Fran Tabor’s ‘The Greatest Danger’ in Writers Co-op Production’s The Rabbit Hole Weird Stories Destination:Journey Anthology

I asked fellow The Rabbit Hole Weird Stories Destination:Journey anthology contributors to share some things about themselves prior to publication and those generous enough to do so will be appearing here for the next week or so.

Each entry gives a taste of their contribution, a little about them, how to contact them, how their story came about, and definitely a link to The Rabbit Hole Weird Stories Destination:Journey (which you should purchase because it would make each and every one of us happy.
you do want to make us happy, don’t you?
i mean, considering what we wrote, you want us to know you’re a good person, right?).

Let’s start with an introduction to the anthology as a whole:

“Life is a journey, not a destination.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Emerson’s point has been echoed by many, but in the Land of the Weird the question arises, “A journey to what destination?” At the same time, you might ask, “Is the journey therefore the destination?” The journey may well be an individual’s destination, because it will define them physically, emotionally, and spiritually. And in the Land of the Weird, that journey can take twists and turns that amuse, sadden, or horrify.
This trip into the Land of the Weird offers you 39 unique trails to follow, assisted by 35 different guides, each leading you down their own singular paths, manifesting their own view of journey as destination, some laughing, some weeping, and some, eyes wide with fear, shaking as they point out the spectral footpath for you to follow on your way down The Rabbit Hole.

A Writers Co-op Production
Stories by: Chere Taylor, Brian R. Quinn, Arthur M. Doweyko, Donna J. W. Munro, Tom Howard, Kayla Whittle, Leslie Muzingo, Pete Barnstrom, Emmie Christie, Thomas Nicholson, GD Deckard, Richard DeRobertis, M.C. Schmidt, James Dorr, Rosalind Goldsmith, Margaret Karmazin, J.W.Wood, James Rumpel, Bill McCormick, v.f. thompson, Fran Tabor, David K. Slay, Joseph Carrabis, Jane Frankel, Alice Baburek, Susan R. Morritt, Bobby Rollins, Lee Clark Zumpe, Denice Penrose, Stephen McQuiggan, H. Donovan Lyón, Anna Ross, Michael Pudney, Beth Gaydon, and Tom Wolosz.

Fran’s contribution is The Greatest Danger. Here’s the opening:

The front doorbell’s five-alarm-fire ring killed Sue-Ellen’s dream. She glanced at her alarm clock. “Two freaking a.m.”

 

     Our neighbor’s bratty kids promised no more doorbell games, Ever.

 

Sue-Ellen slapped the empty mattress beside her, demanded her husband do something… She sat up, fully alert. Her husband Todd and teenage son Evan were on a school sponsored camping trip, a Warrior’s Way ceremony. If something bad happened, there would be no phone calls; it would be an in person visit, no matter the time.
Pajama clad, not bothering to grab her robe, she ran downstairs; twisted the bolt lock open, flung the door wide.
Mrs. Elizabeth “Betsy” Smith stood alone. Betsy wore the same frumpy skirt and big-pocketed cardigan as she had the previous day when Sue-Ellen announced, “Congratulations, you are the new kindergarten teacher.”

How the story came about:
A true event inspired this story. Her oldest daughter heads a thriving Montessori school. The school continuously seeks great teachers. The best interviewee had marvelous references. Her daughter exchanged multiple emails with each reference. She looked up the most interesting one… He died the year before their email exchanges. After notifying the authorities about the attempted fraud, she lamented to Fran, “The woman was wonderful!” Naturally, Fran imagined an alternate-universe, time-traveling explanation how a wonderful teacher could accidentally have a dead person write a reference. Awesome editor Curtis Bausse polished Fran’s idea into a gem worthy of this anthology.
Continue reading “Fran Tabor’s ‘The Greatest Danger’ in Writers Co-op Production’s The Rabbit Hole Weird Stories Destination:Journey Anthology”

Bill McCormick’s ‘Miggy’ in Writers Co-op Production’s The Rabbit Hole Weird Stories Destination:Journey Anthology

I asked fellow The Rabbit Hole Weird Stories Destination:Journey anthology contributors to share some things about themselves prior to publication and those generous enough to do so will be appearing here for the next week or so.

Each entry gives a taste of their contribution, a little about them, how to contact them, how their story came about, and definitely a link to The Rabbit Hole Weird Stories Destination:Journey (which you should purchase because it would make each and every one of us happy.
you do want to make us happy, don’t you?
i mean, considering what we wrote, you want us to know you’re a good person, right?).

Let’s start with an introduction to the anthology as a whole:

“Life is a journey, not a destination.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Emerson’s point has been echoed by many, but in the Land of the Weird the question arises, “A journey to what destination?” At the same time, you might ask, “Is the journey therefore the destination?” The journey may well be an individual’s destination, because it will define them physically, emotionally, and spiritually. And in the Land of the Weird, that journey can take twists and turns that amuse, sadden, or horrify.
This trip into the Land of the Weird offers you 39 unique trails to follow, assisted by 35 different guides, each leading you down their own singular paths, manifesting their own view of journey as destination, some laughing, some weeping, and some, eyes wide with fear, shaking as they point out the spectral footpath for you to follow on your way down The Rabbit Hole.

A Writers Co-op Production
Stories by: Chere Taylor, Brian R. Quinn, Arthur M. Doweyko, Donna J. W. Munro, Tom Howard, Kayla Whittle, Leslie Muzingo, Pete Barnstrom, Emmie Christie, Thomas Nicholson, GD Deckard, Richard DeRobertis, M.C. Schmidt, James Dorr, Rosalind Goldsmith, Margaret Karmazin, J.W.Wood, James Rumpel, Bill McCormick, v.f. thompson, Fran Tabor, David K. Slay, Joseph Carrabis, Jane Frankel, Alice Baburek, Susan R. Morritt, Bobby Rollins, Lee Clark Zumpe, Denice Penrose, Stephen McQuiggan, H. Donovan Lyón, Anna Ross, Michael Pudney, Beth Gaydon, and Tom Wolosz.

Bill’s contribution is Miggy. Here’s the opening:

Miggy was a toad thumper. Like his father. And his father’s father. And his father’s father’s father. And his father’s father’s father’s father.
And so on, ad infinitum.
And, like all good toad thumpers, he’d learned how to gently curve the edges of the sharp box of conformity. While society could barely hold its nose long enough to shower disdain on toad thumpers, they filled niches others would not.
So, toad thumpers were tolerated.
Barely.

How the story came about:
A common theme for me is how oppressed people survive in the real world. I wrote Miggy after finally seeing A Day Without A Mexican. While the movie is filled with promise and hope, I took a darker turn.
Continue reading “Bill McCormick’s ‘Miggy’ in Writers Co-op Production’s The Rabbit Hole Weird Stories Destination:Journey Anthology”

J.W. Wood’s ‘Goznym: Leyla’ in Writers Co-op Production’s The Rabbit Hole Weird Stories Destination:Journey Anthology

I asked fellow The Rabbit Hole Weird Stories Destination:Journey anthology contributors to share some things about themselves prior to publication and those generous enough to do so will be appearing here for the next week or so.

Each entry gives a taste of their contribution, a little about them, how to contact them, how their story came about, and definitely a link to The Rabbit Hole Weird Stories Destination:Journey (which you should purchase because it would make each and every one of us happy.
you do want to make us happy, don’t you?
i mean, considering what we wrote, you want us to know you’re a good person, right?).

Let’s start with an introduction to the anthology as a whole:

“Life is a journey, not a destination.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Emerson’s point has been echoed by many, but in the Land of the Weird the question arises, “A journey to what destination?” At the same time, you might ask, “Is the journey therefore the destination?” The journey may well be an individual’s destination, because it will define them physically, emotionally, and spiritually. And in the Land of the Weird, that journey can take twists and turns that amuse, sadden, or horrify.
This trip into the Land of the Weird offers you 39 unique trails to follow, assisted by 35 different guides, each leading you down their own singular paths, manifesting their own view of journey as destination, some laughing, some weeping, and some, eyes wide with fear, shaking as they point out the spectral footpath for you to follow on your way down The Rabbit Hole.

A Writers Co-op Production
Stories by: Chere Taylor, Brian R. Quinn, Arthur M. Doweyko, Donna J. W. Munro, Tom Howard, Kayla Whittle, Leslie Muzingo, Pete Barnstrom, Emmie Christie, Thomas Nicholson, GD Deckard, Richard DeRobertis, M.C. Schmidt, James Dorr, Rosalind Goldsmith, Margaret Karmazin, J.W.Wood, James Rumpel, Bill McCormick, v.f. thompson, Fran Tabor, David K. Slay, Joseph Carrabis, Jane Frankel, Alice Baburek, Susan R. Morritt, Bobby Rollins, Lee Clark Zumpe, Denice Penrose, Stephen McQuiggan, H. Donovan Lyón, Anna Ross, Michael Pudney, Beth Gaydon, and Tom Wolosz.

James’ contribution is Goznym: Leyla. Here’s the opening:

This thing came from Russia, like Tetris, vodka and pessimistic humour. One day nothing – the next, it’s all over chatrooms, the streets, the clubs. They say you hit the singularity when you’re on it: full interface between man and machine.
It’s a drug, right? And what a drug, what a drug. Here’s what you do. Drink a ton of water, eat a big meal. Lock the front door, then pop the pill. You’ll need a headset with biometric sensors on your temples and forehead. Get one from a military hardware site. Or get it from your Uncle – I don’t care. Once you drop, you got five minutes til you come up. While you’re waiting, hit the DarkNet. OnionWare is what you want. Then search for “Goznym: Leyla” and download.

How the story came about:
I find advances in Artificial Intelligence, transhumanism and bio-technology to be by some distance the most frightening development of the past century. “Goznym: Leyla” came about as a mash-up of these concerns, some research I’d been doing into the DarkNet for another project, and other reasons that came to me — to borrow Rushdie’s phrase — “via a process too complicated to explain”. Continue reading “J.W. Wood’s ‘Goznym: Leyla’ in Writers Co-op Production’s The Rabbit Hole Weird Stories Destination:Journey Anthology”

Steam

I took part in a Fiction Slam earlier this week.

My offering was Steam (which appeared in James Gunn’s Ad Astra in March 2023.

I find such events fascinating.

I went with the desire to develop my public speaking skills. Winning, if it occurred, was secondary (I was runner up).

The other offerings though…Two, to me, stood out. One was a variation of the Alan Alda-Ellen Burstyn Same Time, Next Year and, I thought, fairly well done. Everybody can be a critic and I offered a few suggestions for increasing the emotional power of the piece, but it’s also the author’s work and their call.

The second piece was about a girl who discovers the world is not the bows and favorite white dress of her childhood. There are bad people, and even parents can be horrific whether they mean to be or not.

Again another powerful piece. I made some suggestions on delivery (we read our offerings aloud) but not on content or writing. Both were superb.

The winner was…a weaker piece. Good, but not outstanding. Interesting but forgettable. Cute but not lasting. A hershey kiss and not a godiva truffle.

It lacked ambition, a desire to move the reader to more than a good chuckle, to share a new and/or different experience with the reader.

Basically it was one of those humor items I use to find in Reader’s Digest (not sure if it or those pieces are around anymore). Easily digestable. Required nothing of the reader except a moment of their time.

I know there’s a place for such writing.

But when there’s no effort, why bother? I’m reminded of an Erdös quote.

A problem worthy of attack proves its worth by fighting back!

 
The winning story never even raised its fists. It turned and ran.

It’ll probably win top prize again and again and again.

But in any case, Steam.

Enjoy.

 

The Alibi (A John Chance Mystery) – Chapter 29

Yet one more not completely brand new. Pieces from previous chapters rearranged and edited for story flow and continuity.

I’ve learned to live with such things. Hope you can, too.

Enjoy.

The Alibi – Chapter 29

 
Cranston grabbed the railing as he jogged up the stairs to Precinct House 17. He may have been a linebacker in college, but that was thirty-five years ago and now he needed to pull himself up inclines when he jogged them.
He snapped his hand back as if he touched a high-tension line.
The railing was shaking?

Sure, ’17 was one of the oldest precinct houses in Boston, still brick-and-mortar as they say, and with wide-paneled hardwood floors and high ceilings and big fans hanging down because putting AC in a building about to be decommissioned was a waste of tax dollars, but that decommissioning order had been on the books for twenty years Cranston knew of. The city discovered it would cost more to put up a new precinct house rather than get rid of this old one, but somehow the money set aside for a new precinct house never made it into a working AC system.

Cranston made it a point to dig deep whenever he had to investigate a city or state official. He was going to write a book once he retired and call it “Fuckers I Have Known.”

Old or not, ’17 was still solid. Granite anchored the railings. They could shake? Like that?

He looked up and down the street. No fifty-three foot TT or heavy construction vehicles in sight, but dogs barked and pulled on their leashes. Pigeons, robins, and starlings took flight. The leaves on sidewalk maples, willows, and elms shivered as if chilled by a late October wind.

He touched the railing tentatively, one finger stretched forward, his body slightly turned and ready to pull away.

Nothing.

He shrugged and continued up the stairs. The desk sergeant looked up and nodded as he entered.

Cranston returned her nod. “You feel that?”

The desk sergeant shook her head. “Feel what?”

Cranston continued up the next flight to the offices. Leddy’s ring on his mobile stopped him at the doors to the precinct’s central office.

“POP?”

He went cold. Something happened to Leddy. That’s what he felt that nobody else felt.

Her ring again. “U OK?”

Cold yielded to confusion. “K U?”

The precinct’s wall mounted blues flashed ON-ON-off ON-ON-off. Chairs screeched across the hardwood floor.

Leddy TXTed “C THS?” and Cranston’s attention returned to his phone. Leddy sent her video through. “SIMON GOT IT ALL!”

She’d sent him pictures at every stage of SIMON’s development and had them made into a tshirt collage with the heading “Leddy’s Little Project.” She gave them to her friends, people on their street, people on the subway, and a 4XL for him.

She loved it.

But “SIMON GOT IT ALL!”?

SIMON’s cameras moved through hazy clouds flecked with ash. Cranston wasn’t sure what he was seeing until the drone cleared the clouds. It flew just above street level and revealed the clouds as billowing smoke.

“WRU”

“BPL Johnson w Pen.”

Captain Marete opened the central office door. “Bill. SkyHook just blew up. We need all hands on deck.”

Cranston followed Marete back into the office. Most uniforms and plainclothes had their mobiles in one hand, their landlines in the other, and held two or more conversations at once checking up on allies and reassuring family. A small group stood by the east facing windows. A puff of smoke seemed to hover above their heads before slowly dispersing.

Somebody called out, “Channel 5’s got it already.”

Cranston glanced at the wall screen. “That’s Leddy’s feed.”

Marete looked up from his phones. “Your daughter got this?”

Leddy’s TXT dinged in Cranston’s hand. “SLD 2 NTWRKS!”

“Yep.”

A uniform at a far desk announced, “4 and 7’s got it. And NECN.”

Another uniform added, “So do Fox and the CW.”

Marete snorted. “Busy girl you got there. Maybe UAS should hire her. She got there faster than our own drones did. Tell her we’ll want that video. And anything else she got.”

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