Top posts
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White Death
The young man, Kendall Paltry, known as "whitey" to his few friends and associates, had lived in the village of Kent since his birth, twenty two years earlier. The day he came squalling into the world of men, was marked by two significant happenings....
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The Vampire's Plot
There was no turning back or running ahead; both were blocked by the Vampire tag team she nicknamed Harold and Maud after that kind of creepy movie of the same name. Harold was bringing up the rear, putting pressure on her like a herding sheep dog, only...
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Our Fascination With Dead People!
Yikes! Not another tale of newly animated dead folk terrorizing an unsuspecting town! They come in foot-dragging, eye ball-sagging, arm-swinging swarms and seem to dominate our entertainment outlets. There appears to be a deeply rooted desire among the...
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Holiday Madness!
If you are a living, breathing human, you've heard no doubt of the craziness on the day after Thanksgiving; a day ominously named, Black Friday! Here's a synopsis of how it looks in newspapers and on TV. Shoppers waiting in long lines for stores to open...
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Attila the Hun has nothing on Holiday Shoppers!: Reflections on a Holiday Event
It's in the air. Like the strumming of the crickets and cicadas on the breeze of a summer night. It permeates your ears with a tooth-aching pitch. It's getting louder with every passing day. What is that head-piercing, heart-pounding noise!? Why, that's...
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Black Friday Needs Tweaked!
It's the early hours of the day after Thanksgiving. All is silent in the house. If I listen, all I hear is the click of the key strokes on my computer, and the muffled hum of the furnace as it works to ward off the cold outside the dark window. My coffee...
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The Secret Life of a Writer
The cue at the bottom of this blog page, warns me that "this section cannot remain empty", as if I would attempt to post a blog with only a title and no more substance than a patch of fog below it. I have to fight my way through the unsubstantial, but...
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What Is Your Sign?
It's never an easy conversation when someone asks me what Zodiac Sign I was born under. I'm never certain if the answer will effect our relationship, or even color their opinions with preconceived notions of character traits. I am not an adherent of the...
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Urban Fantasy:It all Started With Edgar!
"Why do you write Urban Fantasy?" I've been asked this question enough times that I feel I should address it and put to rest a few simplistic views of a genre that employs a vivid imagination, as much as good writing techniques. While now, it is a matter...
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Learning From the Dead
Is it too late to ask questions of someone whose passed from our realm of life? Yes, pretty much everyone would agree, that would be a one-sided conversation. We humans are tethered to our existence by a fragile bond with mortality. In youth, it is natural...
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Eating Your Words
It's a rare person indeed, who goes through life without ever regretting words they have spoken in a heated moment. The phrase "Eating your own words" certainly signifies that the speaker has launched a volley of verbiage that they will someday, come...
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Love Me For What I Am: A Fairy Tale Without End by Francesca Quarto
A sadness settled around her like a heavy shawl. She covered herself in the weight of her sorrow, hoping to crush any feelings that might stir as she looked down on the body. The still, broken being that was once her love. The only being in her universe...
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Follow Me Into the Woods My Dear: A Paranormal Valentine Poem by Francesca Quarto
Follow Me Into the Woods My Dear By Francesca Q. Follow me into the woods my dear the leaves are green with fragrance fair Follow my steps each footfall clear the cloven shapes, makes one to stare. Follow my shadow when sun is hidden let milky moonlight...
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Cogitating on Words by Francesca Quarto
The world is made up of words. Words describe our environment, our feelings, our views of life and death and everything in between. Language skills, however, are underrated. Words are given as little thought when exiting a person's mouth, as taking the...
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A Maelstrom of Mental Machinations Maybe!
I have always and I mean always, loved alliteration and rhyming words. That "Peter Piper" tongue teaser has been a challenge to me since I first heard it trip off a playmate's tongue at the dawn of time. It's quite likely my failure to reproduce the whole,...
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"What Was That Noise?" A Twisted Tale
"Let yer eyes be adjusted a bit boy, afore ya walk a step more" the old man warned in a harsh whisper. His grandfather, Sean O'Riley, had given him the warning just as he was about to move forward into the dark foyer of the house. This wasn't a house...
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Steaming Up the Windows, by Francesca Quarto
The windows were fogged over with the moisture of their heavy panting. She could no longer see out into the darkness and felt a tingle of claustrophobia unless she shut her eyes. It was close in the car, already overstuffed with his backpack, sleeping...
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The Magic Waters: Another Tall-Tale by Francesca Quarto
"Ah, yes. Ye 'n me 'ave survived yet another winter." Or, so thought the sheep herder, as he poked at the well thawed ground with his staff, following his placid, dull-witted mob. They were making their way out of the flimsy pen enclosure where he'd been...
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The Mystic's New Lover: Another Tall-Tale by Francesca Quarto
They say that mystics transcend human knowledge into the mysteries surrounding life and death. Their intuitions are keenly honed to a fine edge, upon the unseen stone of the spiritual and ghostly energies surrounding us all. I am a mystic. This is my...
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A Bad Turn In the Road: Another Tall-Tale by Francesca Quarto
Standing on the side of the road, watching the red tail lights light up the flying gravel and dirt as he sped away, Loretta had one thought. Bastard didn't even give me a sip! She guessed that was pretty much to be expected. After all, he was only human...
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A Bad Turn In the Road- Part 2, by Francesca Quarto
These simpletons! She was annoyed and uncomfortable as her head was hanging slightly toward her shoulder. They don't know I'm a vampire I suppose. Guess I'll have to show them! The old man let her body drop with a heavy thud onto the black and white linoleum...
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First Words:A Troubadour's Tale by Francesca Quarto
The Laird and his clansmen sat close to the warmth of the great hearth and waited. The roving story-teller placed his wooden bowl back on the long board table with a sigh of contentment; a signal he was about to begin his tale. His voice was deep and...
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The Alien's Mother by Francesca Quarto
It was a typical Mother's Day in the small outpost of Glimmer Roost. They still celebrated long- remembered holidays from Earth times, only now they did it in zero gravity. So, no bunches of roses and boxes of chocolates and jewelry; just the hand-made...
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Book Signing Junkie!
I admit it: I love Book Signings! Sitting behind a table with my books spread out around me, gives me a feeling of satisfaction. Meeting folks that love to read, and I feel like one big smile! It makes no difference what genre a reader prefers; when they...
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Time Enough To Die, by Francesca Quarto
His lawyer, Gracie McFarland, stepped away from the bench with a graceful pivot. Her client heaved a deep sigh, knowing she had been successful in getting a key piece of evidence thrown out. The state's attorney, a woman with impeccable grooming and style...