FLASH FICTION FRIDAY

Doorknobs & BodyPaint Archives

Guides & Prompts from Issue 58

Work.  It does or it doesn’t.  We do or we don’t.  Work that is.  Some of us do it without thinking, a bit like working in the dark.  Some of us never stop thinking about it, 24/7.  It consumes us.  We never stop talking about it.  We are always engaged in some form of it.  

DOORKNOBS 

1. Maximum length: 250 words.

 2. The sub-theme is: exertion.

3. The year is:  1989.

4. Within the story, you must use this text:  one’s place. 

Write a story and post it in comments or send it to the Cairo Room doorknobsandbodypaint@gmail.com

FLASH FICTION FRIDAY

Doorknob & BodyPaint Archives

Guides and Prompts from Issue 76

Exploration does not always lead to discovery. Yet, many travelers expect that some unraveling of the mysterious world around us will happen.  What a surprise awaits them.  They trek, they probe, they puzzle.  They take pictures, label samples, name plants and animals, write in their journals.  Disappointed when they return home?  No.  They are quick to plan their next adventure.    

TAPAS:  Joanne Faries, editor  (tiny morsels)

1.  Maximum length:  250 words.

2.  The sub-theme is:  puzzled. 

3. Within the story, you must use this bit of text:  exert.

4. Like seasoning, it is language that makes your story unique. Surprise us.

Write a story and post it in comments or send it to the Cairo Room at doorknobsandbodypaint@gmail.com

FLASH FICTION FRIDAY

Doorknob & BodyPaint Archives

Guides and Prompts

From Issue 75 Hayward Fault Line

Hot. Temperatures rise.  Tempers flair. You've waited through the rain and snow for the heat. But, now, you sense the danger. The sun is setting and with the coming of night.  It seems hotter. Your skin prickles. You’re sweaty.  You yearn for a cool mountain breeze.  And, all you have is a noisy air conditioner in an open window. You’re up anyway, so take a moment and write a story within the guidelines for Hot August Nights.

HAYWARD FAULT LINE:  (shake us up) 

1. Maximum length: 450 words.

2. The sub-theme is:  trifling.

3. The setting is:  Sante Fe, NM.

4. Within the story, you must use this bit of text: hard and fast.

Write a story and post it in comments or send it to the Cairo Room at doorknobsandbodypaint@gmail.com

Doorknob Stories Selected for Flash Fiction Sunday Edition

On a bright note, Flash Fiction Sunday Edition has selected two of Doorknob & BodyPaint stories for stories of the week.  They are Master Builder by Bev Vines-Haines (5/2010 Dorsal) and The Nice Guy by Dan Jackson (8/2013 Doorknobs).  Congratulations to the writers and to the editors Bara Swain and Kieron Devlin.  They also included a nice review of D&B.  Check it out at http://www.101words.org/flash-fiction-sunday-edition-issue-1/?utm_source=101+Words+-+Readers&utm_campaign=e1aa7fb7a7-Blog_Subscribers11_15_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1cdbce461a-e1aa7fb7a7-236984657

FLASH FICTION FRIDAYS

Doorknobs & BodyPaint Archives
Guides & Prompts
from Issue 74 Earth Day

DORSAL CONTEST:  Bara Swain, editor

Barbara Kingsolver vowed that she and her family would only buy food raised in their own neighborhood, grow it themselves, or learn to live without it.  For one year, the rural life that they led is revealed in her part memoir, part journalistic investigation, ABOUT ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, MIRACLE.  Barbara Kingsolver and her coauthors unearth the secret lives of vegetables and the unexpected satisfactions of knowing their food producers — and sometimes their dinner — on a first-name basis.

Yard art is an earnest form of self-expression here. Autumn, with its blended undertones of “joyful harvest” and “Trick-or-Treat kitsch,” brings out the best and worst on the front lawns: colorful displays of chrysanthemums and gourds. A large round hay bale with someone’s legs hanging out of its middle. (A pair of jeans and boots stuffed with newspaper, I can only hope; we’ll call it a farm safety reminder.) One common theme runs through all these dioramas, and that is the venerable pumpkin. They were lined up in rows, burnished and proud and conspicuous, the big brass buttons on the uniform of our village. On the drive home from our morning’s errands we even passed a pumpkin field where an old man and a younger one worked together to harvest their crop, passing up the orange globes and stacking them on the truck bed to haul to market. We’d driven right into a Norman Rockwell painting.

In 450 words or less, write a story that reveals your attitude toward food, cooking or food culture.

Write a story and post it in comments or send it to the Cairo Room at doorknobsandbodypaint@gmail.com

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS riverbabble 27 BLOOMSDAY ISSUE

Submissions open:  March 15, 2015

Submission deadline: May 15, 2015

Publication Date: June 2015

Theme:  Thought & Experience

For this issue, we are especially interested in receiving poems using, but not limited to, horses, bees, music, and dreams as image or metaphor.

We accept Poetry, Short Story, Essay, Flash Fiction, Haiku, Haibun, and Review. 

We always need more fiction. 

General Overview of riverbabble

riverbabble was founded as an on-line literary journal in the Winter of 2002 to publish fiction, poetry and essay. It is published by Pandemonium Press, which is dedicated to publishing and editing literary works. riverbabble is published twice a year—once in June, the Bloomsday Issue and once in January, the Winter Solstice Issue. We particularly look forward to reading work, which can be described as modernist: a story or poem, which focuses on the inner self and has a specificity as to geography and landscape of the city. We look forward to reading work, which elevates the individual. While special attention is given to literature that reflects a modernist sensibility, riverbabble is broad in scope and embraces a variety of work.

For a complete list of guidelines, go to:  http://iceflow.com/riverbabble/riverguides27.html

We are sorry, but we are unable to pay for your work.

Send submissions to:

riverbabble@gmail.com