The Pumpkin Patch The Patch was quiet for a fall day. This time of year there would be people in droves tapping pumpkins, lifting and carrying while small children danced around and shrieked their enthusiasm. The field was filled with pumpkins, but there were no people in sight. Douglas shrugged and closed his jacket against the chill and kept walking.The Pumpkin Patch by =Tobaeus
The house loomed up before him out of the trees, three stories of termite-infested natural wood that gave the whole place a creepy feel. Maybe this way Pete didn’t have to worry about burglars.
He knocked on the big
The Orphanage Douglas shook out his match and took a deep drag on his cigarette. The orphanage stood stark against the night sky, framed by skeleton trees and the dark night sky. A chill wind blew past, which did nothing for Douglas's mood. He took the heavy brass knocker in his hand. Each knock seemed loud enough to wake the dead.The Orphanage by =Tobaeus
The head took forever to answer, and when she opened the door, he could see why. She couldn't have been any less than eighty, all hunched over with hands curled up from arthritis. Her face was pale and drawn.
"Gail Andrews?"
She nodded. "Are you with the police department?"
"Yes. I'm here about the m
The Morgue The phone was ringing. Douglas rolled over and looked at the clock. Three in the morning. He considered letting it ring, but if it was work, they'd just send someone to get him. He fumbled for the handset.The Morgue by =Tobaeus
"What?"
"They've found another body, sir. Or what's left of it, anyway. Coroner thinks he has something of interest for you."
Damn. If he didn't go right then, he'd hear all about it the next day. "I'm on my way."
The coroner was poring over the latest body in a rash of murders. Or what was left of the body, anyway. All the killer had left behind were bones. Douglas took a flask from his coat and poured a bit of
The Precinct "What the hell is all this?"The Precinct by =Tobaeus
Douglas jerked awake and found himself slumped over his desk. He had been using the stack of case files as a pillow, and the topmost folder was coated with a fine sheen of spit. He rubbed at it with his sleeve.
"What's all what, Caruthers?"
Caruthers picked up an object and made it dance back and forth in the air above Douglas's desk. "You play with dolls now, detective?"
"That's not a doll, you meter maid. That's Moko Jumbie." He yanked the figure away and settl
The Hospital Douglas lay on a bench outside the operating room with an arm over his eyes. Doctors and nurses rushed back and forth in silence, largely ignoring him. This didn't bother him. He wished that the rest of the goings on were so easy to ignore. The air was filled with the smell of blood and antiseptic. People crowded into the waiting rooms, some injured, some anxious, some grieving as doctors gave them bad news. He wished he could have been called in on a less busy night. No, scratch that. He wished he'd never get called in at all. There was never a good time to be in the emergency room.The Hospital by =Tobaeus
A new smell invaded the room while he waited. Eg
The Bridge The air was freezing, but it was worth it to feel the sweet rush of nicotine in his lungs. Douglas took a deep drag and flicked awkwardly with his left hand. His cast itched, which should have reminded him how useless his arm was, but only seemed to frustrate him more when he knocked things over with it. But he would rather have had a full body cast than be on vacation until some shrink told the captain that he was fit for duty again.The Bridge by =Tobaeus
He looked up as a familiar car pulled into the hospital parking lot. It would have been sleek and classy if it belonged to a richer man, or to someone
The Homeless Shelter The morgue was colder than Douglas expected. He jammed his good hand into his pocket, but the fingers trapped in his cast were exposed. The cold bit into them, and he prayed they would go numb soon.The Homeless Shelter by =Tobaeus
“Detective,” the coroner said as he came out of his office. “How nice to see you again. But to be honest, you weren’t the detective I was expecting. Where is McKenzie?”
“Probably hiding under his desk. I got roped into coming down here to talk to you.”
“Hmm. I wonder what I could have done to make him avoid me. Well, no matter. I’ll be with you as soon as I finish signing these release forms. It’s always bittersweet, letting the corpses go to their loved ones. I feel like a bond has formed during our time together.”
&
| Working this up to the point where I can pull them together into a publishable piece, so any help you wish to offer would be tremendous. Anything from title suggestions, nursery rhyme requests, or ball-busting critique will garner much loves and maybe a cookie if you live close enough for home baked deliciousness. |
This New Game System Rules! Craig checked the manual one last time to make sure he didn't miss anything. The last lines before the instructions switched to French was "Congratulations! Your new X Platform XL 2020 is almost ready to play. Just follow the onscreen instructions and get ready to have the X Platform XL 2020 rule your world."This New Game System Rules! by =Tobaeus
Odd thing to put in the manual, he thought as he tossed it into the empty box his system had come in. He thumbed the power button and waited for the system to boot up.
He didn't have to wait long. Soon the screen was scrolling large, neon-green letters in greeting. "Thank you for purchasing the X Platform XL 2020. We jus
The Church of Saint Nicholas Gordon walked through the temple, attacking cookie crumbs with his broom and blowing out candles at the altar. The supplicants had all gone home, and they wouldn't be back for another nine months or more. He rather liked it that way. Those three months were so exhausting all on their own. By the time the last night rolled around, Gordon could barely stand to hear the sound of the bells on his own shoes, much less the sounds of yet another supplicant begging for a wide screen television or for the girl at the office to notice them.The Church of Saint Nicholas by =Tobaeus
The children were no better. Too often Gordon heard them praying for the latest game system or for the
Not the Homecoming He Expected Gordon double checked the address on the slip of paper Sylvia’s mother had given him. This was the place, but it couldn’t be right. It was a church. What would Sylvia be doing at a church? He shrugged and took a long pull from the bottle of whiskey he was holding. There was only one way to find out.Not the Homecoming He Expected by =Tobaeus
The people inside the church were all dressed up, but Gordon figured that was normal for a church. The things that confused him was that this was a Saturday. People never went to church on a Saturday. His mom had mentioned something about a wedding, but it couldn’t be Sylvia’s. She was supposed to wait for him to come back. Maybe now that he was here she’d remember and call off the ceremony.
“Sylvia? Has anyone seen Sylvia?”
“What are you doing here?” There was his Sylvia. Gordon stumbled do
Harvest Time "Oh, come on. There's got to be service around here somewhere." Maria stretched her arm high over her head, hoping that the extra height would help her cell phone find enough bars to call for a tow truck. When that did no good, she climbed up on the roof of her station wagon.Harvest Time by =Tobaeus
"Don't you ever try something like this, Lucy. It's dangerous. Mommy's only doing it because it's an emergency."
"Okay, Mommy." Lucy was playing in the grass by the car, and even though nobody was around, Maria couldn't help but worry.
"Stay close to the car, okay? You don't want to get lost out here." Maria didn't want to even be here. If the GPS
ForesightDebra Mae was an astonishingly good programmer.Foresight by *RalfMaximus
Her code always worked correctly the first time, and she never missed a deadline. Her workspace was immaculate, but curiously devoid of personal effects. No framed pictures, no toys, just her small collection of pens lined up according to color and an inbox for the occasional old-school paper input.
Her computer was equally immaculate. Nothing extra on her desktop, no stray icons. If one peeked at her browser history there’d be nothing there but work-related google searches and company stuff.
She dressed neatly but very plainly. I suspected she had four dresses in her wardrobe an
#SixWordStories Feature: May 6th - 20thA type of Flash Fiction, six word stories are (very) short stories with an exact word count: six words. #SixWordStories is the place where, alongside quality, quantity really does matter. Though these stories are so brief in length, they can be as profound, if not more, than the prose and poetry you see and read every day, partly because six word stories can tell us so much and yet contain so little.#SixWordStories Feature: May 6th - 20th by ^3wyl
In our feature articles, we will be showcasing selections of the wonderful six word stories submitted to our bi-weekly word and theme prompts. New bi-weekly prompts will also be announced here.
Word Prompt: Time
Theme Prompt: Whimsy<
Weekly Spontaneity! ~ [58]We are going to post something to spark those creative minds, be it a deviation, a quote, a song, or something else completely, and your purpose is to write a six word story. Perhaps the piece will provoke thought, inspire you, or evoke a particular response out of you. Whatever you write, it must be six words only (or rather, original guidelines apply) and you can write whatever you like as long as it is a response to the material we post.Weekly Spontaneity! ~ [58] by #SixWordStories
Some Guidelines:Please post all six word stories here, in this blog.
Last week, six word stories were based on this:
There were many, many fantastic stories, but the one we will place is written by =Tobaeus:
"I just forgot how to dog."
Some other awesome stories were:
~Ardikani4's "Puppy and anesthetics...roll over Beethoven!"
~SkittleToes's "Day 27,
Subject stil
Project: Soylent GreenProject: Soylent GreenProject: Soylent Green by *RalfMaximus
Rev 1.1
Overview
Recognizing that Earth's population will only continue to grow, a new sustainable food supply must be developed quickly. The obvious choice for this new food source? Recycled human beings.
RalfCo proposes to lead the charge into this brave new field of endeavor, staving off a dystopian nightmare where hunger prevails. I mean, you've seen the Hunger Games, right? Right?
To this end we at RalfCo intend to assemble an elite team of specialists and attack this problem head-on. Do YOU have what it takes to make Soylent Green a reality? If so, please respond!
Critical Path Items
In ProjectSpeak, "Critical Path Items" are waypoints that prevent success. Identifying and addressing each Item will allow us one step closer to our goals.
1. Technology
Develop the technology to safely convert humans (living or deceased) into a delicious "kibble" like food product that supplies 100% of an adult human's nutritional needs.
Obviously, d
<---You 
) So this will be Part Two of the epic journal promotion project. If you missed out on any of the awesomeness that occurred before this journal, check here: This here is mah pimp stickThis is the little corner of dA where I show you who on dA is putting their work out into the professional and semiprofessional publishing world. Each published deviant (or category, as needed) is highlighted with a star. Their accomplishments are listed in black bullet point for easy location. New deviants should appear toward the top of the page, and new listings for deviants already here will appear at the top of their individual lists. All new entries will be tagged with a shinyGo ahead. Don't worry. We'll wait until you get back.label for easy location. Having trouble finding one of your favorites? Try Ctrl+F, then type the name of your deviant. Still can't find them? Well, maybe it's time you dropped me a suggestion, eh?
Take your time, look these over, and if you enjoyed any of this, be kind enough to leave a review on their page. Reviews are one of the things that bring in more readers. Remember, writers need all the support (and traffic) they can get. If you know a deviant who published their work, drop me a link, and I'l
icon next to them. Each published deviant gets a star and each project gets a shiny bullet to help you find them. If you need help searching for a specific deviant, just use Ctrl+F to open a search box. If I've missed anyone in this journal or the last one, feel free to let me know. The more exposure published deviants get, the better! 
OCR is Not the Only Font-- "Silly, surreal and sometimes serious, these thirty-one very short stories cover a vast range of subjects and themes. Written entirely during July 2012, these flash fiction pieces are accompanied by a deeply unscientific analysis of the challenge that spawned them: to write thirty-one stories in thirty-one days. " "Doctor Edmund Huntsfee's Perilous Expedition into the Heart of the Flood Plains" was published by Mad Scientist Journal: Autumn 2012 "Reflections" made Honorable Mention in Binnacle's Ninth Annual Ultra-Short Story Competition. Revisiting "Sed Non Satiata" of Charles Baudelaire (A Critical Essay)-- "This book neither simply offers a critic of "Sed Non Satiata" nor a new translation of said poem found in Baudelaire's Les fleurs du mal - a book of poems translated as "The Flowers of Evil." It projects light on Jeanne Duval, Baudelaire's mistress, by providing important background information about her. Jeanne Duval was Haitian and biracial. The book penetrates her circumstances and reconstructs the attitude of 19th century France by using history and the prevailing ideological constructs of anthropologists of that period, concerning race mixing between Black and White." Invocation of Dawn- Land of the Sky-- "While on vacation in the former port town, Sin City, the young Fae princess Souri Ada Lodette discovers a mysterious heirloom in her possession. As she tries to understand what it is and where she has seen it before, she comes face to face with the notorious murderer known as Roo the Ripper, who just happens to be in search of the same object! Who exactly is this man... And why does he call her Solas?" "My name is Claude Frollo, I'm nineteen going on ninety, and this is my story." Get Chemistry on Amazon, Barnes &Noble, and Kobo. Titan Magic "Mute, heartless, and tormented by auditory hallucinations, Madeleine Lavoie never questions why her family has hidden her from the world. But the night her brother casts her out, she learns the mysterious voice she thought existed only in her mind is no delusion, and no matter how hard she tries, she can never disobey it. Now Madeleine must find her own voice in a cacophony of powerful tyrants, monsters, and gods. If she fails, she will forfeit her life and the lives of everyone who loves her. But if she succeeds, she may finally gain the ability to love someone in return." Find it on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and CreateSpace. Dominant Race is a sci-fi story that asks the age-old question: Help a government in the business of killing their kind, or defend someone in the business of killing everyone else? Find it on Smashwords, Amazon, Amazon UK, Barnes & Noble, and Apple. The Wolven Pride In a mix of poetry and prose, Chen tells the story of a young wolf who is destined to end a six century conflict between lycanthropes and humans. Or is he?
*Christa-Kinde The Blue Door, Book One of the Threshold Series is now available in bookstores and on Amazon. Go on and give it a look! ~Ysabetwordsmith Composing Magic is a nonfiction book on magical/spiritual writing and is available wherever traditionally published books are sold. Nature's Patient Hands is a collection of poetry published through Diminuendo in 2010. Prismatica: Science Fiction Poetry Spanning the Spectrum was also published through Diminuendo. Over on Torn World, you can find a list of stories too numerous to list here. Happy reading! ~Treo-LeGigeo "Second Street" can be found on Literary Orphans. #Deviant-Nightmares The Deviant Nightmares Anthology is now available! See if you can find some of you favorite horror writing deviants in there. *katarthis "One man must overcome amnesia, a dying world, and a faction among the natives that is trying to kill him" in One. ~Snapperz "Infection" was published with Criminal Class Review Volume 5 Eunoia Review published "Genesis" "An Ending" was published by Neon Magazine and by The Adroit Journal on Lulu. ~Autumn-Hills Gravedigger might be right up your alley if you're into "spade and sorcery". ~DawnArdent "Behave or Zombies Will Gobble You Up"-- "A vampire mother tries to scare her son into eating vegetables by telling him zombie stories." "Embrace the Demon Priestess"-- Leona is a priestess of EnrRrei, on a mission to spread the demoness's influence. She tries her luck in a desert camp by handing out food to arguably adorable, but batshit crazy humans." "Zombie Mages Bend Reality"-- "Administrator Dyna supervises an experiment where one of her researchers is subjected to an overdose of Serum. Receiving such a large dose is seen as an honor - even though Serum is refined from human brains" "Vampires Crave Demon Blood"-- "Demon blood is poisonous and addictive. Three vampire clan leaders set aside their personal differences and convene to discuss the socio-political dangers of demon blood addiction - and hopefully find a solution that won't put all of their lives at risk. " Looking for a free story for your ereader? Look no further than "You Wouldn't Download a Zombie", or any of these others by this deviant. Demonic Butterfly: "An elder demonic entity tells a younger one to 'get off her lawn' by murdering one of his demon priests using a butterfly." Zombie Kitten is a story in which "a young vampire girl follows a bully to his hideout, where she finds a malnourished and diseased kitten locked in a cage. Appalled by such torture, Elise decides to do whatever she can to help the kitten." In Eternal September, "Mr. Smith takes a break from battling collective nightmares to nurse his broken self." In Book of Necromancy, "Lucy, Rose and Eric are sipping tea and debating whether to read a book on necromancy." In The Vampire Lord Must Die, "Ashley is dispatched to assassinate a misbehaving vampire lord." In Dream Magic Awakenings, "a young boy battles demons and learns magic in a shared lucid dream." ~AfterTheNonSequitur Shadow of the Reapers is available on [link]">Kindle and <a wytiwyg="1" href="<a href=" http:="" www.barnesandnoble.com="" w="" shadow-of-the-reapers-mariah-grey="" 1104172769?ean="9781617928222"">[link]">Nook. *nightshade-keyblade Crooked Cat Publishing, Ltd. is publishing his short stories "The Nightmare Queen" and ""The Wild Huntsman" in FEAR: A MODERN ANTHOLOGY OF HORROR AND TERROR. Find them here and here.
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