ISSUE NO. 2 RELEASE/READING JULY 1st AT SANTA CRUZ MOUNTAIN BREWING

Hi All,

The June 1st submission deadline for Issue No. 2 fast approaches. Get your best effort in by midnight tonight!

The ISSUE NO. 2 release/reading party will be held at Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing on Thursday, July 1st, at 7 p.m. Get directions here, under the bottle cap "Join Us." A portion of the evenings proceeds will go to Matchbook Story, so drink up!

The reading will feature the Matchbook Story shortlist winners as well as the one-and-only issue winner. Afterwards, we'll play a few rounds of 300-character Exquisite Corpse--an always hilarious and occasionally scatological exercise in group writing (read this from the Issue No. 1 release party if you don't believe me). After that, we'll just hang out. Maybe practice our air guitar solos. Pick each other's fleas...

So pencil it in: July 1 - Issue No. 2 Matchbook Story release/reading party - 7 p.m. - Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing. That should fill the box.

-kp

ISSUE NO. 2 SHORTLIST WINNERS

THE NEW WIDOW

She awoke, her husband's empty space on the bed a bitter reminder of their dispute in the night. In the kitchen, the liquor cabinet hung ajar, the bottles inside knocked carelessly over. She looked out a window, and the air rang with anguish as the new widow saw the overturned tractor outside.

--Mark Walsh, Santa Cruz, CA

DELIVERY

One quarter mile each way, six days a week, she walks to the mailbox. Following her, along the gravel road, a dog, large, brindled, and old. The postal service wants to deliver mail one less day each week. She wonders what she will do on the day of no delivery. The dog just follows behind her.

--Dana Hoeschen, Pepin, WI

SMILEY FACED OBSESSION

Coffee. Login. Status Available. Six smiley faces. No KPM. Laundry, dog poo, errands, pick up kids. Move laptop to counter. View contacts. No KPM. Prep dinner. Hide screen. Hot bath. Chenille robe. Unhide screen. Refresh. KPM…There you are! Touch his initials. Status Invisible. Shut down. Goodnight.

--Kathleen Parvizi, Scotts Valley, CA

SHOPPING

Mortuary called. Mom's ready for pick-up. He hands me a shopping bag and I write a check. Outside the sun is bright, the sidewalk slick from a recent rain. I slip, fall, reach out to take hold of the cardboard box before it gets damp. Shopping was my mother's favorite pastime. We used to argue a lot.

--Manjula Stokes, Santa Cruz, CA

NIGHTMARE

Last night I dreamed I ate a giant marshmallow. When I woke up, the pillow was gone.

--Keith Fisher, Marina del Rey, CA