Pebbles & Prompts
send your shiniest, smoothest, most colourful, most pocketable pebbles
At The Mad River we are seeking tales and poetry that have passed through the dark forest, been washed down the river, or been hidden away in a deep cave for a while. Magical realism, fairy tale type fantasy, fairy tale snark, or words that feel like a babbling brook, a deep dark pool, a creaking branch, charming or weird or surreal or eerie (or any combination of such). You can find our usual submission guidelines here.
Sometimes we hear a splash from our inbox and one of us says — “What a wonderful tale, but did the river bring it to us?” And the other will reply “But of course, the river is vast it collects all the stories from high to low and passes through grand vistas and urban landscapes.”
Then the first will ask “But is this the story as the trees heard it, as they whispered it onward, one to the other? Did the bilberries gossip, the hawthorn rustle and murmur it? Did the mountains listen to the telling of this tale, just like this? Or would they have heard it whispered differently?”
So it goes here at The Mad River, and we have been drifting with the current for a few months. Sometimes something comes to shore that doesn’t quite fit, yet the river loves it and the river rules.
For example the wonderful Mr Stephen M. Tomic, Editor of The Junction, sent us this most shiny pebble: Once Upon a Fairy Tale. Here we see Cinderella from a different angle and ask ourselves:
if we looked through the Looking Glass from the other side into, what they say is, the ‘real world’ what reflections would we see?
And then, as if by magic, a recipe arrives so delicious we have to taste it. Like Pamela Edwards How to be an April Fool that makes us wish for more delectable tidbits. Wouldn’t it be wonderful we think, if:
we could share magical recipes for life, for living, and for those young and old who wish to mix the ingredients together.
And then we come to an agreement that the river and forest love these tales too, would like to hear some more of them. “Shall we have a prompt?” Says one. “Let’s have two.” Says the other.
So, we ask you most kindly and ever so politely, to send us your tales from the other side of the magic mirror, and your recipes for navigating the tumultuous flow of life.
They listened. Softly sounded the river, singing in many voices.
From Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
The stories that prompted prompts:
