Free Short Stories!

"The short story is like an old friend who calls whenever he is in town. We are happy to hear from it; we casually fan the embers of past intimacies, and buy it lunch."

                                                                                     - R.Z. Sheppard

The short story. Story telling in its purest form. I love to read them, enjoy collecting them, and attempt to write them.

Neil Gaiman posted a link to an awesome site on his blog today. It is called Fifty-Two stories with Cal Morgan. It is a "fiction delivery service" that presents one short story a week to be enjoyed. Best part about it? It's free. Not a single shekel need pass from your hand to theirs. Absolutely free of charge.

From their ABOUT section:

     Welcome, gentle reader, to the fabulous, most beautiful, I mean really swinging Fifty-Two Stories—our little experiment in social engineering through the regular administration of short fiction. Here at Harper Perennial, we love those self-contained, crystalline, newborn, perfect creatures called short stories, and this is our second year celebrating them by sharing a new one every week. We hope you'll visit, subscribe, and submit your own work: After all, you may be the best writer of your generation.

How can you go wrong? Get on over there and enjoy some great stories. I know that's what I am going to do right now.

http://www.fiftytwostories.com/

Geocaching...Family Fun Without Financial Ruin!

In these days of economic woe, where a family trip to the local amusement park could potentially cost you the equivalent of a small down payment on a new car, it can be difficult to find activities for the entire family to enjoy that won't put a British Petroleum size hole in your bank account. Wouldn't it be nice to have an activity that could involve the entire family, encourage exercise and a love of the outdoors, and cost a mere fraction of the cost of that amusement park trip?

Well...welcome to Geocaching!

It's MONDAY! What are you reading?

It's Monday! What are you reading? This is a weekly meme I found that is hosted by Shelia over at One Person’s Journey Through a World of Books.

Anyone who knows me well knows how much I enjoy the magic of the written word. When one of my students see me WITHOUT a book in my pocket or clutched in my vis-s-vis stained fingers they immediately ask me what's wrong. So this meme seemed ideal for me to participate in. Feel free to log into the comments section and let me know what YOU are reading this week.

Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters: 10 Secrets Every Father Should Know by Meg Meeker, M.D.

Stories: All New Tales edited by Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio

The Magicians by Lev Grossman

Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lemov

Horns: A Novel by Joe Hill

The Worst Years of Your Life: Stories for the Geeked-Out, Angst-Ridden, Lust-Addled, and Deeply Misunderstood Adolescent in All of Us edited by Mark Jude Poirier

So how about you? What are YOU reading this week?

A Blog Hop...because sharing is cool.

As mom always taught me...sharing is good. So in that spirit...

To join the fun and make new blogger friends, just follow these simple rules:

1. Follow the Follow My Book Blog Friday Host { Parajunkee.com } and any one else you want to follow on the list
2. Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing.
3. Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say hi in your comments
4. Follow Follow Follow as many as you can
5. If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love...and the followers
6. If you want to show the link list, just follow the link below the entries and copy and paste it within your post! 

When a Cowboy-Monkey Rodeo is Not the Weirdest Event of Your Evening, it is Time to go to Bed.

Yes, you read that correctly.

Cowboy-Monkey Rodeo.

I have not lost what passes for my mind nor have I become addicted to hallucinogenic drugs.

The Wife, The Peanut, and I drove up to Wilmington to catch a Blue Rocks game last night. It was a perfect night for minor league baseball. Cloudless sky, temps in the low eighties, upper seventies. The Rocks didn't play so well (which is pretty typical for them...they are a Kansas City farm team after all) but baseball is baseball and we enjoyed the action.

In between the third and the fourth inning, as the defense for Winston-Salem ran off the field and the Blue Rocks trotted on, a blue grass fiddle began to shriek its way out of the PA system. Many of the crowd, who knew what to expect, started to cheer. The Family and I simply looked around, perplexed. As the Out-of-Place-in-North-Wilmington fiddle continued to pour forth its twangy melody from the speakers The Peanut looked out to left field.

"LOOK!" she screamed. "SHEEP!"

I looked and sure enough, trotting out from the opposing team's bullpen door came four sheep, two males and two females. They ambled out onto the left field grass, looking around almost as if searching desperately for Noah and his ark, not wanting to be left behind. The crowd began to cheer louder. The sheep made it about halfway between left and center field when the bluegrass violin, which had been joined by a steel guitar, a piano, and a set of drums, suddenly took its frenzied tempo and kicked it up even faster.

The late afternoon crowd began to cheer and laugh wildly as two border collies tore from the same door the sheep had come through. Riding the backs of these beautiful dogs, resplendent in complete cowboy rodeo gear, were two tiny monkeys. They clutched the pommel of their tiny saddles for dear life as the collies raced after the sheep.

Stories:All New Tales, edited by Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio!

Hi all. Health issues have kept me away from the keyboard for the past few weeks...more on that once the school year ends and I have more time.

But I had to pop in real quick and post this widget for what I already know is going to be an AWESOME book.

Check it out then go buy your copy.

I know I am going to as soon as I can.

Stay fertile.

Brian