Horror/Scary: July 08, 2020 Issue [#10253]
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 This week: All American Horror
  Edited by: W.D.Wilcox Author IconMail Icon
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Table of Contents

1. About this Newsletter
2. A Word from our Sponsor
3. Letter from the Editor
4. Editor's Picks
5. A Word from Writing.Com
6. Ask & Answer
7. Removal instructions

About This Newsletter





Word from our sponsor



Letter from the editor

The Big Badda Boom


Oh, the excitement of lighting that first firework! You strike the match, bend over, put the flame to the fuse, hear that sizzle, and then run like hell. It's all great fun until one of them blows up in your face or hand. When I first moved to the Northwest, it was on the 4th of July. I remember the sheer excitement I felt when I saw what they were selling at the fireworks stand. I ran back to the car and told my family, "They're selling bombs here! They've got the biggest damn fireworks I have ever seen." Which was true. Being from California, where small fountains and sparklers, were considered dangerous and sure to kill you and catch your house on fire, the Northwest 4th of July displays were what we used to see only at the fairgrounds or sports stadiums. Here, I could buy and shoot off those things right at your house. I was like a kid in a candy store. I ran in there and made a small purchase of $300 in bombs.

Rushing home, I checked out my arsenal of dynamite and soon-to-be mayhem. They had launching tubes that you loaded with a firework about the size of a baseball, then when lit, it would shoot off with a big 'whooomp' hundreds of feet into the sky, and explode in a spectacular blossom of color and sound. I must have shot-off a dozen or so before something unexpected happened.

Everyone was sitting out in their lawn chairs drinking their favorite beverages and watching Dear Ol' Dad perform feats of magnificence, when suddenly this particular mortar round didn't shoot straight up into the air, but instead exploded in the launching tube with a brilliance that I still remember to this day. It was like time had frozen for a moment and everything went into slow motion. The sound was like you had entered a bag of microwave popcorn, the bedazzlement etched and burned on my retinas. I felt as if I was in the explosion. Everywhere I looked there was this dance of bright sparkling chaos. It had formed a dome around everyone, and as it changed color it exploded again, breaking the cocoon and dissipating into a gentle blue smoke.

Everyone was in shock, stunned, speechless, but fortunately no one was hurt. "Do it again! Do it again!" they yelled. But I was scared shitless. After that, every time I lit a fuse, my throat got dry, and my hands shook. But there were no more incidents. I survived the storm of sparks and sizzles and watched the clouds of gun powder drift across the yard and dissipate beneath the star-speckled night.

I don't buy fireworks anymore. I'm too scared. Now we just sit out and watch the displays our neighbors provide. But my fear got me to thinking, "Don't they have a way to check these things before selling them? It's not safe-and-sane! It's a crap shoot! Eventually, everybody's going to get a misfire, a dud, an unexpected explosion, a missing finger, or a mangled eye. It's just a matter of time.



A new sig from 'undocked'






Editor's Picks

Editor's Picks

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#2225922 by Not Available.

 Disinterring the Vortex  Open in new Window. (13+)
Sandra wants to retrive a key from an ash urn that was buried with her late husband.
#2220339 by lezismore-moreislez Author IconMail Icon

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#2201244 by Not Available.

 
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Just Doing My Job Open in new Window. (13+)
Kaz needs to know about his friend.
#2225187 by Beholden Author IconMail Icon

 Neighborhood watch Open in new Window. (18+)
Be careful who you open the door for.
#2068402 by michaelk2 Author IconMail Icon

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Ghoul Open in new Window. (18+)
Death is just the beginning.
#2101275 by Bilal Latif Author IconMail Icon

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The Angel and The Devil Open in new Window. (ASR)
It's just that, whenever I write in my book, something strange always happens...
#604891 by W.D.Wilcox Author IconMail Icon

 
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Word from Writing.Com

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Ask & Answer

DEAD LETTERS


Has anger ever made you say or do something horrible?

ForeverDreamer Author Icon
You make some good points about anger.

s Author Icon
Anger is so much easier to deal with. Calmness is more terrifying. Anger means they have conceded defeat and are operating on base instincts. Calmness - cool, calm, & collected - means they are still calculating evil.

jdennis01jaj
I refuse to answer since I've been asked to attend anger management class, but there's no need if people would just stop pissing me off. *Smile*

Shadow Prowler-Spreading Love Author Icon
Define horrible? Horrible in who's eyes or opinion? Either way, I plead the fifth!

Scifiwizard Retired Author Icon
Anger has tempted me but I know my demons well. I hold them back with a study chain of will power. Beware the ID... the dark place within our minds where our demons sleep.

TheBusmanPoet Author Icon
More times than I care to remember.

Save the Turkeys! Author Icon
Anger brings to light a bodies darkness and with it, the opportunity to clean house, so to say...
Yes, I have reacted horribly with anger, but knowing this, I can plan for it and give it some outlet like other people go fishing...

bride
Folks try to corner me in debates, and regret it faster than small town gossip. I provide a spiritual explanation, then tell them to nevermind it, cause you can't force folks to believe...I do that on purpose: Now, you're forced to deal with yourself...And its easier to blame or make excuses, than fess up and admit a fault out of shame...So yea, I've failed to control myself when I knew better, hurt folks feelings, and acted selfishly...But I'm better now.

s Author Icon
All the time. Mainly say. Very rarely do...
Although I do manage to get a lot of my anger out by killing people in my stories...*Smirk*



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