Review: Four Thousand Dollars from Baghdad by Matt DeVirgiliis
There’s patriotism and then there’s stupidity. The main character in “Four Thousand Dollars from Baghdad” by Matt DeVirgiliis, is a writer of some sort, believes that experiencing war will be a romantic adventure like those of Ernest Hemingway or Hunter S. Thompson. Baghdad is just down the road, but like “A Bridge Too Far” the [...]
Review: D.X. by Kelli Trapnell
Kelli Trapnell’s entry to the challenge “D.X.” wasn’t at all what I was expecting from writers, but a definite breath of fresh air. Her concept of robots versus humans reminded me of “Blade Runner,” “A.I.” or even, and I shudder to say it somewhat “The Matrix.” Fine, nothing wrong with that. But then Trapnell invested [...]
Review: On Writing ‘How An Autobot Sunk The Titanic’
On “On Writing ‘How An Autobot Sunk The Titanic’” by J. Bradley Review by Ryder Collins Any story that can combine metafiction + Stephen King + Autobots + home economics + (spoiler alert) Celine Dion (mais oui, mes enfants) deserves some kind of attention; any story that can pull this off rocks, in my opinion. [...]
The Bear
“Hey, is that a bear?” Daniel asked Will as they looked into the thicket off to the side of the trail. “What?” “Look, over there by that big oak. See it?” Will stared deeply into the forest and as he peered Daniel pushed his freshly sucked finger right into his left ear. Out of shock, [...]
Cop Car
It wasn’t Hannah’s fault. She had looked both ways before she put the car into reverse and backed out. Half a second later a cop car that came out of nowhere pulled up behind her and illegally parked. She slammed on the brakes, but it was too late. Bumper met rear driver’s side fender at [...]
You’ve Done Good
Daniel remembered exactly what Pop looked like when he saw him for the last time. Pop was once a tall, proud man; a man’s man who spent his life outdoors. Now he was bound to an oxygen tank kept next to the tattered recliner in front of the big floor-to-ceiling windows. He spent his days [...]
The Lost Dog
They found the shaggy mutt around the neighborhood one spring afternoon. Their daughters Cassie and Jordan convinced them to keep it through their pleadings of “we’ll do everything! We’ll even clean up his poop!” They played it up big with shrink-wrapped tears. That sent Lucas and Marla over the edge. When the dog and the [...]
Boxcar Blues
Clyde couldn’t sleep what with the clank of steel wheels on the rails and the air horn. It blared every few miles or so when the train roared past a railroad crossing. He laid a few feet from the open doorway and watched the countryside as it sped past in the moonlight. He tried to [...]
Fictionaut on Valentine’s Day
Scenario: give writer’s a prompt for Valentine’s Day, and see what they come up with. The only requirement is that their piece has to have the word “heart” in it somewhere. My story, Valentine, can be found here on the site (from Friday) or on Fictionaut (if you’d like to give it a favorite I [...]
Valentine
There was a girl at school that Daniel liked more than any other girl at school. Her name was Hannah and Daniel thought she was absolutely the most beautiful girl in all the sixth grade. All year, he’d sat behind her and stared at the variety of bows she wore in her hair. He would [...]
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