THE
JOY OF STORY
John
M. Daniel’s Blog
May
13, 2017
§§§
Greetings, friends and celebrators
of the joy to be found in stories—writing them, reading them, telling them, or
hearing them. If you enjoy a good story, this weekly blog is for you.
This being the second Saturday of
the month of May, it’s time to post the 99-word stories sent to me during the
month of April. The prompt for this month was taken from a lyric by Alan J.
Lerner for the musical Camelot. Here
it is: “Tra la, it's
May, the lusty Month of May, That lovely month when everyone goes blissfully astray.”
I received six stories, mostly
from regular contributors. I’m always glad to hear from writers I’ve never met
but have come to know though their short, short fiction. I’m also always glad
to receive material from writers new to the gene pool. (Don’t worry, I don’t
understand that metaphor either. It just happened.)
Well, I’m happy to post these six
stories on my blog, but to be honest, I’m disappointed. I was hoping to receive
some stories that took risks, some fiction inspired by the active hormones of
spring…some R-rated fiction. “No,” you say?”
Well, why not?
Okay, okay. The prompt for June is
every bit as challenging, and it doesn’t (necessarily) call for a crawl between
hot sheets. See what you can do with it: What was the most important life-changing decision you ever
made? Tell it in a story 99 words long.
Meanwhile,
here is some tame fiction about a tame May. Tame, but otherwise and nonetheless
quite readable.
§§§
THE MONTH OF YES YOU MAY!
Six stories
about the
about the
month of May—
99 words apiece
99 words apiece
§
A LETTER DATED
MAY 1st
by June Kosier
Graduation is
scheduled for May 23rd, 1976. I have taken day clinicals on my days
off and night classes for five years to get my MS in Nursing.
Finally. Oh,
happy day!
Then it
happens. I get a letter from the
Admissions Office: “You will not be able to graduate since you did not meet the
admissions requirements.” I never
took the Graduate Record Exams. I can’t take the GREs in time for graduation.
The dean tells
me to take the Miller Analogies.
If I do well, I will get my diploma—just in time.
I do…and I did!
•••
A PLACE ON THE
ROCK
by Mary Perrin Scott
Moon rising in
the sky creates tides, high and low, predicted and expected and sometimes
violent.
Wild life
responds, using the highs and lows, finding needed resting places.
Seal Rock
appears and disappears with the high and low tides. The fight begins for who
lounges on the rock of choice.
One, two,
three.
Barking,
swatting, growling.
Then the pup
appears.
As the tide
turns, one by one the seals slide off the rock. Mama and pup hang on until the
rising water forces them off. Slowly swimming away, they sing, “Tra la, it’s
May! The lusty Month of May!”
•••
HEALING IN
MAY
by Marilyn London
We hadn’t been on skates in years. We wanted to
have fun. He held David’s hand and was halfway around the rink, last time I
looked. I kneeled to tie on Jared’s toddler skates.
The music stopped.
Silence.
A voice asked everyone to leave the rink.
I turned. He was on the floor. David moused his
way around the railing back to me.
“A shattered femur,” the doctor said. Several
surgeries ensued.
Five years later, cane in hand, he left for Long
Island to a new job. Our house finally sold.
We followed in the merry month of May.
•••
MISS LEAD
by Diane
Morelli
Sage’s devotion
to The Nancy Drew Files was legendary. Two mutual acquaintances on campus
taught her that she was more of a snoop than a sleuth.
Victoria sat
next to Sage in Ethics class. “My fiancé lives far away. No lovin’ until
classes end in May.”
My eye, Sage thought, once she noticed that
Raymond, her cute classmate from Photography, and Victoria were hanging out.
Raymond stopped
Sage right before the Ethics final.
“Give this to Victoria, for good luck.”
Sage closed her
eyes and puckered her lips.
Raymond slipped
a sharpened number two pencil into her sweaty hand.
•••
REALITY
by Christine
Viscuso
“Chester, you
cheated. That sucks big time.”
“Technically,
no, Hildy. I didn’t. However, April has turned to May. Didn’t you hear that May
is the month where one may stray?
“I don’t care
what month we’re in. You’re a cheat, Chester. I come home from a hard day’s
work as a barista and what are you doing? Lounging on our velvet Sven sofa
staring glassy-eyed at her.”
“I couldn’t
help myself.”
“We agreed we
wouldn’t do it. It’s cheating when you sneak around. Frankly, I question the
mind that does that.”
“Geez. All I did was watch reality TV.”
•••
LUST UNFULFILLED
by Jerry Giammatteo
May is a time for lust and baseball. Charlie’s mind was on both. But
mostly lust.
He went to the club and saw her. The lady in the short black skirt with
the revealing top.
After hesitating, he approached her. She eyed him disdainfully and
turned away. Later, he tried again.
“Get lost, loser,” she said tartly and found the arm of some sketchy
looking fellow. He gave Charlie a look that convinced him not to persist.
Charlie went home to watch the Mets. They won. It was as much
fulfillment as he was to get this May evening.
•••
§§§
Call for
submissions:
Your 99-Word
Stories
The
deadline for June’s 99-word story submissions is June 1, 2017. The stories will
appear on my blog post for June 10, and will stay posted for a week.
note: this 99-word story feature
is a game, not a contest. Obey the rules and I’ll include your story. I may
edit the story to make it stronger, and it’s understood that you will submit to
my editing willingly. That’s an unwritten rule.
Rules for the 99-word
story feature are as follows:
1. Your story must be 99
words long, exactly.
2. One story per writer,
per month.
3. The story must be a
story. That means it needs plot (something or somebody has to change),
characters, and conflict.
4. The story must be
inspired by the prompt I assign.
5. The deadline: the
first of the month. Stories will appear on this blog the second Saturday of the
month.
6. I will copy edit the
story. The author of the story retains all rights.
7.
Email me your story (in the body of your email, or as a Word attachment) to: jmd@danielpublishing.com
THIS
MONTH’S PROMPT FOR NEXT MONTH’S 99-WORD STORY: What was the
most important life-changing decision you ever made? Tell it in a story 99
words long.
§§§
Calling
all published authors—
I try to feature a guest
author the third Saturday (and week following) of each month. If you’re
interested in posting an essay on my blog—it’s also a chance to promote a
published book—email me directly at jmd@danielpublishing.com.
§§§
Thank you for visiting.
Please drop by next week!
No comments:
Post a Comment