Letter from the Editor
by Em Kersey (InkSpin Editor)
Welcome to the inaugural issue of InkSpin—the progeny
of Word Spinner’s Ink, a private online writing group of seventeen years
duration. (Our history is chronicled on
www.WordSpinnersInk.Com) For most of our existence, we critiqued each
other’s work, provided support and guidance and rejoiced when a member was
published. Then, in January 2002, the owner of WSI (Bill Sterling) suggested
that we publish an online journal. I offered to help, not knowing that he would
ask me to serve as Editor-in-Chief. “Me?” I said. “I’ve never been the editor
of anything but my high school newspaper.” He assured me I would do fine. I
hope I have. Of course, InkSpin would not exist were it not for the diligent
efforts of our Editorial Board—Jim Bell,
Paul Ferguson,
Robert Laszlo
and Gerry Kozack. I offer my heartfelt thanks to all of them, and to
Bill for creating InkSpin’s attractive website.Issue 1 brings together a
group of stories, diverse in genre, yet insightful in theme. Take a fantasy
trip with Lorina into Monopoly Land. (Seven Tales of the
Cat) Share a middle-aged man’s longing for bygone days. (Marathon
Man) Read about death. Daddy, Daddy, We Hate to See you Go (a
tour de force) begins on an hilarious note, turns macabre and concludes with a
hint of repentance. What Darcy Died Of offers the protagonist deliverance
from drowning in a pitiable family’s circumstances. Find how two very different
characters discover solace in music. The vignette,
Alligators, Beach Balls
and Poker Games shows us a young girl, uncertain of her future, but hoping
that song will help her to cope. And another protagonist in
The Scheherazade
of Song, torn by her love and hate for Israeli settlements in the Hebron,
finds the beginnings of closure when she meets a Russian clown in the slums of
Montreal. We hope you enjoy the stories in this issue.
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The Scheherazade of Song
by Jacqueline Buckman
"Hey look, a rube!"
"Oh, lay off her guys."
I
glanced up from the stewing pot. At the back of the hall, a stout,
elderly man with bulbous features wagged his finger at a lout whose
roughed-up face disguised his true age. No one paid any heed to the
old man. Some protector. The taunt was carried up and down the line,
slashing the air like the blades of a propeller. With my cheeks
burning, I tried to catch Sonya’s eye for support, but she was
nowhere in sight. I was on my own in the slums of Montreal....
Read More
Alligators,
Beach Balls and Poker Games
by Jennifer Macaire
Who else can say of her childhood, “I watched
alligators shredding a beach ball while my mother played poker until
dark?"
It
was Holly’s beach ball. She'd just tossed it over my brother’s head
so it was her fault it bounced off the waves in the pool, hit the
deck with a curious ‘boing’ sound, and sailed into the alligator pit
some thirty feet below. We dashed to the metal railing and hung
over, mouths open, gasping with fright and exhaustion. We’d been in
the pool for nearly five hours...Read More
Marathon Man
by Jim Tomlinson
Jack loosens his bowtie, slides the suspenders from his shoulders,
and holding his breath, waits for the sounds. They will come from
behind him, from the dressing table across the room. He hears a
swish as Dianne steps from her emerald satin dress, preparing the
air, or so he imagines, for the tiny sounds that will follow.
He has heard them perhaps a dozen times before. But he has dreamed
them hundreds more—studded pearls dropped on glass, their plink so
distinct the sounds are etched on his brain. ...Read
More
Daddy, Daddy, We Hate to See You
Go
by Carol Papenhausen
When Daddy lost his job, the rest of him fell apart at the same
time. First he hobbled around for two weeks with an attack of
sciatica. Then a molar abscessed and after the dentist pulled that,
he started to lose his hearing. I don't think Mom even noticed what
was going on. If she did, she didn't care. She had a super job
making a bunch of money as one of those smiling gray-haired women in
the drug ads—the ones grinning with delight that osteoporosis is
turning them into hunchbacks, or who are ecstatic that their feet
hurt so much they can't walk....Read More
About the Authors
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Seven Tales of the Cat
by Jan Bear
Lorina sneezed again, a volcano of revulsion exploding from the
inner recesses of her head." Cat sneeze!" she cried. "Where is it?"
Wracked with sneezing, she opened window after window wide to the
icy night, but instead of fresh air, each gasping breath brought
only more of the stifling essence of cat. In panic she searched her
apartment for it. "Here, kitty, kitty, kitty!" she called between
sneezes....Read More
What Darcy Died Of
by Kristie Bloem
No one wants to call the medical examiner to find out what Darcy
died of. Efficient in their inability to accomplish anything,
everyone talks at once and does nothing. They look like bees in
their hive, each with its own job, but my aunts and uncles only flit
and fly around. They are busy avoiding the things that have to be
done. I want to smile at their feebleness, but I don't because I
know it's against the rules.... Read More |