Here at Rampant Loon Press, this week may begin with Cyber Monday, but it’s just a prelude to Book Release Friday. To celebrate, we’ve decided to make a whole pile of ebooks absolutely free, but only for this week. These great deals includ...
Tuesday, November 28, 2017
Monday, November 27, 2017
11/3/17 Friday Challenge: And now, it's time to vote.
We’ve heard from a few folks that it’s hard to find and read all the current Friday Challenge entries, and really hard to vote for your favorite, especially if you’re reading this site on a cell phone. Therefore, to improve accessibility, here are direct links to the six stories currently in the running for the 11/3/17 Friday Challenge, as well as a direct link to the voting...
Saturday, November 25, 2017
11/3/17 Friday Challenge: Entry #6
Fiction: “Sofia’s Weekend,” by Lucrezia Ferri
Several months ago, my health insurance carrier offered me a deal too good to pass up. PremCare offered me a $600 per month reduction in my already ridiculously high premium if I would allow them to install the new Total Toilet™, a state-of-the-art “smart” device designed to make management of chronic health conditions easier for the patient and caregiver. Once installed, the Total Toilet would analyze...
Friday, November 24, 2017
Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Black Sunday, and Naming Rights Still Available Saturday
As long as everyone else is going berserk over “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday” sales,
we may as well jump in and mention a few special deals of our own.
First off, in the run-up to the release of THE RECOGNITION REJECTION on Friday, December 1st, we’re selling the Kindle edition of THE RECOGNITION RUN at a special book-release sale price of $0.99.
BUY IT NOW.
Secondly,...
11/3/17 Friday Challenge: Entry #5
Fiction: “iGene,” by Chris Bailey Pearce
“Ow!” Ben rubbed the red spot on his wrist.
Mike raised one dark, bushy eyebrow, but said nothing.
“I swear, the thing bit me. See?” He shoved his hand in Mike’s direction.
“Well, what did you expect?” Mike glanced at the green and silver Individualized Genetic Event Normalization Educer on Ben’s wrist and took another sip of his mocha latte. “You muted it and dimmed the display. Turn it back on and see...
Thursday, November 23, 2017
From the SHOWCASE archives...
SHOWCASE #10: November 15, 2013
A few people have emailed to ask why I stopped running
these From the SHOWCASE archives...
posts. The short answer is that these posts were part of a clever plan to drum up interest in
SHOWCASE Volume 1, which we were planning to release on December 1st, with SHOWCASE Volume 2 to
follow on December 15th and Volume 3 in January.
However,...
11/3/17 Friday Challenge: Entry #4
Fiction: “Un Poêle Français,” by Mimosa Longfellow
Mrs. Lavender Goldman was glad to get a new stove. Her old one was covered in marks of burnt lasagna, old coffee, and sticky syrup. She had bought it three years before at a flea market for cheap, but the man who sold it to her said it was eight years old. Her husband was tired of coming home to burnt meals, so he told Lavender he would get her a new stove. He didn’t make much, being a reporter,...
Wednesday, November 22, 2017
The Friday Challenge: A Quick Update
This time around, we’ve made a few changes. We considered putting all the stories out in one great big anonymized mass, as we did last time, but decided they’d be easier for readers to handle if we published one new story daily, and better for the writers if we included the author’s bylines and bios right up front. We also decided to put the polling widget up right away (at the top of the right column), because you can change your vote(s) right up...
11/3/17 Friday Challenge: Entry #3
Fiction: “A Toothsome Tale,” by James Westbrooks
“Ow! Damn it! Damn it!” My wife dropped her fork and slapped her hand to her cheek.
I held my own fork halfway to my mouth and stared at her. So did the people at the table beside our booth. “What’s wrong? Did you bite your tongue?” I asked.
“Owww! I think I broke a tooth!” she said with a grimace. I could tell that she was rolling something around with her tongue. I...
Tuesday, November 21, 2017
Book Pre-Release Sale: THE RECOGNITION REJECTION
Releasing December 1st:
THE RECOGNITION REJECTIONby Henry Vogel
Book 2 in the award-nominated Recognition Trilogy
The official release date is December 1st, but if you pre-order the Kindle edition now you can get it for the special introductory price of just $0.99 USD. Learn more at this link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077MTSZCL
But wait, there’s more!
(I’ve...
11/3/17 Friday Challenge: Entry #2
Fiction: “When the Pillows Have Eyes,” by J. Verostka
I was still standing at the end of my first week, if a bit battered and worn. I had used everything in my stash of traditional medicinals—bottle, box and broadcast—to do it, but I had survived. Six of us had started and four remained. Lisa, the only other woman, had turned in her notice Thursday morning. Maybe she didn’t have the voice of her newly-ex ex in her head, telling her she’d never make...
Monday, November 20, 2017
11/3/17 Friday Challenge: Entry #1
Fiction: “The Han ‘Nasty,” by Chris J. Naron
Friday November 17, 2017
“So, the thing is, Gandhi was much more interested in poop than in peace.”
And with that, my afternoon World History Survey class ended. None of my students seemed convinced that as a thinker and a progressive hero, Gandhi was overrated, but I gave it the Chino Community College try every semester anyway.
Behind me a faintly familiar voice said, “You inspired me, at least.”
I...
Saturday, November 18, 2017
The Friday Challenge: 11/17/2017
We got a really nice response to the 11/03/17 Friday Challenge: so much so that we’ve decided to make an arbitrary change to the rules. (Is that in the Official Rules? “We reserve the right to make arbitrary changes to the rules at any time.” If not, it will be by the time you read this.)
Instead of posting the top three entries and then asking you to read them and vote,...
Friday Challenge: Quick Update
Yesterday turned out to be a rather clinic-intensive day, so we’re running a bit behind schedule. At last count we received eight entries for the 11/3/17 Friday Challenge, and we’ll be going through them this afternoon and deciding whether there’s a clear winner or if we should run a reader poll.
In the meantime, rather than rename it the Saturday Challenge, we’ll be posting the 11/17/17 Friday Challenge in about an ho...
Tuesday, November 14, 2017
Friday Challenge Deadline Reminder
Just a gentle reminder here that the deadline for the 11/3 Friday Challenge is in a bit over 48 hours. We've received five entries, as of the last time I checked. For the particulars of this particular challenge, see the foregoing link. For general rules and such, see this link.
Oh, these posts always get more attention if I include an image. Okay, how about this o...
Stupefying Stories: Progress Report, 11/14/17
It’s been a challenging week here at Casa di Calamari.
With the abrupt and unexpected shutdown last week of Pronoun.com,
we have in one blow lost our distribution into the Nook, Kobo, Google Play, and Apple iTunes stores, as well as into the OverDrive and Bibliotecha library sharing services.
This in itself is not an insurmountable problem. The lion’s share of our sales...
Saturday, November 4, 2017
About The Friday Challenge
Because so many people have asked for official rules, submission guidelines, and all that sort of stuff for The Friday Challenge, here they are. (And they're also on a permanent link at the top of the right column.)...
WE HAVE A WINNER!
The winner of the 10/13 Friday
Challenge, with a decisive 62% of the votes cast, is “Flowers for
Momma,” by James Westbrooks. Second place goes to “Queen of the
Prairie,” by Aaron Bradford Starr, and third to “Let the dead bury the dead,” by Kersley Fitzgerald. If you’d like to read any or all of these stories, you can do so at this link.
We’ll have more to say about the entries we received and what the judges had to say about them in...
Friday, November 3, 2017
The Friday Challenge: 11/03/17
With a few hours left before the poll closes--
(Memo to Self: make the deadline midnight Thursday for all future Friday Challenges)
--it looks like "Flowers for Momma" has jumped out to a commanding lead in the 10/13 Friday Challenge. However, there is a tight battle for second place between "Queen of the Prairie" and "Let the dead bury the dead" and that race remains too close to call, so unlike the TV networks, we're not going to announce the...
Thursday, November 2, 2017
From the SHOWCASE archives...
Fiction: “Martian Rules” by C. R. Hodges
Eternal fame, top hammock, and a shoe contract all came down to five used drinking straws clutched in the oversized mitt of a slightly inebriated Irishman. We consumed half my stash of medicinal whiskey celebrating the landing and arguing over Mick’s self-proclaimed Martian Rules. “Down a shot. Pray or don’t pray, as ye see fit....
Wednesday, November 1, 2017
From the SHOWCASE archives...
Of the 170-some stories we published during the four-year run of SHOWCASE as a quasi-independent production, this one remains one of my all-time absolute favorites.
Fiction: “Dragonomics,” by Richard J. Dowling
Unlike most of his brethren, the
dragon Slagadune slept with both eyes closed, for he could smell any
intruder foolhardy enough to stumble into his cave. A...