Dear Babette, when I heard that you had lost your bicycle, I was torn up inside. I felt like a pack of wild hyenas laughed and chewed my insides out. I know how much your sweet, sweet feet loved to pedal on that bicycle, and I am sorry to hear that it is gone.

Babette, I wrote as soon as I could. I was saddened to hear about your toe-sprain. Toe-sprains are abominable creatures. It was not your big toe, I fear, for that is absolutely the worst. I know how much you loved your lovely, lovely toe. It pained me like a rock to the forehead to hear. Speedy recovery.

At June's Action Fiction!, Omnibucket presented its first experiment in performed screenplays - assigning actors to perform Bobby Bell's script "Scenes from A Stranger in Barcelona."  

We think it went quite well.  Here's the text.  Read all Action Fiction! stories here.

At this month's Action Fiction! we were proud to have a previously published piece by Ben Black performed:  The Woodcutter's Wife, a new take on classic  fairy tale.  

That's our favorite kind.  

You should read here.

And stay tuned for the publication of the rest of June's Action Fiction!

“Remember when we hated television?”

I’ve had this conversation with several fellow Gen Xers recently.  We circle each other warily until someone mentions liking a TV show, and then someone asks “Do you … like … Television?”

To say “Yes” back in our formative years would have identified you as a philistine:  someone hopelessly out of touch with what’s good in life.   But there’s no cultural cache left in disliking TV.  The words “Golden Age of Television” come up a lot.  It would be a terrible thing to live in a golden age and not know it.

The music sheets fluttered about the hard wood floor as she danced on them with her shiny tap shoes, her giggles filling the room like bubbles, distorting reality with pastel reflections of the room and her face.The soft curve of her dimpled cheek and pure pink of her sweet mouth. Her feet never stopping, just tap-tapping along the sheets, making music on the music.

I’m 35, and I just got my sense of humor last week.

Everybody thinks they have a sense of humor – I always thought I did – but the truth is that almost nobody knows how to laugh when it really counts.

I’ve been in prison 10 years.

Back in 2009 Omnibucket partner Dave Senecal profiled the artwork of Paglilunga for the Lithopolis Honey Festival.  Why?  Because it's awesome, and you should know about it.  That's why we're reprinting it now.  

Nestled within the hills of southern Ohio, a few minutes drive south of Columbus, a distinct buzz could be felt on the cool September breeze blowing through the normally quiet, and exotically named town of Lithopolis.

There were two guards.  They handled him roughly.  They tossed him into a metal room, and before he could stand up they hauled him to his feet and strapped him down to a cold and uncomfortable chair.  In front of him, sat a dark haired officer in an unusual uniform.

“Name?” asked the officer coldly.

“Who are you?”

“NAME?”

“Peter.”

“Peter, yes,” the officer was not amused.  “Peter Kreppner, of 1602 Benson Court, here in the city.  Yes.  Do you know why you’re here?”

That was the question.  That was the question.  “God no.”

She’d seen them as soon as they’d come in.  They sat down, alone, on the little benches and stared out across the wide wooden floor as though it were an ocean at high tide.  It wasn’t just that they were alone, though:  In a room full of dancers, it’s easy to spot the people who are estranged from their bodies.

He was soft in all the usual places, with vibrantly brown hair that wouldn’t stay in place.  He crossed and uncrossed his legs as he waited, and he read from a Kindle that conveniently kept him from having to pay attention to people in the room.

Back in 2010 Omnibucket partner Dave Senecal  had a chance to chat with author Dave Wellington. You might recognize Wellington from his “Monster Island” and other web serials. Dave has tons of cool stuff going on and was a contributor to Omnibucket’s own “Brainchild…A Collection of Artifacts” in 2005.

We're re-printing this interview on our new site because, dammit, it's just that cool.

01. What have you been up to? Is there anything you can tell us about new projects in the works?