Writes for All Volume 1 Issue 2

By Writes for All Inc.

Writes for All Magazine continues to break down the barriers of fiction in Issue II with three excellent short stories by James P. Hanley, Bob Kalkreuter, and Timothy Martin.

"Love Story Repeated" by James P. Hanley captivates the reader with a straight-to-the-point writing style that utilizes excellent prose and vivid imagery. The story is a quintessential example of how short fiction at its best can convey as much emotion as longer works.

"Easy Duty" by Bob Kalkreuter gives you a look inside a man who bears the emotional scars of war. The piece serves as a reminder of a unique greatness within literature: it describes emotions that are otherwise indescribable.

"Road Hunters" by Timothy Martin takes us to the rural city of Scotia where unemployment is high and opportunities are scarce.

Take these great stories anywhere! Purchase the issue in print and get a free digital .pdf and flash flipbook version sent to your e-mail!

Also In This Issue:

-"To Clara: Regarding Your Critique" by Keith Hoerner
-Flash Fiction by Jessica Cooke & Matt Walker.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Writes for All Inc.
• Release date: Aug 17, 2011
• ISBN: 9781466163874

Writes for All Inc.

Writes for All is an independent publishing company seeking fiction of the highest quality. Our mission is to publish meaningful stories that explore the human condition regardless of genres, sub-genres, and styles. We strive to break down the barriers of fiction and publish works that tackle a variety of subject matters. We are open to short story submissions of all kinds, whether they be Literary, Romance, Science Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Horror, and others. We find it improper to disqualify work based on preconceived notions of form within a category. We understand that there are many ways to tell a story. We believe that work of merit transcends the genre in which it is associated.

Book preview

Writes for All

Volume I Issue II

Copyright © 2011

Cover by: Henry Armstrong

Edited by: Anthony J. Cruz

COPYRIGHT NOTICES AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy.

The short stories in this magazine are copyrighted, and may not be reproduced in any form without the consent of the authors. No part of this magazine may be reproduced by any electronic or mechanical means including photocopying, recording or information storage and retrieval without permission in writing.

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Table of Contents

Short Stories

Love Story Repeated—James P. Hanley

Easy Duty—Bob Kalkreuter

Road Hunters—Timothy Martin

Flash Fiction

French Toast—Jessica Cooke

Love Can Be Murder—Matt Walker

To Clara: Regarding Your Critique

by Keith Hoerner

You shared your writing with me. An extension of friendship, like a handshake. More like the reaching out of hands with the chance to be held—or swatted—open palmed. Sharing, the emptying of pockets to reveal hidden things among the embarrassment of collected lint, is a dangerous proposition. Your shadows merged with mine, achieving the density of darkness that brings on the dawn. How can I thank you? For the bravery. For selflessly taking my hands and guiding me to an unknown resting place within the pages of you. I spoke in an attempt to reciprocate. My words: sandpaper to your beach of memory.

Love Story Repeated

by James P. Hanley

I ritually sat on the bleachers overlooking the skating rink and thought about Jenny. We had been through a lot: exciting, volatile courtship, simple wedding in 1970, and her near-fatal illness at the age of twenty five, cured by the costly doctors my wealthy father paid for when I thought she’d died. We were so exhausted by that experience, so off-track that we never recovered, even though she had healed. Our marriage had flattened, then seemingly faded, and the divorce followed.

The following twenty six years had not been tranquil for either of us. We both remarried and divorced for a second time; I have a daughter; she has no children, likely because of the early illness.

We kept in touch, mostly by holiday and birthday cards in which she added a handwritten update always with a phrase drawn from our joint past. For example, she jokingly said she named her dog after me—Preppy. The envelopes were addressed to only me, which irritated my second wife. In a local newspaper, I recently found a picture of Jenny receiving an award for volunteering. Still beautiful, her once long dark hair was cut short, and grey strands were unashamedly interwoven; only subtle lines around her mouth and on the edges of her eyes were concessions to age.

My Boston law firm, which I had taken over after my father’s death, was well-established. But I’d grown restless. Finding no solace in future plans or ambitions, I turned to the certainty of the past, and of Jenny. She was easy to find; she was using her birth name, living in a two-level house, enjoying an unheralded role in a New England symphony. Outside her home there was a sign, the lettering dulled by seasonal storms, on which her name and offer for music lessons were etched. More than once, I stood outside that building, staring