Amanda C. Davis recently blogged about the success of a post doing a breakdown of her stories for forensic students. It seems free forensics pieces are in demand for students looking for something to use.
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.
- The Accordion. Originally appeared in The Walden Review in 1991, reprinted in EYES LIKE SKY AND COAL AND MOONLIGHT. 4 minutes, humorous fantasy, first person, gender unspecified.
- 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.
- The Dead Girl’s Wedding March. Originally appeared in Fantasy Magazine in 2006, reprinted in EYES LIKE SKY AND COAL AND MOONLIGHT. 7 minutes, dramatic fantasy, third person, voices include a young woman, her father, a male doctor, and a male rat.
- 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! 😻
20 Responses
Someone said in a twitter Kraken Sushi, which is the next thing I am writing about. For me there is one hard thing and that is finding my way into a story. I love to know the ending right away, but I trust that one will appear. The last three things I wrote worked that way, which is a break through for me.
Hello Cat Rambo! I don’t know how to contact you unless through comments and you said to contact you if we were to use any of your pieces for forensic competitions! I’m thinking of using The Dead Girl’s Wedding March, The Accordian, and Swallowing Ghosts.
That’s awesome! Good luck with them – anything I can do to help?
Ms. Rambo,
I am trying to use your Bigfoot piece for performance. But I need documentation of the original print version. I know according to your blog that it came from 13 Moon December 1992. Unfortunately, I cannot find that source. I need the isbn or more hopefully a copy of the index and the cover of the periodical. If you could tell me where to locate it or if you could scan and share I would be greatly appreciate as I have to have this verification tomorrow.
Just wanted to say, Ms. Rambo is awesome. I need documentation for her selection and emailed her and she reply in no time and images for me. Both her spirit and her stories are must be celebrated! Thank You!
I used big foot for most of the second half of the season. 15/16 year. I did pretty well with it and even went to nationals in the NCLF. I didn’t break there, i did to pretty well though. Thank you for publishing it
Yay for getting to the nationals! Thank you for letting me know. 🙂
RT @Catrambo: Recently updated – For Forensics Students: A Story Breakdown: https://t.co/a9ssArXLgi
RT @Catrambo: Recently updated – For Forensics Students: A Story Breakdown: https://t.co/a9ssArXLgi
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Hi, I wanted to let you know I do Prose Competition and I am looking to use your piece The Coffee Cup Song, I’ve been having trouble finding a good piece that fits my multiple personalities and dramatic act.
Hey, I’m am a freshman in forensics and wanted to know if it would be alright if I used your piece “hands?” Thanks!
Happy to have you use it, and good luck! Let me know how you do. 🙂