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The morning had been blessedly quiet. Wanstall and West had taken Engine 5 out on a claim of actual fire, but it had turned out to be a neighbor’s backyard barbecue. At nine thirty in the morning. With alcohol. And a bottle of lighter fluid.
Mondy was almost to the Chief’s office when he got a straight view into the bay.
Bloomberg, who had been dutifully checking out the trucks and familiarizing himself with the equipment, now stood talking to a knockout redhead. She was smiling at him, her eyes glowing with admiration. Read more »

by A.J. Scudiere

Southfield Fire Station #2

The bell rings. Read more »

They trudged into the station house black with soot and stinking of fire. The shed had been made of OSB, which was a composite of wood chips and polymer glue. The wood burned fine, but the glue – which was pervasive throughout the plywood-like sheets – let off a greasy black roiling cloud. It was nearly impossible to see through and clung like scared monkey. Read more »

Missy put hands on every piece of equipment on Rescue 5. She opened compartments, pulled out forty- and fifty-pound cutters and saws, she checked gas levels or plugged them in when necessary. She started each of them and let it run a second. The heavy weight in her hands helped keep her mind from wandering away from the work in front of her, helped her not think about the date she’d snagged with the lawyer tomorrow night. Read more »

It’s an election year. And we are probably all aware that the hot button this year is ‘marriage equality’ or ‘defense of marriage’ . . . depending on which side you are on. Read more »

Chickens – the top creature names are in!

Thank you to everyone who submitted names. If you see yours in the poll, congratulations, you are in the finals. If you don’t see yours in the poll, you can still win! The submitter of the winning name and one voter (vote will be pulled at random) will win a free copy of Bite Size or a free creature (your choice).

So vote, vote, vote, vote! (Yes, you can vote 4 times to increase your chances of winning!)
1 – email your vote to me at AJ@AJScudiere.com
2 – vote in the poll above
3 – vote in the poll on Facebook – become my friend (AJ Scudiere)
4 – tweet your vote (@ajscudiere)

Read more »

Last Chance to Name the Creature!

We’ve had a great number of names suggested, but there’s still a little bit of time to get your entry in.
Remember, if your entry wins, you’ll get a free copy of Bite Size (short story collection that you can only win) OR your very own whatever-his-name-is.

We’ll narrow the selection down to at least the top five and then voting will happen through a Smart Chickens email and on Facebook. The answer is YES! If you get the newsletter and are my friend on Facebook you can vote twice! So feel free to friend me if you haven’t already (AJ Scudiere).

Voting will start next Monday and go through Wednesday. After that we’ll announce the winning name for the creature and the winning Chicken who came up with it!

So far, we’ve had names with meaning, fun names, and sweet names . . . So be sure to get yours into the mix and get your chance to win your own creature.

A.J. Scudiere

Hi!

I’m the creature from the front cover of God’s Eye and I need a name. Whoever submits the winning name will receive one of me for free!

You can submit your entries here in the comments, on Facebook (AJScudiere), on Twitter (@AJScudiere), or via e-mail (AJ@AJScudiere.com).
The best names will be listed for a vote in a couple of weeks.

Here are the rules:
No spoiler names!
Those of you who have read God’s Eye know who is on the cover, so you can’t give that away.
That’s it – anything else is up for grabs.

I will be available for sale on AJ’s website in Mid-February (with my new name) when the God’s Eye AudioMovie releases. Look for a discount code for me when you buy your special edition USB!

Looking forward to your submissions!
-He who has yet to be named

I know we spend our time here with the absurd and ironic. We are snarky and irreverent. But this time it’s about new years and resolutions, so we are going to take this one time to stop and be serious – just for a moment.

Like everyone else, for this new year – this election year – I want a New America. Or maybe I just want to fix the old one. But I have realized we can’t do that until we take care of one thing: we need to become America first. We live here and we give ourselves the moniker, but few of us are real Americans. Wait. Let me explain – I’m not talking about flag-flying patriotism. I’m talking about the basis for this nation.

We were founded by peoples fleeing from religious and government oppression. We came to a land where no one was native. (The ‘Native Americans’ bear a misnomer – they immigrated across the Bering Strait. Though they did it first, they are still immigrants.) Once here, we found ourselves in groups – protestants, ‘natives’, Europeans – and we fought like dogs to each protect our group.

The irony is that it wasn’t just our founding fathers who have felt this isolation and persecution. The ‘Great American Melting Pot’ does not melt things smoothly or quickly. In the 1800s, it was common to see signs that read “No Irish”. In the 1900s the signs read “No Blacks”. Today the signs read “No Mexicans” or “No Gays”. Have we learned nothing?

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Welcome Coffin Hoppers and Smart Chickens alike!

For those of you who are Smart Chickens, please give a shout out to our visitors. Coffin Hop is a blog tour that goes from October 24th-31st. The tour will visit numerous blogs, Smart Chickens being one of them. So give a warm welcome to the Coffin Hoppers!

In this final week before Halloween we have several great giveaways, a super deal and a scary picture!

I’ll start with the scary thing . . .

Yes, that’s a picture of fabric grocery bags . . . in a plastic bag.

Read more »