Playground of a Lesser God Just in time for Halloween, I’m pleased to offer my short story, Playground of a Lesser God, online for free! Alone in her abandoned neighborhood on Halloween night, 10-year-old Elena is surrounded by ghost memories of her past. On the ruined playground where she used to go with her little sister, she solves a puzzle, uncovers a unique invention and is given the gift of hope for her future—but not before experiencing the scariest night of her life.S

Fantasy Scroll Magazine—my second story with this magazine. Charles Payseur wrote in his blog, Quick Sip Reviews: This story marks the most serious the issue gets (as far as original fiction is concerned) and the whole issue is organized to earn this moment of solemnity and yearning. It’s a post-apocalyptic story and one of the few really science fiction stories of the issue, too, that looks at the way that people kill and the responsibility they hold to killing and yet the w

Samplers give us a variety of tantalizing tastes or sights that inspire us to want more. In earlier times, samplers were pieces of needlework that a young woman sewed to practice or show off her competency in embroidery. This one, though not old, is appropriate for this post which is inspired by three things. It says: “Three things there are that will never come back. The arrow short forth on its destined track, The appointed hour that could not wait; and The helpful word tha

First, Chuck gives us a tool that will check your writing excerpt for readability. It gives an amazing level of detail. You will get a table with several grade level rating scales, so you can see what reading level the writing is geared toward. This information can be especially useful when writing YA. It also provides sentence information (percent of passive sentences!), word usage (number of adverbs!) (number of “to be” verbs!) and even what kinds of words your sentences st

A writer, an editor and a reader walk into an Establishment Pub[lishing] House. The affronted publisher asks, “What’s the story here?” The writer: “I’d like people to read what I’ve written.” The editor: “I’d like to edit fresh, original stories by real people rather than celebrities.” The reader: “I’d like to read the best fiction rather than what will sell whether it’s good or not.” The publisher: “Sorry, you’re not my type.” ***laughter***applause*** Thank you. Thank

#stories #writer #mikestackpole #paulgenesse #ChainStory #fiction #free #Writing

Emerald Guardians, Rigel Ailur – Rigel Ailur’s other stories include “Brigadoon” in the Star Trek anthology Strange New Worlds 10 and (writing as Kris Katzen) “Kaboom, Ka-bye” in the Origins Awards nominated Shadowrun Sourcebook Seattle 2072. Blazing Bodices, Robert T. Jeschonek – Robert T. Jeschonek is an award-winning writer whose fiction, comics, essays, and podcasts have been published around the world. Watch for his young adult fantasy novel, MY FAVORITE BAND DOES NOT E