Category Archives: Photo by author

Photo finish Friday: “the Cop Cab”

Is it a cop car?

Is it a cop car?

Is it a cab?

Is it a cab?

Is it a Halloween prank?

Is it a Halloween prank?

It is not a prank. It is the Knoxville Police Department’s attempt to educate people on the cost of drinking a driving. They contacted cab companies for the fare rate. They talked to defense lawyers for their prices to defend people charged with DUI (Driving Under the Influence). They contacted bail bond companies to get their price for a bond to get out of jail after being arrested but before being tried. The rest of the numbers come from Tennessee Code Annotated and the District Attorney’s office. What is painted on the hood of the car is the average cost of all those items. All this for a total cost of $18,815.

The average taxi cab fare: $2.00 a mile.

Which would you want to pay?

Might be better of to ride with “tha funk.” https://talltalestogo.wordpress.com/2014/10/03/photo-finish-friday-ride-along/

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Photo finish Friday: “The last straw”

Happy Bale-o-ween or is that Straw-o-latern?

Happy Bale-o-ween or is that Straw-o-latern?

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Photo finish Friday: “Missing”

Lost souls? Lost comma? Lost apostrophe? Oh, heavens.

Lost souls? Lost comma? Lost apostrophe? Oh, heavens.

If you have read Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss, you know the power of the comma, the apostrophe, and other well-placed parts of punctuation. Far be it for me to comment on a man’s beliefs (Okay, maybe not that far be it.), but in this case, I think it is more a matter of the missing-in-action comma and apostrophe. As it is, this church signage can lead one to believe this church is devoted to deprogramming the devout, to redirecting the religiously inclined, to subduing the souls of those who believe.

The name of the church, which is Christian, would make more sense if the sign read, “Overcoming, Believers’ Church.” As it is, the name, particularly in large white letters on a large slate-gray building (the photo only shows a part of the church exterior) looks a bit like something out of the X-Files. The aliens have stolen our apostrophes!

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Photo finish Friday: “Morning glory”

Dark blue Morning Glory

Dark blue Morning Glory

Light blue Morning Glories

Light blue Morning Glories

Morning glory, what’s your story?

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Photo finish Friday: “A lot of hot air”

"Get up in the air you gas bag and fight like a balloon!"

“Get up in the air you gas bag and fight like a balloon!”

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Photo finish Friday: “Bizarre, Zany, Supernatural!”

And so the story goes....

And so the story goes….

Submitted for your approval, one used paperback found in one used book stall in one place specializing in the bizarre, zany, supernatural. Such a book stall may be miles away or it may be just around the corner from your where you live or it may be even closer, as close as your imagination, for you have just crossed over into… The Twilight Zone.

Act I: One More Pallbearer

A prop woman readied the coffin. At the behest of the director, she walked up and down the length of the three-foot deep grave, adjusting the bier’s position beside the hole and trying not to knock free any of the flat-black paint sprayed on the soil to give it depth.

“No, no. A little more to the right, babe. There you go, that’s it.” T. Xavier Gabriel glanced through the camera’s viewfinder and clapped his hands.

“Okay, people, places everybody. Time is on the short.” He checked the filter on one of the cameras as four banks of Klieg lights were turned on and three separate lights repositioned.

“Hey, dim the lights,” Gabriel said. “This is supposed to be a night scene: Night scene. See the stars.” He pointed skyward, but saw instead that it was overcast with lightning dancing among the clouds.

“Damn,” he muttered.

Several of the crew laughed lowly.

He shook his head. Another snafu in the making. “Damn. Goddamn.”

Gabriel glanced at his watch: 11:47 p.m. Post mortem. Pre migraine. Petty and mundane. He stomped his foot. It was a child-like gesture, but nothing adult-like was working now or for any part of 1985 that he’d directly had a hand in.

“Places everybody. Places. We shoot in fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes. Places.” The assistant director loped around waving a flashlight and a clipboard. “Time is on the short.”

Gabriel smiled. It was a stiff, brittle, unsure smile: a guest at the funeral home smile. “Time is on the short” was his personal euphemism for running into overtime, something he had been crucified for more than once. He rubbed his forehead and wondered if he’d ever get back to Hollywood, or if he’d spend the rest of his life in commercials, talking to semi trained mammals and now mimics of a dead man.

He glanced at the crumpled note still wadded in his hand. His ex-wife could find him anywhere. Two hours earlier he’d made the mistake of answering the phone.

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Photo finish Friday: “the Bugalypse”

They learned from the robots, but they didn't learn enough.

They learned from the robots, but they didn’t learn enough.

First, there was the Artificial Intelligence Revolt (AIR) of 2092. Next, there was the Robot Apocalypse (RoAp) of 2127. Then after the Robots had taken over and mankind was a mere memory, along came the Bugalypse. Having seen how the robots had done it, the bugs engineered their own metal versions of their kind. This allowed them to make even larger versions of themselves than they had ever imagined. There was only one problem: They had forgotten to rust proof their new bodies and for many of the Bugalypse life ended in a rusty metal shell in the middle of a field of flowers. And with it, so did the Bugalypse. Known as the Bugalypse Bust, it was sometimes referred to by its acronym: BuBu (pronounced Boo-Boo).

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Photo finish Friday: “Truth be told”

Bumper stick thought.

Bumper stick thought.

Found in the heart of GOP country. Treason and heresy for sure.

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Writing tip Wednesday: “Contest — ‘Still'”

Source: http://www.stilljournal.net/contest.php

Contest deadline is August 31, 2014.

Contest deadline is August 31, 2014.

The editors of Still: The Journal announce the fifth annual Writing Contests for fiction, poetry and creative nonfiction. Contest entries should be in keeping with our publishing philosophy which states: “Our emphasis is on the literature of the Southern Appalachian region, and we are committed to publishing excellent writing that does not rely on clichés and stereotypes. We want to feature writing that exemplifies the many layers and complexities of the region or that is written by an author with a connection to the region.”

Contest Rules:
Submitted contest entries must be unpublished and should not have previously appeared in print or online in any form, including personal blogs and websites.

Simultaneous entries are accepted as long as you let us know if your submissions will be published elsewhere before the contest ends.

We accept ONLY electronic submissions and fee payment through Submittable.

The contest reading fee is $9 per entry, payable through Still’s Submittable account, which can be accessed below.

An entry is defined as:
one short story,
or one creative nonfiction piece,
or three poems.

Multiple submissions in multiple genres are acceptable as long as you pay a separate entry fee for each submission. Contest entry fees cannot be refunded under any circumstances.

Manuscripts should be typed in a standard 12-point font and should have numbered pages. Prose must be double spaced. Poetry should be single spaced. Prose entries must not exceed 6,500 words. Poetry entries should not exceed 80 lines per poem.

All contest entries are processed and read on a “blind” basis; therefore, your name or any other identifying information must not appear anywhere on the manuscript(s).

Submissions should be sent as a Word document, rich text file, or PDF file only.

Deadline is 11:59 p.m., August 31, 2014.

Winners will be notified by September 30, 2014. Winning entries and finalists will be announced publicly in Issue #16 Fall 2014, Still: The Journal.

All entries will be acknowledged.

Failure to follow any of the above guidelines will result in disqualification. No entry fees can be returned.

Inquiries or questions should be directed to contest@stilljournal.net

Contest Prizes:
Winners of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction receive $150 each and publication in Still: The Journal #16: Fall 2014. All other contest entries will be considered for possible publication. Previous first prize contest winners are ineligible to enter 2014 contests in the same genre but may submit to other genres.

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Photo finish Friday: “Fellini K”

Large cow in parking lot of Fellini Kroger in North Knoxville, TN

Large cow in parking lot of Fellini Kroger in North Knoxville, TN

There’s a ghost in the machine-y
down there at the Fellini.
At hours day or night
you might catch a little fright
next to the freezer door
glass shattered on the floor.
Chicken flying through the air
frozen and landing without a care
down there at the Fellini
a sight just a little seamy.
Come down if you dare,
watch the show beyond compare.
The ghost may try to kill you
or someone may try to shill you
down there at the Fellini
down there at the Fellini.
A man with a two-foot sausage
squeezes it like a little hostage.
A large cow in the parking lot
says, “Take the udder slot”
down there at the Fellini
down there at the Fellini.
It has a Facebook page,
a Google listing all the rage.
Type in Fellini Kroger
or watch the show, if your bolder
down there at the Fellini
Fellini, Fellini,
down there at the Fellini,
Fellini, Fellini.

Photo and poem by David E. Booker

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