"Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now."
My Boog Pages
Wednesday, January 5
The Philadelphia Story
Dwayne Swearzinsky, editor of the Philadelphia City Paper and author of the forthcoming book Secret Dead Men, has announced that his paper is running a short story contest. The only catch: the story must be set in Philadelphia.
So, I read that and thought, "Well, crap, I've never been to Philadelphia and don't have any stories set there. Hellfire and damnation!" Then I thought, "Wait a bit... I've got that story set in Chicago... but really it's set in [insert city here]. A few changes, and hey..."
Unlike the last contest I entered (keep scrolling), I don't think I'll win this one. Though I like the idea, it's too slight, there's not enough plot. It's really more a series of images than anything else, a photo exhibit. I got the idea from something I read, to the effect that great writers begin a story where good writers end one. Hence, the story begins just after a hired killer has completed a hit.
Enough talk, I have to go rent Rocky and do some research.
We Want Moore! Today is Donna Moore Day in the crimeficblogworld. Why do I bring this up, since I've never met or corresponded with her? Because I read her scifi/mystery/romance "entry":
The cumulo nimbus was low in the sky when the scaly green alien from the Planet Zog landed his spaceship in...errrr...some park in the middle of the city. He stepped out of the spaceship, and with one hand buttoned up his raincoat against the chilly December day. With his left hand he pulled out his .38, and with his third hand he tipped his fedora at the open mouthed beauty who was walking her dog in the park. Her breasts looked as though they'd been poured into her dress and then inflated with a bicycle pump. "Hello shweetheart" (Humphrey Bogart films were big back on the Planet Zog) "I'm a doomed greenish-noir hero and I've come to save your planet from greed and despair. Wanna come back to my spaceship and I'll show you my probe?
and I came up with a great title: "Greenhorn" Thankyouverymuch.
