Scribes Valley Notes

Scribes Valley Publishing is accepting submissions for their 12 th annual short story writing contest . All finalists (around 10-15 stories) are published in annual contest anthology. Monetary prizes for top 3 finalists are based on contest participation – the more entries we receive, the bigger the prize amounts. Thrill us…amaze us…entertain us…TELL US A STORY! Deadline:   August 31, 2014 Word limit: 5,000 Entry Fee:   $7.00 US Winners announced: around October 15, 2014 You can enter by snail mail or online submission. Complete submission guidelines and rules on our website: http://www.scribesvalley.com . Contests are open to everyone, regardless of nationality, age, or publishing history, as long as it is legal in the entrant's place of residence. All work must be original and unpublished. The author must own all rights to the submitted material. We require only First Anthology Rights for those stories we publish. All other rights remain with ...

A while back, I saw something that really set me to thinking. It was one of those East Tennessee scorchers: temperatures in the middle 90s and the humidity even higher. I was in a department store, leaning on a clothes rack, enjoying the air conditioning more than the shopping, and I observed a woman wearing a garment that covered her from head to toe, leaving only her face exposed, walking toward front of the store. Since her feet were not visible, she seemed to be gliding along the floor. Coming from the opposite direction was a young lady dressed in short shorts, a low-cut, belly-exposing top, and noisy flip-flops. As they passed each other right in front of me, they exchanged the briefest of glances, and continued on their way. These two women didn’t stare at each other, they didn’t smirk or scoff; they merely registered the presence of the other, and moved on with their lives, completely accepting their differences. The differences are what got me to thinking. We all ...

Here are the winners of our 2013 Short Story Writing Contest. Our thanks to everyone who entered. Ronna L. Edelstein – Dismissed Vincent Guiliano – Consumed Drew Hardman – To Endure Mike Tuohy and Susan Zimmerman – Capisce? TJ Perkins – Redemption Io Kirkwood – The White Carpet Kristin Swenson – The Flood Chelle Wotowiec – When We Become the Photographs Catharine Leggett – All of Me Mike Tuohy – War of the World’s Fair Amelia Perry - Watcher Author bios and other information will follow shortly.

August 31, 2013 is quickly approaching! For the Eleventh Annual Scribes ValleyShort Story Writing Contest , we are looking for stories that enthrall us, leave us breathless, make us say “Wow!” and stay in our minds even weeks after we read them. You've worked hard on your story, pondered every word, developed characters so real you know them personally, and created a setting which pulls readers out of the real world. Don’t keep it to yourself, don't let it sit on your computer yearning for the light of day! Let others read it. Let US read it! Online submissions available.

We get many questions about the Scribes Valley Writing Contest . We thought we would list and the most frequently asked Why do you have a reading/entry fee?      Basically, we use the reading/entry fee to fund the contest. We use it cover costs such as advertising the contest and building the anthology. Any prize money awarded also comes straight from the reading/entry fee. What are the prizes?      All finalist stories (usually 10-15 stories) are published in our annual contest anthology. Each finalist author receives a complimentary copy of the print anthology, along with a discount on any other copies they would like. Please note, there is absolutely no obligation to purchase additional copies. We’re not that kind of publisher. From the 10-15 stories, we select the top three and award those authors with a monetary prize. The monetary prize is based on the number of entries in the contest—the more entries we get, the bigger the pri...

My wife and I love to take day-long road trips. We get in the car with no particular destination in mind, stop at a local grocery store to stock up on “rations,” then hit the road, making decisions on which way to turn as needed. Most of the time, we are pleasantly surprised where we end up. Last weekend, however, we had a destination in mind. My wife and I grew up in a small town in Tennessee. While we didn’t know each other until we were older, we both frequented, over the years, the same establishments in town. One, specifically, was the Blue Circle Restaurant (http://www.bluecircleburger.com). It was a drive-in style restaurant, part of a small chain in East Tennessee, famed for their steamed-bun hamburgers. The restaurant was wildly popular with both the older and younger crowds in our town, but, as with most popular things, it eventually faded, then went out of business. Sometimes we sit around and reminisce about such things from our past; how it seemed so much easi...

Lessons from the Gypsy Camp by Elizabeth Appell has been honored with an Honorable Mention in the 2013 Paris Book Festival! Amazing recognition for an amazing book! We couldn't be more proud. Come see what the fuss is about .  A girl...A gypsy...A murder...A choice