Released 2018
Available from most online bookstores including:
Paperback 6×9 format
Living Springs Publishers has the honor of presenting Stories Through The Ages Baby Boomers Plus 2018, a collection of fifteen outstanding stories by authors who were born in 1964 or earlier. We are incredibly fortunate to have many gifted and talented authors among the winners published in this, the second installment of Baby Boomers Plus.
The first prize in this year’s contest goes to Dennis Winkleblack. His story, Never Work for Someone Who’s Not as Smart as You, is a hilarious chronicle of one young man’s perception of himself and his life. Our hero looks at life through a filter that only he can perceive. We, the reader, can only sit back and laugh. A must-read.
A Worthy Spine by Pam Parker is our second-place finalist. In this irreverent look at the relationship between two sisters, Annie and Cora Matthews, who have lived together since the death of their husbands who happened to be brothers. Cora narrates this story from her death sentence diagnosis of breast cancer to the surprise ending. Funny, cheeky, bold you decide for yourself in this must-read story full of well-defined characters and emotional relationships.
Our third-place winner is Martha Worcester with her story, Softening Sorrow. Don’t let the title fool you, this tale doesn’t wallow in sorrow, it deals with the relationship between an elderly woman and her young next-door neighbor in a magnificent and enlightened way. Jenny is a delightful little girl who meets Millie, who lives across the street. Both have issues that need each other to resolve. Wonderfully well-defined characters.
Trial by Water is a modern witch tale about a vigilante-type heroine who exacts justice for an elderly lady after she’s exhausted all the other avenues. The author, Laura Boldin-Fournier, crafts an exquisite story steeped in the supernatural but believable at the same time. Although immoral, readers will applaud the heroine’s method of resolving the problem.
Emotions run high in, Guardian Angels Came Late by Marilyn V. Davidson. In the 1980’s, the horrors of domestic violence was still an often hidden social issue. In this harrowing first-person account, a dedicated counselor and a mysterious bit of unexpected advice help an abused woman and her children escape from the nightmare that is their home.
Ron L. Dowell’s Longest Journey is a delightful, lighthearted look at an elderly woman and her physical fitness-obsessed son who does everything in his power to get her away from the television and out of her car. Funny and impertinent, this story is a must-read just for the entertainment value but there is also an insight to be gleaned from the wisdom of those who have survived to a ripe old age. Don’t miss Longest Journey.
Hocus Pocus, a wonderful story, full of insight and family relationships that are so well defined they could be any family. Written by Jean Ende, this is a chronicle of an immigrant Jewish family who bond together to care for a sick mother and watch over her two children. The youngest son decides to solve problems in his own way and the result is a surprisingly emotional scene that brings them together in a most unexpected manner.
Dub’s Secret by Rick Forbess is a completely believable and well-written account of a legend that has become reality for two men who work together at a brick manufacturing plant. Ordinary men who live ordinary lives but become involved in an extraordinary adventure that had all the earmarks of a tragedy. The surprise ending is well crafted, as is the entire story, about men of faith who are confronted with an impossible situation.
In Monterey Papa, Debbie Fowler, tells us about a journalist who makes a chance sighting of a familiar face in the crowd as she writes a story about the Monterey Pop Festivals from the 1960’s. A fringe character from that era dies and a reminiscence of his life leads to unseen consequences for the journalist, Hildy, and her mother.
Geraldine Hawley’s story, Whistle in the Fog, has Victorian overtones but is set in post-war London. Worthy of Poe or Dickens, a London Constable, new to the job, is confronted with an impossible situation. He saves the day, but accidentally, and then faces the prospect of explaining to his superiors something that could not have possibly happened. Or did it?
Ernesto Marcos gives us, The One That Got Away. This is a love story, in a way, but an unusual one and we aren’t exactly certain what happens at the end. But that is part of the joy of this story and one man’s remembrances of a time in his youth that he wants to recapture. A time when the man thought he had exactly what he wanted yet was unable to hold on to.
Susan McLane’s An American Story takes us from immigrants in the hold of a 1740’s sailing vessel bound for Pennsylvania to new parents in a South Carolina hospital in 1960. This chronicle of the intertwined lives of ordinary people is a fascinating study of how we become who we are. We are all products of those who came before, and that is never more apparent than in the lives of the characters in An American Story.
Spying on the Gestapo, by Robert L. Nelis is one of those short stories that you can put down and when finished want to ask, ‘is this true?’ Juliette is recruited to spy on the Germans in occupied France. The challenges and dangers she experiences should be made into a movie. Wonderful story and well written.
Ana Thorne’s entry, Miss Mimi’s Charm School, is a delightful story of a young girl, a bit out of her element, who handles the challenge with grace and wit. She and her father face community prejudices when Inez attends a department store charm school. You’ll enjoy Miss Mimi and all of the characters in this entertaining tale of young girls growing up in the 60’s.
1200 Rupees by Nancy Zupanec does more than describe a camel trek into the Indian desert. The author takes us on a journey into a world of unknowns, physical and emotional, that she and her fellow travelers experience. Guides, camels, desert, and a glorious sunset are just the beginning of the adventure. Expect to learn more about human nature along with our heroine as she explores undiscovered places within herself.
Stories Through The Ages Baby Boomers Plus - Books from our Baby Boomers short story contestPlease leave a review
