Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

This story was inspired by a little ornament I saw atop a mailbox while out biking this week. It must have a story behind it, though given the neighborhood, I'm sure it's a very different story from the one I have chosen to give it. To me, the story feels like another nod to L.M. Montgomery. Slightly longer than usual at just under 1100 words. When Pigs Fly “I don’t think we’ll ever save enough.” Evelyn didn’t say it to be discouraging. It was a simple statement of fact. That made it worse. Barry sighed, but said, “We’ll find a way.” “I do hope so,” Evelyn said with a glance around their run-down apartment. Soot from the trains and factories marked everything, and the street outside was noisy and crowded. “But I really think pigs will fly before we save enough money for even a little farm.” Barry grinned. “When I prove you wrong, I’ll name our place Flying Pig Farm.” They laughed, and sighed, and Barry took his lunch and went to work. Barry and Evelyn Thomas were small-town peo

Well, actually, no. The Ninja Librarian doesn't fish. But I have been helping Mom move, and didn't get a post ready for today. So have a few flowers, instead. Some alpine flowers from the Sierra Nevada: Columbine Indian Paintbrush A type of sunflower (DYC) Leopard Lily or similar And from one of our coastal communities, a bunch of naked ladies in a cemetary: ©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2016 As always, please ask permission to use any photos or text. Link-backs appreciated!

I apologize for the lack of a cover photo--I'm on the road and my antique laptop wouldn't cooperate! Title: As I Saw it in the Trenches: Memoir of a Doughboy in World War I Author: Dae Hinson Publisher: McFarland & Company, 2015. 177 pages. Source: Library Summary:  This is the memoir of a WWI soldier, written down by him sometime in the years after the war, and discovered and transcribed by his nephew decades later. Hinson's goal seems simply to have been the accurate description of his WWI experiences. It is full of details about the war as he lived it. Review: This book reads very much as what it is: the account of a person who was not a professional writer, but a good observer and who obviously put a lot of effort into his narration. The editors have had the sense to leave it alone and not try to polish it up, and there are some places where errors slipped in or bits are missing, but the whole makes sense and it maintains the author's voice. The result is a ve

Chuck Wendig gave us a sub-genre mashup this week , and the dice gave me "creature feature" and "sword & sorcery." That's almost too easy a fit, but I was pressed for time, so that was a good thing. In 998 words, I give you: Some Heroics Required “You have to, Eeyla. You’re our last hope.” The knight shifted uncomfortably. She was the last hope? To go after a monster that had destroyed how many knights? “It’s defeated every other knight in the realm?” “Well, no.” Lord Altain looked uncomfortable in his turn. “But you have what none of them do. You have magic.” Eeyla sighed. She might have known. “So some fool of a wizard created a golem that’s run out of control. Why me? Let him fix his own mess.” The Lord Chancellor grimaced. “The monster ate him for breakfast, minutes after it was created. It had most of the village for elevenses.” It was the knight’s turn to grimace. It didn’t look like there was any way out. With a small groan for the joints that had bee

Two weeks ago I returned from a week of backpacking in the Ansel Adams Wilderness (California; just south of Yosemite) with my husband and oldest son. It's hard to capture a week's worth in a single blog post, but I'll take a shot at the highlights. It started with the drive from San Francisco, through Yosemite, and on to Lee Vining, where we treated ourselves to dinner at the Mono Cone, an old-school burger joint. After a night camped in an unnamed location, we picked up a backcountry permit and hit the trail about 10 a.m. A typical preparation scene. The trail heads right up the wall, though unfortunately it leads to a trio of lakes that were dammed before the wilderness area was created. We thought the tramway was no longer in use, but when we got to the top we found that it's still the way workers commute to the job site when the dams need attention. I'm sure they actually ride the brakes hard, but it looks like a roller coaster to me! Eventually we found a tran

Title: Murder is Bad Manners Author: Robin Stevens Publisher: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2015. 307 pages. Source: Library digital resources Publisher's Summary: Deepdean School for Girls, 1934. When Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong set up their very own deadly secret detective agency, they struggle to find any truly exciting mysteries to investigate. (Unless you count the case of Lavinia's missing tie. Which they don't, really.) But then Hazel discovers the Science Mistress, Miss Bell, lying dead in the Gym. She thinks it must all have been a terrible accident - but when she and Daisy return five minutes later, the body has disappeared. Now the girls  know  a murder must have taken place . . . and there's more than one person at Deepdean with a motive. Now Hazel and Daisy not only have a murder to solve: they have to prove a murder happened in the first place. Determined to get to the bottom of the crime before the killer strikes again (and before the police

After his long hiatus from issuing flash fiction challenges (only partly responsible for mine from writing flash fiction), Chuck Wendig is back, and urging us, appropriately enough, to write a story about a vacation . Any genre, up to 1500 words. My tale wrapped up in a bit over half of that. I probably should practice writing longer stories, but that's what came out. Genre is somewhere between humor and horror? The Devil’s in the Details “Watch your step as you exit the bus. The ground may be uneven or extremely hot. Watch your step…” The guide droned on, words and intonation exactly the same as each person stepped down out of the tour bus. He seemed unaffected by the exclamations of the tourists. “It’s sure hot here!” “Hope the hotel has AC.” “Darling, I don’t know…” “Well you said you wanted to go someplace warm.” The man and woman, dressed in plaid Bermuda shorts (him) and a hibiscus-print sundress (her) clutched each other’s arms as they looked around the blasted volcanic land