At the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, 1918, the guns fell silent…
A Veteran’s Day Reflection
By David Churchill Barrow
We now call it Veteran’s Day, because to continue to refer to it as “Armistice Day” would seem like a cruel joke, given subsequent events. It was billed as “the war to end wars” and “the war to make the world safe for democracy.” Naive idealism ran so high that even 10 years after the war the Kellogg-Briand Pact was signed, purporting to end war as a dispute resolution among nations (and although historians tend to smirk at its mention, it was the beginning of our undue reliance upon weak international forums rather than time-tested deterrence).
Caribbean Halloween Killing: A True Story
By David Walls-Kaufman
We never knew some things about my gentle Grandmother Loyd. She kept those things secret. Darkly secret. Black secret.
Halloween stories are ridiculous. And I say that as a man who has had probably four run-ins with ghosts, not including this one. But this all happened.
My earliest memory of her was of her sweet, loving face beaming at me when I was three and leaving with my friends to Trick or Treat down my suburban street in Austin. She wore a 1950s pleated sleeveless, collared dress and waved goodbye to me and said, with music light as a wind-chime in her voice, “I’ll see you again after you go around.” Only years later, after the unlikely deaths in Puerto Rico around our vacation home, her old home, did the prescience in those words strike me.
New Fiction for Halloween: The New Boss
A Halloween Short Story
By Mark Ellis
Texas Governor George W. Bush has just touched down at Portland International Airport. The word is out on talk radio: Bush will hold a rally at Memorial Coliseum at 7 pm. Halloween in the year 2000 dawned with the eternal chance of showers that make a Portland fall forecast, and Kyle Waldenburg wonders why W is bothering. It’s common knowledge that the Rose City is the progressive capital of a state Bush has no chance of winning.
That doesn’t stop the Reagan Republican divorced father of two from rounding up his children, Lance and Lindsey, fifteen and nine respectively, after getting permission from ex-wife Kay to take them out of school early.
“You never want to miss a chance to see a president,” he’d told her.
“I’ll agree to this,” Kay had replied, “but God forbid that man should become the president.”
Fiction: A Fourth of July Carol
A Gem from the Liberty Island Archives
By David Churchill Barrow
On the Green Line subway from Boston University to Copley Square, Professor George Alexander Saunders was pondering his dilemma – Where could he go tomorrow night to get away from it? It will be reverberating all throughout his tony Back Bay neighborhood: TA-TA-TA-TA-TA-TA-TA-DUM-DUM-DUM…BOOM! TA-TA-TA-TA-TA-TA-TA-DUM-DUM-DUM…BOOM! That damned Boston Pops in the Hatch Shell playing that damned 1812 Overture with those damned fireworks. He could take a drive down to the Cape… Nah… On the Fourth of July the Southeast Expressway will be murder, and getting the car in and out of storage is a pain in the ass. Not much going on during the summer on campus either. Just about anywhere he’d go, fools would be celebrating, and for what – over two centuries of oppression, imperialism and exploitation?
Liberty Island Celebrates LIBERTY IN FICTION
A Press Release for Immediate Release
By Liberty Island Staff
When in the course of human events our national story becomes lost, confused, corrupted, or otherwise loses its way, it’s time to focus less on politics and more on finding new stories to tell.
Liberty Island has made itself the home for a new generation of storytellers whose work is inspired by a love of freedom and the American spirit. Our books and short fiction celebrate what is great about America — and what is true of the human condition. Most importantly, they embody the idea that freedom is the paramount goal of human beings everywhere.
In our polarized political debates, it is well to remember that freedom is one value we all share. All Americans consider freedom to be their heritage and legacy to future generations.
It’s therefore fitting that this Independence Day marks the re-launch of our website and the release of our new catalog. So, let the spirit of liberty unite us as we celebrate Liberty in Fiction.
Let Freedom Read
By Bokerah Brumley
Special Independence Day Edition! Please check price before purchase. FREE Sidequest: In Realms Ungoogled Lucent Sylph: A Short Story In the Enemy’s Service Aerisia: Land Beyond the Sunset 99 Cents The Big Bang: The Lonesome George Chronicles Book One Biker: The Bad Road Rising Book One Mad Jones, Heretic: The Accidental Prophet Book One Red […]
The Best Worst Holiday Songs by Geography
What’s yours?
By Audie Cockings
“I Want Crabs for Christmas” by David Deboy is certifiably the best worst Christmas song that’s ever come out of the great Old Line State.
