Last month in the Facebook Group, The Charmed Connection, members of Charmed Writers posted some flash fiction short stories in honor of St. Patrick’s Day. Charmed Connection members voted for their favorite stories. The top four stories will be published this month on A Slice of Orange.
First up is Veronica Jorge’s story “Fiona Malone’s Fesh.” Veronica blogs, here on A Slice of Orange on the 22nd of each month. Her column Write from the Heart features articles about writing and book reviews. You can also read another of her short stories in Charmed Writers Presents: Flash Fiction 2019, a free anthology ebook.
Fiona Malone spit on a corner of her shawl and wiped at the murky mirror. “Well now, truth be told, the Malone fair looks bypassed me.” She picked up a small statue of St. Patrick. “And you’ll be saying it’s nothing to do with you, I’m sure.” She set it back on the dresser… upside down. “You’ll stay that way ‘till you make it your business and throw a wee blessing my way.” Fiona tugged at her dress, too tight at the hip and pulled her shawl tight about her. “At least I’ve been endowed in the right places.” She stuffed her wiry hair under her felt cap, latched the cabin door and set out.
Lugging her catch to sell at market, her wheelbarrow and her buttocks bounced across the wooden bridge. “Luck of the Irish. Whoever came up with that fairy story? I’d be happy with selling all my fish today. Ahh, and maybe a fine man to cook for. But who would want the likes of me?” A sound interrupted her soliloquy.
Thuh thump, thuh thump, thuh thump…
Fiona rushed a sign of the cross over herself. “Saint’s preserve us!”
She considered that the sound could only be that of Molly’s wheelbarrow. Yes. That Molly. The Molly Malone who died of a fever because no one could save her; Fiona’s great-grandmother. Thanks to that legacy, most of the townspeople shied away from her.
“The good book says there’s no communication twixt the living and the dead. Why would great granny be following me?” Fiona signed herself again for good measure, placed her hand over heart, and spun around. “Oh my goodness. ‘Tis only Mr. Pippin and his wooden leg.” She stamped out the perspiration on her face with her shawl and laughed at herself.
“Good day to ye, Mr. Pippin. How goes it?”
He answered not a word and thumped past her, muttering and cursing under his breath as was his custom.
“Poor dear. Lost his right leg to a mangy dog. Pain might be easier to bear if he had lost it to bravery for a nobler cause. Tsk. Tsk.”
Fiona’s barrow creaked over the cobblestones. Some sellers crowded her out afraid of the bad luck she might be carrying. Others made a wee bit of room, so she wouldn’t be offended and have a mind to toss the bad luck their way. Sometimes a compassionate customer bought from her. But alas, her fish fed mostly her and the stray cats.
“Fesh! Fesh!” cried Fiona. No one drew near today. “Fesh! Fresh fesh!”
“Is it now?” asked a stranger.
“Indeed it ‘tis. Caught by me own dear self.” Fiona squared her body, hands on her wide hips.
The man eyed her.
Fiona crossed her arms over her breast. “As fresh as your roving eyes. Now away with you. It’s only fish we’ll be selling here.”
“Forgive me, darlin’. But you’re a fine catch indeed.”
Fiona picked up a herring to hurl at him.
The stranger backed up. “No offense intended; I promise you.”
“Hmpf!”
“Will you give us a smile, so we’ll know we’re forgiven?” His eyes glistened with warmth and merriment.
Fiona smiled.
“You’re quite a beauty.”
“Go on with you now. Enough of your teasin’.”
“’Tis truth I’m speaking. Have you never been told you’re fair?”
Fiona blushed and fussed with the hair strand peeking out from under her cap.
“Now to business,” said the stranger. He pointed to the fish. “How much for the heap?”
“In earnest?”
“As sure as my name is James Hugh Callahan.”
The fish kept slipping out of Fiona’s hands. The paper wrapping alternately wrinkled and ripped. Mr. Callahan handed her the money.
Fiona kept her hands at her sides. “Place the money on the cart.”
“As you wish. I’ll look forward to buying fish from you again.” He tipped his hat and parted.
Fiona’s fingers fumbled picking up the coins. She folded them into a cloth, tucked them into her bosom, and patted her chest.
The squeaky wheels from Fiona’s wheelbarrow sang all the way home. Stepping into the cottage, she ran to her dresser. She picked up the icon of St. Patrick and kissed it. Fiona stood him upright in his usual place pushing aside her hair brush and tweezers to give him extra room.
We hope you enjoyed Veronica’s story. Stop back tomorrow for Angela Pryce’s story, “The Last Serpent.”
Sponsor: Music City Romance Writers
Fees: $22 for MCRW Members, $27 for other RWA Members, $32 for Non-RWA Members
Contest Opens January 1, 2019
Deadline: February 28, 2019
Eligibility: Open to published and unpublished authors over the age of 18. The manuscript entered must be the author’s original work and be unpublished and uncontracted at the time of deadline and unpublished during the contest itself. Manuscript must also meet minimum word count lengths.
Entry: First 25 pages or a maximum of 7,500 words.
Categories: Contemporary, Mainstream/Women’s Fiction, FF&P (Futuristic, Fantasy, & Paranormal), Historical, Young Adult. All heat levels welcome.
Judges: Judging is on a point basis, with all manuscripts judged by three authors from a pool of PAN, PRO, and trained general members. Judges are highly encouraged to comment and critique each entry.
Final Round Judges:
Contemporary Romance: Megan Broderick (Assistant Editor, Harlequin) and Ann Rose (Agent, Prospect Agency)
Futuristic, Fantasy, & Paranormal Romance: Lexi Smail (Associate Editor, Hatchette Book Group, Forever Yours) and Marlo Berliner (Agent, The Jennifer De Chiara Agency)
Historical Romance: Sarah Blumenstock (Assistant Editor, Penguin Random House) and Katelyn Uplinger (Agent, D4EO Literary Agency)
Young Adult Romance: Annette Pollert (Editorial Director, Bloomsbury) and Elizabeth Poteet (Agent, The Seymour Agency)
Mainstream/Women’s Fiction with Romantic Elements: Norma Perez-Hernandez (Editor, Kensington) and Janna Bonikowski (Agent, The Knight Agency)
Three finalists per category. Finalist entries will be judged by one editor and one agent.
Top Prize: Finalists in each category will receive a certificate and announcement in the RWR (RWA’s print and online publication), on the MCRW website, and across MCRW’s social media. The overall winner of each category will be announced at MCRW’s June meeting and will receive: a $50 cash prize, a 50-page critique by a published author or editor, and a commemorative Melody of Love pin.
FMI, check out our full rules at https://musiccityrwa.blogspot.com/p/melody-of-love-2019-rules-in-full.html and the simplified registration page at: https://musiccityrwa.blogspot.com/p/contest-registration.html It is recommended you read the full rules and category descriptions and such before entering.
You can also mail our Contest Coordinators Jody Wallace and Dana Brantley-Sieders at contest@mcrw.com
For your Christmas Eve listening pleasure a selection of readings of The Night Before Christmas. First up Stephen Fry.
Next up is Stan Lee:
LeVar Burton reads the poem with illustrations from Tomie DePaola.
Elton John!
I was surprised to find Bob Dylan in my list, but here he is:
Even William Shatner had a version:
The Learning Station’s animated version with music:
This one is NOT the traditional version of the poem but John Cleese’s version in which Santa gets captured and the reindeer eaten and . . .well I won’t spoil the ending. It made me laugh, but if the ideas of capturing Santa or eating reindeer makes your blood boil don’t listen.
Which one was your favorite?
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Starts Saturday October 27 and continues through October 31
Features
Takes place in The Charmed Connection on Facebook
Hope to see you there.
Invite your friends to join us too.
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The Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC (BWG), founded in 2006, is a community of mutually supportive, fiction and nonfiction authors based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The members are as different from each other as their stories, spanning a range of genres including: children’s, fantasy, humor, inspiration, literary, memoir, mystery, paranormal, romance, science fiction, women’s fiction, and young adult.
BWG has published five anthologies. Each anthology has an overall theme—broadly interpreted—but includes a variety of genres, and all but the first anthology include stories from the winner(s) of The Bethlehem Writers Short Story Award. Their first anthology, A Christmas Sampler: Sweet, Funny, and Strange Holiday Tales (2009), won two Next Generation Indie Book Awards: Best Anthology and Best Short Fiction.
Once Around the Sun: Sweet, Funny, and Strange Tales for All Seasons, came out on November 5, 2013, and was a Finalist for Best Anthology in the 2014 Next Generation Indie Book Awards.
The third anthology, A Readable Feast: Sweet, Funny, and Strange Tales for Every Taste (2015), was a Finalist in Food Stories in the 2016 Next Generation Indie Book Awards.
Anthology number four, Once Upon a Time: Sweet, Funny, and Strange Tales for All Ages is a collection of twenty-one stories for children—ages preschool through middle school.
UNTETHERED: Sweet, Funny, & Strange Tails of the Paranormal is a collection of 27 paranormal tales. UNTETHERED was released October 14th and is the fifth volume in their Sweet, Funny, and Strange Tales series.
BWG is currently working on their sixth anthology, Fur, Feathers, & Scales: Sweet, Funny, and Strange Animal Tales.
In connection with this anthology, they are hosting The Bethlehem Writers 2019 Short Story Award. The 2019 Short Story Award will open on January 1, 2019 the theme will be Animal Stories,broadly interpreted. Stories of 2,000 words or fewer about WILD ANIMALS, PETS, or IMAGINARY BEASTS will be welcome (so long as an animal is an important character or element of the story). The winner will receive $200 and may be offered publication in the above mentioned upcoming anthology. The 2019 guest judge will be John Grogan, best-selling author of Marley & Me.
In addition to anthologies and yearly writing contests, the group publishes a quarterly literary journal, The Bethlehem Writers Roundtable, and hosts twice monthly writing workshops and a critique groups for local members. You can see the schedule of BWG meetings and events, including author signings here.
Stoke the campfire and get ready for some chills and goosebumps when you open this paranormal addition to the award-winning Bethlehem Writers Group’s “Sweet, Funny, and Strange” anthologies. Among our twenty-seven stories, we bring you Jeff Baird’s “Bailey’s Mountain” which shows a romp with man’s best friend through Mother Nature morph into a visit to the supernatural. Dianna Sinovic’s “Point of View” describes a mysterious shifting painting and its sinister effects on its new owner. Jodi Bogert brings us “Old Man Omar,” and shows us that sometimes those we consider crazy might just know some things we don’t. In DT Krippene’s “Hell of a Deal,” a man buys a house for a price that’s too good to be true—until he discovers the bizarre strings attached. Kidd Wadsworth’s “The Beast” brings a ghost story to life—but can her characters escape with theirs?
In addition, we have new stories of the unexplained from favorite authors Courtney Annicchiarico, Walter Bego, A. E. Decker, Marianne H. Donley, Headley Hauser, Ralph Hieb, Jerome W. McFadden, Stanley W. McFarland, Emily P. W. Murphy, Christopher D. Ochs, Paul Weidknecht, and Carol L. Wright. Also included are the winning stories from the 2017 and 2018 Bethlehem Writers Roundtable Short Story Award by Suzanne Purvis and Christine Eskilson respectively.
So sit back to enjoy a drift through the paranormal—but don’t let the fire go out!
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Far from a domestic goddess, Sarah Blair would rather catch bad guys than slave over a hot stove. But when a dangerous murder boils over in Wheaton, Alabama, catching the killer means leaving her comfort zone …
More info →A Slice of Orange is an affiliate with some of the booksellers listed on this website, including Barnes & Nobel, Books A Million, iBooks, Kobo, and Smashwords. This means A Slice of Orange may earn a small advertising fee from sales made through the links used on this website. There are reminders of these affiliate links on the pages for individual books.
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