 Art by Ting Ting Yin Our Writing Contest is finished, but keep your eye on this site for future contests and maybe even more angry chickens! Click on this Angry Chicken to find out more about our contest. No Entry Fees! Cash Prizes! We don't hold copyrights! Contest Ends August 1, 2018
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 A Parable on Civility by Uncle Morty “I have three things I'd like to say today. First, while you were sleeping last night, 30,000 kids died of starvation or diseases related to malnutrition. Second, most of you don't give a s**t. What's worse is that you're more upset with the fact that I said s**t than the fact that 30,000 kids died last night.” ― Tony Campolo, Evangelical Preacher Here begins a parable of Morty: Once upon a time, there was a bartender named Dudley who owned a small bar on the edge of a town called Possum Cove. He liked his customers, most of whom were decent folk, though many were poor. He liked the little town he lived in well enough. As is the case with most bartenders, Dudley had many interesting stories. This particular story begins on a dark and stormy evening. Featured Writer's from The Writer's Hotel! Allison Glendinning, Carl Rauschser, and Celeste Chaney6/25/2018  TWH Featured Writers by Julie Carpenter I attended The Writer's Hotel in New York in early June, and I can't recommend it enough. By the way, it's not too early to start thinking about 2019! Billed as a mini MFA, it's an intense week of workshops, labs, meeting with agents to improve your pitch and hanging out in bars. Actually, that last bit is because authors read their work at bars like the KGB. But the best part of the week, even better than hanging out in bars, is meeting new writers. This year I was part of a workshop led by Elizabeth Hand. (Check out her author page on Amazon by clicking through). Coming soon we will devote a post to helping you find her books. The workshop was intense, focused, kind and best of all I met eleven brilliant new writers and got to read their work. Now you can sample their work as well. Here are the first three featured writers from Elizabeth Hand's TWH workshop.  Mary, The Summoning Author, Hillary Monohan by Jarad Johnson When this book was first recommended to me, I thought it would be a good choice. I’ve been in the mood for a good horror novel lately. It’s about Bloody Mary, the urban legend. It can be difficult to have an original take or plot line with such a familiar trope, because nearly everything has been done; however, this was an engaging read for the most part. In some ways I was not disappointed, and in some ways, I was let down. Overall, it’s a fine read, neither really good nor really bad, though there are parts of that fit into both categories. I found that, at times, the writing made what should have been a fast-paced read drag and slow down. Also, I couldn’t quite hook into the story, didn’t find it scary or remotely chilling, which oddly, I believe was the intention. I found it to be slightly affected, and to be honest it read like a bad horror movie. That doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it. There’s some value in a bad horror movies. But it just didn’t live up to my expectations.
 CONTEST ENDED Don't forget that Uncle Morty is waiting for your entries in the First Annual Sacred Chickens Writing Contest. There's no entry fee! There are cash prizes! We don't hold the copyrights! Click on Morty or here to find the contest rules! The contest ends on August 1, 2018 - so as Morty would say, "The time is drawing nigh." You might wonder how what Morty has been doing to occupy himself while he waits for your submissions to be judged. He's been traveling, partying, napping, hanging with his friends and just generally trying to keep himself busy to ward off the excitement.  Sacred Selections by Julie, Jarad, and Morty Here are the items that we at Sacred Chickens think you might want to check out this week. Julie recommends a noir book with a punk photographer. Morty wants you to read Zelda Fitzgerald for her stream of consciousness style and vivid images. Finally, Jarad has a book that advocated for the rights of women, because not enough people are. Happy reading!  The Weird Sisters Author, Eleanor Brown by Jarad Johnson On first glance, this book has everything that would draw in a bookworm: a character who only answers questions in Shakespearean prose, constant references to reading and books, and pretty good writing. And while those things did make it enjoyable, ultimately I found the book to be lacking in direction and the overall plot to be somewhat juvenile.
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