Celebrate with me! 2 flash fiction stories published

~ TheresaBarker

Story 1: The Tyranny of Enslaved Eyes

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ex_transit/248416227/in/photolist-nXcup-pp8iJc-cTX54W-pjNtUv-coFqYj-doW3Ki-fQhEua-6gWvRH-f3K13Z-KC8ur-dphoW4-63Gp31-ebATpb-s6rVTS-8CRvL4-deC49A-8CUATC-i3yrt-qe8Vd-tEsAP-auo7zn-aiQuQh-7icAEL-3UN759-4u3pAF-MyS2S-j6dUHb-9u7fUZ-6R1Kz8-8Pq3AD-8CUAWW-8CUAPh-vY7vW-6RZ1Zt-pvZVeA-z1h1wd-qpmtwE-e3XgG-TS1LH-63C9La-63CaPK-6j4M9T-2j2Bof-QaJSV-5KqBi-85Kffe-cj8j77-ffgGau-3ZXja5-7xdrTC
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Grievous Angel, a UK flash fiction publication, has published my second story for them, “The Tyranny of Enslaved Eyes.”  One of the things I’ve heard from publisher Charles Christian is that I’ve got ideas he has never seen before.  What a lovely and inspiring compliment!  The story starts:

These eyes have never been enslaved. I still look at what I want to look at and see what I want to see. And I’m keeping it that way. . . .

It may be interesting to note that the origin of this story was in response to a well-known Lucille Clifton poem.  I like to grab a line of poetry when I start writing and see where it takes me.  “homage to my hips” is a declaration of endurance and spirited independence; it starts

these hips are big hips
they need space to
move around in.
they don’t fit into little
petty places. these hips
are free hips. . . .

– Lucille Clifton, “homage to my hips”

The lines from this poem inspired me to think:  What would happen if you voluntarily enslaved your sight?  Why would you do it?  What if you knew it was a mistake, but a beloved family member had sold their eyes; how would that feel? Link to the story here.  (And, if you have time and inclination to leave a comment, I’d be thrilled.)

Story 2:  Deceit

https://www.flickr.com/photos/lamonicanature/6187182667/in/photolist-aqJVRe-aqJVQZ-aqJVQx-ABkQUU-YkrKFG
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Ramona has moved in, she’s getting free rent and she’s bringing exotic pets into the apartment, all at the expense of her somewhat naive, long-suffering boyfriend.  Her latest acquisition is a poisonous frog she has named “Deceit.”  Is this the last straw?

I’m excited that Every Day Fiction has published my story “Deceit” this week.  As you may remember, I have a chapbook manuscript in progress that contains flash fiction stories, each with the title of a type of deceit, which I’m calling “The Little Book of Lies.”  This is one of the stories from my collection.

When I first submitted this story to Every Day Fiction last March, I was interested to receive a message from their editors saying that they liked the story, but they wondered if I’d be willing to do a rewrite based on feedback from their first readers.  Of course! I responded, and when I submitted the rewrite a few weeks later, they responded again that they liked the rewritten story and would be publishing it in late November.  I’ve never been through a rewrite process for publication before, and it helped me strengthen the story. Very rewarding! Link to the story here.

Thanks for celebrating with me!  Have a wonderful week!

Published by TheresaBarker

Science fiction writer and mathematician

32 thoughts on “Celebrate with me! 2 flash fiction stories published”

  1. I am heading over to the link right now…but before which I want to pass my hearty congratulations to you. How exciting to have your stories published and to be told that your ideas are unique! The introduction to The Tyranny of Enslaved Eyes is mystifying and I love the way you get your inspiration from a line in a poem. Keep flying high, Theresa! xx

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Oh! Your kind message really made my evening, Dippy-Dotty Girl! I am happy that I can share the good feeling of having my work appear in a fiction market, almost like the feeling of sharing the beauty in your sunset photograph with you! Thank you, thank you. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  4. Wow, congratulations, Teresa! What a wonderful accomplishment! I read the first story. I’ll read the second one tomorrow! The title of your book “The Little Book of Lies” is interesting and I’m curious about what the lies are in your book!!

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    Reply

    1. Thank you for your kind message, Miriam! I know the first story is a little creepy, sorry about that! But the second one is completely non-science fiction. Other readers on the site have said it’s kind of cute. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. Oh my goodness, maybe so! I hadn’t thought of continuing it, but yeah, I might play around with that. I so appreciate your thoughtful observations and the time you took to hop over and read it. 🙂 I’ll keep you posted about a sequel!

        Liked by 1 person

      1. I used to love to write short stories and wrote quite a few of them back in grad school. I was just responding to somebody about something else and remembering the short story influences I used to treasure. Saki’s “Open Window” has always been a favorite :).

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      3. I hope you like it. I got my MFA at Western Michigan University. Then, taking the advice of Diane Wakoski, I got my PhD, and that was at University of California, Riverside. I am a nerdy student, so when I decided I wanted to pursue poetry wholeheartedly, I knew I wanted a program–and I lived in Kalamazoo so applied to the program there!

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