Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

While I'm off collecting exciting new photos to share, I'm also sharing some of my flash fiction from years gone by.   This piece is from 2014, and is short at 650 words. I think I wrote it mostly as a sort of homage to US 50 in Nevada, "the Loneliest Road in the America" (not true) and a route of which I'm oddly fond. Anchored at one end by the Sierra Nevada (if you don't take the obvious route and get on I80 at Fernley) and by Great Basin National Park at the other. What the Highway Wants LeAnn clutched the wheel of her ’78 Buick, and kept her eyes on the road. It had been a long drive from Ely, and traffic was growing thicker. US 50 wasn’t the Loneliest Road in America at this end, and there were on-coming cars every minute or two. She pulled off the road at Grimes Point, where the petroglyphs were, just outside Fallon. She knew it was the last convenient bathroom before Donner Pass.   LeAnn didn’t like to stop at Donner Pass. T...

While I'm off collecting exciting new photos to share, I'm also sharing some of my flash fiction from years gone by.   Another story from 2016. The main character may have some tiny resemblance to me in certain respects. It's conceivable that there is also some resemblance here to actual events, though I have never cussed out a bear.  984 words. For Want of a Map “You said you knew the route. You said you didn’t need a map.” Rosa’s tone was deceptively calm, and Hal swallowed. After 27 years of marriage he knew when he was in trouble.   “I, ah, must have missed the junction. It can’t be far back, though.” He tried to picture it, but he’d been thinking about a problem at work, and had really no idea where the junction had been.   Rosa looked at her husband a moment, hands on hips, and let him squirm. Then she dropped her pack, opened the top pocket, and extracted a map. Unfolding it, she turned her back to the wind—and to her spouse. The e...

Since I'm off gallivanting and not creating new content, it's time to call out another section of my back-list: the Ninja Librarian series. Skunk Corners. Where it all began, in a way. The Ninja Librarian wasn't the first book I wrote (far from it, actually, given I started writing at age 6), but it was the first I published. A series of essentially free-standing stories threaded together into a longer story, I wrote much of this book at the library, in the quiet stretches of the evening shift. I just worked that shift in those days, because with two small children at home it was the only time I was free. The Ninja Librarian is a wholly fictional character. But he does share some characteristics, and most of his looks, with Tom Goward, who was the Head Librarian at Daly City's Westlake Library in those days. And the initial spark for the book came from something he said.  Now you know. I wrote the original collection of tales over the course of several years, and two mo...

While I'm off collecting exciting new photos to share, I'm also sharing some of my flash fiction from years gone by.  I chose this one from 2016 just for the last line, which in my mind saves it from being obvious and marks it as my work. 1029 words. Huntress “They’re back.” Artima looked up from the weapons she tended with the attention a woman lavishes on that which keeps her alive. “What?” Herbert of Callia always looked like he’d lost his last friend. His expression now suggested that he’d found that friend rotting behind the castle. “The spiders.” “I thought they killed all of those while you were still learning arms.” The little man shrugged. Herbert swore he had no dwarf blood, but he was small, hairy, and mean enough she figured that for a lie. “Looks like they didn’t get them all.” He was also her armsmaster, and Artima knew what he wanted. “You never taught me how to fight the spiders.” Herbert sighed. “I never thought you’d need to....

  It's the first Wednesday of the month--time for the IWSG post.       Why? The IWSG is here to share and encourage, to offer a place for authors to admit their insecurities and offer help and support to each other. How? The official IWSG posting day is the first Wednesday of every month. Hop around the list and see who has worries, triumphs, and news to share.  Every month we have an optional question to spark discussion.  Our motto:  Let’s rock the neurotic writing world! Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG. The awesome co-hosts for the February 7 posting of the IWSG are Janet Alcorn, SE White, Victoria Marie Lees, and Cathrina Constantine! Every month, we announce a question that members can answer in their IWSG post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG post or let it inspire your post if you are strugg...

Out today from Dancing Lemur Press! The fourth in the series. In Darkness: The Alien By L. Diane Wolfe Souls shrouded in darkness… Abducted from her research station, Liz’s life is flung into chaos. Sold into servanthood for her knowledge of planetary mining to a race called the Stren, she discovers her problems go far deeper. She is to marry her alien master, Krist, after enduring a procedure designed to eradicate her emotions. Desperate, Liz persuades the Stren to grant her the duration of a short voyage to change his perception of emotions. But how can she convince someone lacking feelings of their value? Is there a means of accessing the emotional side of Krist before it’s too late? Links: Amazon -   https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C6QVWB2K iTunes -   https://books.apple.com/us/book/x/id6449979850 Le Barnes & Noble -   https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/2940166065681 Kobo -   https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/Search?Query=9781939844972 Everand -   https://www....

Astonishingly, I seem to have caught up with my photos, just days before leaving to go collect a whole lot more (watch this space). So this week, and for the next 5 weeks, I'll share a story from the archives for your entertainment and enjoyment.   This particular tale dates back to 2016. 919 words. I'm In Love With A Zombie But He Doesn’t Even Know I’m Alive Look, I’ve been crushing on Armand since the sixth grade. We’re graduating next spring, so that’s pretty much a whole lifetime, in teen years. He’s never liked me back, of course. Why should the cutest guy in the school pay any attention to a geek with pimples? Even if I do have the best brains in our class. Plus I don’t even know if he likes boys.   So I guess I have the best brains except when it comes to crushing on beautiful boys with no brains and 17 girlfriends. I have to admit that’s pretty stupid.   After last month, it’s even more stupid.   You know all about that, ...