Lightning seems to strike twice. Once again, I entered the Literary Taxidermy short story contest and had my entry chosen as a runner-up. The contest’s challenge was to use the opening and closing lines of either Toni Morrison’s Beloved or Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World to create a new story.

I decided on the Huxley novel and wrote a short called “Mowing The Sky” about the demise of a crop duster, which I’m happy to say is one of the 10 pieces included in the contest anthology 34 Stories. If you’re interested, check it out.

I’ve never been very interested in writing short stories, but last year I came across an intriguing contest by Literary Taxidermy that piqued my interest. The challenge was to use the opening and closing lines from The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett, Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll, or “A Telephone Call” by Dorothy Parker and write a short story.

I decided on the Dorothy Parker story and wrote a little piece called “Skip Counting” about a dog thief. “Skip Counting” was chosen as a runner-up and included in the contest anthology Telephone Me Now. If you’re interested, check it out.