A Quiet and Peaceful Place and Other Short Stories

Writing fiction is a craft; writing short story fiction is a craft within a craft; and this month we have found some extraordinary masters of their craft. Our collection opens with the return of one of our most prolific authors, Patricia Crandall, as she tells a traditional Christmas story with her customary wit and pathos. Jeff Brown's work makes its first appearance in our collections with "The Butcher's Son and the Paper Boy," a tale two brothers' triumph over abuse. "Relationship...
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Writing fiction is a craft; writing short story fiction is a craft within a craft; and this month we have found some extraordinary masters of their craft. Our collection opens with the return of one of our most prolific authors, Patricia Crandall, as she tells a traditional Christmas story with her customary wit and pathos. Jeff Brown's work makes its first appearance in our collections with "The Butcher's Son and the Paper Boy," a tale two brothers' triumph over abuse. "Relationship Conundrums" by Savannagh Zeviar speeds through a humorous array of emotions as a young lady contemplates the future potential of an emerging relationship. Jake Anderson's "Skipper and Beatty" tugs at the heart strings as it ponders the almost mystical bond between a man and his dog. Chad Sellmer's "The Number" looks on as a man spends his birthday battling his phone's caller ID and the ominous presence lurking behind those intimidating digits. If Anderson's story brings on tears and Sellmer's story makes one cringe, then James Fox's "Our A-Team Cake and Old Buster Dog" entices one to laugh out loud as the destinies of an undisciplined dog, a birthday boy, and an ideal cake become the stuff of ongoing family lore. Few authors possess the imaginative capacities to make us believe in mythical creatures, but Wayne L. Wilson has that capacity. "I Saw a Mermaid" will leave you afraid to go back into the water. Danny Webster's "tortoribus" likewise inspires fear, but of the human, rather than the mythical, sort. The characters in Allee Pitaccio's "Inside a Walnut" experience evils and torments, but it's their extraordinary love that will leave the reader inspired in this tale of death. Many of our favorite stories help us to discern the psyches of those around us. That's exactly what Isaiah Ramesses's "The Door," A. Michael Bronston's "A Quiet and Peaceful Place," and Mary Lamphere's "The Power of Suggestion" each accomplish. Ramesses leads the reader through the gambit of emotions that accompany a confrontation with terrorism; Bronston's tear-jerker leaves the reader wondering if a life well-lived-and well-lived with a trusted canine companion-can take the sting out of even death; and Lamphere's questioning reflections reveal the crushing weight that deception and betrayal can dump upon a trusting soul. In life, some people are called to almost unimaginable "Sacrifice." Such sacrifice-and perhaps an equal measure of gratitude-is narrated with gripping eloquence by Ronald Edwin Lane. If sarcasm works best when mixed with a heavy dose of realism, then the mirror which Nisreen Breik holds up to the American dream in "In the Land of Opportunity" is as much a master of sarcasm as Lane is of gratitude. Rod Chappell, on the other hand, is a master of homespun warmth. The father and son story in his "You Can Be a Cowboy" can melt even the heart of stone. Melba Pena, one of our readers' favorite authors, returns to the themes of sacrifice and gratitude in her brief "Letters to a Young Soldier" as she allows us to peek in on an ill-fated young man's private correspondence. The illness in Patricia Florio's "The Blonde I Loved to Hate" is more a matter of ill-will than of ill-fate. Sometimes, people just do not like each other! And, who could like the fate befalls the characters in Bill Freas's "The Last Weekend?" Bill, an unusually talented horror writer, always leaves us wondering... how does he come up with this stuff? As always, each story has won our monthly competition for original short stories. As the competition continues to get more and more stringent, the stories keep getting better and better. It is with great pleasure that we share these original stories with you.Phyllis Scott, Series editor