September's Links with Comments

http://ink-sweat-and-tears.blogharbor.com/blog

http://www.bewilderingstories.com/issue307/last_laugh.html

http://www.short-fiction.co.uk/newstories/show_story.php?story_id=856

http://www.bostonliterarymagazine.com/fall08drabble.html#fall08universal.html

http://www.bewilderingstories.com/issue306/celestial_sunflower.html

http://shortstory.us.com/2008/09/headline-by-oonah-v-joslin/#comment-563

http://www.everydayfiction.com/closer-to-the-truth-by-oonah-v-joslin/#comment-8530

http://www.iceflow.com/doorknobs/DOORBODY2.html

http://www.microhorror.com/microhorror/author/oonah-v-joslin/worker/

http://www.theshinejournal.com/joslinoonah.htm

http://staticmovement.com/ovjoslin.htm

Micro Horror took my September piece Worker. An aptly titled story whose protagonist is named after myself which tips a hat to what happens in the story too. The horror of the everyday is within and if we carry our prejudices with us to the grave, woe betide us.

From Crazy Diamond to Borrowed Light was written about a friend. He called me a crazy diamond and the thought was born that without the light shed into my life by such friends as John, I would never have shone at anything. Thank you to all those family members, teachers, preachers, friends and editors for illuminating my path.

Lesson in Wood is one of those pieces written as a flash challenge. But the little tree is real enough. I can see it from where I sit writing.

I came 4th in the Doorknobs and Body Paint Dorsal Contest and so got published. This si a stream of consciousness piece of which I am rather proud. The theme was Heat.
My friends Avis Hickman-Gibb http://avishickmangibb.blogspot.com/ and John Ritchie were also placed in the top ten in that contest so please read their entires too.

Closer to the Truth is a favourite of mine. I like the moral and the way it links human kind and the stories we tell to make sense of everything, to the universe but ina very personal way. And Mary was based on a real patient whom I caught just standing behind me in the garden of our home in the grounds of a Psychiatric Hospital one day. She looked so forlorn. I longed to know her story but of course she couldn't tell me and they came and took her back to the ward. This one was for Mary - who is important too.
Jason Stout said: Hi Oonah - My comments always end up in EDF's spam filter - so wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed your story. It was one of the best on EDF in a good long time. Sweet and endearing and touching.Good luck with EDP Jason

Thank you Jason. I'm delighted you liked it so very much.

Short Story has a challenge piece of mine. Headline is just for fun.

Celestial Sunflower is a response to the NASA photo Don has attached as a link. Quite an astounding image. Of course the ressemblance to a sunflower is purely within the mind - that is how we make sense of our universe. It was fun to play with that thought in words and of course the final lines expose the fact that I knew I was doing that by being deliberately humourous, a bit glib. If anything out there ressembles me, it is only because I can think it - like the bend of the thames by the Isle of Dogs looks like madonna and child. Perception is what our universe is made of.
My friend Nik Perring has a story in too and John Stocks poetry is impressive as always.

Universal Language is a drabble at Boston Literary Magazine. This one was a forum challenge too - on the subject of mathematics.

Freeze is an unusual piece. I was looking at the clock and I imagined that if that red hand froze, I would be able to step out of time and that people would be in frozen for me in the monent. That some would be talking, or on the toilet or otherwise caught in the act of...dying...last breath...infinite probabilities as to what happened next - like Schrodinger's cat.

The Last Laugh How could I resist writing about such an intriguing image? It has a cruel finality to it. I have no idea whether the artist likes the words I put to her pictures. It is difficult to add to such superb artwork but I hope at least I don't detract from it. The only thing I can say is that each poem I write about her work is sincerely meant as a compliment.

The Rain The Editor said:"Hi Oonah
The Rain is now up on IS&T - and the first 3 stanzas seem to reflect the current state of the global economy."
This was written from a nightmare I had years ago but it never left me. Mother Shipton eat your heart out, I'd say, eh? If the rest comes true we can expect the horsemen at The Angel of the North any time now. When I had the dream it was definitely about that hill but I don't think the Angel was there at the time - just the sweeping view away to the west.