As those of you who've read my short story, "The Cold, Hard Facts of Life," already know, the One Word Story Project didn't quite come together this year. But that doesn't mean that its participants didn't write great fiction! So here are links to two more of the short stories written for the project, hosted on their authors' websites for free. Like I did, they wanted to release these one-word-inspired stories out into the world!

First, Anya Davis's "the Kindness of Kingfishers" uses halcyon as the inspiration for a love story, one perhaps doomed from the start but blessed with a beautiful use of language to tell it.

Second, Darci Cole gives us "Boys, Baseball, and Biology," all subjects that often appear obfuscated to me. There's plenty of adolescent miscommunication in this one...and plenty of cute, adolescent hormones as well. Yes, I just called hormones cute.

Finally, you can read four stories published on Team Hellions for the project, all in one place! Of them, Eve Jacob's "Akasha" stood out for her entertaining duo of space-faring sisters on the hunt for a book on an ancient Earth religion. Rob Kristoffersen's "Home is Where the Haunting Is" also painted a haunting portrait of the lingering effects of divorce.

Enjoy!

In November, I stumbled across Rob Kristoffersen's (@kristoffrable) One Word Story Project while browsing my Twitter feed. A group of authors writing stories each inspired by one word? Sounded like a lot of fun!

I'd been looking for ways to share my fiction more often, as I had limited myself to publishing stories only with professionally rated Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America outlets, and I wasn't feeling satisfied by the awesome, yet limited, opportunities they provide. So Rob's project seemed perfect! As he's a contributor at Team Hellions, a geek website covering a wide range of fandoms (even wrestling!), the stories will be hosted there.

And the first one is up today! Fittingly, the series begins with Rob's story, "The Home is Where the Haunting Is," which is inspired by the word epicedium: a funeral dirge. Click on over to read this tale, which, like my own, is a haunting story with marriage at its forefront. Rob's tale is an affecting look into the aftermath of divorce, and it ends especially strong.

There will be a new One Word Story up at Team Hellions every weekday for a month, through 2/11/2016. My own is inspired by misogamy: a hatred of marriage, and I'll tell you when it's up, of course!  But I'll also point you over to the site whenever I especially enjoy the other writers' stories.