Mendala, he wrote: Anyone else for sencha (Japanese green tea)?

Me, I queried: Hope you don't take too much offense at this question, but is that stuff something to drink or is it best suited for putting on gardens needing fertilizer? ;)

Okay, LSU just whipped Vandy 66-38. It was 28-7 after the 1st quarter but things got a bit sloppy after that. Anyway, here's a plate full of pralines to celebrate. Any coffee left?

<img src="/images/emoticons/glasses10.gif" alt="glasses8">

Larry mentioned the first story by newcomer, Red Writer, 'A Warmer Reality'. Here's the link.

https://
It's already received a rare Editor's Pick (EP). Read it. You'll be glad you did.

And for a fun change-of-pace after finishing that story, scroll up to his newest, Dig It.

No need to thank me or Larry. Just another fine free service of:
NO HOPE of PROFITABLE PUBLICATION, Ltd.

<img src="/images/emoticons/glasses10.gif" alt="glasses8">

Me, that is to say, I, well Iwant some of dem 'Smile Cookies'.

Sara, looking forward to more Scamp adventures. It might be fun to do a flashback to some of the character's ancesters whenever the 'History' category gets rolling.

Medalla, you ever get Lady Sharon that drink, probably some sort of coffee, she ordered?

Larry, you think Vic might pass for a 'Support Dog'? ;)

Okay, any coffee left? Thought not. Don't suppose the management and staff would consider cranking a new pot up for the afternoon/evening trade?

Y'all do the best ya know how.

<img src="/images/emoticons/glasses10.gif" alt="glasses8">

Any word on Mnedalla getting an expresso machine? Thought not.

Larry, I have RR's story on my 'to read' list. Two more that shouldn't be missed are, Molly's introspective, 'And I Left', along with Verbal's masterful, 'Ground Zero'., .

There's also been a whole host of 'Back To School' challenge stories and I swear on my tattered copy of Strunk & White that all of them are five-worthy.

Coffee -- please.

<img src="/images/emoticons/glasses10.gif" alt="glasses8">

WA-HOO, and mega-congrats, Ms B, not only on having your first solo story in forever being posted but on it becoming one of the few (if any) which reached 'Story Picks' status on its first day. You go gal! ;)

Here's your well-deserved tea, and I'll leave one on the counter for Larry. No charge. Mendalla is still trying to figure out the travel voucher Fuzzy submitted for his bike voyage through the Ozarks last weekend.

<img src="/images/emoticons/glasses10.gif" alt="glasses8">

Larry, in the 'first thing first' department, would you mind sending Molly a PM with info about the new multi-chapter organizing feature you helped Gav design? She has not heard about all that.

Darron, Larry is approximately 100% correct (as usual) about the realities of vote accumulation on this and most other writing boards. To wit: to get votes and comments, give votes and comments. You might start with doing all that to some of the stories on the first and second page which have gotten to nine votes but then got stuck there, one vote below the ten needed for 'Story Pick' status

Now this is weird, while pausing to contemplate my next words to inflict on unsuspecting SS readers, something posted my incomplete message. Being a mod, I could and did edit and complete the entry. No big deal, but that's has happened before. Odds are it's the fault of: 1. my old computer and/or keyboard, 2. my screen reader fussing with the SS software package or, 3. more proof that to err is Rumple. So I'm wondering if anyone else has ever had this happen to them?

<img src="/images/emoticons/glasses10.gif" alt="glasses8">.

Larry, thanks for the 'heads up'. I'll make a note of all that in the mod forum to alert Maggie. Thanks for the coffee and scratch Vic's ears for me. ;)

Larry, he wrote:
That was a nice welcome, Bill. However, I can't help noticing that Damon has been a member here on Stories Space since 2010. He was here before me and even before you. Amusing.

Me, I wrote: That scallywag. Thought that name seemed familiar but at my age -- well, someday you'll understand. ;)

<img src="/images/emoticons/glasses10.gif" alt="glasses8">

Greetings, Larry and all ships at sea. Me, I got a late start today (well, slower than usual) so I'm trailing you in the mugs consumed category. Thanks for reminding me about Darron. IMO, he has the potential to be a first-rate fiction writer once he has mastered a few of the storyteller's tricks.

BTW1, let me know what you think of Grammarly.
BTW2Has the new multi-chapter feature you and Gav worked on been ported to SS?

Now let me empty the coffee pot and I'll get another one cranking.

<img src="/images/emoticons/glasses10.gif" alt="glasses8">

Damon, welcome to Stories Space, the family friendly alternative to our sister site I'll just refer to as 'Big Red'. (However, imo, those plots would be winners over there).

<img src="/images/emoticons/glasses10.gif" alt="glasses8">

The Tumultuous Tale of the Tormented Terrier Well, let me tell you, it was like this. Once upon a time, our humble hovel was being run by the daughter-unit’s pet, a small, cute, cuddly and constantly yapping Yorkshire Terrier that answered to the name, Puh-Pet, but only if she happened to be in the mood. She loved nothing better than people-food treats and patroling the backyard. Since it...

Added 15 Aug 2019 | Category Memoirs | Votes 8 | Avg Score 5 | Views 277 | 8 Comments

Newly polished toenails safely propped on the crowded coffee table, Darlene Barnes let out a long plume of cigarette smoke and waited for her friend to come back from the kitchen. Waiting in silence, however, had never been her 'thing'. The thirty-something bottled-blonde looked around at the empty doorway to the kitchen. "You know it's hard for me to believe you're this messed-up....

Added 13 May 2019 | Category Young Adult | Votes 4 | Avg Score 5 | Views 370 | 3 Comments

“You guys are nuts.” The Skeptic was in rare form as the four men studied the petite singer flitting around on the dim stage.   “I mean, sure she’s cute, but in a small-town high school cheerleader sort of way. No way is she this smoking’ hot sex object you guys keep raving about. But…”   The Skeptic stopped as the singer approached the microphone stand. Waited for A bright spotlight...

Added 05 Feb 2019 | Category Micro Fiction | Votes 9 | Avg Score 5 | Views 757 | 8 Comments

For the benefit of any unsuspecting reader, let me state now that this is NOT an article about how one might become a contented courtesan or smiling strumpet. Nope, not even a titillated trollop. Sorry about any confusion, honest. Truth be told, this assault on good taste and English letters is concerned with the fine art of creating attention grabbing hooks in the opening lines of your...

Added 18 Dec 2018 | Category Musings | Votes 11 | Avg Score 5 | Views 337 | 7 Comments

Now and Forever: a love story The dream was back--so were the eyes. They hovered in an angry sky just above the horizon, seeing everything but focusing on nothing. Amy knew those eyes—knew a time when they’d been filled with happiness and a love of life. But that had been before her brother came back from Vietnam. Young, naked, and skinny, she stood alone and vulnerable on a hill surrounded...

Added 14 Aug 2018 | Category Romance | Votes 8 | Avg Score 5 | Views 291 | 5 Comments

How’s by you, Grady Lee? Funniest thing happened yesterday. This nice lady from the Veterans Administration stopped by and said what I really needed, I mean with my having gone from hard of seeing to being blinder than any known bat, was one of those so-called smart Apple iPhones. I told her I knew a bit about the thing, how you made gestures to work it, and let her know I'd been...

Added 04 Aug 2018 | Category Flash Fiction | Votes 14 | Avg Score 5 | Views 399 | 12 Comments

On a hot Friday afternoon in the summer of 1970, a young nursing student left work at the VA hospital, and hurried out to the nearby bus stop on First Avenue. The usual stop-and-go Friday traffic appeared to be stuck on stop. From the open windows of a gypsy cab came the sound of an all-news station. “In other national news, a Defense Department spokesman said 18,000 of the 31,000 US...

Added 28 Feb 2018 | Category Flash Fiction | Votes 12 | Avg Score 5 | Views 579 | 10 Comments

   The official plan, as carefully explained to all parental units, had called for Amy and Libby to share a motel room. The guys would stay with Mark’s roommate who was supposed to be in summer school. In reality, Mark’s roommate had just flunked out. And no one questioned that Bob and Libby would have the motel room to themselves. Once they were dropped off, Mark and Amy headed for...

Added 01 Nov 2017 | Category General | Votes 2 | Avg Score 5 | Views 769 | 2 Comments

  Alexandria, a small, nondescript city on the Red River in central Louisiana, is the symbolic checkpoint separating the state’s French, Catholic south from its Scots-Irish, Protestant north. In the pre-interstate days, a two-lane highway weaved its way south from town toward Baton Rouge. A picturesque, tree-lined bayou flanked one side of the road. On the other side were pastures and a...

Added 18 Oct 2017 | Category General | Votes 3 | Avg Score 5 | Views 534 | 4 Comments

 The phone wouldn't stop ringing. Amy, sitting at the table on the other side of the kitchen, eating a bologna-on-white-with-mayonnaise sandwich and heading into what she sensed would be one of the   steamier parts of,"The Carpetbaggers," tried to ignore the noise, though she couldn’t help wondering what had happened to her sister who always tried to beat everyone else to the phone. Jan...

Added 09 Oct 2017 | Category General | Votes 5 | Avg Score 5 | Views 602 | 5 Comments