Schäfer's Round Up - Take Two

Please don't get excited - I'm not promising to do this every week!

Some of the people I included last week knocked some gems out recently, but I decided not to give the same writers a shout out two weeks in a row.

Here we go:

First up, My Jigsaw Puzzle Heart by Poppy the Poet

Why I think you should read it

Every line is powerful and evocative. This one will grab you by the short and curlies and it won't let go.

Stand out line

All of them are stand out lines, so I can either copy and paste the whole damn thing, or just shut my eyes and jab at the page. Jabbing it is, just call me Jabber.

The weight on your back seemed to be invisible to all except for me and I spent months trying to map out the faint outlines of your sadness as if they were rivers and I might find the source from which they flowed.

Did that tickle your tastebuds? Read the whole thing here:

++

Next up - The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Sheila L. Chingwa

Why I think you should read it

I know you probably remember reading this book as a child, and I know you've probably read it to other little kids as well. This conjures up those warm simple memories vividly, and will make your soul smile.

++

I enjoyed this gross and creepy little tale The Face by Mother Coombs.

Why I think you should read it

Did that not sell it to you, oops, sorry. I think what draws you in at first, is a sense of being able to relate to the main character as a creative. His problems seem almost ordinary at first... and then it spirals downhill, and you find yourself inexorably sucked along with it, like dirty water down the plughole.

Stand out line

So, Darius painted. He painted until he ran out of canvas. Then Darius started painting on the walls. He painted until he ran out of paint, then used charcoal sticks. He painted until he had nothing left to paint on or with.

Go and give it some love:

++

Another bit of horror fiction - Secrets Held By House's Walls by Stephen Kramer Avitabile

Why I think you should read it

It's clearly fiction, and yet the way he writes it is as if he watched it happen with his own eyes... and you'll feel like you're watching it happen as well.

Stand out line

He felt the impact to his body, he also felt the impact in his body. His organs lurched and bounced.

If that didn't make you imagine kidneys and a liver boinging around painfully, then I don't know what to tell you.

Read the whole thing, but not late at night (that was my mistake):

++

The Quiet Ones by Laura Lann

Why I think you should read it

It knocked me off my feet, and I think it might knock you too.

Stand out line

The soot of coals. It burns my skin

It’s far too hot. My dress too thin.

Read the whole thing:

++

Lastly - a wee bit of shameless self-promo!

Miracle Soup by yours truly

Why I think you should read it

I wasn't sure about it at first, but it's grown on me. It's probably riddled with flaws, but every word burned out of me. It's as real as I've ever written, and it's a theme close to my heart: transformation. The cost of it is is its process, which is hard and it can be painful. It will feel like it's beyond you because it is, but you will rise and grow and crack apart... and meet it as an equal.

My favourite bit:

Will you shut your eyes to it , The goo your beautiful butterfly is born from , The soup of blood and shit and fear and doubt , That heralds a new person

Read it all here:

+++++++

Edit: minor edits for formatting.

As always, thank you for reading! Please go and give these stories some love as well.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it: I'd like to have a better variety of fiction next time, so help me out - leave me a link to some in the comments! It can be yours or someone else's, but SELL IT TO ME. Why do you love it? And I'd like a change from horror/thriller/gore/depression, so if it fits those categories let me know why it's such an outstanding example of it.

If you're thirsty for more, I did one of these last week as well: