Cover art for "A Quiet Shelter There" by Heather McDougal.Here’s the cover for A QUIET SHELTER THERE, edited by Gerri Leen, from Hadley Rille Books, which will include my flash piece, “The Fisher Queen.” Here’s the description of the anthology:
An estimated four million unwanted dogs and cats are euthanized every year in the United States. Throughout the country, animal shelters, humane societies, and other rescue groups are working to change this by helping homeless animals find forever homes, healing those that are sick or injured, providing training and socialization for those that need it, and working toward a future in which there are no more homeless pets. This anthology directly benefits one of those shelters, Friends of Homeless Animals, which has rescued and placed dogs and cats in the Washington D.C. metro area since 1973. In 2010, even with limited funding due to the downturn in the economy, FOHA found homes for 350 dogs and 150 cats, including hard-to-place FIV positive cats, and they routinely house over 100 dogs and 50 cats at their shelter in rural Northern Virginia. 70 percent of the profits for A Quiet Shelter There will be donated to FOHA–other shelters across the country will be able to buy the book at a discounted price if they want to use it for fundraising.
It’s for a good cause, and I’m happy to be included in the project.
Want access to a lively community of writers and readers, free writing classes, co-working sessions, special speakers, weekly writing games, random pictures and MORE for as little as $2? Check out Cat’s Patreon campaign.
Want to get some new fiction? Support my Patreon campaign.
"(On the writing F&SF workshop) Wanted to crow and say thanks: the first story I wrote after taking your class was my very first sale. Coincidence? nah….thanks so much."
In news about my writing classes, I’m pushing the start back a week in order to get a few more students signed up. For details, click on “Upcoming Classes” up above!
In that spirit, here’s a breakdown of some of my stories that are both short enough to be read with a minimum of trimming and available online for any forensics students, speech class students, or other performers looking for something to read. Because I’ve got a lot of stories, I’m still working through the list and I’ll continue adding stuff as I go. For the complete list, see my publications page.
Prose Pieces for Forensics Students
In each category, I’ve listed the story, where it originally appeared, its length, type, and voice considerations.
Prose pieces eligible by National Forensics League Rules Note: If you need the proof of print publication, please e-mail me at catrambo AT gmail.com, and I can send you a scan. I will be adding links to those when I get the chance, because I only recently realized they are proving an issue for performers.
Bigfoot. Originally appeared in 13th Moon, 1992. 6 minutes, humorous fantasy, third person, voices include a female Bigfoot and a woman.
The Coffee Cup Song. Originally appeared in The Cornfield Review in 1992. 12 minutes, humorous, first person, young girl.
Falling. Originally appeared in Cream City Review in 1991. 3 minutes, dramatic, first person, gender unspecified.
Hands. Originally appeared in Dreams and Nightmares in 1991. 1 minute, surreal fantasy, 3rd person, gender unspecified.
Planet Crabby. Originally appeared in Asylum Magazine in 1990. 3 minutes, humorous science fiction, first person, gender unspecified.
Seven Clockwork Angels. Originally appeared in Altered America in 2016. 15 minutes, steampunk fairytale, 3rd person, voices include Sleeping Beauty, her parents, and two scientists.
Additional Prose pieces eligible by National Catholic Forensics League Rules
(Anything under NFL should also be eligible for this, if I am reading the rules correctly.)
Aardvark Says Moo, electronically published for Patreon campaign. 3 minutes, humorous fantasy, first person, voices include adult woman, small girl, male clown, female Valkyrie.
Grandmother’s Road Trip. Originally appeared in Chiaroscuro in 2005, reprinted (electronic version only) in EYES LIKE SKY AND COAL AND MOONLIGHT. 12 minutes, dramatic horror, first person, voices are a young woman, her mother, and her grandmother.
Magnificent Pigs. Originally appeared in Strange Horizons in 2006, reprinted in EYES LIKE SKY AND COAL AND MOONLIGHT. 15 minutes, dramatic fantasy, first person, voices are an adult male, a young girl, and an elderly Jewish woman.
Swallowing Ghosts. Originally appeared in Daily Science Fiction. 3 minutes, dramatic fantasy, first person, voices are a young man, his grandfather, and the ghost of James Joyce.
Wickedness. Originally appeared in Flash Fantastic. 1 minute, humorous horror, 3rd person.
Many more prose pieces available here. If you use one of my pieces in a forensics competition, please let me know and consider leaving a review on Amazon, GoodReads, or any other reading site you frequent! 😻
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