Author Archives: Val

Flash Fiction: Halloween at Ball’s Bluff

Welcome to the Spot Writers. This week’s prompt is to write something about boats. Author Val Muller decided to incorporate her favorite holiday, Halloween, as well as some deeply-embedded memories of watching Garfield’s Halloween special with her sister. You can … Continue reading

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Book Review: The Raft by S. A. Bodeen

The Raft is a survival tale told from the point of view of a teenager named Robie, who lives on the Midway Atoll (in the Pacific). While visiting her aunt on Hawaii, Robie decides to go home early and takes … Continue reading

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Flash Fiction: The Live-aboards

Welcome to the Spot Writers. The prompt for this month is to write about a boat. Today’s contribution comes from RC Bonitz, author of A BLANKET FOR HER HEART. This post comes from the opening of his current work in … Continue reading

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Book Review: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

This review contains minor spoilers. I heard much praise about this book before I decided to read it, and I think all the praise I heard built it up in my mind, which left me slightly disappointed. The book follows … Continue reading

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Flash Fiction: The MGA

Welcome to Spot Writers! This month’s prompt was to write a story about a car.   The MGA by Kathy L. Price   The midnight blue MGA had been selected as “Car of the Week” and, as such, sat in … Continue reading

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The Danger of Being an Individual

…or “Why I Wrote The Scarred Letter” Background A high school English teacher, I taught The Scarlet Letter year after year. For some students (too few), it became a favorite book that they remembered even years after graduating. For others, … Continue reading

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Book Review: The Ring of McAllister: An SAT Score-Raising Mystery by Robert Marantz

Advertised as “featuring 1,046 must-know vocabulary words,” this supernatural mystery is published by Kaplan and marketed to students wanting to build vocabulary for the SAT. That said, the primary goal of this story is learning words rather than the plot … Continue reading

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Flash Fiction: Shadow Dance

This month’s prompt is to write about a car. The story this week comes from Cathy MacKenzie, who has chosen a story from one of her two recently published compilations of short stories titled Paper Patches (short fiction for women). … Continue reading

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When the World Lives a Lie: Is Cheating in School the Status Quo?

When I was in school, I had a bizarre experience involving cheating. As a preface: most of my classes were useful, and most of my teachers were dedicated. However, in a class which I shall not name, I remember an … Continue reading

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Spot Writers: Kamikaze Bambi

The prompt this week was to write about a car. I was going to write about my beloved 1989 Camry… until this happened. This story comes to us from Val Muller, author of The Scarred Letter, Faulkner’s Apprentice, and the … Continue reading

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