Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

This is a flashback flash fiction piece from 2016, a bit of (maybe) harmless Halloween fun...   Witching Weather   “Fog’s rising.” Jack made the observation in a detached sort of way, not sure if it mattered.   “More fun that way,” Jill answered. If he was unsure about the weather, she was not. She straightened the tall, pointed hat that kept threatening to tumble from her head. “It sets the right sort of mood.”   The boy and girl grinned at each other. Both wore sweeping black robes, rather in the fashion of the students of Hogwarts. A close observer might have even thought they had come from the costume shop, but with the fog settling in and the daylight gone, no one could be sure. Jack wore a silver circlet around his forehead, while Jill sported the afore-mentioned pointed hat.   “At least half the kids will be spooked before we even begin,” Jill said, eyes aglow with excitement.   Jack nodded, seeing her point. “A...

Image by KL Kaley   Posting for the weekly #WritePhoto challenge by KL Caley at New2Writing.com.  Read all about it and join in at the WritePhoto site. I'm cheating this time, and reusing a story from 2016. It's kind of a nice Halloweenish tale, and I'm still kind of jet-lagged and couldn't come up with a new one. Besides, I like this tale. 1000 words. The Enchanted Blasted Forest The Enchanted Forest is a punishment post, but never mind what we did to get sent there. They have to man the post, and soldiers don’t last long there, so you don’t have to do much to end up there. About half of those sent never even arrive.   There were six of us, and when the road entered the blasted Forest we divided up the watch. Tomo watched left, Martin right, Jock ahead, Kora behind, Shea overhead, and I was back-up to them all, scanning every direction as thoroughly as I could.   The monsters weren’t bold. If Shea called out “harpy overhead!” we’d all r...

Write…Edit…Publish (WEP) is an online writing community now partnering with the Insecure Writers Support Group (IWSG). We post the third Wednesday of every second month. WEP challenges are open to all.  I don't really like horror, so I took the prompt in a different direction, and wrote a short story from my Pismawallops PTA mystery series. You'll only get the "deja vu" part if you read Death By Trombone :)  I managed to hit 1000 words exactly, exclusive of the title. Deja Vu All Over Again “We’ve been over this, Kitty. With my new job at the library I don’t have time for everything. I really can’t do the Fall Formal.” I crossed my fingers as I said it; I worked a great deal less at the library than Kitty did at their gas station. “We have been through it all before.” Kitty didn’t sound like she agreed with me. She sounded like she was laughing at me, or humoring me, which was worse. “You can afford one evening, and the library isn’t open Friday nights. Well, plus ...

  Title: Castle Hangnail Author: Ursula Vernon Publication Info: Penguin Young Readers Group, 2015. 386 pages. Source: Library digital collection Publisher’s Blurb: When Molly shows up on Castle Hangnail's doorstep to fill the vacancy for a wicked witch, the castle's minions are understandably dubious. After all, she is twelve years old, barely five feet tall, and quite polite. (The minions are used to tall, demanding evil sorceresses with razor-sharp cheekbones.) But the castle desperately needs a master or else the Board of Magic will decommission it, leaving all the minions without the home they love. So when Molly assures them she is quite wicked indeed (So wicked! REALLY wicked!) and begins completing the tasks required by the Board of Magic for approval, everyone feels hopeful. Unfortunately, it turns out that Molly has quite a few secrets, including the biggest one of all: that she isn't who she says she is. This quirky, richly illustrated novel is filled ...

One more Halloween story from the archives, to celebrate the holiday. This one's from 2013, in 970 words. Be Careful What you Read on Halloween Don’t read fairy tales on Halloween.  Just don’t.  Trust me on this; I know what I’m talking about. My name is Cara, I’m ten years old, and I like fairy tales. Correction: I used to like fairy tales. Mom is always saying fairy tales are good clean, safe reading for a kid like me, and things half the books out there are too violent, and half are too mushy. I kind of agree about the mushy part. Yuck. But none of the books she rants about is half so violent as Grimm’s fairy tales, and Mom ought to try reading them sometime.  But not on Halloween. Let me tell you. It was while I was reading Cinderella that things began getting weird. I took a break to light my jack-o-lantern, and when I opened the lid a bunch of mice jumped out and took off, then sort of vanished. That was bad enough. I mean, mice are kind of cute, but not in my room,...

I missed it last month, but here it is, Flashback Friday AND time for my Halloween story. Which is cool, because I have some favorites that fit, and I'm happy to give one another airing! In fact, I found more than one, so I'll be  posting another Halloween re-run on Monday, since that's the actual day. For today, in just over 900 words, from Halloween 2012: Furballs It should have been just another day. Get up, get dressed, have breakfast and go to school. Malkina ran into the first snag as soon as she tried to pull on her underwear. Reaching behind herself, she felt the furry protuberance. Mystified, she moved to the mirror--a full-length mirror her mother insisted she have in her room, but which Malkina mostly ignored. Why should she even look, when she was so hopelessly ordinary? The most ordinary girl in the fifth grade. Kicking aside a modest pile of books and dirty laundry so she could stand in front of the mirror, Malkina twisted and turned until she saw herself. Saw...

I have no stories in me today. So...how about some more pictures? In honor of the approach of Halloween, I'll toss out some themed shots. Where it all begins, perhaps? Being beamed down by the mother ship. Other nasty creatures come along: But the aliens look happy and normal under a blue sky. And why not? We all know that horror stories happen on dark and stormy nights, right? Just pretty pumpkins and innocent children in the sun. But soon the alien creatures are eviscerating innocent squash. And the next thing you know, your home is taken over by this: Or this: And it takes a sinister turn: Who knows what mayhem the aliens will wreak? And in the end, it all comes to this, as the aliens move on, leaving their mark behind them. ©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2016 As always, please ask permission to use any photos or text. Link-backs appreciated!

Continuing with my theme of spooky stories for October (or at least a bit out of the world stories), I present a bit of harmless Halloween fun. Or is it?  You be the judge. This story stands alone, but Chuck Wendig has a challenge this week to write the start of a story, for others to finish. And it occurs to me that this could also be just the beginning, so I'll link it in there and see if anyone bites. And if not...there it stands. Witching Weather “Fog’s rising.” Jack made the observation in a detached sort of way, not sure if it mattered. “More fun that way,” Jill answered. If he was unsure about the weather, she was not. She straightened the tall, pointed hat that kept threatening to tumble from her head. “It sets the right sort of mood.” The boy and girl grinned at each other. Both wore sweeping black robes, rather in the fashion of the students of Hogwarts. A close observer might have even thought they had come from the costume shop, but with the fog settling in and the da...