Our August Flash Contest was based on Prompt #214 (provided by Stone Soup intern Sage Millen), which asked that participants channel their inner Dickens and write about two cities—utopian and dystopian—that were right next to each other. We received a wide breadth of submissions (including a couple poems), all with brilliant world-building. Two of the winning submissions were epistolary, though their plots were completely different; one was a letter from a condemned father to his saved daughter and the other…
Search Results for: winter
Flash Contest #45, July 2022: Write a story about glasses that do more than just improve vision—our winners and their work
Our July Flash Contest was based on Prompt #210 (provided by Stone Soup intern Sage Millen), which asked that participants write a story about glasses that did more than just improve vision. As of late, Sage has set a precedent for uniquely specific, wacky prompts that allow writers to focus largely on storytelling. Unsurprisingly, we received a wide breadth of submissions (including one poem), with fleshed out, vivid plots that ranged from the all-too-real consequences brought on by lie-detecting glasses to…
Saturday Newsletter: June 18, 2022
Title page from the picture book “Silver Carp Lullaby” By Madeline Cleveland, 12 (Belleview, WI), published on the Stone Soup blog A note from Caleb Dear friends, This Saturday newsletter will mark our last through August as we take a summer hiatus. Please be advised that we will continue to send out announcements and information about the fall session Writing Workshops, contests, the Refugee Project, and summer camps. We hope you all have fulfilling, deeply relaxing summers, that you write and create…
The Satanic Pact that Kickstarted World War II
How close was the world to being a Fascist-Leninist dystopia if a joint alliance of Hitler, Stalin, and Hideki Tōjō had won World War II? This could have been a consequence if it weren’t for a series of blunders made by Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, including one by Adolf Hitler, when he turned one of his most powerful allies into one of his most fateful enemies. That ally turned enemy was Joseph Stalin. But wasn’t Stalin’s Russia one of…
Frost (Portrait of Madame X): A Series in Ekphrasis by Ella Yamamura, 14
The Face of Winter She stands— a frozen flower; frostbitten. A gaze that could wither the sturdiest tree is aimed at the right. Bull’s eye. With skin fairer than Snow White, the Face of Winter ignores all else while being trapped within her dark restraints that weigh her down— the only thing keeping her from blowing away and snapping in half. What a brittle, frostbitten little flower. The Face of Winter she stands— a frozen flower frostbitten. Frost-covered frost living…
The Squirrels, the Rabbits, and the Birds
Teresa observes the animal and plant life from the window of her home From the main window of our rented house in Wheaton, Illinois, we can clearly see the big tree by the sidewalk. It was a tree that stood sad and leafless in the winter, but we know that when summer comes around we will again see the tree shaking its neon-green leaves happily at us, as if in greeting. Over the course of three years, we learned that…
Spring
I sense a fragrance Like old memories and new Peace drifts through the air Cherry blossoms bloom With memory of winter Lingering softly Lush meadows grow tall As nature opens its eyes Leaves of spring glow green
Lines of Grace
My hand on paper Frozen in midair What should I write? About the wind on my face? The coolness of winter? The rays in the jubilant sky? I sit, in thought My mind reaches Trying to pull From the deepest part of mind Ideas I think The show last week The blue jay sitting in a tree Vines from our plant Reaching up to the sky One comes My hand starts moving Alive again With joy and grace Words appear…
Hidden Opportunities
Olivia is devastated when she learns her family is moving away from lush, beautiful California to drab, grey New York City I relaxed in my backyard, delighted by everything around me. The warm breeze rippled through the air. A symphony of birdsong erupted from the chirping birds that swooped around the sapphire blue sky. I visualized the clouds as fluffy cotton candy that you could devour in delicious wisps. A majestic palm tree’s lush emerald green leaves swayed slightly. From…
Nostalgia
Dark, Light, Dark, Light— The clouds float across the sky, sometimes covering up the sun as they go. Dark, Light, Dark— Illuminating the room, then bringing it to a gentle shade, Making shadows dance on the paper drawings tacked to the walls, in a room with an unused bed. Flash— Light— Dark— Flash— The light from the cars’ headlights filters through the blinds, One car’s lights chase another’s across the wall as they rush by in the night, Going to…
