10th Annual Piccolo Fiction Open ~ original short fiction on the theme of Present Tense, read by the writers in the courtyard adjacent to host Blue Bicycle Books, 420 King Street in Charleston on Saturday, June 5th, 5pm, with music by Dana Downs & Mary Edna Fraser, and food and wine from CWG Catering. 'This Story Takes Place on a Ship' by Carmen Bush 'Five Finger Discount' by Susanna Glattly 'Presently the Tension Drains' by Heather Magruder - read the story in the Charleston City Paper 'Cedar Waxwing' by Emily Wood 'Music Appreciation, a Correspondence Course' by James Foster Osborne.
The Murder Weapon by Michelle Mueller
sponsored by the City of Charleston Office of Cultural Affairs.  Carmen Bush is a 20 year old from Chico, California who recently completed a year studying on exchange at College of Charleston. She has always been active in the artistic community, from singing in bands to acting in community theater. Carmen plans on graduating with a B.A. in English and a certificate in Literary Editing and Publishing. Heather Magruder is a writer, teaching artist and arts integration consultant who lives in Greenville, SC with her husband, children, cat, dogs and bagpipes. Heather is currently enrolled in the MFA program at Queens University in Charlotte. Her work is published in a variety of literary journals. 'Presently the Tension Drains' is the third of her works to be selected for the Piccolo Fiction Open. She grew up in Scotland, loves rain and bicycles and is sure she has an ironing board around here somewhere. Heather's mother, who may iron entirely too much, provided the seed for the story. Foster Osborne has a bi-lingual penchant for puns, red wine and the South of France. He recently began his writing career when cronicling his colorful family seemed to be the only thing he could do to thwart insanity. Now perfectly sane, he lives in his home town of Columbia, SC with his wife Claudine, who just happens to be from Provence. She and their daughter Djuna appreciate his writing and tolerate his puns, which is perfect. Susanna Glattly... Emily Wood is a freelance copyeditor who paints houses when she doesn't have an editing job, writes fiction when she should be painting, and rides her bicycle whenever. She lives in Clemson, SC, and earned an M.A. in English Literature from Clemson University. She has two adult sons, a few good friends, a cat, and a dog -- all of whom she cherishes but doesn't hesitate to put in her stories. judges~ Michelle Mueller lives in the rural Mojave Desert near Joshua Tree with her husband, beagle, wild rabbits, and coyotes singing under her windows. Her photography can be found in Skirt! magazine, ArtNews, The Gallery on Bay Street in downtown Beaufort, and her Flickr photogstream. Gail Westerfield received her BA in English from Transylvania University in Lexington, KY and her MA in Composition and Creative Writing from Indiana University, Fort Wayne, IN. She has written poems and stories since she was a cute enough kid to sell them to indulgent friends and family for a quarter. She is a freelance writer and editor and founder of Epiphany Writing and Editing, where she coaches, ghostwrites, and edits. Epiphany’s newest product is a daily audio, visual, and text writing prompt service for writers at all levels of experience and in all genres. For more information, visit http://www.gailwesterfield.com/EDE.html and sign up for a free 6-day sample. Lisa Annelouise Rentz founded the PFO ten years ago, right about when she started writing Pink-O, a short story published by Charleston Magazine in 2009. front gate / PFO intro / 1999 / 2000 / 2001 / 2002 / 2003 / 2004 / 2005 / 2006 / no '07 / 2008 / 2009 / 2010 /email judiciously / see the dog gates in Polar Inertia / eatgoodbread.com