledge if you feel so inclined, and spread the word! I love the books in this series from Microcosm press and it’s an honor to be a part of it.
I’ll leave you with my 53-word submission from a prompt of “script:”
Always Have Your Circle of Salt Handy
“I want my soul back.”
“Why?”
“Nothing happened! You promised–” He slammed the ancient scroll down.
The Wise One scowled, pointing. “Look again. I gave you the key to the cipher.”
A pause. An indrawn breath. “Ah! So the name is M—”
The explosion was written off as a gas leak, as usual.