All the best plots are stolen, and all the best snots are, too. I should know. I was the attendant of our town’s
stone nose. Night and day, I guarded the golden snot. It was honest work and lousy pay, easy work at a steady rate. I stood by the nose and protected the snot. From the left nostril, it hung, its golden green gleaming under warm sunny rays.

My job was simple. Only the lawful could essay a picking. The frauds were forbidden, you know, those without
papers—usurpers, outsiders, weaklings, and thieves. But the lawful had documents in order, and so by the thousands, they waited in line, and one by one, I allowed them a plucking. Easy, no? [Read more →]

Tags: all work, creative writing by Alex Kudera
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When my father’s favorite sister leaves, I get Dad all to myself again. Since early in the summer, my aunt and I have knocked heads on the proper way to care for a dying man, so as soon as she is out of the house, I feel an enormous weight lifting. I feel more relaxed. I plan to make up for all the arguments from earlier in the summer. Then, I wanted to confront my father with his various failings as a Dad—from his various absences to his overbearing presence—but I’ve come to realize that it’s too late for this. He hasn’t eaten in weeks and can hardly take any fluid at all; he doesn’t have energy for intense conversations. If anything, a dying man feels he’s owed an apology from the rotten world, not like he is the one to apologize to selfish offspring or anyone else. So now, I am committed to rising above the fray and playing the role of the dutiful son until the end.    [Read more →]

Tags: creative writing, family & parenting by Alex Kudera
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The other night, I caught the last hour of a movie masterpiece on TV: Sidney Lumet’s 12 Angry Men. It is an inspiring film to watch, in and of itself, and it is full of that 1950′s mixture of sinewy intellect and bongo-driven, twelve-tonal avant-gardeness. It is a film that simultaneously, as much of the art of that period did, praises and condemns the register of human action and tendency. 

But the old stream-of-consciousness kicked in when I again saw Lee J. Cobb, the disgruntled father who wants a young man to hang as a result of his own feelings against his own rebellious son. Seeing Cobb made me think of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, in which he played the first Willy Loman. [Read more →]

Tags: artistic unknowns by Chris Matarazzo, creative writing by Chris Matarazzo
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“We slept in a bungalow! On the floor!”

“After waiting in line for 3 hours, we were lucky enough to see a 30 minute comedy show…for free!”

“As far as the eye could see, there were free energy drinks…and boy did we drink them.  We drank them all.  We were sick as dogs.” [Read more →]

Tags: creative writing, mostly kidding by Matt Scottoline, music by Matt Scottoline
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Q: What do you get when you mix a celebrity spouting self-truths, the power of social networking, and some people up for a silly little creative writing challenge?

A: Charlie Sheen-inspired poetry, written in the style of e.e. cummings!

So here’s the back story: [Read more →]

Tags: creative writing by Sara W. Moreno
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I probably should have published the following post on Valentine’s Day, but since VD was only three days ago, I’m guessing everyone is still filled with tender emotions and the excitement of love.

Anyway, here’s a thought experiment:

“What if Carl Sagan had written erotic fiction…”

[Read more →]

Tags: creative writing, science by Michael Cade
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Friendly

Tepoy

Jarl [Read more →]

Tags: creative writing, mostly kidding by Matt Scottoline by Matt Scottoline
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December 21, 5:50am:

Worst news ever. Flight has been cancelled. Huge snow storm. Horrendously long lines— in one of them now, hoping to get on the 2:30 flight to Copenhagen and catch connecting flight home tonight.

December 21, 9:33 am:

Still in line, moving painfully slow. Someone in the family in front of me has a case of the farts. Annoying. I bet it’s the chubby kid. It’s always the chubby kid.

December21, 10 am:

Not going to Copenhagen. But guess who is? That’s right, little mister fartface and his whole slob family. Blood pressure rising.  Need a Cinnabon.

December 21, 10:13am: [Read more →]

Tags: creative writing, travel & foreign lands by Peter Mann
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Please excuse the shameless self-promotion, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t plug the latest piece of sensational artwork by When Falls the Coliseum‘s own Ricky Sprague, which graces the cover of an online comic book by yours truly.

[Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, creative writing by Michael Cade
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“He can’t do it,” Dale said to the doctor.

“He can’t? He must!” Zarkhov said back with his barking, Czech accent and with that I seemed to have been shut out of the deliberations on the subject. “We have seen their power. They do not need our permission to do anything if they are willing to destroy us all and they seem pretty well able to find the will. We must cooperate. We must ALL cooperate. We will save our own lives and almost certainly the lives of everyone on earth. It is our only path.” [Read more →]

Tags: creative writing by Ken Watson
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