Toasted Cheese

May 01, 2012 | Spring Three Cheers Contest Winners

The winners of the Spring 2012 Three Cheers and a Tiger Writing Contest, as selected by judges Bellman and Bonnets, are:

Gold: Melynda Sylvestre, "What Would Madame Defarge Do?"

Silver: Arwen Dewey, "Mother Earth Breeds Nothing Feebler than a Man"

Bronze: Eleanor Ingbretson, "Pumpernickel Blue"

This year's topic was a mystery in which yarn bombing plays an important role. Congratulations to Melynda, Arwen, and Eleanor and thank you to all who entered. You can read the winning stories in the June issue of Toasted Cheese.

Our current contest is A Midsummer Tale, which is open to both non-genre fiction and creative nonfiction. This year's theme is Snail Mail. Details here. Deadline for entries: June 21.

Posted by The Editors at 07:22 PM in Contests

April 27, 2012 | New Article: Writing as Therapy

This month's Absolute Blank article is "Writing as Therapy" by TC Editor Ana George (Broker).

Posted by The Editors at 10:30 PM in Articles

April 06, 2012 | Million Writers Award

TC's nominations for the 2012 storySouth Million Writers Award are:

"The Faint Light of Heaven" by Lisa Ahn

"Posthumous" by Charlie Brooks

"The Dying Season" by Cynthia J. McGroarty

Readers can nominate their favorite online story of 2011 here.

Posted by The Editors at 11:28 AM in Literary Journal

A Midsummer Tale is OPEN

A Midsummer Tale is open to non-genre fiction and creative non-fiction. Stories entered in A Midsummer Tale should take place during a warm time of the year.

The theme of the 2012 A Midsummer Tale writing contest is: Snail Mail.

Deadline for entries: June 21, 2012.

Full contest rules here.

Posted by The Editors at 11:21 AM in Contests

March 17, 2012 | Poetry Essentials: Sound, Rhythm, Image

This month's Absolute Blank article is "Poetry Essentials: Sound, Rhythm, Image," an interview with poet Sandy Longhorn, by TC Editor Mollie Savage (Bonnets).

Posted by The Editors at 01:37 AM in Articles

March 03, 2012 | New issue of Toasted Cheese!

The March 2012 issue of Toasted Cheese features poetry by Maria Vasquez Boyd, Andrea Egert, Paul Hostovsky, Brian Price & Griggori Tyler Taylor; flash fiction by Jacqueline Doyle; fiction by Rick Bailey, Lou Gaglia, Matthew Jankiewicz, Robert Watts Lamon & Elizabeth Buechner Morris and creative non-fiction by Shaina Rafal.

TC 12:1 also includes the 2011 Dead of Winter Writing Contest winning stories by Anitha Murthy, Jake Gogats & Kristi Petersen Schoonover.

At Candle-Ends, Lisa Olson reviews Trina L. Talma's Silver and Blood.

This issue's Snark Zone is by Stephanie "Baker" Lenz.

Congratulations to all. Happy reading!

Posted by The Editors at 07:08 PM in Literary Journal

February 17, 2012 | What Dr. Watson Can Teach About Writing

This month's Absolute Blank article is "What Dr. John H. Watson Can Teach About Writing" by TC Forum Host Erica L. Ruedas (pinupgeek).

Posted by The Editors at 07:05 PM in Articles

February 02, 2012 | Dead of Winter Winners

Our 11th annual Dead of Winter short fiction contest winning stories are:

1st place: Anitha Murthy "The Red Scarf"
2nd place: (tie) Jake Gogats "Skin and Bones" and Kristi Petersen Schoonover "A Bone to Pick"
Honorable Mention: John-Michael Gariepy "Osteophthisis"

The three first and second place stories will be printed in the March issue of Toasted Cheese.

Dead of Winter 2012 opens October 1, 2012 and closes midnight ET December 22, 2011. To learn the contest theme and word count parameters, visit our contest page after 10/1/12.

Our next contest is Three Cheers and a Tiger: Spring. Can you write a mystery in 48 hours?

A special note: we had several talented young writers enter Dead of Winter 2011 and we want to encourage them -- and all of our entrants -- to keep writing, keep learning the craft, and treat every rejection as proof that you had the conviction to try.

See you next time!

Posted by The Editors at 05:35 PM in Contests

January 15, 2012 | Beyond NaNoWriMo

January's Absolute Blank article is "Beyond NaNoWriMo: Writing Challenges for Everyone" by TC Editor Theryn Fleming (Beaver).

Posted by The Editors at 05:59 PM in Articles

December 28, 2011 | Micro Award Nominations

TC's nominations for the 5th Annual Micro Award (for fiction not above 1000 words in length published in 2011) are: