Scribes Valley Notes

Scribes Valley Publishing is proud to present the 15 finalists of our 2009 Short Story Writing Contest : Brian James -- THE MIGHTY BLUE Frederic H. Decker -- A WRETCHED AND NOBLE DAY Terry Dickinson -- THE DAY TRADER Ronna L. Edelstein -- SNOW WOMAN Denise C. Hengeli -- DUCK YOU Kathryn Jordan -- BREAKING POINT Andrew Lu -- THE OTHER SIDE Tonya Mitchell -- PEEKABOO DREAMS Jean Tschohl Quinn -- GOING HOME ON LINEA-B Kathleen Ratcliffe -- THE TRAIN John Robbins -- HANDS OF TIME Dan Sullivan -- MY ‘IRISH’ FATHER George Thomas -- THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER Diana Thurbon -- A LITTLE DOG SHALL LEAD THEM Michelle Wotowiec -- MOON ROCKS These finalists will appear in our new anthology: Welcome to Elsewhere (tentative title) in January, 2010.

I was asked recently by a young man whose wife is expecting their first child, what he needs to know as a parent. I immediately replied, “The beeper number of a good shrink.” We laughed and went our separate ways but on the way home I starting thinking about what it takes to be a good parent. I decided to make a list and send it to my friend. After an hour, I decided that wasn’t such a good idea. Too many trees would have to give up their lives for me to compile such a list. So I decided to narrow it down to just a few, all-encompassing items that would help him in his quest for knowledge. Okay, let’s see, to be a good parent you must. . . . . .be able to exist on very little sleep and still go to work and present a halfway decent image to your coworkers. . . .be willing to unwrap a diaper containing something so nasty it would gag a buzzard, and still use your baby talk voice to tell your little one how proud you are of the pretty poo-poo. . . .take a full load of puke in the che

Our newest contest anthology, THE ROAD TO ELSEWHERE , has now been released. Eighteen stories are ready to take you away to that elusive place called ELSEWHERE. All you have to do is open the cover to be transported to where there are no schedules, no timetables, no agendas, no calendars, no clocks, and time does not matter. Click here to check out this great book! The winning authors who will be traveling with you are: Tricia Spencer LeeAnn Dickson Pauline A. Salvucci Terry Dickinson Dan Sullivan Hannah Greer Atossa Shafaie Bernard Hofler Devin Murphy Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel Mimi Sharpe Vickie Clasby Jean Tschohl Quinn Chandra Prater Kandice Powell Bill Westhead Kaye Sebastian Ronna L. Edelstein