One of my online writing communities had an in-depth discussion a while back about profanity and its place (or lack thereof) in literature. I got to thinking, as I read people’s perspectives, that there’s a pretty deep philosophical question contained in this conversation. Whenever we talk about the line between too much sex/profanity/violence and an unrealistic picture…
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Book Review: THE PERFECT SON
This year I’ve been volunteering with the Women’s Fiction Writers Association as a host for the “women’s fiction cafe,” which is done on Facebook. Instead of asking everyone to read a book in advance and discuss it, this is a chance for authors to stop in and give people a taste of the book, its…
Read MoreFiction: Snow Day
The bells of St. Brigit’s are calling tonight, winging over the snow and alighting on my windowsill. All day I have been imprisoned by twenty inches of snow. Something inside me quivers for escape. Something bright, warm, effervescent–and utterly impossible. But real. When I woke this morning I was half an inch above my…
Read MoreFiction: A Legend Is Born
The facts? The facts are these: I am wholly ordinary. Black hair, caramel skin, no extraordinary features, no super powers, although I’ve gotten pretty good at karate lately. Self-defense, you know. I am a city girl, after all, born and raised in the shadow of the tenements. I make my living dyeing and designing special…
Read MoreFiction: This Tornado Loves You
They say you can tell a lot about a baby in the womb. I knew this was true before you came along, little man, but I learned it all over again in the last four months you were inside my womb. I don’t think I got a moment’s rest, but I counted it a blessing…
Read MoreFiction: Stardust
It began on a magical night beside the river Thames… or so my mother tells me. There was a twenty-car pileup and my parents were stranded in the fallout as her labor gained momentum. By sheer dumb luck, there was an OB three cars up and one to the left. An hour later, I came…
Read MoreFiction: Peaches and Bread
“What d’you wanna be when you grow up?” asked Steve. “What kinda question is that?” responded Malachi. “I’m gonna be a machinist like my dad. Just like you. Right?” Steve didn’t answer. He lay on the soft grass in the shade of a peach tree, his hands behind his head, and stared up at the…
Read MoreFiction: The Encounter
The trail map claimed it was only fifteen feet’s worth of elevation change from the parking lot to Copeland Falls, but it sure felt like more. Donald felt the weight of every year he’d lived, and some he hadn’t. The insulated backpack bounced heavy against his spine; every step required unreasonable effort. He’d never planned…
Read MoreFiction: The Choosing
They called him Elder, because his eyes looked old although his face looked young. Alana had found him, all those months ago, face down in a clump of ferns beside the stream, wearing strange clothes and speaking no language anyone ever heard. Where he had come from, still no one knew, but Elder now spoke…
Read MoreFiction: Wedding Day
There’s been a snag in the blog tour plans for This Little Light of Mine, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to post a short story instead, and join up with the Write On Edge folks–something I haven’t had a chance to do in weeks. Who could resist crafting a story on those two…
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Kathleen M. Basi 