Contests, Entries, Featured, Finalists, General Announcements, Winners!
Happy Thanksgiving from the Towers! (and btw, winner of the Last Train contest revealed)
Nov
Literati…
The entire Moscow staff (Moi) and the entire branch office in Vista, California (Tiffany) thank you all for boarding this train. We hope you had fun with it. After tallying all the bribes, the winner, to everyone’s surprise, including his own, is MIKE CASPER. Mike is the author of “The Sing-Song Child: A Love Story,” available on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Sing-Song-Child-Love-Story-ebook/dp/B00Q5RTSE6)
Parisianne Modert aka Rufia Solitaire guessed ten of the authors correctly, and will receive a gift card from Starbucks in the mail for being closer to the answers than anyone else.
I speak for all of us here at the Towers that are A Word with You Press when I wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday: It takes a tough guy (Moi) to wish you a tender turkey. We’ll announce a new contest before long.
Mick Coolie Mike Stang
Binari Ferroviari Laura Girardeau
Ona Journey Janet White
Amadeus Track Derek Thompson
Dee Rayel Julie Cohen
Addison T. Peaka Kyle Katz
E. Uro Rail His Moiness-in-Chief
Spike Ties Judge Chase Katz
R. Choo-choo Sal Buttaci
A. M. Trakke Parisianne Modert
Thomas Mike Casper
D. Whistleblows Afrose Ahmed
Clarksville’s Last Stephanie Allison
R.R. Spike Parisianne Modert
Metro L. Ink Stephanie Allison
Casey Jones Mike Casper
X. Press Kristy Webster
Chad Anyuga Tiffany Vakilian
I. Ron Spike Grant Laurence
N. Jin Tiffany Vakilian
Clarence Odbody Sharon Hightower
Toot Oot Parisianne Modert
Richard Trevithick Judge Chase Katz
Carolina Tweetsie Diane Cresswell
Gandy Dancer Mike Casper
C.S Exxe Christopher Delicino
A. Fusee Micheal Stang
Trackwood Von Broekn Don Maker
Tren de la Fresa Wendy Joseph
D. Reichsbahn Monika Brinkman
Doubleback McGillicuddy MIKE CASPER
It takes a lot to laugh, it takes a train to cry by Robert Zimmerman
Well, I ride on a mailtrain, baby
Can’t buy a thrill
Well, I’ve been up all night, baby
Leanin’ on the windowsill
Well, if I die
On top of the hill
And if I don’t make it
You know my baby will
Don’t the moon look good, mama
Shinin’ through the trees?
Don’t the brakeman look good, mama
Flagging down the “Double E?”
Don’t the sun look good
Goin’ down over the sea?
Don’t my gal look fine
When she’s comin’ after me?
Now the wintertime is coming
The windows are filled with frost
I went to tell everybody
But I could not get across
Well, I wanna be your lover, baby
I don’t wanna be your boss
Don’t say I never warned you
When your train gets lost
“On behalf of Rufia and I, we wish to thank….”
“Mommy!”
“Yes, dear?”
“Uncle Thorny thinks we are the same person. I mean ew…ew!”
“Well sweetie…”
“You’re old. I’m prime. You’re lesbian. I’m straight. You call yourself Lilith after some freaky, darkside moon goddess & you call me your Diamond Girl. I worship a real goddess, Taylor Swift.”
“We both see your Daddy Ghost Pete everyone once in a while, don’t we?”
“Well, yes. And the pretty white gloved lady who points at you when she visits.”
“She’s a motherly angel Rufia.”
“Mommy, how did Daddy Ghost Pete really die?”
“Not here dear…not here. Thank you everyone for a wonderful contest.”
Rufia and I both wish to congratulate Mike Casper, Doubleback McGillicuddy, for your well deserved victory from two excellent stories. I am very happy that you were the one to strike gold.
“Mommy!”
“Sorry dear, but I hit enter before I realized I left you out. I send in a correction.”
“You aren’t the best editor, Mommy.”
“That’s your Uncle Thorny’s business dear.”
“Um…hmmm!”
“Sending it now. We both applaud your win Mike.”
Rufia and I both wish to congratulate you, Mike Casper aka Doubleback McGillicuddy, for your well deserved victory from two excellent stories. We are both very happy that you were the one to strike gold.
There were so many excellent entries that I was surprised and elated to be selected as a finalist…let alone dare think that I had a shot at winning. Thanks to everyone for regarding my stories so highly. I’ll cherish the honor forever. Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving to all!
Congrats Mike. Well done!
Mazel!
Very well done, Mike!
Wonderfully imaginative in both instances
Mike, I know everyone here has anticipated you winning for some time. I am thrilled. I sit early morning watching the sun rise over the buildings of Hull, in Boston’s harbor, waiting for the holiday to begin with this smile on my face, thinking of you. Thank you for keeping this light turned on.
Mike
Hi Mike…while in Boston, please visit the Boston Fine Art’s Museum and say hello to The Boy with a Torn Hat by Thomas Sully, my great great grandfather, whose self portrait somehow morphed into me at the top of this post. Don’t pour any coffee into the harbor. Tea Party might get the right idea. Love, brudda
Still one of my best Thanksgiving reads. Best to Moscow.
You’ve always made me a better writer. Thanks.
Mike, I didn’t know it was you! Wow. Wonderful job indeed and much deserved. Congratulations. Hope to hear more from all of you.
It was a fun contest. Mike, your story deservedly won!
“Do you ever feel invisible Mommy?”
“Yes, Rufia dear, I often do, but do you?”
“Always. Does anyone even read our stories?”
“I’m sure some do, because they comment.”
“Like Uncle Thorny & Aunt Tiffany?”
“A handful of others too, but I wonder how many.”
“I meant invisible as in Ghost Daddy Pete.”
“Would you like to hear a bedtime, ghost story?”
“I’ve heard yours, but that gives me an idea.”
“Tell me dear.”
“What about a contest at AWWYP for Ghost Stories?”
“Well, the winner this time did have a last name of Casper.”
Dickens’ Christmas Carol Ghosts, Ghost Riders in the Sky, The Ghost & Mrs. Muir, Topper & Hamlet, countless stories about human-ghost interactions. Warning’s redemption, legend, romance, comedy or murder? A Jewish wedding in a cemetery so all the relatives can attend? A haunting, an angel trying to earn his wings or scaring off the trespassing? Anime or manga haunting you in paranormal time. Is there a linkage of time about ghosts or are you are a ghost buster? Are you Patrick Swayze with Demi Moore, resurrection, insurrection or Holy Ghost visiting Mary? Or is a ghost haunting you Mr. Editor-In-Chief?
“Mommy.”
“Yes, Rufia dear?”
“If you were the editor here what contest theme would you use, but it has to have a ghost in it?”
“I’d choose Gordon Lightfoot’s song, “If You Could Read My Mind”. It has “a ghost from a wishing well”.
“Why?”
“I prefer to read about people’s real unspoken lives , Rufia.”
“Did Daddy Ghost Pete know this song?”
“He use to sing it to me dear when he was courting me.”
“When Daddy & you were young?”
“Yes, dear, many years before your Daddy became a ghost.”
“Have the Cow Towers in the land of Double Entendre become a genuine ghost castle, Mother?”
“Seems like it Rufia.”
“Is Uncle Thorny a ghost knight?”
“No, dear, he’s Editor-In-Chief.”
“He lives inside a Native American Chief ghost who can fly, haunt & hunt! Wow.”
“What?”
“Have I ever flown Mother?”
“Yes, in jet airplanes, Rufia, but you were too young to remember our trips together.”
“How old was I?”
“A few months to meet your Uncle Geraldo Rivera & at three to help me find a home in San Diego.”
“And our house has ghosts who pop in! Is Uncle Thorny going to boo visit?”
“Doubtful, but he would be welcome to.”