Valkyrie

When I was in my sophomore English class in high school, we had a long-term sub that's one of my all-time favorite teachers. One of the reasons I liked this guy so much was because of this incident. One of the popular jocks was being a jerk in class, and the teacher called him a troglodyte. Jock said he didn't know what that meant, so teacher threw a dictionary at him and told him to look it up. Let's say that jock was not enthused upon reading the meaning a person who is regarded as being deliberately ignorant or old-fashioned.

I'm going under anesthesia on Monday. I really hope they don't use new car smell

I totally understand. I'm writing super slow at the moment too.

I'm glad to hear you will be able to participate in the anthology next year. FYI, the anthology theme changes every year, so the theme for 2026 will not be Creature Feature. The theme will be announced at the end of this year/early next year.

This plays perfectly into the blog I'm hoping to post next week

You're not behind at all. Most people send in submissions much closer to the due date. I've never had this many submitted so early, but I think it's awesome 😁

Oh man, is that all?

Lee, I still owe you an edit for your second story. I haven't forgotten. Life has just been a bit messy lately

I have a really awesome blog post in the works for next week, but in keeping with our upcoming Secret Author contest, my lips are sealed You'll have to tune in next week to see what it is. In the meantime, here are the guidelines for the SA contest and the annual anthology. Which one will you participate in? Don't answer that... letting us know you are writing a story for the SA contest will get you disqualified so You can tell us if you are writing for the Creature Feature anthology, though. And there's no need to choose just one. We space out the due dates so authors have plenty of time to participate in both. I have a few ideas for Creature Feature, so my goal is to have at least one story for it.

Two weeks ago, I asked prompt blog readers to create a story starting at the end and working to the beginning. @Bill W got us off to an interesting start - uh, end? Followed by @ReaderPaul and myself. I took some liberties with the order and added in the beginning of the story. I hope you enjoy the result! Thank you to Bill and ReaderPaul for the interesting premise, and without further adieu, here is the final result!

I'm there! 😁

I'd rather have them outside than in my home.

I miss Wayne and the debates we got into when I edited some of his stories. He really had a knack for bringing characters to life. Thank you, @Aditus for a great review of a great story.

Xingshu leaned against one of the few undamaged trees near the road, panting. "I'm not sure how much longer I can continue." His side throbbed from his injury. "Is that a light ahead? Maybe it's the inn that traveler told us about."

We're back after a brief hiatus while the Poetry Anthology and Comicality Tribute were featured. If you haven't had a chance to check them out, please do so! @Aditus and I absolutely love everyone's enthusiasm for the new twists on the prompt blog. Since we had so much participation the last time, we're going to put some limits in place to make the resulting story more manageable for us. The idea is to write a story backwards. I will provide the ending, and you will provide the rest of the story in the comment section. Please limit comments to two or three sentences (four, if you absolutely must) so that the next commenter can play off your comment. You may comment more than once, but please do so in response to someone else's comment. In two weeks, I will compile the responses into a cohesive story and post it as @The Prompter, with credit to all participants. The fun thing about prompts is that they speak to each one of us differently. If this prompt is speaking to you, and you would rather write your own story instead of participating in the group exercise, then I would encourage you to post it in your own prompt collection and paste the link in the comment section here so everyone can enjoy your take on it. Here is the ending: His hands trembled on X's shoulders as he looked into their soulful eyes. The world was full of possibilities, as his heart brimmed with pride. Feel free to name X! Now, start writing! I can't wait to see how the story unfolds

I'm in agreement about @Thirdly. Please teleport here because I want lunch too and that yummy ice cream! I also really want that ramen egg I

We have a ton of festivals around here, especially in the summer. The news even has a feature called "FestivalFest", which lets us know which festivals are happening when. There isn't a single weekend without multiple fests happening somewhere in the area. Why am I not surprised about the Calgary beerfest? I can only imagine the otter mayhem you and Brad wreaked

Today is a bittersweet day, as we remember and pay tribute to a GA icon, @Comicality. It's hard to believe it's been a year since he's been gone. Today would have been Comsie's 50th birthday, so we thought it would be the perfect day to feature the tributes written by his friends and fellow GA authors. Comsie was the first author to join GA, when Myr started the site back in 2002. He garnered quite the following, and he gave back to the site in many ways - mentoring other authors, posting a blog series with writing tips, and participating in site events such as anthologies and contests. There is so much more to be said, but it would be impossible to list them all. He had a profound impact on his readers and those who interacted with him. We have ten tributes and stories inspired by Comicality and his writings to share. There is also something very special posted at the end of this blog, so be sure to check out all the tributes, and the eleventh story featured after them. Please share your memories of Comsie in the comments, and join the GA Staff in wishing him Happy Birthday in the great beyond. Comsie, you are missed! Last, but certainly not least, is Comicality's last story. It has never been published, so we thought it fitting to feature it here.

We've already completed two events this year, Carlos Hazday's tribute and the Diversity Poetry Anthology. Our third event, Coming of Age - A Tribute to Comicality, goes live tomorrow. So, what's next on the radar? Or, shall I say that @Cia has a secret One of our most popular site events is the annual Secret Author contest, where stories are voted on without the readers knowing who wrote them. Guessing who wrote what always creates great discussion! Details should be coming soon. We already have a few story submissions for our annual anthology - Creature Feature, even though the deadline isn't until October first. Guidelines can be found here: Our first Prompt Team event proved quite popular last year, so we will be doing another one after the anthology. @Aditus and I have come up with something a bit different this year. Stay tuned for more information!

We had eight poems featured by site poets who were inspired by the theme of "Diversity". I really enjoyed everyone's unique take on an important theme. If you haven't done so, check out the links below and leave the poets a reaction or comment. A huge thank you to everyone who contributed poetry, read, reacted, commented, and reviewed. You guys are what makes this site so awesome! There's always behind-the-scenes help when it comes to anthologies, so I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks and appreciation to the following: 2025 Poetry Anthology Support Team Anthology Coordinator Valkyrie Tech Support Myr Anthology Banner Creation Cia Thank you to Cia, Myr, and Wildone for their behind-the-scenes help and moral support with the technical aspects I sometimes struggle with.

This reminded me of a fable, with an important message at the end. I do have to say that I don't kill spiders, but rather capture them in a glass and then liberate them outside. Usually while screaming and then flailing like Kermit the Frog. I really enjoyed this though. Thanks for sharing!

Two wonderful, thought-provoking poems; so well-written, as always. My BFF's non-binary child has an interesting take on labels. They said that labels can be helpful when trying to find like-minded people, which makes total sense to me. It doesn't mean that label has to stick, though. Unfortunately, there are people that would use those labels against us, and the label certainly does not make the person. I feel and share your anger in the second poem. I am lucky in that I grew up in a progressive church, where everyone has always been welcome. Sadly, I know that is not the case for everyone. Thank you for sharing these with us.