Sunday, October 23, 2016

The Respect Fairy

The Respect Fairy
by Dusty Wallace


“Excuse me, ma'am. But this chicken is undercooked,” I said. “It's nearly raw in the middle.” I spread the meat apart with my fork and knife and showed her the pink center.
“I'm sorry, sir,” the waitress said. “I'll have the kitchen cook up a fresh serving on the double.”
That sounded reasonable to me. “That'll do fine,” I said. “No hurry.”
The Old Pine Diner wasn't what you'd call fancy eatin', but I didn't think fully cooked food was beyond expectation. In fact, I rather enjoyed simple diners. The service was almost always excellent and you could usually see right into the kitchen.
At the Old Pine, I could see my waitress approach the cook with my fried chicken thigh and calmly explain the situation. He took the plate from her and she went off to serve another customer. It was at this point he should have thrown the food in the trash and began cooking a new piece of chicken.

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Long Overdue Writing Update





First, I sold a reprint to Memento Mori. I'm happy about this because the original publisher of the story closed shop a month after the book hit shelves. So maybe people will get a chance to read it now.

Also, The Overcast, which has featured prolific short story authors like Deborah Walker, Samuel Marzioli and the current SFWA President Cat Rambo, did a podcast of my story "Not Even A Whisper," originally published in Selfies From the End of the World.

And it's free to listen to right here.