Drum roll, please

Here are the contest details that you either have no idea what I'm talking about, have a vague interest in seeing, or have been waiting for. The contest to receive a free book Jackson & Central- An Anthology will be underway as soon as the first entry hits my inbox. It is to be a flash fiction piece, judged by myself and members of my writer's group, with a maximum length of 500 words. Two word minimum since the only other stipulation is that somewhere in the piece must be the word 'Jackson' and the word 'Central', not necessarily together.  You have up to one week to complete your entry (next Tuesday night, October 25th). There is usually wine flowing at our meetings so humor is always good but we love sci-fi, thriller, and other genres too. Consider this a what-have-you-got-to-lose challenge. Please send your entries to nancygraveswahler@gmail.com

To whet your appetite for the prize, let me tell you a bit about it. First, I can guarantee you will love at least one story in this book.  I just don't know which one because I love all of them. The poetry, I think I am not smart enough to get the nuances that make people love poetry but, some people really like it. But the short stories are awesome. From Rusty Webb's tale of lost love and war, to Jayne Morgan's story about a blind, mountain healer who may be one family's last hope. There's also Mahaila Smith's spin on two Mormons getting more than they bargained for after knocking on one door and Toni Powell's powerful telling of how childhood leukemia can define how life is lived (she writes this so well, one of her readers insisted it must have happened to Toni which made her very irritated that the reader didn't seem to understand the concept of fiction). If you don't love at least one of these, well, since you're getting it for free I guess you can just feel very superior and thumb your nose at me while I sit in shock and secretly think to myself that you didn't really read it. Fair warning, it is probably not a book to give to grandma (unless you have a very liberal grandma) as there are adult language and themes in some of the stories. In the front, it tells you which stories those are. Although to be fair, my sci-fi story got a warning just because of some brain removal and eugenic type government policies.

I'm looking forward to seeing your spin.