**M.J. Iuppa's Defining Even was published on the Microstory A Week site

M.J.Iuppa's epigrammatic and analytical Defining Even graced the Microstory A Week site today. 

This revenge-themed, numerically structured tale is the final entry in this year's Microstories. Many thanks to the authors who submitted their works and to those who read it. =)

**Peter Baltensperger's Curvatures for Afternoons was published on the Microstory A Week site

Peter Baltensperger's cinematic-visual Curvatures for Afternoons graced the Microstory A Week site today. 

This is a romantic, atmospheric story, one you should check out -- and don't forget to check out next Wednesday's tale, Michael Koenig's nasty, pulp-noirish Like Venus.

**Terrance Aldon Shaw's Señor Gordo was published on Microstory A Week

Terrance Aldon Shaw's hilarious and dialogue-driven Señor Gordo graced the Microstory A Week site today. Gordo, which details the personality differences between a man and his penis, is an R-rated, for-mature-audiences story.

This is a fun, raunchy tale, one you should check out (if you are an adult with an earthy sense of humor) -- and don't forget to check out next Wednesday's tale, Peter Baltensperger's atmospheric and romantic Curvatures for Afternoons.

**Kurt Newton's Black Dog was published on the Microstory A Week site

Kurt Newton's dark and cryptic Black Dog graced the Microstory A Week site today.
 
Black Dog tells the story of a wandering boy, his canine and their unusual relationship.

This is a good read, one you should check out -- and don't forget to check out next Wednesday's tale, Terrance Aldon Shaw's dialogue-driven, phallic-funny Señor Gordo.

**Emily J. McNeely's Peragua was published on the Microstory A Week site

Emily J McNeely's entertaining nautical story, Peragua, graced the Microstory A Week site today.
 
 Peragua, as she describes it, is a "an excerpt from a longer story, about a pirate crew in the Caribbean in the 18th century and the tensions between the captain and his first mate, who is looking to leave his service."

This is a great read, one you should check out -- and don't forget to check out next Wednesday's tale, Kurt Newton's dark and cryptic Black Dog.

**Peter Baltensperger's microstory All For The Pain was published in Black Heart Magazine

Peter Baltensperger, whose Nocturnal Tableaux* graced the Microstory A Week site in October 2012, has had another microstory published: All For The Pain, on the Black Heart Magazine site.

Pain details the emotions and sensations of a writer (Silas Connor) in the future and his struggles to deal with the burdens technological improvement has wrought upon him and those around him. Fans of Baltensperger's past works and speculative fiction should check out this gem of a microstory.

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*Nocturnal Tableaux also appears in Baltensperger's story/vignette anthology Inside from the Outside.

**Chris Milam's When the Shadow Comes was published on Microstory A Week

Chris Milam's darkness-infused, child-centric story When the Shadow Comes was published on the Microstory A Week site. (Those who have seen the 2013 film Mama or any of its cinematic theme-siblings will have be familiar with the scenario of Shadow, but the story has its own flavor.)

This is a special holiday piece for Microstory - I won't be publishing any other authors' works, at least not in the foreseeable future.  Note that I'll continue publishing updates regarding Microstory authors' new elsewhere-published pieces (e.g., stories, poems, books and other writings).

Big thanks to everyone who supported this brief online venture - writers, readers and others.

Check out Chris's When the Shadow Comes!

**Peter Baltensperger's Far From the Leaking Stars was published on the Pink Litter site

Peter Baltensperger, whose Nocturnal Tableaux* graced the Microstory A Week site in October 2012, has had another microstory published: Far From the Leaking Stars, on the Pink Litter site.

Stars details, in sensory-intense fashion, a woman's sexual restlessness while riding on a train with her sleeping lover.  Fans of Baltensperger's previous works won't want to miss his latest microtale.  This work and the site are for adults only.

Check this story out!

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*Nocturnal Tableaux also appears in Baltensperger's story/vignette anthology Inside from the Outside.

**Peter Baltensperger's Fugue for Numerous Violins was published in Black Heart Magazine

Peter Baltensperger, whose Nocturnal Tableaux* graced the Microstory A Week site in October 2012, has had another microstory published: Fugue for Numerous Violins, in Black Heart Magazine.

Fugue details a late autumn, perhaps winter, day in a busy, windy park.

Check this story out!

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*Nocturnal Tableaux also appears in Baltensperger's story/vignette anthology Inside from the Outside.

**Richard Cody's microstory Unidentified Flying Object was published in issue 7 of Vine Leaves Journal

Richard Cody, whose mini-tales – Alice and Lisa - appeared on Microstory A Week, has published another microstory, Unidentified Flying Object, in issue #7 of Vine Leaves Journal.  (You can read this charming tale on page 8.) 

Check this microstory out!

**Peter Baltensperger's The Call of the Loon was published on Siren

Peter Baltensperger, whose Nocturnal Tableaux* graced the Microstory A Week site in October 2012, has had another microstory published: The Call of the Loon, on Siren.

Loon, an atmospheric, occasionally hallucinatory work, details the carnal joining of a man and woman (a recurring theme in Baltensperger's oeuvre).  For this reason, this is an 'eighteen years and older' piece.

Check this story out!

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*Nocturnal Tableaux also appears in Baltensperger's story/vignette anthology Inside from the Outside.

**Two of Richard Cody's poems were published on the Strong Verse site

Richard Cody, whose microstories – Alice and Lisa - appeared on the Microstory A Week site, has published two excellent poems, Beware and The Reason Why, on the Strong Verse site.

Check these poems out!

**Peter Baltensperger's Ambiguities in Black was published in Apocrypha Abstractions

Peter Baltensperger, whose Nocturnal Tableaux* graced the Microstory A Week site in October 2012, has had another mainstream story published: Ambiguities in Black, in June 2013 issue of Apocrypha Abstractions.

Ambiguities, an atmospheric work, concerns a man searching for something - certain meanings, which relate to himself - on a particularly tumultuous night.

Check this story out!

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*Nocturnal Tableaux also appears in Baltensperger's story/vignette anthology Inside from the Outside.

**Peter Baltensperger's Ethereal Differentiations was published in Pink Litter

Peter Baltensperger, whose Nocturnal Tableaux* graced the Microstory A Week site in October 2012, has had another story published: Ethereal Differentiations, in the fifth issue of Pink Litter.

It should be noted that this story, as well as this site, are for "mature readers" only - meaning: adults, eighteen years old and older.

Check this story out!

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*Nocturnal Tableaux also appears in Baltensperger's story/vignette anthology Inside from the Outside.

The Owl by Alvin G. Burstein

(pb; 2012: novelette)


Review:

When college professor Lou Meade is accosted by a talking owl - a familiar of the Greek deity Athena, "goddess of wisdom, the practical arts, and warfare, and the protectress of cities"* - it's the first moment in his new life phase, an era that will lead him further into the works of author C.S. Lewis and intellectual warfare against Eris, the wily Greek goddess of discord.

Burstein's writing is straightforward, episodic, smart and exciting in a dry-humored way, which serves this atypical, Lewisesque work well. 

Readers of Lewis and gentler, clean cut-to-it readers of fantasy would do well to own this 70-page "neo-Pagan Fantasy" (as Burstein subtitles this intriguing work).  Don't expect the epic bombast and graphic grimness of George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones, but do expect to be entertained in a cerebral, sometimes phantasmagorical manner.

Worth owning, this.  You can purchase it here.

[*The Free Dictionary.com]

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Burstein's earlier, much-shorter work  - The crawfish boil - graced the Microstory A Week site on January 11, 2012.  If you haven't read this story, check it out!

**Cath Barton published her second book, Candyfloss II

Cath Barton, whose Nothing to be afraid of graced Microstory A Week in October 2011, has published her second anthology, Candyfloss II, a follow-up to Candyfloss, also co-authored with Oliver Barton.

Candyfloss is, according to the book's Lulu page, "[A quirky anthology where] things are not always what they seem, in this collection of short stories and photographs by Cath and Oliver Barton. For one thing, there are quite a number of angels popping up, and some of them are not very angelic. And what about the gnome and the soup?

"After reading them, you might feel it’s better to stay away from trains and bendy buses — but are you on any safer ground in the pub or at home? As with the first volume of Candyfloss, these are stories to tease you, like a quirky box of chocolates. We’ve really enjoyed writing them — all you have to do is bite into them and see what surprises are inside!"

If you've enjoyed - or are curious about - Cath's earlier published, shorter works (The Nun and I, published on FlashFlood; The Edible Woman in the Cinema Box - currently not available - on Leodegraunce, etc.) make sure to check out Cath and Oliver's Candyfloss anthologies, available here!

**Peter Baltensperger's Nocturnal Tableaux was published on Microstory A Week

Peter Baltensperger's atmospheric, character-rich story, Nocturnal Tableaux, was published on the Microstory A Week site.

This is the final fiction piece that Microstory will publish.  Note that I'll continue publishing updates regarding Microstory authors' new elsewhere-published pieces (e.g., stories, poems, books and other writings).

Big thanks to everyone who supported this brief online venture - writers, readers and others.

Check out Peter's Nocturnal Tableaux!

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*Update, 2013: Nocturnal Tableaux also appears in Baltensperger's story/vignette anthology Inside from the Outside.

**dani harris's Dream Catcher was published on Microstory A Week

dani harris’s cosmic love story, Dream Catcher, was published on the Microstory A Week site.

Check it out!

**Peter Baltensperger's Through the Euphoria of Pain was published on the Danse Macabre site

Peter Baltensperger, whose Nocturnal Tableaux will grace the Microstory A Week site in January 2013, has had another story published: Through the Euphoria of Pain, in issue #59 of Danse Macabre.

Check this story out!

**Thomas Michael McDade's Casing the Spirit was published on The Feathered Flounder ezine

Thomas Michael McDade, whose anthology, Stately Speaking: Poems, was reviewed on this site in June 2012, has recently published another sensory- and action-intensive story: Casing the Spirit, on The Feathered Flounder site.

Can't get enough Thomas-penned excellence in your life? Check out his story, Weber-o-lantern, published on the Microstory A Week site in December 2011.