"Talks Funny" meets "Big John"

Christine Walter sponsored a short story writing contest recently. The story had to be based on one of the images on her blog. She offered to sketch something of our choice as the grand prize. It just so happens my upcoming book has a character by the name of Maynard Woods that I would like to have sketched. He is a forester and the classic image of a mountain man--without a gun.

One of the images titled "Talks Funny" caught my eye and reminded me of an old story called "Big John." It is also part of the reason Maynard exists in "The Singing Stones of Rendor". If you google "Big John" you'll find various  renditions to the story. I've always wanted to retell it, so I concocted my own version. It is a classic with a violent twist at the end. You may suffer some whiplash.

The contest didn't draw enough entries, but Christine enjoyed my story enough to post it on her blog. Since the thing has been around so long I can't really take much credit for it.

I want to thank her for her kindness and interest in my writing.

Here's the link to her blog and the story: http://www.christinewalterart.blogspot.com/ Enjoy.

By-the-way, Christine's artwork will be in a a feature film titled "8 Stories." It is about 8 people stuck in an elevator and based on a book by Stephanie Fowers.

I'm thinking it will be a romantic comedy, if her website is any hint.