Against the Wind

Enjoy another fantastic tale by the talented Andrew Joyce.

Andrew Joyce

Variations on a Theme

 I write this preamble to the following story for a reason. I recently posted a story entitled Hank and Me that had a dead guy in a cabin filled with gold. Guess what? There’s a dead guy in this story and he is also found in a cabin filled with gold. But please hear me out. I wrote the bulk of my short stories about seven years ago. I wrote them for myself and then forgot about them. I did not imagine they would ever see the light of day. I did not have a blog at the time and my first novel had yet to be written.

This story came about because one day I was tooling down the road listening to an oldies station on the radio and up comes Against the Wind by Bob Seger. A few miles later, on comes North…

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18:51

Danny Goes on Vacation…

Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

Danny Goes on Vacation

My name is Andrew Joyce, and for those of you who keep up on the adventures of Danny the Dog, I’m his human and he’s my dog. He’s always writing about me, telling you nice people what an idiot I am and that I drink too much. I want you to know right here and right now that I am not an idiot.

It’s summertime again, and, as you all know, that’s when Danny takes his vacation.

When we first hooked up about fourteen years ago, Danny insisted that we sign a contract so we’d both know what was expected from the other. He got his attorney to draw one up, and because, at the time, I could not afford a lawyer, I signed what was put in front of me without reading it. Well, imagine my surprise eight months later when July rolled around and…

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Great deal for fans of fairies!

Hank and Me

Important message in this gem of a story…enjoy!

Andrew Joyce

I had just left an Apache Reservation in Arizona after having spent a night there. I was hitching west and had been picked up by a guy named Jimmy. I never did learn his last name. He was a full-blooded Apache and he invited me to crash on his couch. I didn’t get much sleep because we stayed up most of the night and talked … well … he did most of the talking. He told me of the Denéé—The People—as he referred to the Apache. I learned of their history, their medicine, or religion, as we would call it. I even did some peyote with him and spoke with God. But that’s another story. Today, I want to tell you about Hank.

Jimmy was still asleep when I left. I didn’t have it in me to wake him and ask for a ride back to the highway. The sun…

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Dash Masquerades as Hyphen — Criminally

Cute teaching tale!

Writing-Insight-Success

As she walked into the squad room, Grammar Smith glanced over at Dis Connect’s desk and saw Henrietta Hyphen slumped in a chair.

Henrietta was a “frequent flyer” at the Dept. of English Language Offenses.

“What have you done this time?” Grammar asked as she ambled up to Dis’s desk.

“I haven’t done anything!” Henrietta snapped. “I’m here filing a complaint against my cousin, En Dash.”

Grammar raised an eyebrow. Dis nodded his confirmation.

“What’s the problem?” Grammar asked.

“En has always been jealous of me, and now she’s stolen my identity! She keeps popping up in phrases where I should be. She’s stealing my thunder!” Henrietta fumed.

“There’s evidence.”

Dis showed Grammar the file:

Exhibit A: the 25 – year – old lawyer

Exhibit B:   The antique — book collector pounded upon the first edition.

Exhibit C:  She could be a full – or part – time worker.

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Missing Someone – All the Time – by Zoe, The Fabulous Feline…

Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

I am Zoe, the Fabulous Feline, author extraordinaire. I write stories about my adventures in life. I write about Emily sometimes, too; if you know me, you know Emily is the human I adopted some time ago. Normally, my stories are happy ones, and I hope they have been entertaining to my fans. With a heavy heart, I offer you something different this month. A true and truly sad story.

If you have been following my stories, you also know that I have a sister named Jasmine. Her humans, Michele and Michael, are the daughter and son-in-law of my human. They call Jasmine “Jaz” or “Jazzy” for short.

I’ll recap a bit of our history, for those who may not have read my previous story about Jaz.

Jaz and I had lived in a shelter for a short time before Michele and Emily walked through the door and into our…

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Six Feet

A sad story…short on words, long on food for thought.

Andrew Joyce

I come from the projects and I ain’t no pussy. In fact, I’d just as soon slit your throat as look at you.

They have me now. I was stupid enough to get caught after that gas station robbery. What’s the big fucking deal? We got only forty bucks. The cops came a-shootin’. My man Daryl took a bullet to the head.

Under the law, I was charged with murder in the second degree because someone died in the commission of a felony. How do you like that shit? The cops didn’t have to shoot. We were not armed … we carried toy guns. Of course, I was convicted. It was an all-white jury. What else can a black man expect in America?

Now I’m looking at twenty years to life. I sit in my cell and think of my girl. Her skin is chestnut brown in color. It’s the…

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Thoughts of #Peace

TINA FRISCO

Image courtesy of Terri Webster Schrandt

Our thoughts and prayers are with
our sisters and brothers of London ❤

The hatred evidenced by terrorist attacks around the world could easily be met with equal hatred, should we allow it. But how would that identify and inform us as a species? What would that do to the hearts and minds of individuals as well as society? What do we want to teach our children, and what kind of world do we want to leave them?

It is a challenge to keep our hearts open amid such unconscionable acts of violence. Yet it is our only hope of survival. Meeting these despicable acts with an equal amount of aggression could lead to our annihilation in this nuclear age. At the very least, it could alter our consciences and consciousness to a degree beyond repair. And that is as unacceptable as the terrorist…

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OOPS Goes to a Whole New Level…

Whoa! That’s an understatement!