Guest Editor Themed Selection

The Whistling Fire is proud to announce our new ongoing Guest Editor Themed Selection.  Throughout the year we will have various Guest Editors taking over The Whistling Fire for an entire month and selecting special themed work of their choice.  The lucky few selected will be published every Thursday of their Guest Editor’s month.

Our June Guest Editor is Patina Rodgers
Submission Deadline May 24th

Theme: Postcards With An Edge

Dear Writers,

“Have a great summer. See you next year.” It’s the yearbook mantra written millions of times over with hopes that everyone will have a great story to relay when Fall returns and life gets more serious. After developing high hopes and expending high finances, people oftentimes recall only what they’d want to send on a postcard. Paris is reflected only through museums, the Eiffel Tower and fine cuisine; Mexico is seen through the ancient Mayan Ruins, pristine beaches and diving in Cozumel; Big Sur is viewed through its rocky, winding coast, Redwoods and quaint inns. These stories are fine for yearbooks and photo albums but not for the June edition of “Whistling Fire.” We are looking for that darker side of paradise – your postcards with an edge.

Whether fiction or non-fiction, comedic or morbid, tell us about yourself or a character who planned something relaxing, bucolic or adventurous, who is then taken on a detour beyond their control. The experience doesn’t have to be catastrophic nor does it need to wreak havoc on their entire trip. It could just be a slice of their experience. Perhaps you want to propose to your girlfriend at the top of the Eiffel Tower and learn that it’s closed for repair, or you come up from your dive in Cozumel and can’t find the boat. Maybe Highway One in Big Sur is closed due to a chunk of the road loosening after a storm. The notion here is that even paradise has a shadow. How does your character react to a fracture in their purportedly perfect plans? Will it bring them closer to or farther apart from their travel companions? How are you or your character transformed by something never to be mentioned in the Club Med travel brochure?

Give us the worst of your bon voyage combined with the best of your bon mots!

— Patina Rodgers

Submission Guidelines:  Accepting Fiction and Nonfiction no more than 3,000 words. No more than two submissions per author. Please send all submissions to whistlingfire@gmail.com, subject line  “June Guest Editor.” All submissions should be sent in an attachment (MS Word preferred) with a short third person bio. Submission Deadline May 24th 2013.

About the Editor: Patina Rodgers writes stories that take place in and around her native Los Angeles. She is at work on a novel about an L.A. based therapist and his cast of patients along with a coming-of-age novel set in suburbia. Patina has a BA in Economics from U.C. Irvine and an MFA from U.C. Riverside at Palm Desert. She has worked in real estate, finance, and the non-profit world and has also taught yoga and taken photos. She hopes that her many careers will continue to feed her stories and that writing will be her last. Recently Patina’s story, “Enough” was performed on stage after she was chosen as an emerging writer for the Los Angeles based 2012 New Short Fiction Series.

Check back for more themed months to come.

*Please Note: Rules for our Guest Editor theme months may vary from regular submission guidelines. Please read all rules carefully. To view regular submission guidelines please go to our Share Your Writing page.