Are You Up for a Challenge?


Homer was able to write about the Trojan War in ten epic novels, The Iliad being one of them. He covered it all: religion, love, war, fantasy, myth, and horror. Now it’s your turn to carry on the tradition and create your own epic story; but there’s a catch… It must be done in 1,000 words or less. That’s roughly 2 pages, which is 3/1000 of the size of the entire Homeric collection!

Where the traditional Iliad is 1.8 pounds in weight, your submission will be a weightless email sent to submissions@ absolute- x-press.com with the subject: Flash Fiction Challenge – YOUR NAME, TITLE. Before pasting your story, please indicate the following information:

Name
Title of Work
Word Length
Genre

The theme is posted on the Flash Fiction page of the Absolute XPress website.

Deadline for the Flash Fiction Challenge is August 1st 2009 at Midnight. The top twenty epically brief stories will be determined by our panel of judges and announced the following week. Selected entries will be published in the September Flash Fiction Challenge anthology and receive a paid contract.

Sincerely,
Justyn Perry

I am so excited over this story, it's just rediculous. I just signed the contract with The Wild Rose Press, and put it in the mail this last week. I thought I'd share the blurb and an unedited excerpt. When I get my cover, you can expect to see it plastered everywhere. : )

Blurb:

EDEN AT TWILIGHT is the story of Lily, a woman who wants love, and Leaf, the man who risks it all to love her.

Lily Moore is an ordinary accountant who works long hard hours, leaving room for little else. After strange occurrences begin haunting her, she’s convinced by a motherly friend to take a vacation in Scotland. While there, she meets the man of her dreams, a handsome stranger with shifting hazel eyes.

Leaf falls for Lily the moment he sees her, love at first sight. Never has a woman taken his heart so quickly. When trouble stirs and threatens her, he stands by her side, traveling through time and dimension to reclaim her from a deadly Drow leader. Lily has no choice but to trust him and hope his strength will pull them through. But is his strength alone enough?



Excerpt:

Lily was glad when the plane ride was over with, as the shuttle pulled into the drive of the cottage. The feeling of awe surrounded her, as if she was entering into the picture on her post card. After paying the driver and stepping from the car, she stood looking around in an enthralled stupor. The scents, sounds, everything was just as her imagination had promised it would be. Shading her eyes against the late afternoon sunshine, she just couldn’t help standing motionless, looking at her dream come true. She finally moved to pick up her luggage without taking her eyes from the grand Cottage before her. It was as if she were afraid it would disappear before she could get inside, if she took her eyes from it. Reaching down, she fumbled for the handle of her suitcase, her fingers meeting the warmth of a large hand. Her attention suddenly snapped from the scenery unfolding before her and back to reality. A reality snagged straight from her dreams. Standing in front of her was a kilt-clad man waiting with her luggage in hand. Her eyes wandered upward and she unconsciously pressed her hand over her heart when her gaze locked into his sharp, hazel green eyes. Yellow flecks, hypnotically kept hers transfixed for a brief moment before she could tear them away. She blinked and her heart stood still, time seemed to have stopped.
“I’m Leaf,” he held out his free hand to her. “I’m the caretaker here at the Country Cottage.”
Lily took his hand in hers and felt it wrapped in calloused warmth, “I’m Lily,” she breathed. Unwarranted chills chased over her skin from his touch. The thick burr of a Scotsman lilted in his voice and a warm smile curled the edges of his lips, making deep dimples at the corners. A rough dark scrub of stubble blended into wild sand colored, wavy hair that stopped just past his shoulders. Releasing her hand, he turned to pick up her bags. The flex of muscle pulled his plain white tee shirt taut, and she felt her breath catch when his kilt rode up the back of thick, stout thighs and white socks peeked out from the tops of his tall work boots. He turned and waited for her with baggage in hand. Picking up her smaller bags, she followed quietly, praying he hadn’t noticed her ogling him as she blinked her eyes and physically tried to will her heart to slow.

This message came to me from a good family friend. He (and his family)participates in this event every year.



Dear Friends & Family,


On Sunday March 2, I will be participating in the 17th annual Scott Firefighter Stairclimb event (my 10th in a row) at the Columbia Center
in Seattle, Wa. I will be joining over 1,300 firefighters from 180 different departments across Washington State, Oregon and departments across the United States in racing up 69-flights in full combat gear including SCBA to help raise money for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Every five minutes, someone in this country is diagnosed with a blood cancer

Leukemia is the #1 disease killer of young adults under the age of 20

More than 617,000 Americans live with blood cancers

Every nine minutes, someone dies from a blood cancer

Ten times as many adults as children are stricken with leukemia

I am writing to each of you to ask for your support. This year I have set a goal of $2000.00. This money will go to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society for research, patient services, advocacy and education. NO DONATION IS TOO GREAT OR TOO SMALL......every bit helps! If you would like to contribute please make your checks payable to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, or you can donate online at;

http://www.active.com/donate/17thsco...

I would appreciate it if you could send me your tax-deductible contribution by no later than March 1, 2008.

I thank you in advance for supporting me in my efforts and for your generosity in supporting the mission of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. for those of you who have supported in the past I thank you again. The more I raise for the cause the easier it makes it to climb to the top of the tower. I look forward to hearing from you soon. Please feel free to forward this to friends and family who you think might like to donate also.


Sincerely,

Mike Bollinger