The Old Soldier just came back from a lovely walk around the neighborhood. It’s hot as hell out there; but I guess I’d better get use to it. I know I’m not going to heaven.
Hello, everyone from North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa. And a special hello to fans in Japan.
The Old Soldier lives in Oakland, the same neighborhood that the main campus of the University of Pittsburgh is in. I graduated from Pitt with an MFA in fiction writing in 2006; and today I did something that I haven’t done in at least one year. I walked through Wesley W. Posvar Hall.
Wesley W. Posvar Hall, University of Pittsburgh (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
There’s a plaque on top of a pole outside the building: Barney Dreyfuss (1865-1932) Owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates, 1900-1932, and legendary baseball leader influential in initiating the first modern World Series, 1903. He led the Pirates to 6 National League and 2 World Series titles and was vital to building Forbes Field here, 1902.
But the Old Soldier is getting ahead of his story. When I left my apartment I walked deeper into Oakland, pass the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and the Carnegie Museum of Art, pass the library then on into Schenley Park.
Man, was it hot outside. I had a bottle of frozen water with me and I sipped on that as I walked deeper into the park, pass Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, into Anderson Playground and on through South Oakland before I ended up inside Wesley W. Posvar Hall. I had the entire building to myself. The air conditioning felt so good. I just walked through the building, feeling like a 50-something-year-old grad student and teaching assistant again. Which I was just a few years ago.
The 1909 Pirates in a poster celebrating their National League pennant. Frank Chance of the Chicago Cubs and John McGraw of the New York Giants, two teams the Pirates beat for the pennant, are being made to walk the plank. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Then it was back outside again into the hot sun, back across campus and back to my workstation.
Right now The Doors are on the music television station doing Backdoor Man.
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Enter The Exciting World Of Flash Fiction
Woman As Art
There are dozens of excellent examples of flash fiction in this online magazine. The flash fiction short story has been around for hundreds of years; but it was not until the event of the Internet that this art form reached such a height of popularity with editors, publishers, readers and writers that now this demanding genre is even being studied in academia.
Hello, I’m the Old Soldier (a Vietnam War Veteran), the editor/publisher of the Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette. As a graduate student and a teaching assistant at the University of Pittsburgh between 2003-2006, I had the challenge and the pleasure of teaching the writing and theory of flash fiction to undergraduates at Pitt. Flash fiction won me a fellowship that got me into and paid for my graduate studies. I got my MFA in fiction writing in 2006.
English: Hillman Library at the University of Pittsburgh (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Flash fiction inspired me to write a book and to become a blogger.
This online magazine is my effort to share my love of flash fiction with you. I’ll say no more. Explore the site. Click the follow button. And welcome to the exciting world of flash fiction.
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This publication is a paying market. Submissions are welcomed. The submissions tab is at the top of the page.
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Read. Study. Write. Submit.
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