Publications as of July 2025

Posted on August 10, 2025 by maryjorabe

More or less in reverse order of publication, here are my online and print publications again so far:

I am happy beyond words to have my story “Do the Math” published in Cosmic Quest (Strange Quark Press), now available in electronic and print formats at all your favorite online stores. Proceeds from the anthology will go to The Planetary Society. You can read it for free at: https://www.strangequarkpress.org/do-the-math-by-mary-jo-rabe/

My story “Hiram’s Sculptures” in Volume 2 of Epic Echoes, has long since been available online and is now also in print format available at https://epicechoesmag.com/magazine

I’m excessively happy to have my story “At the Top of the Martian World” published in Bright Mirror A Utopian Science Fiction Anthology, a project of the wonderful Oddity Prodigy Productions, available in electronic and print formats at all your favorite online bookstores

I am amazed and grateful to have my story “Anatomical Anomaly or Conduit?” included in “Amazing Stories: Best of 2024“, now available in electronic and print formats at all your favorite online bookstores

I’m thrilled and overjoyed now that my story “Galaxy Song Contest” (inspired by the annual Eurovision Song Contest) is online at Amazing Stories. You can read it for free at: https://amazingstories.com/2025/04/galaxy-song-contest-by-mary-jo-rabe-free-story/

My entirely fictitious story “Death Arranged for the Archbishop” (spoiler: the archbishop survives) is now available in the fantastic Crimeucopia: Chicka-Chicka Boomba! (Murderous-Ink Press) at all your favorite online bookstores.

I’m absolutely overjoyed that Fred the Opossum once again has found a home. My story “Fred and Frieda” appears in Issue 23, April 15, 2025 of Zooscape. You can read it for free at: https://zooscape-zine.com/fred-and-frieda/

I am incredibly happy to have my story “False Fractal” (a space alien makes a mistake and kidnaps Jimmy Hoffa instead of Benoît Mandelbrot) published in Forgetting Something: A Page Turn Press Anthology, available in electronic and print formats at all online bookstores.

I am overjoyed to have my story “A Walk in the Little Woods” appear in the April-June ’25 issue of The Lorelei Signal with a wonderful illustration by Lee Ann Barlow. You can read it here for free: https://www.loreleisignal.com/a-walk-in-the-little-woods

My story “Rules Must Be Obeyed” featuring a conscientious civil servant in Kirchzarten who has to do deal with new space alien residents appeared in the wonderful Möbius Blvd, number 18 in April 2025 and also in number 19 in May 2025. Both issues are of course available in electronic and print formats at all online bookstores.

I’m overjoyed to have my story “Libby’s Red Rover” (another Mars story featuring my beloved though somewhat homicidal librarian Libby Lechtenbrink) is published in the Hidden Villains: Criminals anthology (Inkd Publishing) and available in digital and print formats at all your favorite online bookstores.

My story “Hildegard’s Children” (featuring Hildegard of Bingen, Vikings, Bermuda Triangle, and Atlantis) is up at the editors’s corner of the magnificent Electric Spec, where you can read it for free: https://www.electricspec.com/Volume20/Issue1/rabe2025.html

I’m thrilled to have my story “Old Red’s Response” (Old Red is an aging Farmall tractor on an Iowa farm) published in the February 2025 issue of Penumbric Speculative Fiction Magazine. You can read it here for free: https://www.penumbric.com/archives/February2k25/rabeRed.html

I am absolutely overjoyed to have my story “How Fred the Opossum Mobilized the Microbes and Saved the Universe” published (as a reprint after its original publication in Pulphouse, Issue 18) in Zooscape, Issue 21! https://zooscape-zine.com/fred-the-opossum-mobilized/ Fred deserves to have his story told.

I am unbelievably happy to have my story “The Greatest Show on Mars” (another story in my Mars collection) published in the magnificent Black Cat Weekly (SF/Fantsy), Issue #175, available at https://blackcatweekly.com/b/QrPIs and at all your favorite online bookstores.

This was a great way to start the new year, with my story “Be Careful What You Wish For…” (working title was “Take Me Home, Robot Roads”, a future Freiburg story) being published online in Issue 30 at Four Star Stories, https://4starstories.com/4StarStories_Archive_Issue30/story_4.htm, a wonderful, awe-inpiring, online science fiction magazine. You can read it for free there.

I am happy beyond words to have my story “Advent, Advent” (though inspired by my memories from 41 years in the library, this work, naturally, is pure fiction with any similarities to living people being unintentional and not implied, ) published in the fantastic Black Cat Weekly Nr. 174, (crime/mysteries)! https://blackcatweekly.com/b/feyUM?fbclid= and available at all your favorite online bookstores.

Words truly can’t express how thrilled and amazed I am to have my story “Merry Microbes” published in Pulphouse, Issue 36. I am also absolutely awed by the company I keep in this issue, all brilliant writers. of high renown. In “Merry Microbes”, my Martian microbes find a way to appreciate Earthie Christmas customs. I like to write about Martian microbes even though I am not a microbe and have never even been to Mars. The e-book edition is available directly at Pulphouse, https://pulphousemagazine.com/…/pulphouse-fiction…? All formats are available at your favorite online shops

I am so happy and grateful to have my story “Luck at Christmas” included in the 2023 Holiday Spectacular series. It is, of course, pure fiction, but inspired by my memories of Miles High School. It is now available in all formats in the Hardboiled Holidays volume of WMG’s Holiday Spectacular series. You can find this volume as well as all other Holiday Spectacular: volumes at the WMG bookstore: https://thewmgholidayspectacular.com/…/holiday-anthologies and at all your favorite online bookstores l

ResAliens, Issue 12, features my story “Doppelgänger” (parallel universes and the universal discovery of one’s own capabilities) and the beautiful cover art from Jasiah Witkofsky. The magazine is available in print and e-book format at all your favorite online bookstores,

I’m so incredibly happy to have my story “Let the Chips Go” (another Mars story featuring Emma the cafeteria lady) published in the magnificent Lorelei Signal, an online magazine I truly can’t praise highly enough, https://www.loreleisignal.com/let-the-chips-go

I’m ecstatic that my story “Snack Time” is now published in the fantastic Boundary Shock Quarterly, Issue 28, available at Pubshare (https://pubshare.com/books/sf-horror) and in all formats at your favorite online bookstores. “Snack Time” features hungry aliens who have their own reasons for following the Way of St. James to the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.

I am so very happy to have my story “Klaus Klabautermann” (an oceanic kobold who decided to follow a cruise ship) published in this wonderful magazine, Black Sheep, No. 16, October 2024. This amazing magazine is available at all online bookstores in print and digital formats.

I was amazed (obviously) and incredibly grateful to have my story “Anatomical Anomaly or Conduit?” (starting in Ames, Iowa and ending up on Mars) tie for third place in the Amazing Stories Readers Choice Awards for the 2nd Quarter of 2024. My sincere thanks to the readers! https://amazingstories.com/2024/09/results-of-the-amazing-stories-readers-choice-awards-for-the-2nd-quarter-of-2024

Once again I am overjoyed to have a story published in Möbius Blvd, Nr.11, September 2024. This brilliant magazine includes my story “The Chemistry That Robots Need”, another story from my Mars collection. Möbius Blvd is available at all online bookstores in print and digital formats.

I’m so happy to have my story “Time Out” (one of my few attempts at YA) published in the A Stitch in Spacetime anthology! It is available via Lulu at https://www.lulu.com/shop/jay-chakravarti/a-stitch-in-spacetime/paperback/product-e786k52.html?page=1&pageSize=4 (print) and at https://www.lulu.com/shop/jay-chakravarti/a-stitch-in-spacetime/ebook/product-2m5898q.html?page=1&pageSize=4 (digital)

I am so happy to have my story “Polterabend with the Poltergeister” published in The Pink Hydra. You can read my story for free at https://www.thepinkhydra.com/issues/0101202407/polterabend/ and learn about the magazine at https://www.thepinkhydra.com/issues/

I am especially happy to have my story “Time and Then” published in Dark Horses, Nr. 30, July 2024. It’s science fiction, but inspired by two friends from MSU in the 1970’s. This wonderful magazine is available at all online bookstores in print and digital formats.

I am thrilled beyond belief to have my story “Anatomical Anomaly or Conduit” (another one of my Mars stories), published in Amazing Stories Online, amazingstories.com. You can read or listen to it for free at https://amazingstories.com/2024/06/anatomical-anomaly-or-conduit-by-mary-jo-rabe-free-story/

I am eternally grateful to Dark Dead Things Magazine for publishing my story “As Earthie As Apple Pie”. I don’t remember when or why I wrote this story, and it isn’t like anything else I write because it is short, almost flash fiction, and well, maybe not “dark” or “dead”, but possibly another “d” word, i.e. disgusting. You may never want to eat apple pie again. See this wonderful magazine for issues and merchandise: https://www.darkdeadthings.com/, also available at your favorite online bookstore in print and digital formats.

I’m ecstatic to have my story “Limbo on Elysium Mons” (another one of my Mars stories) published in Alien Dimensions, Issue 26, https://aliendimensions.com/ and available in print and digital formats in all online bookstores.

Writers often have their favorite stories, stories they wrote that they like best. “Shadfly Season” is one of mine. The story is, of course, fiction, and the characters are pure figments of my imagination, but the setting has “local color” from the area where I grew up. You can read it for free at the April 2024 issue of The Lorelei Signal, https://www.loreleisignal.com/shadfly-season

I’m overjoyed to have my story “Hiram’s Sculptures” published in Volume 2, Issue 1, April 2024, of Epic Echoes Magazine. The magazine is available to read and download for free at the website! Just click on the cover on the magazine site. Here is the link: www.epicechoesmag.com/Magazine/

I am especially happy and grateful to have my story “Monsignor Hubert Beck” (another Mars story, this time inspired by vicars general I have known) published in Möbius Blvd, Issue No. 5, available at all online bookstores in print and digital formats.

My story “Parallel Time” (inspired by library meetings at the Franciscan convent in Sießen (where Sr. Maria Innocentia Hummel created her Hummel figurines) is available at the Editor’s Corner of the February 2024 issue of the online magazine Electric Spec, https://www.electricspec.com/Volume19/Issue1/rabe.feb24.html

I’m overjoyed to have my story “Olympus Mons” (another one of my Mars stories) published in ResAliens, Issue 11. It was encouraging to have a wonderful editor (Lyndon Perry) request a story from me. ResAliens is available at all online bookstores in print and digital formats, most easily found by searching for “ResAliens Zine”.

It’s wonderful to see “Where the Tall Corn Grows” (i.e. Iowa) published in Möbius Blvd, Issue No. 4, now available at all online bookstores in print and digital formats. This is another Iowa farm story with speculation about kernels of corn.

I’m so happy and grateful to have my story “Persuasion” published in Black Sheep, Issue No. 7, now available at all online bookstores in print and digital formats. The inspiration was the current “political” situation here in Germany. Wolves, legally still a protected species, are returning to the Black Forest. Local farmers are worried.

I’m exceedidngly happy that my story “Epiphany Star Singers” is published by Knight Writing Press (knightwritingpress.com) in Particular Passages: Decked Halls and available at your favorite online bookstores in print and digital formats.

My story “Rodney’s Request” (a happy Iowa story) is now available in Issue 56 of Luna Station Quarterly. The issue is available free online, and my story at https://lunastationquarterly.com/story/rodneys-request/
A little information about this wonderful online magazine, which is available in print at amazon and as an e-book at Luna Station Quarterly, https://lunastationpress.gumroad.com/l/lsq-056 at or at your favorite online bookstore.

I am incredibly happy that my story “Where Fasnet Met Space Net” (a science fiction story inspired by the Fasnacht/Fasnet/Carneval – Mardi Gras celebrations in Baden-Württemberg, specifically the area around Rottweil) has been published in Dark Horses, Issue 20, September 2023. This wonderful magazine is available in electronic and print formats at all online bookstores.

My story, “Elsie’s Encounter”, takes place in the area where I grew up. I just never noticed any magic or witches while I lived there. I am so grateful to Leah Cutter for including it in her fantastic anthology Crones. Cutter’s Final Cut: Issue 5, which is available in electronic and print formats at all online bookstores

I’m overjoyed that my story “Death in Advent” (naturally pure fiction with characters that are merely a figment of my imagination, although “inspired” by the 41 years spent at my place of employment) is now published in The Dark City, Volume 8, Issue 4, July 2023 and available in print and electronic formats at all online bookstores. I originally wrote this story in 2018 for a WMG anthology workshop in Lincoln City, Oregon.

My story, “Julienne Cleans Up”, from my Mars collection, is available at The Lorelei Signal, double issue April and July, 2023, https://www.loreleisignal.com/julienne-cleans-up. I’m thrilled to be published in this wonderful online magazine again.

I first wrote “Lose the Oops” available in the July issue (#42) of Fabula Argentea, https://fabulaargentea.com/…/lose-the-oops-by-mary-jo…/ during a WMG science fiction writing workshop in Lincoln City, Oregon, in the fall of 2013. Since then I redrafted it to eliminate the original “low-hanging fruit”, i.e. substituting Cistercian nuns for space aliens. It is a cautionary tale, taking place in an imaginary/alternate-universe Dubuque, Iowa, and I am extremely grateful to Fabula Argentea for publishing two of my stories so far.

“Dan the Trumpet Man”, the story of a trumpet player and composer on Mars, inspired by Dan Cook (https://pecanvalleymusic.com/) is published in Dark Horses, May 2023, Issue 16, and available in all online bookstores, This is the third story published in Dark Horses so far.

“To Hear the Bats on Christmas Day” featuring Maquoketa B. Dragon, famous resident of the Maquoketa Caves, is published in the wonderful A Flight of Dragons: Anthology, available in all online bookstores in electronic and print format.

“Huey, Dewey, and Lloyd”, a siblings struggle from my Mars collection, can be viewed at the Editor’s Corner of Electric Spec, https://www.electricspec.com/Volume18/Issue1/rabe.feb23.html

“Shriek and the World Shrieks with You”, the fate of long-living robots on Mars, is published in Starry Eyed Press’s ONE-WAY TICKET, a collection of fourteen science fiction tales of action, adventure, suspense, mystery and terror and is available in all online bookstores in electronic and print format.

“Pink on Pink”, the trials and tribulations of a modern witch on Mars, is now published in Dark Horses, the Magazine of Weird Fiction, Issue No. 12, January 2023, available at all online bookstores in electronic and print format.

“Red, Blue,. Green, and Yellow” has its own history. First of all, the most important information:

I am overjoyed, thrilled, and so grateful that “Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow” is now online at 4StarStories 

You can go directly to my story at https://4starstories.com/4StarStories_Archive_Issue25/story_4.htm

The Editor of Four Star Stories, David Gray, was kind enough to write his acceptance of this story beginning with: “I loved it. I thought it was one of the most original stories I have read in a long time.”

Some stories just show up and demand to be written. However, I owe the existence of this story to three amazing writers, T. Thorne Coyle, Dayle Dermatis, and Annie Reed.

After the tragic death of Kip Ward, the owner of the Historic Anchor Inn in Lincoln City, Oregon, writers T. Thorn Coyle, Dayle A. Dermatis, and Annie Reed suggested that we write stories for a charity anthology in honor of Kip Ward called “Tales From the Anchor”. During the Anthology Workshops in Lincoln City, many of us had had the good fortune to stay at the wonderful Anchor Inn. The stories for the anthology were to be inspired by items there. Proceeds would be donated to Kip Ward’s favorite charity. My story, “Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow” was inspired by the multi-colored, glass lamp above the doorway between the restaurant and bar in the Anchor Inn. As happens sometimes, this anthology didn’t come about, and so my story found a home in Four Star Stories.

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I’m overjoyed to have my story “Balance the Books” published online at The Lorelei Signal, https://www.loreleisignal.com/balance-the–books, the October 2022 issue. It has definite autobiographical references from my 41 years in the chancery office library, along with wishful thinking from that time.

My story “Tryst at the Tombaugh Regio” in Draw Down the Moon, another wonderful anthology from Propertius Press, available https://www.propertiuspress.com/our-bookstore/Draw-Down-the-Moon-A-Collection-of-Short-Stories-p375745328  and in e-book and print formats at all online bookstores. I wrote this love story for an anthology workshop in Las Vegas. It’s happy ending takes place on the Tombaugh Regio, that pink, heart-shaped area on (dwarf)planet Pluto.

I wrote “Spaceship Nursery” for a Dean Wesley Smith online workshop. It is a new perspective of AI with respect to spaceship construction. The nice people at Wyldblood, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Issue 9, available at https://wyldblood.com/product/wyldblood-9/ and at online bookstores in e-book and print formats.

My story “How Fred the Opossum Mobilized the Microbes and Saved the Universe” in Pulphouse, Issue 18, available in e-book and print formats at all online bookstores and at https://wmgpublishinginc.com/project/pulphouse-issue-18/ and via https://books2read.com/u/38eNgw. It was kindly reviewed by Tangent Online, https://tangentonline.com/print-bi-monthly/pulphouse-18-june-july-2022/ Fred the Opossum was a frequent visitor on our farm in Iowa, and I’m glad I had the chance to give him the credit he deserves.

Blaze Ward was kind enough to publish my story “And Became Titans” in his Boundary Shock Quarterly, Issue 9, Sea Stories . Here intelligent Martian microbes find a way to get the Earthie colonists to help them gain communication with other microbes in the solar system. It is available in e-book and print formats at all online bookstores and at https://www.boundaryshockquarterly.com/book/sea-stories/

Once again Blaze Ward was kind enough to publish my story “The Gods of the Black Forest” in Blaze Ward Presents, Issue 6, available in e-book and print formats in all online book stores and at https://blazewardpresents.com/?mbdb_book=small-gods  My small gods live in the streams in the mountains of the Black Forest.

“October Mardi Gras” is published in Dark Horses, the Magazine of Weird Fiction, Issue No. 4, May 2022. It is inspired by memories of various teachers at Miles High School in Miles, Iowa, back in the 1960’s. It is also available at all online bookstores in e-book and print formats

Steven Lester Carr, kindly published “Iowa Summer”, my story that I wrote for an anthology workshop in Lincoln City, Oregon in his online magazine, Short Story Town, unfortunately no longer available on the Internet.

My Story “The Devil and the Deep Blue Chiemsee”, inspired by my years in the chancery office library and a library conference at Frauenchiemsee, is available at Mystery Tribune online at: https://mysterytribune.com/the-devil-and-the-deep-blue-chiemsee-cozy-mystery-by-mary-jo-rabe/

“Prista Indulges in Tricks and Treats” is published at The Lorelei Signal, https://www.loreleisignal.com/prista-indulges-tricks-and-treats, was published in the January 2022 issue and is no longer online

My two stories previously published in Pulphouse #4 (For the Love of Killer) and Pulphouse #8 (Taking Care of Business) have been reprinted in new Pulphouse issues, as always available in e-book and print format at all online bookstores. “For the Love of Killer” appears in Run!! Creatures, Critters, and Pulphousers and is also availaboe at WMG, https://wmgpublishinginc.com/project/run-creatures-critters-and-pulphousers/?fbclid=IwAR1AgtKTe43OF13MH6BXRfaZuPG93kRzqw-MhcZct0SZU-vbQm5Wbsjo-gc. “Taking Care of Business” appears in Twisted Robots, Oh, My!, and is also available at WMG (https://wmgpublishinginc.com/project/twisted-robots-oh-my/?fbclid=IwAR1f1-E4wEW9OhaFuRwNkEsmdgr3oH8jGzJ5VBTke987vi48UJva7r5KlyM)

My story “Gargoyles of the World, Unite!” inspired by the gargoyles of the Freiburg cathedral and featuring Annegret Gumpert, one of my somewhat homicidal alter egos, to my endless delight, is published in The Lost Librarian’s Grave, a wonderful anthology available as an e-book and in print from Redwood Press https://redwood-press.com/, and at every online bookstore.

I wrote “Endless Horizons”, a joyful story about exploring the universe, for the 2019 Anthology Workshop and was overjoyed and eternally grateful when editor Leah Cutter accepted it for her anthology “Explorers, Cutter’s Final Cut: Issue Three“, which of course if available in e-book and print form at all online bookstores and at https://cuttersfinalcut.com/book/explorers/

Steven Lester Carr, kindly published “Rescuing Sparty”, my story inspired by the three years that I spent at Michigan State University in his online magazine, Short Story Town, unfortunately no longer available on the Internet.

My story “A Squeaky-Clean Reunion” takes place in the Maquoketa Caves (Maquoketa, Iowa). It features one of my recurring characters, Maquoketa B. Dragon, a mellow, Iowa dragon. I am overjoyed to see it published in Crunchy with Chocolate, available in e-book and print format at WolfSinger Publications, https://www.wolfsingerpubs.com/crunchy-with-chocolate and at every online bookstore.

Back in 2015 I took a workshop on writing short stories taught by one of the writers I admire most, Dean Wesley Smith. One of the stories I wrote for the workshop was “Tauri”, which the wonderful people at Fabula Argentea have published in their online edition. You can read it at: https://fabulaargentea.com/index.php/article/tauri-by-mary-jo-rabe/

My story “Christmas in the Ruins”, a fictional account of Christmas in Freiburg in 1944, appeared as part of WMG Publishing’s Winter Holiday Spectacular 2020. I am so grateful to Kristine Kathryn Rusch for including it in her anthology, even though it was perhaps darker than what she was looking for.
It is available as e-book and in print at all online bookstores as well as at WMG, https://wmgpublishinginc.com/project/mysterious-christmas/

I wrote “It’s Lechtenbrink, Libby Lechtenbrink” for a science fiction writing workshop in January of 2020. My story features Libby Lechtenbrink, a librarian on Mars, one of my more homicidal alter egos. I am so grateful to Barbara G. Tarn for including me in this wonderful anthology, Sci-Fi Stories Earth Colonies, published in July, 2021. You can find the magazine, electronic or print, at all online bookstores, here a selection
https://books2read.com/sci-fi5

I wrote “We Can Wait But No Longer Want To” during Dean Wesley Smith’s story a week challenge in 2019 and 2020. Energetic Martian microbes take advantage of the opportunity to leave their frosty underground lakes. I am overjoyed to have it published July, 2021, in Alien Dimensions #20/21, a wonderful magazine available in electronic and print form.
amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B097HMG6FK
amazon.de: https://www.amazon.de/Alien…/dp/B098VSSQGJ/ref=sr_1_2…

I wrote “If You Lead an Earthling to Water, Who Gets To Drink?” during Dean Wesley Smith’s story a week challenge in 2019 and 2020. Martian colonists have to deal with the dilemma of possibly endangering alien life in order to keep their Earth colony running. I am thrilled that Penumbric Speculative Fiction Magazine chose to publish it in its online magazine, Issue 1, June 2021:

https://www.penumbric.com/currentissue/rabeWater.html

During Dean Wesley Smith’s story a week challenge in 2019 and 2020 I wrote a story I titled “Herr Gehrke, Why Is Everyone Lying to Me?” that took place in an archdiocesan chancery office of a mid-sized German city. In the hopes that it would fit Blaze Ward Presents 5 Crime and …, which was published in June, 2021, I renamed it “Bishops”. I am incredibly grateful to Blaze Ward for accepting this story. Naturally it is completely fictional, but some of the characters are inspired by people I have known. The anthology is available at all your favorite online bookstores, to name a few

amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B096CJPLMV/?tag=kydala-20

amazon.de: https://www.amazon.de/…/B096CYSG1Q/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0…

I wrote “Slim Pickings on Mars” for Dean Wesley Smith’s “Write 30 Stories in 60 Days Challenge” back in 2017. A detective on Mars literally stumbles onto an object at a crime scene that has multi-universal consequences. It was my immense good fortune that Blaze Ward was willing to accept it for his Blaze Ward Presents 4 anthology which was published in November, 2020. The anthology is available at all your favorite online bookstores, to name a few

amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/Cloak-Dagger-Blaze-Ward/dp/B08NYYBPM2/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1626771787&sr=1-1

amazon.de: https://www.amazon.de/Cloak-Dagger-Blaze-Ward/dp/B08NYYBPM2/ref=sr_1_1?__mk_de_DE=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&dchild=1&keywords=blaze+ward+presents+4&qid=1626771873&s=books&sr=1-1

“Father Otto” is a story I wrote in 2016 for the 2017 Anthology Workshop in Lincoln City, Oregon. Thanks to kind editor Dayle A. Dermatis, it became my first professional sale, appearing in the Fiction River issue 33 Doorways to Enchantment, published in August, 2020. “Father Otto” is an homage to one of my favorite people at the chancery office of the Archdiocese of Freiburg. Naturally all figures are mere figments of my imagination, but inspired by real people. The story itself takes place on the second floor of the historic chancery office building in Freiburg, Germany.
It is available, electronic and print, at all online bookstores, here a selection:
https://books2read.com/u/4NLWMo and of course at WMG Publishing:
https://www.wmgpublishinginc.com/p…/doorways-to-enchantment/
Tangent Online wrote a kind review of my story:

Fiction River #33: Doorways to Enchantment, ed. Dayle A. Dermatis

“Sagan in the Past” is science fiction story I wrote for Dean Wesley Smith’s “Write 30 Stories in 60 Days Challenge” back in 2017. Sagan, a cat, plays an important role in a time-travel story that begins on a university campus that has certain similarities with Michigan State University. Barbara G. Tarn, was kind enough to include this story in her anthology Future Earth Tech. published in July, 2020.
You can find the magazine, electronic or print, at all online bookstores, here a selection:
https://books2read.com/sci-fi3

“Katie’s Visions” is also a product of Dean Wesley Smith’s “Write 30 Stories in 60 Days Challenge”, one I worried about finding a home for, since it isn’t science fiction. Maybe you could call it historical fantasy. Katharina von Bora (Martin Luther’s wife) gets visions from Joan of Arc who has her own agenda for wanting to encourage Katharina. The wonderful people at Propertius Press included this story in their anthology Whispers from the Universe, published in June, 2020. It is available, electronic and print, at most online stores but also easily at Propertius Press, which does not charge for postage or handling.
Go to: https://bit.ly/whisperstories or
https://propertiuspress.wixsite.com/bookstore/online-store/Whispers-from-the-Universe-A-Collection-of-Short-Stories-p209124441

“Taking Care of Business” is a science fiction story I wrote for Dean Wesley Smith’s “Write 30 Stories in 60 Days Challenge” back in 2017. An Elvis impersonator on Mars finds a way to deal with devastating health issues, consistent with his reverence for The King. Dean was then kind enough to include this story in Pulphouse, Issue 8 of 2019.published in December, 2020. You can find the magazine, electronic or print, at all online bookstores, here a selection
https://books2read.com/u/bO6gAQ
or naturally at WMG Publishing: https://pulphousemagazine.com/the-magazine/issue8/

Tangent Online reviewed this issue of Pulphouse: https://tangentonline.com/print-quarterly/pulphouse-fiction-magazine/pulphouse-8-fall-2019/

“For the Love of Killer” is another story I wrote in 2016 for the 2017 Anthology Workshop in Lincoln City, Oregon. Killer is a little, white peekapoo, inspired by Puffy, our dog on the farm. It wasn’t chosen for the anthology about female heroines, but Dean Wesley Smith was kind enough to take it for Pulphouse, Issue 4 of 2018, published in December, 2018 You can find the magazine, electronic or print, at all online bookstores, here a selection
https://books2read.com/u/47Z9aR?fbclid=IwAR0iZAracjT1yWQnMG4TGHIs0P_Sf58Udvmg_vDMldSEYbH-hkScaOaCAfU
or naturally at WMG Publishing: https://pulphousemagazine.com/the-magazine/issue4/

Tangent Online reviewed this issue of Pulphouse: https://tangentonline.com/print-quarterly/pulphouse-fiction-magazine/pulphouse-4-december-2018/

Russ Crossley was kind enough to include “Efficient Engineering”, a story I wrote for the anthology workshop in Lincoln City, Oregon, in 2017, in his Rocketpack Adventures anthology in October, 2018. An engineer on Mars decides to build her own rocket and leave for parts unknown. You can find the magazine, electronic or print, at all online bookstores, here a selection
https://books2read.com/rocketpack-adventures

“One Universe Is Never Enough” is a story I wrote Dean Wesley Smith’s “Write 30 Stories in 60 Days Challenge” back in 2017. An administrator on Pluto gets tired of the bureaucratic backbiting and takes a chance on travel to another universe. Barbara G. Tarn was kind enough to include it in her Space Opera Mashup. Published in July, 2018. You can find the magazine, electronic or print, at all online bookstores, here a selection
http://books2read.com/u/4AY5XN

Two  of my poems are still archived online:

Salt Water Rafting at Raven Electrick: http://www.ravenelectrick.com/ravenpoetrick/saltwaterrafting.html

Tharsis Lil at Astropoetica: http://www.astropoetica.com/Summer07/tharsislil.html

I have my author pages at amazon where you can see which stories of mine have been published so far:

amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/Mary-Jo-Rabe/e/B007MMFCPM?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_2&qid=1598900121&sr=1-2

amazon.de: https://www.amazon.de/Mary-Jo-Rabe/e/B007MMFCPM?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_6&qid=1598900017&sr=1-6

amazon.co.uk: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mary-Jo-Rabe/e/B007MMFCPM?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_4&qid=1598900282&sr=1-4

Posted in Amazing Stories, Astropoetica, Black Cat Weekly, Black Sheep, Blue Sunset, Boundary Shock Quarterly, Bright Mirror, Chicka-Chicka Boomba, Cosmic Quest, Crimeucopia, Crunchy with Chocolate, Cutter's Final Cut, Dark City, Dark Dead Things, Dark Horses, Electric Spec, Epic Echoes, Fabula Argentea, Fiction River, Flight of Dragons, Forgetting 'something, Future Earth Tech, Hidden Villains Criminals, Holiday Spectacular, Lorelei Signal, Luna Station Quarterly, Möbius Blvd, Murderous-Ink Press, Oddity Prodigy Productions, One-Way Ticket, Page Turn Press, Penumbric Speculative Fiction, Pink Hydra, Propertius Press, Publications, Pulphouse, Raven Electrick, ResAliens, Short Stories, Starry Eyed Press, Stories, Strange Quark Press, The Dark City, WMG, Writing, Zooscape | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Publications as of February, 2025

Posted on March 5, 2025 by maryjorabe

More or less in reverse order of publication, here are my online and print publications again so far:

I’m overjoyed to have my story “Libby’s Red Rover” (another Mars story featuring my beloved though somewhat homocidal librarian Libby Lechtenbrink) is published in the Hidden Villains: Criminals anthology (Inkd Publishing) and available in digital and print formats at all your favorite online bookstores.

My story “Hildegard’s Children” (featuring Hildegard of Bingen, Vikings, Bermuda Triangle, and Atlantis) is up at the editors’s corner of the magnificent Electric Spec, where you can read it for free: https://www.electricspec.com/Volume20/Issue1/rabe2025.html

I’m thrilled to have my story “Old Red’s Response” (Old Red is an aging Farmall tractor on an Iowa farm) published in the February 2025 issue of Penumbric Speculative Fiction Magazine. You can read it here for free: https://www.penumbric.com/currentissue/rabeRed.html

I am absolutely overjoyed to have my story “How Fred the Opossum Mobilized the Microbes and Saved the Universe” published (as a reprint after its original publication in Pulphouse, Issue 18) in Zooscape, Issue 21! https://zooscape-zine.com/fred-the-opossum-mobilized/ Fred deserves to have his story told.

I am unbelievably happy to have my story “The Greatest Show on Mars” (another story in my Mars collection) published in the magnificent Black Cat Weekly (SF/Fantsy), Issue #175, available at https://blackcatweekly.com/b/QrPIs and at all your favorite online bookstores.

This was a great way to start the new year, with my story “Be Careful What You Wish For…” (working title was “Take Me Home, Robot Roads”, a future Freiburg story) being published online in Issue 30 at Four Star Stories, https://4starstories.com/story_4.htm, a wonderful, awe-inspiring, online science fiction magazine. You can read it for free here. https://4starstories.com/stories.htm

I am happy beyond words to have my story “Advent, Advent” (though inspired by my memories from 41 years in the library, this work, naturally, is pure fiction with any similarities to living people being unintentional and not implied, ) published in the fantastic Black Cat Weekly Nr. 174, (crime/mysteries)! https://blackcatweekly.com/b/feyUM?fbclid= and available at all your favorite online bookstores.

Words truly can’t express how thrilled and amazed I am to have my story “Merry Microbes” published in Pulphouse, Issue 36. I am also absolutely awed by the company I keep in this issue, all brilliant writers. of high renown. In “Merry Microbes”, my Martian microbes find a way to appreciate Earthie Christmas customs. I like to write about Martian microbes even though I am not a microbe and have never even been to Mars. The e-book edition is available directly at Pulphouse, https://pulphousemagazine.com/…/pulphouse-fiction…? All formats are available at your favorite online shops

I am so happy and grateful to have my story “Luck at Christmas” included in the 2023 Holiday Spectacular series. It is, of course, pure fiction, but inspired by my memories of Miles High School. It is now available in all formats in the Hardboiled Holidays volume of WMG’s Holiday Spectacular series. You can find this volume as well as all other Holiday Spectacular: volumes at the WMG bookstore: https://thewmgholidayspectacular.com/…/holiday-anthologies and at all your favorite online bookstores l

ResAliens, Issue 12, features my story “Doppelgänger” (parallel universes and the universal discovery of one’s own capabilities) and the beautiful cover art from Jasiah Witkofsky. The magazine is available in print and e-book format at all your favorite online bookstores,

I’m so incredibly happy to have my story “Let the Chips Go” (another Mars story featuring Emma the cafeteria lady) published in the magnificent Lorelei Signal, an online magazine I truly can’t praise highly enough, https://www.loreleisignal.com/let-the-chips-go

I’m ecstatic that my story “Snack Time” is now published in the fantastic Boundary Shock Quarterly, Issue 28, available at Pubshare (https://pubshare.com/books/sf-horror) and in all formats at your favorite online bookstores. “Snack Time” features hungry aliens who have their own reasons for following the Way of St. James to the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.

I am so very happy to have my story “Klaus Klabautermann” (an oceanic kobold who decided to follow a cruise ship) published in this wonderful magazine, Black Sheep, No. 16, October 2024. This amazing magazine is available at all online bookstores in print and digital formats.

I was amazed (obviously) and incredibly grateful to have my story “Anatomical Anomaly or Conduit?” (starting in Ames, Iowa and ending up on Mars) tie for third place in the Amazing Stories Readers Choice Awards for the 2nd Quarter of 2024. My sincere thanks to the readers! https://amazingstories.com/2024/09/results-of-the-amazing-stories-readers-choice-awards-for-the-2nd-quarter-of-2024

Once again I am overjoyed to have a story published in Möbius Blvd, Nr.11, September 2024. This brilliant magazine includes my story “The Chemistry That Robots Need”, another story from my Mars collection. Möbius Blvd is available at all online bookstores in print and digital formats.

I’m so happy to have my story “Time Out” (one of my few attempts at YA) published in the A Stitch in Spacetime anthology! It is available via Lulu at https://www.lulu.com/shop/jay-chakravarti/a-stitch-in-spacetime/paperback/product-e786k52.html?page=1&pageSize=4 (print) and at https://www.lulu.com/shop/jay-chakravarti/a-stitch-in-spacetime/ebook/product-2m5898q.html?page=1&pageSize=4 (digital)

I am so happy to have my story “Polterabend with the Poltergeister” published in The Pink Hydra. You can read my story for free at https://www.thepinkhydra.com/issues/0101202407/polterabend/ and learn about the magazine at https://www.thepinkhydra.com/issues/

I am especially happy to have my story “Time and Then” published in Dark Horses, Nr. 30, July 2024. It’s science fiction, but inspired by two friends from MSU in the 1970’s. This wonderful magazine is available at all online bookstores in print and digital formats.

I am thrilled beyond belief to have my story “Anatomical Anomaly or Conduit” (another one of my Mars stories), published in Amazing Stories Online, amazingstories.com. You can read or listen to it for free at https://amazingstories.com/2024/06/anatomical-anomaly-or-conduit-by-mary-jo-rabe-free-story/

I am eternally grateful to Dark Dead Things Magazine for publishing my story “As Earthie As Apple Pie”. I don’t remember when or why I wrote this story, and it isn’t like anything else I write because it is short, almost flash fiction, and well, maybe not “dark” or “dead”, but possibly another “d” word, i.e. disgusting. You may never want to eat apple pie again. See this wonderful magazine for issues and merchandise: https://www.darkdeadthings.com/, also available at your favorite online bookstore in print and digital formats.

I’m ecstatic to have my story “Limbo on Elysium Mons” (another one of my Mars stories) published in Alien Dimensions, Issue 26, https://aliendimensions.com/ and available in print and digital formats in all online bookstores.

Writers often have their favorite stories, stories they wrote that they like best. “Shadfly Season” is one of mine. The story is, of course, fiction, and the characters are pure figments of my imagination, but the setting has “local color” from the area where I grew up. You can read it for free at the April 2024 issue of The Lorelei Signal, https://www.loreleisignal.com/shadfly-season

I’m overjoyed to have my story “Hiram’s Sculptures” published in Volume 2, Issue 1, April 2024, of Epic Echoes Magazine. The magazine is available to read and download for free at the website! Just click on the cover on the magazine site. Here is the link: www.epicechoesmag.com/Magazine/

I am especially happy and grateful to have my story “Monsignor Hubert Beck” (another Mars story, this time inspired by vicars general I have known) published in Möbius Blvd, Issue No. 5, available at all online bookstores in print and digital formats.

My story “Parallel Time” (inspired by library meetings at the Franciscan convent in Sießen (where Sr. Maria Innocentia Hummel created her Hummel figurines) is available at the Editor’s Corner of the February 2024 issue of the online magazine Electric Spec, https://www.electricspec.com/Volume19/Issue1/rabe.feb24.html

I’m overjoyed to have my story “Olympus Mons” (another one of my Mars stories) published in ResAliens, Issue 11. It was encouraging to have a wonderful editor (Lyndon Perry) request a story from me. ResAliens is available at all online bookstores in print and digital formats, most easily found by searching for “ResAliens Zine”.

It’s wonderful to see “Where the Tall Corn Grows” (i.e. Iowa) published in Möbius Blvd, Issue No. 4, now available at all online bookstores in print and digital formats. This is another Iowa farm story with speculation about kernels of corn.

I’m so happy and grateful to have my story “Persuasion” published in Black Sheep, Issue No. 7, now available at all online bookstores in print and digital formats. The inspiration was the current “political” situation here in Germany. Wolves, legally still a protected species, are returning to the Black Forest. Local farmers are worried.

I’m exceedidngly happy that my story “Epiphany Star Singers” is published by Knight Writing Press (knightwritingpress.com) in Particular Passages: Decked Halls and available at your favorite online bookstores in print and digital formats.

My story “Rodney’s Request” (a happy Iowa story) is now available in Issue 56 of Luna Station Quarterly. The issue is available free online, and my story at https://lunastationquarterly.com/story/rodneys-request/
A little information about this wonderful online magazine, which is available in print at amazon and as an e-book at Luna Station Quarterly, https://lunastationpress.gumroad.com/l/lsq-056 at or at your favorite online bookstore.

I am incredibly happy that my story “Where Fasnet Met Space Net” (a science fiction story inspired by the Fasnacht/Fasnet/Carneval – Mardi Gras celebrations in Baden-Württemberg, specifically the area around Rottweil) has been published in Dark Horses, Issue 20, September 2023. This wonderful magazine is available in electronic and print formats at all online bookstores.

My story, “Elsie’s Encounter”, takes place in the area where I grew up. I just never noticed any magic or witches while I lived there. I am so grateful to Leah Cutter for including it in her fantastic anthology Crones. Cutter’s Final Cut: Issue 5, which is available in electronic and print formats at all online bookstores

I’m overjoyed that my story “Death in Advent” (naturally pure fiction with characters that are merely a figment of my imagination, although “inspired” by the 41 years spent at my place of employment) is now published in The Dark City, Volume 8, Issue 4, July 2023 and available in print and electronic formats at all online bookstores. I originally wrote this story in 2018 for a WMG anthology workshop in Lincoln City, Oregon.

My story, “Julienne Cleans Up”, from my Mars collection, is available at The Lorelei Signal, double issue April and July, 2023, https://www.loreleisignal.com/julienne-cleans-up. I’m thrilled to be published in this wonderful online magazine again.

I first wrote “Lose the Oops” available in the July issue (#42) of Fabula Argentea, https://fabulaargentea.com/…/lose-the-oops-by-mary-jo…/ during a WMG science fiction writing workshop in Lincoln City, Oregon, in the fall of 2013. Since then I redrafted it to eliminate the original “low-hanging fruit”, i.e. substituting Cistercian nuns for space aliens. It is a cautionary tale, taking place in an imaginary/alternate-universe Dubuque, Iowa, and I am extremely grateful to Fabula Argentea for publishing two of my stories so far.

“Dan the Trumpet Man”, the story of a trumpet player and composer on Mars, inspired by Dan Cook (https://pecanvalleymusic.com/) is published in Dark Horses, May 2023, Issue 16, and available in all online bookstores, This is the third story published in Dark Horses so far.

“To Hear the Bats on Christmas Day” featuring Maquoketa B. Dragon, famous resident of the Maquoketa Caves, is published in the wonderful A Flight of Dragons: Anthology, available in all online bookstores in electronic and print format.

“Huey, Dewey, and Lloyd”, a siblings struggle from my Mars collection, can be viewed at the Editor’s Corner of Electric Spec, https://www.electricspec.com/Volume18/Issue1/rabe.feb23.html

“Shriek and the World Shrieks with You”, the fate of long-living robots on Mars, is published in Starry Eyed Press’s ONE-WAY TICKET, a collection of fourteen science fiction tales of action, adventure, suspense, mystery and terror and is available in all online bookstores in electronic and print format.

“Pink on Pink”, the trials and tribulations of a modern witch on Mars, is now published in Dark Horses, the Magazine of Weird Fiction, Issue No. 12, January 2023, available at all online bookstores in electronic and print format.

“Red, Blue,. Green, and Yellow” has its own history. First of all, the most important information:

I am overjoyed, thrilled, and so grateful that “Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow” is now online at 4StarStories 

You can go directly to my story at https://4starstories.com/4StarStories_Archive_Issue25/story_4.htm

The Editor of Four Star Stories, David Gray, was kind enough to write his acceptance of this story beginning with: “I loved it. I thought it was one of the most original stories I have read in a long time.”

Some stories just show up and demand to be written. However, I owe the existence of this story to three amazing writers, T. Thorne Coyle, Dayle Dermatis, and Annie Reed.

After the tragic death of Kip Ward, the owner of the Historic Anchor Inn in Lincoln City, Oregon, writers T. Thorn Coyle, Dayle A. Dermatis, and Annie Reed suggested that we write stories for a charity anthology in honor of Kip Ward called “Tales From the Anchor”. During the Anthology Workshops in Lincoln City, many of us had had the good fortune to stay at the wonderful Anchor Inn. The stories for the anthology were to be inspired by items there. Proceeds would be donated to Kip Ward’s favorite charity. My story, “Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow” was inspired by the multi-colored, glass lamp above the doorway between the restaurant and bar in the Anchor Inn. As happens sometimes, this anthology didn’t come about, and so my story found a home in Four Star Stories.

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I’m overjoyed to have my story “Balance the Books” published online at The Lorelei Signal, https://www.loreleisignal.com/balance-the–books, the October 2022 issue. It has definite autobiographical references from my 41 years in the chancery office library, along with wishful thinking from that time.

My story “Tryst at the Tombaugh Regio” in Draw Down the Moon, another wonderful anthology from Propertius Press, available https://www.propertiuspress.com/our-bookstore/Draw-Down-the-Moon-A-Collection-of-Short-Stories-p375745328  and in e-book and print formats at all online bookstores. I wrote this love story for an anthology workshop in Las Vegas. It’s happy ending takes place on the Tombaugh Regio, that pink, heart-shaped area on (dwarf)planet Pluto.

I wrote “Spaceship Nursery” for a Dean Wesley Smith online workshop. It is a new perspective of AI with respect to spaceship construction. The nice people at Wyldblood, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Issue 9, available at https://wyldblood.com/product/wyldblood-9/ and at online bookstores in e-book and print formats.

My story “How Fred the Opossum Mobilized the Microbes and Saved the Universe” in Pulphouse, Issue 18, available in e-book and print formats at all online bookstores and at https://wmgpublishinginc.com/project/pulphouse-issue-18/ and via https://books2read.com/u/38eNgw. It was kindly reviewed by Tangent Online, https://tangentonline.com/print-bi-monthly/pulphouse-18-june-july-2022/ Fred the Opossum was a frequent visitor on our farm in Iowa, and I’m glad I had the chance to give him the credit he deserves.

Blaze Ward was kind enough to publish my story “And Became Titans” in his Boundary Shock Quarterly, Issue 9, Sea Stories . Here intelligent Martian microbes find a way to get the Earthie colonists to help them gain communication with other microbes in the solar system. It is available in e-book and print formats at all online bookstores and at https://www.boundaryshockquarterly.com/book/sea-stories/

Once again Blaze Ward was kind enough to publish my story “The Gods of the Black Forest” in Blaze Ward Presents, Issue 6, available in e-book and print formats in all online book stores and at https://blazewardpresents.com/?mbdb_book=small-gods  My small gods live in the streams in the mountains of the Black Forest.

“October Mardi Gras” is published in Dark Horses, the Magazine of Weird Fiction, Issue No. 4, May 2022. It is inspired by memories of various teachers at Miles High School in Miles, Iowa, back in the 1960’s. It is also available at all online bookstores in e-book and print formats

Steven Lester Carr, kindly published “Iowa Summer”, my story that I wrote for an anthology workshop in Lincoln City, Oregon in his online magazine, Short Story Town, unfortunately no longer available on the Internet.

My Story “The Devil and the Deep Blue Chiemsee”, inspired by my years in the chancery office library and a library conference at Frauenchiemsee, is available at Mystery Tribune online at: https://mysterytribune.com/the-devil-and-the-deep-blue-chiemsee-cozy-mystery-by-mary-jo-rabe/

“Prista Indulges in Tricks and Treats” is published at The Lorelei Signal, https://www.loreleisignal.com/prista-indulges-tricks-and-treats, was published in the January 2022 issue and is no longer online

My two stories previously published in Pulphouse #4 (For the Love of Killer) and Pulphouse #8 (Taking Care of Business) have been reprinted in new Pulphouse issues, as always available in e-book and print format at all online bookstores. “For the Love of Killer” appears in Run!! Creatures, Critters, and Pulphousers and is also availaboe at WMG, https://wmgpublishinginc.com/project/run-creatures-critters-and-pulphousers/?fbclid=IwAR1AgtKTe43OF13MH6BXRfaZuPG93kRzqw-MhcZct0SZU-vbQm5Wbsjo-gc. “Taking Care of Business” appears in Twisted Robots, Oh, My!, and is also available at WMG (https://wmgpublishinginc.com/project/twisted-robots-oh-my/?fbclid=IwAR1f1-E4wEW9OhaFuRwNkEsmdgr3oH8jGzJ5VBTke987vi48UJva7r5KlyM)

My story “Gargoyles of the World, Unite!” inspired by the gargoyles of the Freiburg cathedral and featuring Annegret Gumpert, one of my somewhat homicidal alter egos, to my endless delight, is published in The Lost Librarian’s Grave, a wonderful anthology available as an e-book and in print from Redwood Press https://redwood-press.com/, and at every online bookstore.

I wrote “Endless Horizons”, a joyful story about exploring the universe, for the 2019 Anthology Workshop and was overjoyed and eternally grateful when editor Leah Cutter accepted it for her anthology “Explorers, Cutter’s Final Cut: Issue Three“, which of course if available in e-book and print form at all online bookstores and at https://cuttersfinalcut.com/book/explorers/

Steven Lester Carr, kindly published “Rescuing Sparty”, my story inspired by the three years that I spent at Michigan State University in his online magazine, Short Story Town, unfortunately no longer available on the Internet.

My story “A Squeaky-Clean Reunion” takes place in the Maquoketa Caves (Maquoketa, Iowa). It features one of my recurring characters, Maquoketa B. Dragon, a mellow, Iowa dragon. I am overjoyed to see it published in Crunchy with Chocolate, available in e-book and print format at WolfSinger Publications, https://www.wolfsingerpubs.com/crunchy-with-chocolate and at every online bookstore.

Back in 2015 I took a workshop on writing short stories taught by one of the writers I admire most, Dean Wesley Smith. One of the stories I wrote for the workshop was “Tauri”, which the wonderful people at Fabula Argentea have published in their online edition. You can read it at: https://fabulaargentea.com/index.php/article/tauri-by-mary-jo-rabe/

My story “Christmas in the Ruins”, a fictional account of Christmas in Freiburg in 1944, appeared as part of WMG Publishing’s Winter Holiday Spectacular 2020. I am so grateful to Kristine Kathryn Rusch for including it in her anthology, even though it was perhaps darker than what she was looking for.
It is available as e-book and in print at all online bookstores as well as at WMG, https://wmgpublishinginc.com/project/mysterious-christmas/

I wrote “It’s Lechtenbrink, Libby Lechtenbrink” for a science fiction writing workshop in January of 2020. My story features Libby Lechtenbrink, a librarian on Mars, one of my more homicidal alter egos. I am so grateful to Barbara G. Tarn for including me in this wonderful anthology, Sci-Fi Stories Earth Colonies, published in July, 2021. You can find the magazine, electronic or print, at all online bookstores, here a selection
https://books2read.com/sci-fi5

I wrote “We Can Wait But No Longer Want To” during Dean Wesley Smith’s story a week challenge in 2019 and 2020. Energetic Martian microbes take advantage of the opportunity to leave their frosty underground lakes. I am overjoyed to have it published July, 2021, in Alien Dimensions #20/21, a wonderful magazine available in electronic and print form.
amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B097HMG6FK
amazon.de: https://www.amazon.de/Alien…/dp/B098VSSQGJ/ref=sr_1_2…

I wrote “If You Lead an Earthling to Water, Who Gets To Drink?” during Dean Wesley Smith’s story a week challenge in 2019 and 2020. Martian colonists have to deal with the dilemma of possibly endangering alien life in order to keep their Earth colony running. I am thrilled that Penumbric Speculative Fiction Magazine chose to publish it in its online magazine, Issue 1, June 2021:

https://www.penumbric.com/currentissue/rabeWater.html

During Dean Wesley Smith’s story a week challenge in 2019 and 2020 I wrote a story I titled “Herr Gehrke, Why Is Everyone Lying to Me?” that took place in an archdiocesan chancery office of a mid-sized German city. In the hopes that it would fit Blaze Ward Presents 5 Crime and …, which was published in June, 2021, I renamed it “Bishops”. I am incredibly grateful to Blaze Ward for accepting this story. Naturally it is completely fictional, but some of the characters are inspired by people I have known. The anthology is available at all your favorite online bookstores, to name a few

amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B096CJPLMV/?tag=kydala-20

amazon.de: https://www.amazon.de/…/B096CYSG1Q/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0…

I wrote “Slim Pickings on Mars” for Dean Wesley Smith’s “Write 30 Stories in 60 Days Challenge” back in 2017. A detective on Mars literally stumbles onto an object at a crime scene that has multi-universal consequences. It was my immense good fortune that Blaze Ward was willing to accept it for his Blaze Ward Presents 4 anthology which was published in November, 2020. The anthology is available at all your favorite online bookstores, to name a few

amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/Cloak-Dagger-Blaze-Ward/dp/B08NYYBPM2/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1626771787&sr=1-1

amazon.de: https://www.amazon.de/Cloak-Dagger-Blaze-Ward/dp/B08NYYBPM2/ref=sr_1_1?__mk_de_DE=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&dchild=1&keywords=blaze+ward+presents+4&qid=1626771873&s=books&sr=1-1

“Father Otto” is a story I wrote in 2016 for the 2017 Anthology Workshop in Lincoln City, Oregon. Thanks to kind editor Dayle A. Dermatis, it became my first professional sale, appearing in the Fiction River issue 33 Doorways to Enchantment, published in August, 2020. “Father Otto” is an homage to one of my favorite people at the chancery office of the Archdiocese of Freiburg. Naturally all figures are mere figments of my imagination, but inspired by real people. The story itself takes place on the second floor of the historic chancery office building in Freiburg, Germany.
It is available, electronic and print, at all online bookstores, here a selection:
https://books2read.com/u/4NLWMo and of course at WMG Publishing:
https://www.wmgpublishinginc.com/p…/doorways-to-enchantment/
Tangent Online wrote a kind review of my story:

Fiction River #33: Doorways to Enchantment, ed. Dayle A. Dermatis

“Sagan in the Past” is science fiction story I wrote for Dean Wesley Smith’s “Write 30 Stories in 60 Days Challenge” back in 2017. Sagan, a cat, plays an important role in a time-travel story that begins on a university campus that has certain similarities with Michigan State University. Barbara G. Tarn, was kind enough to include this story in her anthology Future Earth Tech. published in July, 2020.
You can find the magazine, electronic or print, at all online bookstores, here a selection:
https://books2read.com/sci-fi3

“Katie’s Visions” is also a product of Dean Wesley Smith’s “Write 30 Stories in 60 Days Challenge”, one I worried about finding a home for, since it isn’t science fiction. Maybe you could call it historical fantasy. Katharina von Bora (Martin Luther’s wife) gets visions from Joan of Arc who has her own agenda for wanting to encourage Katharina. The wonderful people at Propertius Press included this story in their anthology Whispers from the Universe, published in June, 2020. It is available, electronic and print, at most online stores but also easily at Propertius Press, which does not charge for postage or handling.
Go to: https://bit.ly/whisperstories or
https://propertiuspress.wixsite.com/bookstore/online-store/Whispers-from-the-Universe-A-Collection-of-Short-Stories-p209124441

“Taking Care of Business” is a science fiction story I wrote for Dean Wesley Smith’s “Write 30 Stories in 60 Days Challenge” back in 2017. An Elvis impersonator on Mars finds a way to deal with devastating health issues, consistent with his reverence for The King. Dean was then kind enough to include this story in Pulphouse, Issue 8 of 2019.published in December, 2020. You can find the magazine, electronic or print, at all online bookstores, here a selection
https://books2read.com/u/bO6gAQ
or naturally at WMG Publishing: https://pulphousemagazine.com/the-magazine/issue8/

Tangent Online reviewed this issue of Pulphouse: https://tangentonline.com/print-quarterly/pulphouse-fiction-magazine/pulphouse-8-fall-2019/

“For the Love of Killer” is another story I wrote in 2016 for the 2017 Anthology Workshop in Lincoln City, Oregon. Killer is a little, white peekapoo, inspired by Puffy, our dog on the farm. It wasn’t chosen for the anthology about female heroines, but Dean Wesley Smith was kind enough to take it for Pulphouse, Issue 4 of 2018, published in December, 2018 You can find the magazine, electronic or print, at all online bookstores, here a selection
https://books2read.com/u/47Z9aR?fbclid=IwAR0iZAracjT1yWQnMG4TGHIs0P_Sf58Udvmg_vDMldSEYbH-hkScaOaCAfU
or naturally at WMG Publishing: https://pulphousemagazine.com/the-magazine/issue4/

Tangent Online reviewed this issue of Pulphouse: https://tangentonline.com/print-quarterly/pulphouse-fiction-magazine/pulphouse-4-december-2018/

Russ Crossley was kind enough to include “Efficient Engineering”, a story I wrote for the anthology workshop in Lincoln City, Oregon, in 2017, in his Rocketpack Adventures anthology in October, 2018. An engineer on Mars decides to build her own rocket and leave for parts unknown. You can find the magazine, electronic or print, at all online bookstores, here a selection
https://books2read.com/rocketpack-adventures

“One Universe Is Never Enough” is a story I wrote Dean Wesley Smith’s “Write 30 Stories in 60 Days Challenge” back in 2017. An administrator on Pluto gets tired of the bureaucratic backbiting and takes a chance on travel to another universe. Barbara G. Tarn was kind enough to include it in her Space Opera Mashup. Published in July, 2018. You can find the magazine, electronic or print, at all online bookstores, here a selection
http://books2read.com/u/4AY5XN

Two  of my poems are still archived online:

Salt Water Rafting at Raven Electrick: http://www.ravenelectrick.com/ravenpoetrick/saltwaterrafting.html

Tharsis Lil at Astropoetica: http://www.astropoetica.com/Summer07/tharsislil.html

I have my author pages at amazon where you can see which stories of mine have been published so far:

amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/Mary-Jo-Rabe/e/B007MMFCPM?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_2&qid=1598900121&sr=1-2

amazon.de: https://www.amazon.de/Mary-Jo-Rabe/e/B007MMFCPM?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_6&qid=1598900017&sr=1-6

amazon.co.uk: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mary-Jo-Rabe/e/B007MMFCPM?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_4&qid=1598900282&sr=1-4

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A Brilliantly Scary Book

Posted on February 23, 2025 by maryjorabe

Shivers, Scares, and Chills, written and illustrated by Vonnie Winslow Crist.

Do yourself and others a favor and buy “Shivers, Scares, and Chills”, a dazzling book written and illustrated by Vonnie Winslow Crist. Read it out loud to watch others quaver, or read it by yourself, shivering under a blanket. You won’t forget a single story, poem, or beautiful illustration.

This collection of scary stories and poems is perfect entertainment for all ages, but perhaps especially so for middle-grade readers, i.e. ages approximately 8 through 12. The stories are scary, often with surprising endings, but are never revolting or disgusting. They will raise your heart rate and maybe even your blood pressure, but in a way that makes you feel alive, unlike the fate of many of the characters in the stories.

The references to Edgar Allen Poe are icing on the cake of a delicious book, a perfect introduction for those who haven’t read many of his works.

Vonnie Winslow Crist’s use of language is precise, poetic, and haunting, yet absolutely accessible to younger readers.

Vonnie Winslow Crist is not only a brilliant writer; she is a gifted graphic artist. Her drawings are at once the perfect illustration of each story and poem as well as being underlain with a subtle smile or chuckle.

You don’t want to miss out on this collection of amazing stories and poems.

There are zombie rabbits who start consuming their human companions.

Bats accompany dead Aunt Pauline as she continues to brush her long, white hair.

A goblin drags kids into the woods to use their blood to dye his cap red.

A toad-headed goblin changes an arrogant girl into a small hop toad.

A dead grandfather with his cane protects grandson from bullies who want to steal his marbles

A brother and sister eaten by water beasts at reservoir

A water witch gets even with the stingy man who cheats her out of her fair wage

A girl doesn’t listen to her cousin and is consumed by the mossy bog beast

A girl touches her grandfather’s dentures in the glass of water and the dentures bite her fingers off.

As a boy waits for the moon to turn red at the eclipse, a werewolf shows up to eat the boy.

A girl thinks her ear just tickles, but it is the nest for many hatching spider’s eggs.

Space aliens capture kids while they watch the Northern Lights

A girl swims alone in lake, rides a water horse that turns out to be a kelpie which dives to the bottom of the lake, taking her with it. Her friends discover her severed finger with ring.

The Black Dog catches disobedient boy whose lucky penny drops on the sidewalk instead of helping him.

Around a campfire a boy tells ghost stories about people in the past being buried alive with a string tied to their fingers to ring a bell so the undertaker could rescue them. Then the kids hear bells from an abandoned cemetery.

A librarian, who might be Baba Yaga, has a garden full of stone gargoyles who come to life and protect her when a skogtroll invades her garden and wants to consume her.

When Giggles the part-time clown can’t get a boy to laugh in life, he returns as a ghost with a misshapen face.

A girl steps on a cricket. On her way to throw the cricket away, she slips, breaks her ankle, and realizes she will have bad luck for 7 years.

A boy visits grave of ancestor pirate and is confronted by a scary being who says repenting isn’t enough

A girl uses the head of stuffed animal bear for her creepy scarecrow at Halloween. The torso of the bear then suffocates her later that night.

Two boys enter a house at Halloween because they see the piles of candy bars. The witch then throws them into a cage and tells them she will eat them after they get fat from the candy bars.

A boy and a girl cut through a graveyard to get to the soccer field. They see a fairy prying open a casket. She explains that she needs more teeth for her fairy castle and asks them for theirs. They run away, but the boy trips on the root of a tree.

Two brothers steal holly from a grave; a woman ghost rises up and follows them home.

Schoolgirls visit Edgar Allen Poe’s house; one girl sees the ghost of Poe at his desk at the window of his attic

The raven poem lets you look into the mind of the raven

The dragon poem tells you that dragons are watching you at all times.

The mummy poem describes a mummy gradually returning to life

“Shivers, Scares, and Chills” will be the book you have to recommend to others, since you won’t want to keep this kind of reading enjoyment to yourself.

Posted in book review, Shivers, Scares, and Chills, Vonnie Winslow-Crist | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Publications as of July 2024

Posted on July 25, 2024 by maryjorabe

More or less in reverse order of publication, here are my online and print publications again so far:

I’m so happy to have my story “Time Out” (one of my few attempts at YA) published in the A Stitch in Spacetime anthology! It is available via Lulu at https://www.lulu.com/shop/jay-chakravarti/a-stitch-in-spacetime/paperback/product-e786k52.html?page=1&pageSize=4 (print) and at https://www.lulu.com/shop/jay-chakravarti/a-stitch-in-spacetime/ebook/product-2m5898q.html?page=1&pageSize=4 (digital)

I am so happy to have my story “Polterabend with the Poltergeister” published in The Pink Hydra. You can read my story for free at https://www.thepinkhydra.com/issues/0101202407/polterabend/ and learn about the magazine at https://www.thepinkhydra.com/issues/

I am especially happy to have my story “Time and Then” published in Dark Horses, Nr. 30, July 2024. It’s science fiction, but inspired by two friends from MSU in the 1970’s. This wonderful magazine is available at all online bookstores in print and digital formats.

I am thrilled beyond belief to have my story “Anatomical Anomaly or Conduit” (another one of my Mars stories), published in Amazing Stories Online, amazingstories.com. You can read or listen to it for free at https://amazingstories.com/2024/06/anatomical-anomaly-or-conduit-by-mary-jo-rabe-free-story/

I am eternally grateful to Dark Dead Things Magazine for publishing my story “As Earthie As Apple Pie”. I don’t remember when or why I wrote this story, and it isn’t like anything else I write because it is short, almost flash fiction, and well, maybe not “dark” or “dead”, but possibly another “d” word, i.e. disgusting. You may never want to eat apple pie again. See this wonderful magazine for issues and merchandise: https://www.darkdeadthings.com/, also available at your favorite online bookstore in print and digital formats.

I’m ecstatic to have my story “Limbo on Elysium Mons” (another one of my Mars stories) published in Alien Dimensions, Issue 26, https://aliendimensions.com/ and available in print and digital formats in all online bookstores.

Writers often have their favorite stories, stories they wrote that they like best. “Shadfly Season” is one of mine. The story is, of course, fiction, and the characters are pure figments of my imagination, but the setting has “local color” from the area where I grew up. You can read it for free at the April 2024 issue of The Lorelei Signal, https://www.loreleisignal.com/shadfly-season

I’m overjoyed to have my story “Hiram’s Sculptures” published in Volume 2, Issue 1, April 2024, of Epic Echoes Magazine. The magazine is available to read and download for free at the website! Just click on the cover on the magazine site. Here is the link: www.epicechoesmag.com/Magazine/

I am especially happy and grateful to have my story “Monsignor Hubert Beck” (another Mars story, this time inspired by vicars general I have known) published in Möbius Blvd, Issue No. 5, available at all online bookstores in print and digital formats.

My story “Parallel Time” (inspired by library meetings at the Franciscan convent in Sießen (where Sr. Maria Innocentia Hummel created her Hummel figurines) is available at the Editor’s Corner of the February 2024 issue of the online magazine Electric Spec, https://www.electricspec.com/Volume19/Issue1/rabe.feb24.html

I’m overjoyed to have my story “Olympus Mons” (another one of my Mars stories) published in ResAliens, Issue 11. It was encouraging to have a wonderful editor (Lyndon Perry) request a story from me. ResAliens is available at all online bookstores in print and digital formats, most easily found by searching for “ResAliens Zine”.

It’s wonderful to see “Where the Tall Corn Grows” (i.e. Iowa) published in Möbius Blvd, Issue No. 4, now available at all online bookstores in print and digital formats. This is another Iowa farm story with speculation about kernels of corn.

I’m so happy and grateful to have my story “Persuasion” published in Black Sheep, Issue No. 7, now available at all online bookstores in print and digital formats. The inspiration was the current “political” situation here in Germany. Wolves, legally still a protected species, are returning to the Black Forest. Local farmers are worried.

I’m exceedidngly happy that my story “Epiphany Star Singers” is published by Knight Writing Press (knightwritingpress.com) in Particular Passages: Decked Halls and available at your favorite online bookstores in print and digital formats.

My story “Rodney’s Request” (a happy Iowa story) is now available in Issue 56 of Luna Station Quarterly. The issue is available free online, and my story at https://lunastationquarterly.com/story/rodneys-request/
A little information about this wonderful online magazine, which is available in print at amazon and as an e-book at Luna Station Quarterly, https://lunastationpress.gumroad.com/l/lsq-056 at or at your favorite online bookstore.

I am incredibly happy that my story “Where Fasnet Met Space Net” (a science fiction story inspired by the Fasnacht/Fasnet/Carneval – Mardi Gras celebrations in Baden-Württemberg, specifically the area around Rottweil) has been published in Dark Horses, Issue 20, September 2023. This wonderful magazine is available in electronic and print formats at all online bookstores.

My story, “Elsie’s Encounter”, takes place in the area where I grew up. I just never noticed any magic or witches while I lived there. I am so grateful to Leah Cutter for including it in her fantastic anthology Crones. Cutter’s Final Cut: Issue 5, which is available in electronic and print formats at all online bookstores

I’m overjoyed that my story “Death in Advent” (naturally pure fiction with characters that are merely a figment of my imagination, although “inspired” by the 41 years spent at my place of employment) is now published in The Dark City, Volume 8, Issue 4, July 2023 and available in print and electronic formats at all online bookstores. I originally wrote this story in 2018 for a WMG anthology workshop in Lincoln City, Oregon.

My story, “Julienne Cleans Up”, from my Mars collection, is available at The Lorelei Signal, double issue April and July, 2023, https://www.loreleisignal.com/julienne-cleans-up. I’m thrilled to be published in this wonderful online magazine again.

I first wrote “Lose the Oops” available in the July issue (#42) of Fabula Argentea, https://fabulaargentea.com/…/lose-the-oops-by-mary-jo…/ during a WMG science fiction writing workshop in Lincoln City, Oregon, in the fall of 2013. Since then I redrafted it to eliminate the original “low-hanging fruit”, i.e. substituting Cistercian nuns for space aliens. It is a cautionary tale, taking place in an imaginary/alternate-universe Dubuque, Iowa, and I am extremely grateful to Fabula Argentea for publishing two of my stories so far.

“Dan the Trumpet Man”, the story of a trumpet player and composer on Mars, inspired by Dan Cook (https://pecanvalleymusic.com/) is published in Dark Horses, May 2023, Issue 16, and available in all online bookstores, This is the third story published in Dark Horses so far.

“To Hear the Bats on Christmas Day” featuring Maquoketa B. Dragon, famous resident of the Maquoketa Caves, is published in the wonderful A Flight of Dragons: Anthology, available in all online bookstores in electronic and print format.

“Huey, Dewey, and Lloyd”, a siblings struggle from my Mars collection, can be viewed at the Editor’s Corner of Electric Spec, https://www.electricspec.com/Volume18/Issue1/rabe.feb23.html

“Shriek and the World Shrieks with You”, the fate of long-living robots on Mars, is published in Starry Eyed Press’s ONE-WAY TICKET, a collection of fourteen science fiction tales of action, adventure, suspense, mystery and terror and is available in all online bookstores in electronic and print format.

“Pink on Pink”, the trials and tribulations of a modern witch on Mars, is now published in Dark Horses, the Magazine of Weird Fiction, Issue No. 12, January 2023, available at all online bookstores in electronic and print format.

“Red, Blue,. Green, and Yellow” has its own history. First of all, the most important information:

I am overjoyed, thrilled, and so grateful that “Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow” is now online at 4StarStories 

You can go directly to my story at https://4starstories.com/4StarStories_Archive_Issue25/story_4.htm

The Editor of Four Star Stories, David Gray, was kind enough to write his acceptance of this story beginning with: “I loved it. I thought it was one of the most original stories I have read in a long time.”

Some stories just show up and demand to be written. However, I owe the existence of this story to three amazing writers, T. Thorne Coyle, Dayle Dermatis, and Annie Reed.

After the tragic death of Kip Ward, the owner of the Historic Anchor Inn in Lincoln City, Oregon, writers T. Thorn Coyle, Dayle A. Dermatis, and Annie Reed suggested that we write stories for a charity anthology in honor of Kip Ward called “Tales From the Anchor”. During the Anthology Workshops in Lincoln City, many of us had had the good fortune to stay at the wonderful Anchor Inn. The stories for the anthology were to be inspired by items there. Proceeds would be donated to Kip Ward’s favorite charity. My story, “Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow” was inspired by the multi-colored, glass lamp above the doorway between the restaurant and bar in the Anchor Inn. As happens sometimes, this anthology didn’t come about, and so my story found a home in Four Star Stories.

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I’m overjoyed to have my story “Balance the Books” published online at The Lorelei Signal, https://www.loreleisignal.com/balance-the–books, the October 2022 issue. It has definite autobiographical references from my 41 years in the chancery office library, along with wishful thinking from that time.

My story “Tryst at the Tombaugh Regio” in Draw Down the Moon, another wonderful anthology from Propertius Press, available https://www.propertiuspress.com/our-bookstore/Draw-Down-the-Moon-A-Collection-of-Short-Stories-p375745328  and in e-book and print formats at all online bookstores. I wrote this love story for an anthology workshop in Las Vegas. It’s happy ending takes place on the Tombaugh Regio, that pink, heart-shaped area on (dwarf)planet Pluto.

I wrote “Spaceship Nursery” for a Dean Wesley Smith online workshop. It is a new perspective of AI with respect to spaceship construction. The nice people at Wyldblood, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Issue 9, available at https://wyldblood.com/product/wyldblood-9/ and at online bookstores in e-book and print formats.

My story “How Fred the Opossum Mobilized the Microbes and Saved the Universe” in Pulphouse, Issue 18, available in e-book and print formats at all online bookstores and at https://wmgpublishinginc.com/project/pulphouse-issue-18/ and via https://books2read.com/u/38eNgw. It was kindly reviewed by Tangent Online, https://tangentonline.com/print-bi-monthly/pulphouse-18-june-july-2022/ Fred the Opossum was a frequent visitor on our farm in Iowa, and I’m glad I had the chance to give him the credit he deserves.

Blaze Ward was kind enough to publish my story “And Became Titans” in his Boundary Shock Quarterly, Issue 9, Sea Stories . Here intelligent Martian microbes find a way to get the Earthie colonists to help them gain communication with other microbes in the solar system. It is available in e-book and print formats at all online bookstores and at https://www.boundaryshockquarterly.com/book/sea-stories/

Once again Blaze Ward was kind enough to publish my story “The Gods of the Black Forest” in Blaze Ward Presents, Issue 6, available in e-book and print formats in all online book stores and at https://blazewardpresents.com/?mbdb_book=small-gods  My small gods live in the streams in the mountains of the Black Forest.

“October Mardi Gras” is published in Dark Horses, the Magazine of Weird Fiction, Issue No. 4, May 2022. It is inspired by memories of various teachers at Miles High School in Miles, Iowa, back in the 1960’s. It is also available at all online bookstores in e-book and print formats

Steven Lester Carr, kindly published “Iowa Summer”, my story that I wrote for an anthology workshop in Lincoln City, Oregon in his online magazine, Short Story Town, unfortunately no longer available on the Internet.

My Story “The Devil and the Deep Blue Chiemsee”, inspired by my years in the chancery office library and a library conference at Frauenchiemsee, is available at Mystery Tribune online at: https://mysterytribune.com/the-devil-and-the-deep-blue-chiemsee-cozy-mystery-by-mary-jo-rabe/

“Prista Indulges in Tricks and Treats” is published at The Lorelei Signal, https://www.loreleisignal.com/prista-indulges-tricks-and-treats, was published in the January 2022 issue and is no longer online

My two stories previously published in Pulphouse #4 (For the Love of Killer) and Pulphouse #8 (Taking Care of Business) have been reprinted in new Pulphouse issues, as always available in e-book and print format at all online bookstores. “For the Love of Killer” appears in Run!! Creatures, Critters, and Pulphousers and is also availaboe at WMG, https://wmgpublishinginc.com/project/run-creatures-critters-and-pulphousers/?fbclid=IwAR1AgtKTe43OF13MH6BXRfaZuPG93kRzqw-MhcZct0SZU-vbQm5Wbsjo-gc. “Taking Care of Business” appears in Twisted Robots, Oh, My!, and is also available at WMG (https://wmgpublishinginc.com/project/twisted-robots-oh-my/?fbclid=IwAR1f1-E4wEW9OhaFuRwNkEsmdgr3oH8jGzJ5VBTke987vi48UJva7r5KlyM)

My story “Gargoyles of the World, Unite!” inspired by the gargoyles of the Freiburg cathedral and featuring Annegret Gumpert, one of my somewhat homicidal alter egos, to my endless delight, is published in The Lost Librarian’s Grave, a wonderful anthology available as an e-book and in print from Redwood Press https://redwood-press.com/, and at every online bookstore.

I wrote “Endless Horizons”, a joyful story about exploring the universe, for the 2019 Anthology Workshop and was overjoyed and eternally grateful when editor Leah Cutter accepted it for her anthology “Explorers, Cutter’s Final Cut: Issue Three“, which of course if available in e-book and print form at all online bookstores and at https://cuttersfinalcut.com/book/explorers/

Steven Lester Carr, kindly published “Rescuing Sparty”, my story inspired by the three years that I spent at Michigan State University in his online magazine, Short Story Town, unfortunately no longer available on the Internet.

My story “A Squeaky-Clean Reunion” takes place in the Maquoketa Caves (Maquoketa, Iowa). It features one of my recurring characters, Maquoketa B. Dragon, a mellow, Iowa dragon. I am overjoyed to see it published in Crunchy with Chocolate, available in e-book and print format at WolfSinger Publications, https://www.wolfsingerpubs.com/crunchy-with-chocolate and at every online bookstore.

Back in 2015 I took a workshop on writing short stories taught by one of the writers I admire most, Dean Wesley Smith. One of the stories I wrote for the workshop was “Tauri”, which the wonderful people at Fabula Argentea have published in their online edition. You can read it at: https://fabulaargentea.com/index.php/article/tauri-by-mary-jo-rabe/

My story “Christmas in the Ruins”, a fictional account of Christmas in Freiburg in 1944, appeared as part of WMG Publishing’s Winter Holiday Spectacular 2020. I am so grateful to Kristine Kathryn Rusch for including it in her anthology, even though it was perhaps darker than what she was looking for.
It is available as e-book and in print at all online bookstores as well as at WMG, https://wmgpublishinginc.com/project/mysterious-christmas/

I wrote “It’s Lechtenbrink, Libby Lechtenbrink” for a science fiction writing workshop in January of 2020. My story features Libby Lechtenbrink, a librarian on Mars, one of my more homicidal alter egos. I am so grateful to Barbara G. Tarn for including me in this wonderful anthology, Sci-Fi Stories Earth Colonies, published in July, 2021. You can find the magazine, electronic or print, at all online bookstores, here a selection
https://books2read.com/sci-fi5

I wrote “We Can Wait But No Longer Want To” during Dean Wesley Smith’s story a week challenge in 2019 and 2020. Energetic Martian microbes take advantage of the opportunity to leave their frosty underground lakes. I am overjoyed to have it published July, 2021, in Alien Dimensions #20/21, a wonderful magazine available in electronic and print form.
amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B097HMG6FK
amazon.de: https://www.amazon.de/Alien…/dp/B098VSSQGJ/ref=sr_1_2…

I wrote “If You Lead an Earthling to Water, Who Gets To Drink?” during Dean Wesley Smith’s story a week challenge in 2019 and 2020. Martian colonists have to deal with the dilemma of possibly endangering alien life in order to keep their Earth colony running. I am thrilled that Penumbric Speculative Fiction Magazine chose to publish it in its online magazine, Issue 1, June 2021:

https://www.penumbric.com/currentissue/rabeWater.html

During Dean Wesley Smith’s story a week challenge in 2019 and 2020 I wrote a story I titled “Herr Gehrke, Why Is Everyone Lying to Me?” that took place in an archdiocesan chancery office of a mid-sized German city. In the hopes that it would fit Blaze Ward Presents 5 Crime and …, which was published in June, 2021, I renamed it “Bishops”. I am incredibly grateful to Blaze Ward for accepting this story. Naturally it is completely fictional, but some of the characters are inspired by people I have known. The anthology is available at all your favorite online bookstores, to name a few

amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B096CJPLMV/?tag=kydala-20

amazon.de: https://www.amazon.de/…/B096CYSG1Q/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0…

I wrote “Slim Pickings on Mars” for Dean Wesley Smith’s “Write 30 Stories in 60 Days Challenge” back in 2017. A detective on Mars literally stumbles onto an object at a crime scene that has multi-universal consequences. It was my immense good fortune that Blaze Ward was willing to accept it for his Blaze Ward Presents 4 anthology which was published in November, 2020. The anthology is available at all your favorite online bookstores, to name a few

amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/Cloak-Dagger-Blaze-Ward/dp/B08NYYBPM2/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1626771787&sr=1-1

amazon.de: https://www.amazon.de/Cloak-Dagger-Blaze-Ward/dp/B08NYYBPM2/ref=sr_1_1?__mk_de_DE=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&dchild=1&keywords=blaze+ward+presents+4&qid=1626771873&s=books&sr=1-1

“Father Otto” is a story I wrote in 2016 for the 2017 Anthology Workshop in Lincoln City, Oregon. Thanks to kind editor Dayle A. Dermatis, it became my first professional sale, appearing in the Fiction River issue 33 Doorways to Enchantment, published in August, 2020. “Father Otto” is an homage to one of my favorite people at the chancery office of the Archdiocese of Freiburg. Naturally all figures are mere figments of my imagination, but inspired by real people. The story itself takes place on the second floor of the historic chancery office building in Freiburg, Germany.
It is available, electronic and print, at all online bookstores, here a selection:
https://books2read.com/u/4NLWMo and of course at WMG Publishing:
https://www.wmgpublishinginc.com/p…/doorways-to-enchantment/
Tangent Online wrote a kind review of my story:

Fiction River #33: Doorways to Enchantment, ed. Dayle A. Dermatis

“Sagan in the Past” is science fiction story I wrote for Dean Wesley Smith’s “Write 30 Stories in 60 Days Challenge” back in 2017. Sagan, a cat, plays an important role in a time-travel story that begins on a university campus that has certain similarities with Michigan State University. Barbara G. Tarn, was kind enough to include this story in her anthology Future Earth Tech. published in July, 2020.
You can find the magazine, electronic or print, at all online bookstores, here a selection:
https://books2read.com/sci-fi3

“Katie’s Visions” is also a product of Dean Wesley Smith’s “Write 30 Stories in 60 Days Challenge”, one I worried about finding a home for, since it isn’t science fiction. Maybe you could call it historical fantasy. Katharina von Bora (Martin Luther’s wife) gets visions from Joan of Arc who has her own agenda for wanting to encourage Katharina. The wonderful people at Propertius Press included this story in their anthology Whispers from the Universe, published in June, 2020. It is available, electronic and print, at most online stores but also easily at Propertius Press, which does not charge for postage or handling.
Go to: https://bit.ly/whisperstories or
https://propertiuspress.wixsite.com/bookstore/online-store/Whispers-from-the-Universe-A-Collection-of-Short-Stories-p209124441

“Taking Care of Business” is a science fiction story I wrote for Dean Wesley Smith’s “Write 30 Stories in 60 Days Challenge” back in 2017. An Elvis impersonator on Mars finds a way to deal with devastating health issues, consistent with his reverence for The King. Dean was then kind enough to include this story in Pulphouse, Issue 8 of 2019.published in December, 2020. You can find the magazine, electronic or print, at all online bookstores, here a selection
https://books2read.com/u/bO6gAQ
or naturally at WMG Publishing: https://pulphousemagazine.com/the-magazine/issue8/

Tangent Online reviewed this issue of Pulphouse: https://tangentonline.com/print-quarterly/pulphouse-fiction-magazine/pulphouse-8-fall-2019/

“For the Love of Killer” is another story I wrote in 2016 for the 2017 Anthology Workshop in Lincoln City, Oregon. Killer is a little, white peekapoo, inspired by Puffy, our dog on the farm. It wasn’t chosen for the anthology about female heroines, but Dean Wesley Smith was kind enough to take it for Pulphouse, Issue 4 of 2018, published in December, 2018 You can find the magazine, electronic or print, at all online bookstores, here a selection
https://books2read.com/u/47Z9aR?fbclid=IwAR0iZAracjT1yWQnMG4TGHIs0P_Sf58Udvmg_vDMldSEYbH-hkScaOaCAfU
or naturally at WMG Publishing: https://pulphousemagazine.com/the-magazine/issue4/

Tangent Online reviewed this issue of Pulphouse: https://tangentonline.com/print-quarterly/pulphouse-fiction-magazine/pulphouse-4-december-2018/

Russ Crossley was kind enough to include “Efficient Engineering”, a story I wrote for the anthology workshop in Lincoln City, Oregon, in 2017, in his Rocketpack Adventures anthology in October, 2018. An engineer on Mars decides to build her own rocket and leave for parts unknown. You can find the magazine, electronic or print, at all online bookstores, here a selection
https://books2read.com/rocketpack-adventures

“One Universe Is Never Enough” is a story I wrote Dean Wesley Smith’s “Write 30 Stories in 60 Days Challenge” back in 2017. An administrator on Pluto gets tired of the bureaucratic backbiting and takes a chance on travel to another universe. Barbara G. Tarn was kind enough to include it in her Space Opera Mashup. Published in July, 2018. You can find the magazine, electronic or print, at all online bookstores, here a selection
http://books2read.com/u/4AY5XN

Two  of my poems are still archived online:

Salt Water Rafting at Raven Electrick: http://www.ravenelectrick.com/ravenpoetrick/saltwaterrafting.html

Tharsis Lil at Astropoetica: http://www.astropoetica.com/Summer07/tharsislil.html

I have my author pages at amazon where you can see which stories of mine have been published so far:

amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/Mary-Jo-Rabe/e/B007MMFCPM?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_2&qid=1598900121&sr=1-2

amazon.de: https://www.amazon.de/Mary-Jo-Rabe/e/B007MMFCPM?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_6&qid=1598900017&sr=1-6

amazon.co.uk: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mary-Jo-Rabe/e/B007MMFCPM?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_4&qid=1598900282&sr=1-4

Posted in 4StarStories, A Flight of Dragons, A Stitch in Spacetime, Alien Dimensions, Amazing Stories Online, Barbara G. Tarn, Black Sheep, Blaze Ward Presents, Blue Sunset, Boundary Shock Quarterly, Crunchy with Chocolate, Cutter's Final Cut, Dark City, Dark Dead Things, Dark Horses, Dragon Rain, Electric Spec, Epic Echoes, Fabula Argentea, Fiction River, Flight of Dragons, Future Earth Tech, Leah Cutter, library conferences, Lorelei Signal, Lost Librarian's Grave, Luna Station Quarterly, Lyndon Perry, Mars, Mary Jo Rabe, Möbius Blvd, One-Way Ticket, Particular Passages: Decked Halls, Penumbric Speculative Fiction, Pink Hydra, poems, Propertius Press, Publications, Pulphouse, Raven Electrick, Redwood Press, ResAliens, Russ Crossley, Short Stories, Stories, The Dark City, WMG, Wyldblood | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Publications as of January 2024

Posted on February 4, 2024 by maryjorabe

More or less in reverse order, here are my online and print publications again so far:

It’s wonderful to see “Where the Tall Corn Grows” (i.e. Iowa) published in Möbius Blvd, Issue No. 4, now available at all online bookstores. This is another Iowa farm story with speculation about kernels of corn.

I’m so happy and grateful to have my story “Persuasion” published in Black Sheep, Issue No. 7, now available at all online bookstores. The inspiration was the current “political” situation here in Germany. Wolves, legally still a protected species, are returning to the Black Forest. Local farmers are worried.

I’m exceedidngly happy that my story “Epiphany Star Singers” is published by Knight Writing Press (knightwritingpress.com) in Particular Passages: Decked Halls and available at your favorite online bookstores.

My story “Rodney’s Request” (a happy Iowa story) is now available in Issue 56 of Luna Station Quarterly. The issue is available free online, and my story at https://lunastationquarterly.com/story/rodneys-request/
A little information about this wonderful online magazine, which is available in print at amazon and as an e-book at Luna Station Quarterly, https://lunastationpress.gumroad.com/l/lsq-056 at or at your favorite online bookstore.

I am incredibly happy that my story “Where Fasnet Met Space Net” (a science fiction story inspired by the Fasnacht/Fasnet/Carneval – Mardi Gras celebrations in Baden-Württemberg, specifically the area around Rottweil) has been published in Dark Horses, Issue 20, September 2023. This wonderful magazine is available in electronic and print formats at all online bookstores.

My story, “Elsie’s Encounter”, takes place in the area where I grew up. I just never noticed any magic or witches while I lived there. I am so grateful to Leah Cutter for including it in her fantastic anthology Crones. Cutter’s Final Cut: Issue 5, which is available in electronic and print formats at all online bookstores

I’m overjoyed that my story “Death in Advent” (naturally pure fiction with characters that are merely a figment of my imagination, although “inspired” by the 41 years spent at my place of employment) is now published in The Dark City, Volume 8, Issue 4, July 2023 and available in print and electronic formats at all online bookstores. I originally wrote this story in 2018 for a WMG anthology workshop in Lincoln City, Oregon.

My story, “Julienne Cleans Up”, from my Mars collection, is available at The Lorelei Signal, double issue April and July, 2023, https://www.loreleisignal.com/julienne-cleans-up. I’m thrilled to be published in this wonderful online magazine again.

I first wrote “Lose the Oops” available in the July issue (#42) of Fabula Argentea, https://fabulaargentea.com/…/lose-the-oops-by-mary-jo…/ during a WMG science fiction writing workshop in Lincoln City, Oregon, in the fall of 2013. Since then I redrafted it to eliminate the original “low-hanging fruit”, i.e. substituting Cistercian nuns for space aliens. It is a cautionary tale, taking place in an imaginary/alternate-universe Dubuque, Iowa, and I am extremely grateful to Fabula Argentea for publishing two of my stories so far.

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“Dan the Trumpet Man”, the story of a trumpet player and composer on Mars, inspired by Dan Cook (https://pecanvalleymusic.com/) is published in Dark Horses, May 2023, Issue 16, and available in all online bookstores, This is the third story published in Dark Horses so far.

“To Hear the Bats on Christmas Day” featuring Maquoketa B. Dragon, famous resident of the Maquoketa Caves, is published in the wonderful A Flight of Dragons: Anthology, available in all online bookstores in electronic and print format.

“Huey, Dewey, and Lloyd”, a siblings struggle from my Mars collection, can be viewed at the Editor’s Corner of Electric Spec, https://www.electricspec.com/Volume18/Issue1/rabe.feb23.html

“Shriek and the World Shrieks with You”, the fate of long-living robots on Mars, is published in Starry Eyed Press’s ONE-WAY TICKET, a collection of fourteen science fiction tales of action, adventure, suspense, mystery and terror and is available in all online bookstores in electronic and print format.

“Pink on Pink”, the trials and tribulations of a modern witch on Mars, is now published in Dark Horses, the Magazine of Weird Fiction, Issue No. 12, January 2023, available at all online bookstores in electronic and print format.

“Red, Blue,. Green, and Yellow” has its own history. First of all, the most important information:

I am overjoyed, thrilled, and so grateful that “Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow” is now online at 4StarStories 

You can go directly to my story at https://4starstories.com/4StarStories_Archive_Issue25/story_4.htm

The Editor of Four Star Stories, David Gray, was kind enough to write his acceptance of this story beginning with: “I loved it. I thought it was one of the most original stories I have read in a long time.”

Some stories just show up and demand to be written. However, I owe the existence of this story to three amazing writers, T. Thorne Coyle, Dayle Dermatis, and Annie Reed.

After the tragic death of Kip Ward, the owner of the Historic Anchor Inn in Lincoln City, Oregon, writers T. Thorn Coyle, Dayle A. Dermatis, and Annie Reed suggested that we write stories for a charity anthology in honor of Kip Ward called “Tales From the Anchor”. During the Anthology Workshops in Lincoln City, many of us had had the good fortune to stay at the wonderful Anchor Inn. The stories for the anthology were to be inspired by items there. Proceeds would be donated to Kip Ward’s favorite charity. My story, “Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow” was inspired by the multi-colored, glass lamp above the doorway between the restaurant and bar in the Anchor Inn. As happens sometimes, this anthology didn’t come about, and so my story found a home in Four Star Stories.

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I’m overjoyed to have my story “Balance the Books” published online at The Lorelei Signal, https://www.loreleisignal.com/balance-the–books, the October 2022 issue. It has definite autobiographical references from my 41 years in the chancery office library, along with wishful thinking from that time.

My story “Tryst at the Tombaugh Regio” in Draw Down the Moon, another wonderful anthology from Propertius Press, available https://www.propertiuspress.com/our-bookstore/Draw-Down-the-Moon-A-Collection-of-Short-Stories-p375745328  and in e-book and print formats at all online bookstores. I wrote this love story for an anthology workshop in Las Vegas. It’s happy ending takes place on the Tombaugh Regio, that pink, heart-shaped area on (dwarf)planet Pluto.

I wrote “Spaceship Nursery” for a Dean Wesley Smith online workshop. It is a new perspective of AI with respect to spaceship construction. The nice people at Wyldblood, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Issue 9, available at https://wyldblood.com/product/wyldblood-9/ and at online bookstores in e-book and print formats.

My story “How Fred the Opossum Mobilized the Microbes and Saved the Universe” in Pulphouse, Issue 18, available in e-book and print formats at all online bookstores and at https://wmgpublishinginc.com/project/pulphouse-issue-18/ and via https://books2read.com/u/38eNgw. It was kindly reviewed by Tangent Online, https://tangentonline.com/print-bi-monthly/pulphouse-18-june-july-2022/ Fred the Opossum was a frequent visitor on our farm in Iowa, and I’m glad I had the chance to give him the credit he deserves.

Blaze Ward was kind enough to publish my story “And Became Titans” in his Boundary Shock Quarterly, Issue 9, Sea Stories . Here intelligent Martian microbes find a way to get the Earthie colonists to help them gain communication with other microbes in the solar system. It is available in e-book and print formats at all online bookstores and at https://www.boundaryshockquarterly.com/book/sea-stories/

Once again Blaze Ward was kind enough to publish my story “The Gods of the Black Forest” in Blaze Ward Presents, Issue 6, available in e-book and print formats in all online book stores and at https://blazewardpresents.com/?mbdb_book=small-gods  My small gods live in the streams in the mountains of the Black Forest.

“October Mardi Gras” is published in Dark Horses, the Magazine of Weird Fiction, Issue No. 4, May 2022. It is inspired by memories of various teachers at Miles High School in Miles, Iowa, back in the 1960’s. It is also available at all online bookstores in e-book and print formats

Steven Lester Carr, kindly published “Iowa Summer”, my story that I wrote for an anthology workshop in Lincoln City, Oregon in his online magazine, Short Story Town, unfortunately no longer available on the Internet.

My Story “The Devil and the Deep Blue Chiemsee”, inspired by my years in the chancery office library and a library conference at Frauenchiemsee, is available online at: https://mysterytribune.com/the-devil-and-the-deep-blue-chiemsee-cozy-mystery-by-mary-jo-rabe/

“Prista Indulges in Tricks and Treats” is published at The Lorelei Signal, https://www.loreleisignal.com/prista-indulges-tricks-and-treats, was published in the January 2022 issue and is no longer online

My two stories previously published in Pulphouse #4 (For the Love of Killer) and Pulphouse #8 (Taking Care of Business) have been reprinted in new Pulphouse issues, as always available in e-book and print format at all online bookstores. “For the Love of Killer” appears in Run!! Creatures, Critters, and Pulphousers and is also availaboe at WMG, https://wmgpublishinginc.com/project/run-creatures-critters-and-pulphousers/?fbclid=IwAR1AgtKTe43OF13MH6BXRfaZuPG93kRzqw-MhcZct0SZU-vbQm5Wbsjo-gc. “Taking Care of Business” appears in Twisted Robots, Oh, My!, and is also available at WMG (https://wmgpublishinginc.com/project/twisted-robots-oh-my/?fbclid=IwAR1f1-E4wEW9OhaFuRwNkEsmdgr3oH8jGzJ5VBTke987vi48UJva7r5KlyM)

My story “Gargoyles of the World, Unite!” inspired by the gargoyles of the Freiburg cathedral and featuring Annegret Gumpert, one of my somewhat homicidal alter egos, to my endless delight, is published in The Lost Librarian’s Grave, a wonderful anthology available as an e-book and in print from Redwood Press https://redwood-press.com/, and at every online bookstore.

I wrote “Endless Horizons”, a joyful story about exploring the universe, for the 2019 Anthology Workshop and was overjoyed and eternally grateful when editor Leah Cutter accepted it for her anthology “Explorers, Cutter’s Final Cut: Issue Three“, which of course if available in e-book and print form at all online bookstores and at https://cuttersfinalcut.com/book/explorers/

Steven Lester Carr, kindly published “Rescuing Sparty”, my story inspired by the three years that I spent at Michigan State University in his online magazine, Short Story Town, unfortunately no longer available on the Internet.

My story “A Squeaky-Clean Reunion” takes place in the Maquoketa Caves (Maquoketa, Iowa). It features one of my recurring characters, Maquoketa B. Dragon, a mellow, Iowa dragon. I am overjoyed to see it published in Crunchy with Chocolate, available in e-book and print format at WolfSinger Publications, https://www.wolfsingerpubs.com/crunchy-with-chocolate and at every online bookstore.

Back in 2015 I took a workshop on writing short stories taught by one of the writers I admire most, Dean Wesley Smith. One of the stories I wrote for the workshop was “Tauri”, which the wonderful people at Fabula Argentea have published in their online edition. You can read it at: https://fabulaargentea.com/index.php/article/tauri-by-mary-jo-rabe/

My story “Christmas in the Ruins”, a fictional account of Christmas in Freiburg in 1944, appeared as part of WMG Publishing’s Winter Holiday Spectacular 2020. I am so grateful to Kristine Kathryn Rusch for including it in her anthology, even though it was perhaps darker than what she was looking for.
It is available as e-book and in print at all online bookstores as well as at WMG, https://wmgpublishinginc.com/project/mysterious-christmas/

I wrote “It’s Lechtenbrink, Libby Lechtenbrink” for a science fiction writing workshop in January of 2020. My story features Libby Lechtenbrink, a librarian on Mars, one of my more homicidal alter egos. I am so grateful to Barbara G. Tarn for including me in this wonderful anthology, Sci-Fi Stories Earth Colonies, published in July, 2021. You can find the magazine, electronic or print, at all online bookstores, here a selection
https://books2read.com/sci-fi5

I wrote “We Can Wait But No Longer Want To” during Dean Wesley Smith’s story a week challenge in 2019 and 2020. Energetic Martian microbes take advantage of the opportunity to leave their frosty underground lakes. I am overjoyed to have it published July, 2021, in Alien Dimensions #20/21, a wonderful magazine available in electronic and print form.
amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B097HMG6FK
amazon.de: https://www.amazon.de/Alien…/dp/B098VSSQGJ/ref=sr_1_2…

I wrote “If You Lead an Earthling to Water, Who Gets To Drink?” during Dean Wesley Smith’s story a week challenge in 2019 and 2020. Martian colonists have to deal with the dilemma of possibly endangering alien life in order to keep their Earth colony running. I am thrilled that Penumbric Speculative Fiction Magazine chose to publish it in its online magazine, Issue 1, June 2021:

https://www.penumbric.com/currentissue/rabeWater.html

During Dean Wesley Smith’s story a week challenge in 2019 and 2020 I wrote a story I titled “Herr Gehrke, Why Is Everyone Lying to Me?” that took place in an archdiocesan chancery office of a mid-sized German city. In the hopes that it would fit Blaze Ward Presents 5 Crime and …, which was published in June, 2021, I renamed it “Bishops”. I am incredibly grateful to Blaze Ward for accepting this story. Naturally it is completely fictional, but some of the characters are inspired by people I have known. The anthology is available at all your favorite online bookstores, to name a few

amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B096CJPLMV/?tag=kydala-20

amazon.de: https://www.amazon.de/…/B096CYSG1Q/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0…

I wrote “Slim Pickings on Mars” for Dean Wesley Smith’s “Write 30 Stories in 60 Days Challenge” back in 2017. A detective on Mars literally stumbles onto an object at a crime scene that has multi-universal consequences. It was my immense good fortune that Blaze Ward was willing to accept it for his Blaze Ward Presents 4 anthology which was published in November, 2020. The anthology is available at all your favorite online bookstores, to name a few

amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/Cloak-Dagger-Blaze-Ward/dp/B08NYYBPM2/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1626771787&sr=1-1

amazon.de: https://www.amazon.de/Cloak-Dagger-Blaze-Ward/dp/B08NYYBPM2/ref=sr_1_1?__mk_de_DE=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&dchild=1&keywords=blaze+ward+presents+4&qid=1626771873&s=books&sr=1-1

“Father Otto” is a story I wrote in 2016 for the 2017 Anthology Workshop in Lincoln City, Oregon. Thanks to kind editor Dayle A. Dermatis, it became my first professional sale, appearing in the Fiction River issue 33 Doorways to Enchantment, published in August, 2020. “Father Otto” is an homage to one of my favorite people at the chancery office of the Archdiocese of Freiburg. Naturally all figures are mere figments of my imagination, but inspired by real people. The story itself takes place on the second floor of the historic chancery office building in Freiburg, Germany.
It is available, electronic and print, at all online bookstores, here a selection:
https://books2read.com/u/4NLWMo and of course at WMG Publishing:
https://www.wmgpublishinginc.com/p…/doorways-to-enchantment/
Tangent Online wrote a kind review of my story:

Fiction River #33: Doorways to Enchantment, ed. Dayle A. Dermatis

“Sagan in the Past” is science fiction story I wrote for Dean Wesley Smith’s “Write 30 Stories in 60 Days Challenge” back in 2017. Sagan, a cat, plays an important role in a time-travel story that begins on a university campus that has certain similarities with Michigan State University. Barbara G. Tarn, was kind enough to include this story in her anthology Future Earth Tech. published in July, 2020.
You can find the magazine, electronic or print, at all online bookstores, here a selection:
https://books2read.com/sci-fi3

“Katie’s Visions” is also a product of Dean Wesley Smith’s “Write 30 Stories in 60 Days Challenge”, one I worried about finding a home for, since it isn’t science fiction. Maybe you could call it historical fantasy. Katharina von Bora (Martin Luther’s wife) gets visions from Joan of Arc who has her own agenda for wanting to encourage Katharina. The wonderful people at Propertius Press included this story in their anthology Whispers from the Universe, published in June, 2020. It is available, electronic and print, at most online stores but also easily at Propertius Press, which does not charge for postage or handling.
Go to: https://bit.ly/whisperstories or
https://propertiuspress.wixsite.com/bookstore/online-store/Whispers-from-the-Universe-A-Collection-of-Short-Stories-p209124441

“Taking Care of Business” is a science fiction story I wrote for Dean Wesley Smith’s “Write 30 Stories in 60 Days Challenge” back in 2017. An Elvis impersonator on Mars finds a way to deal with devastating health issues, consistent with his reverence for The King. Dean was then kind enough to include this story in Pulphouse, Issue 8 of 2019.published in December, 2020. You can find the magazine, electronic or print, at all online bookstores, here a selection
https://books2read.com/u/bO6gAQ
or naturally at WMG Publishing: https://pulphousemagazine.com/the-magazine/issue8/

Tangent Online reviewed this issue of Pulphouse: https://tangentonline.com/print-quarterly/pulphouse-fiction-magazine/pulphouse-8-fall-2019/

“For the Love of Killer” is another story I wrote in 2016 for the 2017 Anthology Workshop in Lincoln City, Oregon. Killer is a little, white peekapoo, inspired by Puffy, our dog on the farm. It wasn’t chosen for the anthology about female heroines, but Dean Wesley Smith was kind enough to take it for Pulphouse, Issue 4 of 2018, published in December, 2018 You can find the magazine, electronic or print, at all online bookstores, here a selection
https://books2read.com/u/47Z9aR?fbclid=IwAR0iZAracjT1yWQnMG4TGHIs0P_Sf58Udvmg_vDMldSEYbH-hkScaOaCAfU
or naturally at WMG Publishing: https://pulphousemagazine.com/the-magazine/issue4/

Tangent Online reviewed this issue of Pulphouse: https://tangentonline.com/print-quarterly/pulphouse-fiction-magazine/pulphouse-4-december-2018/

Russ Crossley was kind enough to include “Efficient Engineering”, a story I wrote for the anthology workshop in Lincoln City, Oregon, in 2017, in his Rocketpack Adventures anthology in October, 2018. An engineer on Mars decides to build her own rocket and leave for parts unknown. You can find the magazine, electronic or print, at all online bookstores, here a selection
https://books2read.com/rocketpack-adventures

“One Universe Is Never Enough” is a story I wrote Dean Wesley Smith’s “Write 30 Stories in 60 Days Challenge” back in 2017. An administrator on Pluto gets tired of the bureaucratic backbiting and takes a chance on travel to another universe. Barbara G. Tarn was kind enough to include it in her Space Opera Mashup. Published in July, 2018. You can find the magazine, electronic or print, at all online bookstores, here a selection
http://books2read.com/u/4AY5XN

Two  of my poems are still archived online:

Salt Water Rafting at Raven Electrick: http://www.ravenelectrick.com/ravenpoetrick/saltwaterrafting.html

Tharsis Lil at Astropoetica: http://www.astropoetica.com/Summer07/tharsislil.html

I have my author pages at amazon where you can see which stories of mine have been published so far:

amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/Mary-Jo-Rabe/e/B007MMFCPM?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_2&qid=1598900121&sr=1-2

amazon.de: https://www.amazon.de/Mary-Jo-Rabe/e/B007MMFCPM?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_6&qid=1598900017&sr=1-6

amazon.co.uk: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mary-Jo-Rabe/e/B007MMFCPM?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_4&qid=1598900282&sr=1-4

Posted in 4 Star Stories, A Flight of Dragons, Alien Dimensions, Black Sheep, Blaze Ward Presents, Boundary Shock Quarterly, Crunchy with Chocolate, Cutter's Final Cut, Dark Horses, Electric Spec, Fabula Argentea, Fiction River, Future Earth Tech, Leah Cutter, Lorelei Signal, Lost Librarian's Grave, Luna Station Quarterly, Mary Jo Rabe, Möbius Blvd, One-Way Ticket, Penumbric Speculative Fiction, Propertius Press, Publications, Pulphouse, Raven Electrick, Redwood Press, Short Stories, Starry Eyed Press, Stories, The Dark City, WMG, Wyldblood | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Publications as of September 2023

Posted on October 3, 2023 by maryjorabe

More or less in reverse order, here are my online and print publications again so far:

I am incredibly happy that my story “Where Fasnet Met Space Net” (a science fiction story inspired by the Fasnacht/Fasnet/Carneval – Mardi Gras celebrations in Baden-Württemberg, specifically the area around Rottweil) has been published in Dark Horses, Issue 20, September 2023. This wonderful magazine is available in electronic and print formats at all online bookstores.

My story, “Elsie’s Encounter”, takes place in the area where I grew up. I just never noticed any magic or witches while I lived there. I am so grateful to Leah Cutter for including it in her fantastic anthology Crones. Cutter’s Final Cut: Issue 5, which is available in electronic and print formats at all online bookstores

I’m overjoyed that my story “Death in Advent” (naturally pure fiction with characters that are merely a figment of my imagination, although “inspired” by the 41 years spent at my place of employment) is now published in The Dark City, Volume 8, Issue 4, July 2023 and available in print and electronic formats at all online bookstores. I originally wrote this story in 2018 for a WMG anthology workshop in Lincoln City, Oregon.

My story, “Julienne Cleans Up”, from my Mars collection, is available at The Lorelei Signal, double issue April and July, 2023, https://www.loreleisignal.com/julienne-cleans-up. I’m thrilled to be published in this wonderful online magazine again.

I first wrote “Lose the Oops” available in the July issue (#42) of Fabula Argentea, https://fabulaargentea.com/…/lose-the-oops-by-mary-jo…/ during a WMG science fiction writing workshop in Lincoln City, Oregon, in the fall of 2013. Since then I redrafted it to eliminate the original “low-hanging fruit”, i.e. substituting Cistercian nuns for space aliens. It is a cautionary tale, taking place in an imaginary/alternate-universe Dubuque, Iowa, and I am extremely grateful to Fabula Argentea for publishing two of my stories so far.

“Dan the Trumpet Man”, the story of a trumpet player and composer on Mars, inspired by Dan Cook (https://pecanvalleymusic.com/) is published in Dark Horses, May 2023, Issue 16, and available in all online bookstores, This is the third story published in Dark Horses so far.

“To Hear the Bats on Christmas Day” featuring Maquoketa B. Dragon, famous resident of the Maquoketa Caves, is published in the wonderful A Flight of Dragons: Anthology, available in all online bookstores in electronic and print format.

“Huey, Dewey, and Lloyd”, a siblings struggle from my Mars collection, can be viewed at the Editor’s Corner of Electric Spec, https://www.electricspec.com/Volume18/Issue1/rabe.feb23.html

“Shriek and the World Shrieks with You”, the fate of long-living robots on Mars, is published in Starry Eyed Press’s ONE-WAY TICKET, a collection of fourteen science fiction tales of action, adventure, suspense, mystery and terror and is available in all online bookstores in electronic and print format.

“Pink on Pink”, the trials and tribulations of a modern witch on Mars, is now published in Dark Horses, the Magazine of Weird Fiction, Issue No. 12, January 2023, available at all online bookstores in electronic and print format.

“Red, Blue,. Green, and Yellow” has its own history. First of all, the most important information:

I am overjoyed, thrilled, and so grateful that “Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow” is now online at 4StarStories 

You can go directly to my story at https://4starstories.com/4StarStories_Archive_Issue25/story_4.htm

The Editor of Four Star Stories, David Gray, was kind enough to write his acceptance of this story beginning with: “I loved it. I thought it was one of the most original stories I have read in a long time.”

Some stories just show up and demand to be written. However, I owe the existence of this story to three amazing writers, T. Thorne Coyle, Dayle Dermatis, and Annie Reed.

After the tragic death of Kip Ward, the owner of the Historic Anchor Inn in Lincoln City, Oregon, writers T. Thorn Coyle, Dayle A. Dermatis, and Annie Reed suggested that we write stories for a charity anthology in honor of Kip Ward called “Tales From the Anchor”. During the Anthology Workshops in Lincoln City, many of us had had the good fortune to stay at the wonderful Anchor Inn. The stories for the anthology were to be inspired by items there. Proceeds would be donated to Kip Ward’s favorite charity. My story, “Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow” was inspired by the multi-colored, glass lamp above the doorway between the restaurant and bar in the Anchor Inn. As happens sometimes, this anthology didn’t come about, and so my story found a home in Four Star Stories.

I’m overjoyed to have my story “Balance the Books” published online at The Lorelei Signal, https://www.loreleisignal.com/balance-the–books, the October 2022 issue. It has definite autobiographical references from my 41 years in the chancery office library, along with wishful thinking from that time.

My story “Tryst at the Tombaugh Regio” in Draw Down the Moon, another wonderful anthology from Propertius Press, available https://www.propertiuspress.com/our-bookstore/Draw-Down-the-Moon-A-Collection-of-Short-Stories-p375745328  and in e-book and print formats at all online bookstores. I wrote this love story for an anthology workshop in Las Vegas. It’s happy ending takes place on the Tombaugh Regio, that pink, heart-shaped area on (dwarf)planet Pluto.

I wrote “Spaceship Nursery” for a Dean Wesley Smith online workshop. It is a new perspective of AI with respect to spaceship construction. The nice people at Wyldblood, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Issue 9, available at https://wyldblood.com/product/wyldblood-9/ and at online bookstores in e-book and print formats.

My story “How Fred the Opossum Mobilized the Microbes and Saved the Universe” in Pulphouse, Issue 18, available in e-book and print formats at all online bookstores and at https://wmgpublishinginc.com/project/pulphouse-issue-18/ and via https://books2read.com/u/38eNgw. It was kindly reviewed by Tangent Online, https://tangentonline.com/print-bi-monthly/pulphouse-18-june-july-2022/ Fred the Opossum was a frequent visitor on our farm in Iowa, and I’m glad I had the chance to give him the credit he deserves.

Blaze Ward was kind enough to publish my story “And Became Titans” in his Boundary Shock Quarterly, Issue 9, Sea Stories . Here intelligent Martian microbes find a way to get the Earthie colonists to help them gain communication with other microbes in the solar system. It is available in e-book and print formats at all online bookstores and at https://www.boundaryshockquarterly.com/book/sea-stories/

Once again Blaze Ward was kind enough to publish my story “The Gods of the Black Forest” in Blaze Ward Presents, Issue 6, available in e-book and print formats in all online book stores and at https://blazewardpresents.com/?mbdb_book=small-gods  My small gods live in the streams in the mountains of the Black Forest.

“October Mardi Gras” is published in Dark Horses, the Magazine of Weird Fiction, Issue No. 4, May 2022. It is inspired by memories of various teachers at Miles High School in Miles, Iowa, back in the 1960’s. It is also available at all online bookstores in e-book and print formats

Steven Lester Carr, kindly published “Iowa Summer”, my story that I wrote for an anthology workshop in Lincoln City, Oregon in his online magazine, Short Story Town, unfortunately no longer available on the Internet.

My Story “The Devil and the Deep Blue Chiemsee”, inspired by my years in the chancery office library and a library conference at Frauenchiemsee, is available online at: https://mysterytribune.com/the-devil-and-the-deep-blue-chiemsee-cozy-mystery-by-mary-jo-rabe/

“Prista Indulges in Tricks and Treats” is published at The Lorelei Signal, https://www.loreleisignal.com/prista-indulges-tricks-and-treats, was published in the January 2022 issue and is no longer online

My two stories previously published in Pulphouse #4 (For the Love of Killer) and Pulphouse #8 (Taking Care of Business) have been reprinted in new Pulphouse issues, as always available in e-book and print format at all online bookstores. “For the Love of Killer” appears in Run!! Creatures, Critters, and Pulphousers and is also availaboe at WMG, https://wmgpublishinginc.com/project/run-creatures-critters-and-pulphousers/?fbclid=IwAR1AgtKTe43OF13MH6BXRfaZuPG93kRzqw-MhcZct0SZU-vbQm5Wbsjo-gc. “Taking Care of Business” appears in Twisted Robots, Oh, My!, and is also available at WMG (https://wmgpublishinginc.com/project/twisted-robots-oh-my/?fbclid=IwAR1f1-E4wEW9OhaFuRwNkEsmdgr3oH8jGzJ5VBTke987vi48UJva7r5KlyM)

My story “Gargoyles of the World, Unite!” inspired by the gargoyles of the Freiburg cathedral and featuring Annegret Gumpert, one of my somewhat homicidal alter egos, to my endless delight, is published in The Lost Librarian’s Grave, a wonderful anthology available as an e-book and in print from Redwood Press https://redwood-press.com/, and at every online bookstore.

I wrote “Endless Horizons”, a joyful story about exploring the universe, for the 2019 Anthology Workshop and was overjoyed and eternally grateful when editor Leah Cutter accepted it for her anthology “Explorers, Cutter’s Final Cut: Issue Three“, which of course if available in e-book and print form at all online bookstores and at https://cuttersfinalcut.com/book/explorers/

Steven Lester Carr, kindly published “Rescuing Sparty”, my story inspired by the three years that I spent at Michigan State University in his online magazine, Short Story Town, unfortunately no longer available on the Internet.

My story “A Squeaky-Clean Reunion” takes place in the Maquoketa Caves (Maquoketa, Iowa). It features one of my recurring characters, Maquoketa B. Dragon, a mellow, Iowa dragon. I am overjoyed to see it published in Crunchy with Chocolate, available in e-book and print format at WolfSinger Publications, https://www.wolfsingerpubs.com/crunchy-with-chocolate and at every online bookstore.

Back in 2015 I took a workshop on writing short stories taught by one of the writers I admire most, Dean Wesley Smith. One of the stories I wrote for the workshop was “Tauri”, which the wonderful people at Fabula Argentea have published in their online edition. You can read it at: https://fabulaargentea.com/index.php/article/tauri-by-mary-jo-rabe/

My story “Christmas in the Ruins”, a fictional account of Christmas in Freiburg in 1944, appeared as part of WMG Publishing’s Winter Holiday Spectacular 2020. I am so grateful to Kristine Kathryn Rusch for including it in her anthology, even though it was perhaps darker than what she was looking for.
It is available as e-book and in print at all online bookstores as well as at WMG, https://wmgpublishinginc.com/project/mysterious-christmas/

I wrote “It’s Lechtenbrink, Libby Lechtenbrink” for a science fiction writing workshop in January of 2020. My story features Libby Lechtenbrink, a librarian on Mars, one of my more homicidal alter egos. I am so grateful to Barbara G. Tarn for including me in this wonderful anthology, Sci-Fi Stories Earth Colonies, published in July, 2021. You can find the magazine, electronic or print, at all online bookstores, here a selection
https://books2read.com/sci-fi5

I wrote “We Can Wait But No Longer Want To” during Dean Wesley Smith’s story a week challenge in 2019 and 2020. Energetic Martian microbes take advantage of the opportunity to leave their frosty underground lakes. I am overjoyed to have it published July, 2021, in Alien Dimensions #20/21, a wonderful magazine available in electronic and print form.
amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B097HMG6FK
amazon.de: https://www.amazon.de/Alien…/dp/B098VSSQGJ/ref=sr_1_2…

I wrote “If You Lead an Earthling to Water, Who Gets To Drink?” during Dean Wesley Smith’s story a week challenge in 2019 and 2020. Martian colonists have to deal with the dilemma of possibly endangering alien life in order to keep their Earth colony running. I am thrilled that Penumbric Speculative Fiction Magazine chose to publish it in its online magazine, Issue 1, June 2021:

https://www.penumbric.com/currentissue/rabeWater.html

During Dean Wesley Smith’s story a week challenge in 2019 and 2020 I wrote a story I titled “Herr Gehrke, Why Is Everyone Lying to Me?” that took place in an archdiocesan chancery office of a mid-sized German city. In the hopes that it would fit Blaze Ward Presents 5 Crime and …, which was published in June, 2021, I renamed it “Bishops”. I am incredibly grateful to Blaze Ward for accepting this story. Naturally it is completely fictional, but some of the characters are inspired by people I have known. The anthology is available at all your favorite online bookstores, to name a few

amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B096CJPLMV/?tag=kydala-20

amazon.de: https://www.amazon.de/…/B096CYSG1Q/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0…

I wrote “Slim Pickings on Mars” for Dean Wesley Smith’s “Write 30 Stories in 60 Days Challenge” back in 2017. A detective on Mars literally stumbles onto an object at a crime scene that has multi-universal consequences. It was my immense good fortune that Blaze Ward was willing to accept it for his Blaze Ward Presents 4 anthology which was published in November, 2020. The anthology is available at all your favorite online bookstores, to name a few

amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/Cloak-Dagger-Blaze-Ward/dp/B08NYYBPM2/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1626771787&sr=1-1

amazon.de: https://www.amazon.de/Cloak-Dagger-Blaze-Ward/dp/B08NYYBPM2/ref=sr_1_1?__mk_de_DE=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&dchild=1&keywords=blaze+ward+presents+4&qid=1626771873&s=books&sr=1-1

“Father Otto” is a story I wrote in 2016 for the 2017 Anthology Workshop in Lincoln City, Oregon. Thanks to kind editor Dayle A. Dermatis, it became my first professional sale, appearing in the Fiction River issue 33 Doorways to Enchantment, published in August, 2020. “Father Otto” is an homage to one of my favorite people at the chancery office of the Archdiocese of Freiburg. Naturally all figures are mere figments of my imagination, but inspired by real people. The story itself takes place on the second floor of the historic chancery office building in Freiburg, Germany.
It is available, electronic and print, at all online bookstores, here a selection:
https://books2read.com/u/4NLWMo and of course at WMG Publishing:
https://www.wmgpublishinginc.com/p…/doorways-to-enchantment/
Tangent Online wrote a kind review of my story:

Fiction River #33: Doorways to Enchantment, ed. Dayle A. Dermatis

“Sagan in the Past” is science fiction story I wrote for Dean Wesley Smith’s “Write 30 Stories in 60 Days Challenge” back in 2017. Sagan, a cat, plays an important role in a time-travel story that begins on a university campus that has certain similarities with Michigan State University. Barbara G. Tarn, was kind enough to include this story in her anthology Future Earth Tech. published in July, 2020.
You can find the magazine, electronic or print, at all online bookstores, here a selection:
https://books2read.com/sci-fi3

“Katie’s Visions” is also a product of Dean Wesley Smith’s “Write 30 Stories in 60 Days Challenge”, one I worried about finding a home for, since it isn’t science fiction. Maybe you could call it historical fantasy. Katharina von Bora (Martin Luther’s wife) gets visions from Joan of Arc who has her own agenda for wanting to encourage Katharina. The wonderful people at Propertius Press included this story in their anthology Whispers from the Universe, published in June, 2020. It is available, electronic and print, at most online stores but also easily at Propertius Press, which does not charge for postage or handling.
Go to: https://bit.ly/whisperstories or
https://propertiuspress.wixsite.com/bookstore/online-store/Whispers-from-the-Universe-A-Collection-of-Short-Stories-p209124441

“Taking Care of Business” is a science fiction story I wrote for Dean Wesley Smith’s “Write 30 Stories in 60 Days Challenge” back in 2017. An Elvis impersonator on Mars finds a way to deal with devastating health issues, consistent with his reverence for The King. Dean was then kind enough to include this story in Pulphouse, Issue 8 of 2019.published in December, 2020. You can find the magazine, electronic or print, at all online bookstores, here a selection
https://books2read.com/u/bO6gAQ
or naturally at WMG Publishing: https://pulphousemagazine.com/the-magazine/issue8/

Tangent Online reviewed this issue of Pulphouse: https://tangentonline.com/print-quarterly/pulphouse-fiction-magazine/pulphouse-8-fall-2019/

“For the Love of Killer” is another story I wrote in 2016 for the 2017 Anthology Workshop in Lincoln City, Oregon. Killer is a little, white peekapoo, inspired by Puffy, our dog on the farm. It wasn’t chosen for the anthology about female heroines, but Dean Wesley Smith was kind enough to take it for Pulphouse, Issue 4 of 2018, published in December, 2018 You can find the magazine, electronic or print, at all online bookstores, here a selection
https://books2read.com/u/47Z9aR?fbclid=IwAR0iZAracjT1yWQnMG4TGHIs0P_Sf58Udvmg_vDMldSEYbH-hkScaOaCAfU
or naturally at WMG Publishing: https://pulphousemagazine.com/the-magazine/issue4/

Tangent Online reviewed this issue of Pulphouse: https://tangentonline.com/print-quarterly/pulphouse-fiction-magazine/pulphouse-4-december-2018/

Russ Crossley was kind enough to include “Efficient Engineering”, a story I wrote for the anthology workshop in Lincoln City, Oregon, in 2017, in his Rocketpack Adventures anthology in October, 2018. An engineer on Mars decides to build her own rocket and leave for parts unknown. You can find the magazine, electronic or print, at all online bookstores, here a selection
https://books2read.com/rocketpack-adventures

“One Universe Is Never Enough” is a story I wrote Dean Wesley Smith’s “Write 30 Stories in 60 Days Challenge” back in 2017. An administrator on Pluto gets tired of the bureaucratic backbiting and takes a chance on travel to another universe. Barbara G. Tarn was kind enough to include it in her Space Opera Mashup. Published in July, 2018. You can find the magazine, electronic or print, at all online bookstores, here a selection
http://books2read.com/u/4AY5XN

Two  of my poems are still archived online:

Salt Water Rafting at Raven Electrick: http://www.ravenelectrick.com/ravenpoetrick/saltwaterrafting.html

Tharsis Lil at Astropoetica: http://www.astropoetica.com/Summer07/tharsislil.html

I have my author pages at amazon where you can see which stories of mine have been published so far:

amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/Mary-Jo-Rabe/e/B007MMFCPM?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_2&qid=1598900121&sr=1-2

amazon.de: https://www.amazon.de/Mary-Jo-Rabe/e/B007MMFCPM?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_6&qid=1598900017&sr=1-6

amazon.co.uk: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mary-Jo-Rabe/e/B007MMFCPM?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_4&qid=1598900282&sr=1-4

Posted in 4 Star Stories, A Flight of Dragons, Alien Dimensions, Barbara G. Tarn, Blaze Ward Presents, Boundary Shock Quarterly, Crunchy with Chocolate, Cutter's Final Cut, Dark Horses, Electric Spec, Fabula Argentea, Fiction River, Future Earth Tech, Leah Cutter, Lorelei Signal, Lost Librarian's Grave, Mary Jo Rabe, One-Way Ticket, Penumbric Speculative Fiction, Propertius Press, Publications, Pulphouse, Raven Electrick, Short Stories, Starry Eyed Press, Stories, The Dark City, Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Publications as of June, 2023

Posted on July 3, 2023 by maryjorabe

More or less in reverse order, here are my online and print publications again so far:

My story, “Julienne Cleans Up”, from my Mars collection, is available at The Lorelei Signal, double issue April and July, 2023, https://www.loreleisignal.com/julienne-cleans-up. I’m thrilled to be published in this wonderful online magazine again.

I first wrote “Lose the Oops” available in the July issue (#42) of Fabula Argentea, https://fabulaargentea.com/…/lose-the-oops-by-mary-jo…/ during a WMG science fiction writing workshop in Lincoln City, Oregon, in the fall of 2013. Since then I redrafted it to eliminate the original “low-hanging fruit”, i.e. substituting Cistercian nuns for space aliens. It is a cautionary tale, taking place in an imaginary/alternate-universe Dubuque, Iowa, and I am extremely grateful to Fabula Argentea for publishing two of my stories so far.

“Dan the Trumpet Man”, the story of a trumpet player and composer on Mars, inspired by Dan Cook (https://pecanvalleymusic.com/) is published in Dark Horses, May 2023, Issue 16, and available in all online bookstores, This is the third story published in Dark Horses so far.

“To Hear the Bats on Christmas Day” featuring Maquoketa B. Dragon, famous resident of the Maquoketa Caves, is published in the wonderful A Flight of Dragons: Anthology, available in all online bookstores in electronic and print format.

“Huey, Dewey, and Lloyd”, a siblings struggle from my Mars collection, can be viewed at the Editor’s Corner of Electric Spec, https://www.electricspec.com/Volume18/Issue1/rabe.feb23.html

“Shriek and the World Shrieks with You”, the fate of long-living robots on Mars, is published in Starry Eyed Press’s ONE-WAY TICKET, a collection of fourteen science fiction tales of action, adventure, suspense, mystery and terror and is available in all online bookstores in electronic and print format.

“Pink on Pink”, the trials and tribulations of a modern witch on Mars, is now published in Dark Horses, the Magazine of Weird Fiction, Issue No. 12, January 2023, available at all online bookstores in electronic and print format.

“Red, Blue,. Green, and Yellow” has its own history. First of all, the most important information:

I am overjoyed, thrilled, and so grateful that “Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow” is now online at 4StarStories 

You can go directly to my story at https://4starstories.com/4StarStories_Archive_Issue25/story_4.htm

The Editor of Four Star Stories, David Gray, was kind enough to write his acceptance of this story beginning with: “I loved it. I thought it was one of the most original stories I have read in a long time.”

Some stories just show up and demand to be written. However, I owe the existence of this story to three amazing writers, T. Thorne Coyle, Dayle Dermatis, and Annie Reed.

After the tragic death of Kip Ward, the owner of the Historic Anchor Inn in Lincoln City, Oregon, writers T. Thorn Coyle, Dayle A. Dermatis, and Annie Reed suggested that we write stories for a charity anthology in honor of Kip Ward called “Tales From the Anchor”. During the Anthology Workshops in Lincoln City, many of us had had the good fortune to stay at the wonderful Anchor Inn. The stories for the anthology were to be inspired by items there. Proceeds would be donated to Kip Ward’s favorite charity. My story, “Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow” was inspired by the multi-colored, glass lamp above the doorway between the restaurant and bar in the Anchor Inn. As happens sometimes, this anthology didn’t come about, and so my story found a home in Four Star Stories.

I’m overjoyed to have my story “Balance the Books” published online at The Lorelei Signal, https://www.loreleisignal.com/balance-the–books, the October 2022 issue. It has definite autobiographical references from my 41 years in the chancery office library, along with wishful thinking from that time.

My story “Tryst at the Tombaugh Regio” in Draw Down the Moon, another wonderful anthology from Propertius Press, available https://www.propertiuspress.com/our-bookstore/Draw-Down-the-Moon-A-Collection-of-Short-Stories-p375745328  and in e-book and print formats at all online bookstores. I wrote this love story for an anthology workshop in Las Vegas. It’s happy ending takes place on the Tombaugh Regio, that pink, heart-shaped area on (dwarf)planet Pluto.

I wrote “Spaceship Nursery” for a Dean Wesley Smith online workshop. It is a new perspective of AI with respect to spaceship construction. The nice people at Wyldblood, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Issue 9, available at https://wyldblood.com/product/wyldblood-9/ and at online bookstores in e-book and print formats.

My story “How Fred the Opossum Mobilized the Microbes and Saved the Universe” in Pulphouse, Issue 18, available in e-book and print formats at all online bookstores and at https://wmgpublishinginc.com/project/pulphouse-issue-18/ and via https://books2read.com/u/38eNgw. It was kindly reviewed by Tangent Online, https://tangentonline.com/print-bi-monthly/pulphouse-18-june-july-2022/ Fred the Opossum was a frequent visitor on our farm in Iowa, and I’m glad I had the chance to give him the credit he deserves.

Blaze Ward was kind enough to publish my story “And Became Titans” in his Boundary Shock Quarterly, Issue 9, Sea Stories . Here intelligent Martian microbes find a way to get the Earthie colonists to help them gain communication with other microbes in the solar system. It is available in e-book and print formats at all online bookstores and at https://www.boundaryshockquarterly.com/book/sea-stories/

Once again Blaze Ward was kind enough to publish my story “The Gods of the Black Forest” in Blaze Ward Presents, Issue 6, available in e-book and print formats in all online book stores and at https://blazewardpresents.com/?mbdb_book=small-gods  My small gods live in the streams in the mountains of the Black Forest.

“October Mardi Gras” is published in Dark Horses, the Magazine of Weird Fiction, Issue No. 4, May 2022. It is inspired by memories of various teachers at Miles High School in Miles, Iowa, back in the 1960’s. It is also available at all online bookstores in e-book and print formats

Steven Lester Carr, kindly published “Iowa Summer”, my story that I wrote for an anthology workshop in Lincoln City, Oregon in his online magazine, Short Story Town, unfortunately no longer available on the Internet.

My Story “The Devil and the Deep Blue Chiemsee”, inspired by my years in the chancery office library and a library conference at Frauenchiemsee, published by Mystery Tribune, is available online at: https://mysterytribune.com/the-devil-and-the-deep-blue-chiemsee-cozy-mystery-by-mary-jo-rabe/

“Prista Indulges in Tricks and Treats” is published at The Lorelei Signal, https://www.loreleisignal.com/prista-indulges-tricks-and-treats, was published in the January 2022 issue and is no longer online

My two stories previously published in Pulphouse #4 (For the Love of Killer) and Pulphouse #8 (Taking Care of Business) have been reprinted in new Pulphouse issues, as always available in e-book and print format at all online bookstores. “For the Love of Killer” appears in Run!! Creatures, Critters, and Pulphousers and is also availaboe at WMG, https://wmgpublishinginc.com/project/run-creatures-critters-and-pulphousers/?fbclid=IwAR1AgtKTe43OF13MH6BXRfaZuPG93kRzqw-MhcZct0SZU-vbQm5Wbsjo-gc. “Taking Care of Business” appears in Twisted Robots, Oh, My!, and is also available at WMG (https://wmgpublishinginc.com/project/twisted-robots-oh-my/?fbclid=IwAR1f1-E4wEW9OhaFuRwNkEsmdgr3oH8jGzJ5VBTke987vi48UJva7r5KlyM)

My story “Gargoyles of the World, Unite!” inspired by the gargoyles of the Freiburg cathedral and featuring Annegret Gumpert, one of my somewhat homicidal alter egos, to my endless delight, is published in The Lost Librarian’s Grave, a wonderful anthology available as an e-book and in print from Redwood Press https://redwood-press.com/, and at every online bookstore.

I wrote “Endless Horizons”, a joyful story about exploring the universe, for the 2019 Anthology Workshop and was overjoyed and eternally grateful when editor Leah Cutter accepted it for her anthology “Explorers, Cutter’s Final Cut: Issue Three“, which of course if available in e-book and print form at all online bookstores and at https://cuttersfinalcut.com/book/explorers/

Steven Lester Carr, kindly published “Rescuing Sparty”, my story inspired by the three years that I spent at Michigan State University in his online magazine, Short Story Town, unfortunately no longer available on the Internet.

My story “A Squeaky-Clean Reunion” takes place in the Maquoketa Caves (Maquoketa, Iowa). It features one of my recurring characters, Maquoketa B. Dragon, a mellow, Iowa dragon. I am overjoyed to see it published in Crunchy with Chocolate, available in e-book and print format at WolfSinger Publications, https://www.wolfsingerpubs.com/crunchy-with-chocolate and at every online bookstore.

Back in 2015 I took a workshop on writing short stories taught by one of the writers I admire most, Dean Wesley Smith. One of the stories I wrote for the workshop was “Tauri”, which the wonderful people at Fabula Argentea have published in their online edition. You can read it at: https://fabulaargentea.com/index.php/article/tauri-by-mary-jo-rabe/

My story “Christmas in the Ruins”, a fictional account of Christmas in Freiburg in 1944, appeared as part of WMG Publishing’s Winter Holiday Spectacular 2020. I am so grateful to Kristine Kathryn Rusch for including it in her anthology, even though it was perhaps darker than what she was looking for.
It is available as e-book and in print at all online bookstores as well as at WMG, https://wmgpublishinginc.com/project/mysterious-christmas/

I wrote “It’s Lechtenbrink, Libby Lechtenbrink” for a science fiction writing workshop in January of 2020. My story features Libby Lechtenbrink, a librarian on Mars, one of my more homicidal alter egos. I am so grateful to Barbara G. Tarn for including me in this wonderful anthology, Sci-Fi Stories Earth Colonies, published in July, 2021. You can find the magazine, electronic or print, at all online bookstores, here a selection
https://books2read.com/sci-fi5

I wrote “We Can Wait But No Longer Want To” during Dean Wesley Smith’s story a week challenge in 2019 and 2020. Energetic Martian microbes take advantage of the opportunity to leave their frosty underground lakes. I am overjoyed to have it published July, 2021, in Alien Dimensions #20/21, a wonderful magazine available in electronic and print form.
amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B097HMG6FK
amazon.de: https://www.amazon.de/Alien…/dp/B098VSSQGJ/ref=sr_1_2…

I wrote “If You Lead an Earthling to Water, Who Gets To Drink?” during Dean Wesley Smith’s story a week challenge in 2019 and 2020. Martian colonists have to deal with the dilemma of possibly endangering alien life in order to keep their Earth colony running. I am thrilled that Penumbric Speculative Fiction Magazine chose to publish it in its online magazine, Issue 1, June 2021:

https://www.penumbric.com/currentissue/rabeWater.html

During Dean Wesley Smith’s story a week challenge in 2019 and 2020 I wrote a story I titled “Herr Gehrke, Why Is Everyone Lying to Me?” that took place in an archdiocesan chancery office of a mid-sized German city. In the hopes that it would fit Blaze Ward Presents 5 Crime and …, which was published in June, 2021, I renamed it “Bishops”. I am incredibly grateful to Blaze Ward for accepting this story. Naturally it is completely fictional, but some of the characters are inspired by people I have known. The anthology is available at all your favorite online bookstores, to name a few

amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B096CJPLMV/?tag=kydala-20

amazon.de: https://www.amazon.de/…/B096CYSG1Q/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0…

I wrote “Slim Pickings on Mars” for Dean Wesley Smith’s “Write 30 Stories in 60 Days Challenge” back in 2017. A detective on Mars literally stumbles onto an object at a crime scene that has multi-universal consequences. It was my immense good fortune that Blaze Ward was willing to accept it for his Blaze Ward Presents 4 anthology which was published in November, 2020. The anthology is available at all your favorite online bookstores, to name a few

amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/Cloak-Dagger-Blaze-Ward/dp/B08NYYBPM2/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1626771787&sr=1-1

amazon.de: https://www.amazon.de/Cloak-Dagger-Blaze-Ward/dp/B08NYYBPM2/ref=sr_1_1?__mk_de_DE=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&dchild=1&keywords=blaze+ward+presents+4&qid=1626771873&s=books&sr=1-1

“Father Otto” is a story I wrote in 2016 for the 2017 Anthology Workshop in Lincoln City, Oregon. Thanks to kind editor Dayle A. Dermatis, it became my first professional sale, appearing in the Fiction River issue 33 Doorways to Enchantment, published in August, 2020. “Father Otto” is an homage to one of my favorite people at the chancery office of the Archdiocese of Freiburg. Naturally all figures are mere figments of my imagination, but inspired by real people. The story itself takes place on the second floor of the historic chancery office building in Freiburg, Germany.
It is available, electronic and print, at all online bookstores, here a selection:
https://books2read.com/u/4NLWMo and of course at WMG Publishing:
https://www.wmgpublishinginc.com/p…/doorways-to-enchantment/
Tangent Online wrote a kind review of my story:

Fiction River #33: Doorways to Enchantment, ed. Dayle A. Dermatis

“Sagan in the Past” is science fiction story I wrote for Dean Wesley Smith’s “Write 30 Stories in 60 Days Challenge” back in 2017. Sagan, a cat, plays an important role in a time-travel story that begins on a university campus that has certain similarities with Michigan State University. Barbara G. Tarn, was kind enough to include this story in her anthology Future Earth Tech. published in July, 2020.
You can find the magazine, electronic or print, at all online bookstores, here a selection:
https://books2read.com/sci-fi3

“Katie’s Visions” is also a product of Dean Wesley Smith’s “Write 30 Stories in 60 Days Challenge”, one I worried about finding a home for, since it isn’t science fiction. Maybe you could call it historical fantasy. Katharina von Bora (Martin Luther’s wife) gets visions from Joan of Arc who has her own agenda for wanting to encourage Katharina. The wonderful people at Propertius Press included this story in their anthology Whispers from the Universe, published in June, 2020. It is available, electronic and print, at most online stores but also easily at Propertius Press, which does not charge for postage or handling.
Go to: https://bit.ly/whisperstories or
https://propertiuspress.wixsite.com/bookstore/online-store/Whispers-from-the-Universe-A-Collection-of-Short-Stories-p209124441

“Taking Care of Business” is a science fiction story I wrote for Dean Wesley Smith’s “Write 30 Stories in 60 Days Challenge” back in 2017. An Elvis impersonator on Mars finds a way to deal with devastating health issues, consistent with his reverence for The King. Dean was then kind enough to include this story in Pulphouse, Issue 8 of 2019.published in December, 2020. You can find the magazine, electronic or print, at all online bookstores, here a selection
https://books2read.com/u/bO6gAQ
or naturally at WMG Publishing: https://pulphousemagazine.com/the-magazine/issue8/

Tangent Online reviewed this issue of Pulphouse: https://tangentonline.com/print-quarterly/pulphouse-fiction-magazine/pulphouse-8-fall-2019/

“For the Love of Killer” is another story I wrote in 2016 for the 2017 Anthology Workshop in Lincoln City, Oregon. Killer is a little, white peekapoo, inspired by Puffy, our dog on the farm. It wasn’t chosen for the anthology about female heroines, but Dean Wesley Smith was kind enough to take it for Pulphouse, Issue 4 of 2018, published in December, 2018 You can find the magazine, electronic or print, at all online bookstores, here a selection
https://books2read.com/u/47Z9aR?fbclid=IwAR0iZAracjT1yWQnMG4TGHIs0P_Sf58Udvmg_vDMldSEYbH-hkScaOaCAfU
or naturally at WMG Publishing: https://pulphousemagazine.com/the-magazine/issue4/

Tangent Online reviewed this issue of Pulphouse: https://tangentonline.com/print-quarterly/pulphouse-fiction-magazine/pulphouse-4-december-2018/

Russ Crossley was kind enough to include “Efficient Engineering”, a story I wrote for the anthology workshop in Lincoln City, Oregon, in 2017, in his Rocketpack Adventures anthology in October, 2018. An engineer on Mars decides to build her own rocket and leave for parts unknown. You can find the magazine, electronic or print, at all online bookstores, here a selection
https://books2read.com/rocketpack-adventures

“One Universe Is Never Enough” is a story I wrote Dean Wesley Smith’s “Write 30 Stories in 60 Days Challenge” back in 2017. An administrator on Pluto gets tired of the bureaucratic backbiting and takes a chance on travel to another universe. Barbara G. Tarn was kind enough to include it in her Space Opera Mashup. Published in July, 2018. You can find the magazine, electronic or print, at all online bookstores, here a selection
http://books2read.com/u/4AY5XN

Two  of my poems are still archived online:

Salt Water Rafting at Raven Electrick: http://www.ravenelectrick.com/ravenpoetrick/saltwaterrafting.html

Tharsis Lil at Astropoetica: http://www.astropoetica.com/Summer07/tharsislil.html

I have my author pages at amazon where you can see which stories of mine have been published so far:

amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/Mary-Jo-Rabe/e/B007MMFCPM?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_2&qid=1598900121&sr=1-2

amazon.de: https://www.amazon.de/Mary-Jo-Rabe/e/B007MMFCPM?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_6&qid=1598900017&sr=1-6

amazon.co.uk: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mary-Jo-Rabe/e/B007MMFCPM?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_4&qid=1598900282&sr=1-4

Posted in 4 Star Stories, A Flight of Dragons, Alien Dimensions, Barbara G. Tarn, Blaze Ward Presents, Blue Sunset, Boundary Shock Quarterly, Cutter's Final Cut, Dark Horses, Electric Spec, Fabula Argentea, Fiction River, Future Earth Tech, Lorelei Signal, Lost Librarian's Grave, Mary Jo Rabe, One-Way Ticket, Penumbric Speculative Fiction, Propertius Press, Publications, Pulphouse, Raven Electrick, Redwood Press, Starry Eyed Press, Stories, Uncategorized, WMG, Wyldblood | 2 Comments

If You Want To Improve Your English as a Second Language

Posted on March 29, 2023 by maryjorabe

If You Want To Perfect Your English as a Second Language

check out www.businessenglishwithjulie.com

If you notice that your command of the English language is occasionally a little clumsy and that you still make mistakes that hinder accurate communication or just make you look foolish, businessenglishwithjulie.com offers you an excellent, online opportunity to remedy this situation, an opportunity to perfect your English. At Business English with Julie you will find any number of reasonably priced classes and packages, well worth your time and money.

You’ve always assumed your school English, enhanced by occasional vacations spent in English-speaking countries, is good enough? What do the people with whom you communicate in English think? Do they immediately understand what you want to say or write? Do they pick up on what you meant, what you wanted them to understand? Do they take you seriously? What kind of impression do you make when you speak or write in English?

Yes, the English language, so effortless and automatic for us native speakers, though quality and precision of expression will vary, can be infuriating and frustrating for everyone who tries to acquire it as a foreign language.

In “The Awful German language” Mark Twain claimed that while a person would need thirty years to learn German, said person could learn English, except for spelling and pronunciation, in a mere thirty hours. His assumption, that anyone could learn English so quickly without help, was wrong.

The English language contains numerous pitfalls for the unwary. It steals inconsistently from other languages, mostly, but not only, Romance and Germanic languages, with the result that spelling and pronunciation often have nothing to do with each other.

When I first came to Germany, an early acquaintance battled the English language heroically but the English language always won. This doesn’t have to be the case. You can conquer the English language and make it your obedient servant. However, a guide can make this process significantly faster.

Precision of language has always been important for me, especially now as a professional fiction writer.

In “Storyteller: Writing Lessons and More from 27 years of the Clarion Writers’ Workshop”, Kate Wilhelm said that there are two kinds of writers, storytellers and wordsmiths. At Clarion, which I was never able to attend, though I would have enjoyed spending time on the MSU campus again, the workshop leaders tried to help both kinds. Most people agree that it is better to be a storyteller. I, however, am a wordsmith and love effective use of language. So, of course, I work on improving my storytelling skills, but I appreciate good English. Possibly, I am not the only one.

A good command of English, whether the colloquial or scholarly variety, or both, will always give you the advantage. Consider improving yours.

Posted in Business English with Julie, English as a Second Language, Writing | Tagged | Leave a comment

My Tribute to Auxiliary Bishop Dr. Bernd Uhl

Posted on January 26, 2023 by maryjorabe

I miss Bernd.

There are many wonderful online tributes to Auxiliary Bishop Dr. Bernd Uhl, for example:

From the Archdiocese of Freiburg, https://www.ebfr.de/detail/nachricht/id/175092-erzbistum-freiburg-trauert-um-dr-bernd-uhl/?cb-id=12103291

From the Konradsblatt (weekly diocesan magazine of the Archdiocese of Freiburg), https://www.konradsblatt.de/aktuell-2/detail/nachricht-seite/id/175149-liebe-verbunden-mit-glauben/?default=true

I can only confirm all the good things that the tributes say about the priest, theologian, canon, member of the archbishop’s council, and bishop Dr. Bernd Uhl. However, beyond all that, I miss my good friend. I had so hoped that I could enjoy his entertaining and intelligent company for many more years to come.

I remember his kindness during our mutual time in the chancery office as well as after retirement, specifically his acts of kindness. I remember the chocolates on my birthday and at Christmas. I remember his constant encouragement.

I always considered him a friend, but my definition of friendship may not match expectations in Germany. As an American in Germany, I never really understood or integrated myself into the two-class system of forms of address in Germany, i.e. the formal you with surname (“Sie” as address) and the familiar you with first name for friends (“du” as address). The “du”-form is similar but not quite the same thing as being on a first-name basis in the U.S. The “du” has more emotional baggage, i.e. it often means more to the person who offers it.

As for me, both forms of address always turned into “you” in my mind when I heard them. I can’t always remember if I am on a “du” or a “Sie” basis with someone. I also always considered anyone who treated me well to be a friend, my feeling being “do me one favor/kindness, and you have a friend for life; screw me over even once, and you are dead meat for all eternity”. I’m loyal.

Every morning when I went to work in the chancery office, I had to remind myself with whom I was on a “du” status and with whom “Sie” so that I didn’t use the wrong form of address and incorrect verbs by mistake. There are various rules for who decides which basis is allowed. Generally and theoretically, only the older person can offer the younger person “du” as a form of address, but people of equal status and approximately equal age can freely suggest a “du” relationship to each other. However, there is also a hierarchical and a status element involved. The 60-year-old secretary can’t offer her 40-year-old boss “du” as a form of address.

In a work environment, especially in a highly bureaucratic structure, things get messy, higher-ups often not wanting to show even the faintest hint favoritism to individual subordinates.

Although we got along spectacularly, my first boss, Dr. Hundsnurscher, director of the archdiocesan archives and library, didn’t offer me the “du” until long after he retired. That didn’t matter to me; he always was and remained my wonderful boss from the day I first met him. No matter what went on, I knew he had my back.

Bernd was just as loyal a supporter of the library and of my efforts. I trusted him, and this trust was never betrayed. He was also generous in his praise and gratitude. He was kindness personified.

Bernd was a voice of reason and sanity in the chancery office.

Bernd offered me the “du” in the fall of 2022. I can only hope I fulfilled any expectations that he might have hoped for. He was one of my favorite people in the chancery office. I honestly admired and liked him. He was compassionate and thoughtful (unfortunately often an exception in this particular workplace), simply put, one of the good guys of this world.

Before I reflect on specific memories, I’ll add one explanatory note. I include the real names of the good people I was privileged to encounter in the chancery office in Freiburg. The villains of the story will remain anonymous (a variation on the Dragnet saying, in this case, “to protect the guilty”).

I worked for a year in the archdiocesan archives (from 1973-1974), another long story. Dr. Franz Hundsnurscher, my wonderful boss, then managed to get me a job in the newly formed archdiocesan library in 1976. From 1974 to 1976 my husband and I earned our respective masters degrees at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

From 1976 to 2008 the offices and open stacks of the archdiocesan library were located in the architecturally impressive chancery office building on the ground floor, room number 6. We had a little corner there in back of the bookshelves with a few tables where people could read newspapers and magazines.

Bernd was from Karlsruhe and often came into the library to read the Badische Neueste Nachrichten, the Karlsruhe paper. After his parents moved into his canon’s residence in the Herrenstraße, his father also came to our library to read the paper.

Bernd was ordained a priest at the age of 28 in 1974, the same year he completed his dissertation. He started his career in the chancery office in 1977. The then vicar general, Dr. Schlund, had wisely chosen Bernd from a number of young priests as a potential successor. He wanted Bernd to learn the chancery office inside out, from the bottom to the top. Bernd, conscientious and hard-working by nature, achieved this goal quickly and easily.

However, things didn’t quite work out the way Vicar General Dr. Schlund planned.

I need to add one more bit of background information. Dr. Schlund and Dr. Hundsnurscher were both so good to me, unbelievably and consistently generous with their appreciation, praise, and support. Unfortunately, for reasons I never understood, they both despised each other with a passion. This resulted in numerous conflicts that sometimes involved the library.

Bernd had the well deserved reputation of being painstakingly honest in all regards and under all circumstances as well as being unfailingly courteous. I often thought that this might come from having his parents live with him. So many of the priests in the chancery office either live alone or have housekeepers who worship the ground they walk on. My theory is that Bernd’s parents kept him grounded in the real world. He had absolutely no delusions of grandeur or importance, not even after his consecration as bishop.

He was responsible for many different areas in the chancery office and Archdiocese of Freiburg, communications, public relations, press and publications, and finally, the area closest to his heart, the Catholic charities. Due to his public relations responsibilities, he became the face of the Archdiocese of Freiburg, something that was no doubt noted in Vatican circles.

However, he also got saddled with extra tasks in the chancery office, over and over again.

From its grudging beginnings in 1975, the library always had to justify its existence in the chancery office. Before 1975, there were just books lying around in all the offices, in the archives, and in the storerooms. Back in the bad, old days, when the people in the finance department didn’t have enough real work to do, one persistent employee took it upon himself to prove that the library was throwing away the chancery office’s money. Instead of doing something useful, he would pore over every bill the library submitted, pondering every title before deciding that certain books were unnecessary purchases. Then he ran to the vicar general with the bill and complained bitterly.

Dr. Hundsnurscher had been burdened with the responsibility for the library when it was founded (with the explanation that a library contained paper, just like the archives), and he delighted in getting his revenge by having the library purchase books that the finance department wouldn’t like. There is a German phrase about making the billy goat your gardener (more loosely and accurately translated as “putting the fox in charge of the henhouse”), which he quoted fairly often. He often asked the library to purchase valuable books, many of which were then only available in our library for researchers in Freiburg.

After Dr. Hundsnurscher had the library purchase a book of photographs of Greek sculptures entitled “Homosexuality in Greek Antiquity”, and the finance department minion ran howling to the vicar general, the vicar general struck back with the typical weapon of a bureaucracy. He established a commission that was to approve every book before the library could order it.

Bernd was named chairman of this commission which was made up of three other members, one lawyer, one elderly priest, and one representative of the school department (another long story; in Germany religion is taught in the public schools, and the church offices have the last word about what gets taught and who teaches it. This necessitates its own bureaucracy.). I had to attend commission meetings, not as a member, but as a lowly clerk who was to write down which books the library would be allowed to purchase.

The commission met once a month, and each meeting was a colossal waste of time, non-stop bickering for an hour and a half to two hours. The lawyer said the departments needed the newest legal books to keep the archdiocese from being sued. The school department theologian wanted the newest theology works. The elderly priest was against the library spending any money and always asked if we couldn’t just wait and see if someone might not give us books as a present. After about a year and a half of this nonsense, Bernd wrote a long report to the vicar general, recommending dissolution of the commission since the books the library wanted to purchase turned out to be justified. I was able to persuade Dr. Hundsnurscher to lay low with his book recommendations for a while.

Around the end of the 20th century, the archdiocesan library got a wonderfully generous offer from the university library in Freiburg. It would let our library join its network, have our books included in the university library’s online catalog, and use its cataloging software. All we had to do was pay for a separate telephone landline, a ridiculously small amount of money, about $20.00 a month. The new vicar general appointed a commission to decide whether we should be allowed to take this offer. Bernd again was named chairman. I made a detailed report of all the benefits our library would enjoy and the minimal costs involved. At the official meeting, two backstabbers didn’t support me, one of whom actively objected, claiming that costs might increase in the future, and the other one passively said nothing. Fortunately, Bernd said he would support the proposal, because he thought it sounded like a good idea.

Our catalog has now been included in the Freiburg university online library catalog since 2001, benefiting everyone who ever sought a book that can be found in our library.

In the year 2000 the Archdiocese of Freiburg had one archbishop and two auxiliary bishops. Archbishop Saier then requested a third auxiliary bishop, saying that he had health issues and needed the additional assistance. The Vatican consented, and we all wondered who the new bishop would be. Auxiliary bishops in Freiburg get named by the Vatican, unlike the archbishop, who is elected by the bishop’s council from a list of three sent by the Vatican.

So, speculation about the new bishop was a constant topic in the chancery office grapevine. Bernd mentioned to people offhand, that he couldn’t predict who the next auxiliary bishop would be, but he could only be certain that it wouldn’t be him.

Bernd had many talents. Predicting the future wasn’t one of them. The announcement of his selection came around the end of March, 2001. He was consecrated a bishop on May 1, 2001, which didn’t give him or the organizers much time. For his motto on his bishop’s coat of arms, he chose “Caritas Cum Fide”, loosely translated as “charity combined with faith”. Work with the Catholic Charities, which had always had the highest importance to him, would be the major focus of his time as bishop.

For his bishop’s ring, he wanted something that would symbolize acts of charity, and chose roses, referencing the legend of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary who secretly tried to bring bread to the poor, by hidding it under her cloak. When she got caught, she said she was only carrying roses (in the middle of winter), and miraculously the bread crumbs under her cloak turned to roses. What Bernd didn’t consider, and what none of his fellow bishops bothered to warn him about, was that as a bishop, he would often end up shaking many people’s hands, an action that made his fingers rub against each other. The sharp, metal edges of the roses petals engraved on his ring tore the skin off the neighboring fingers and left him bleeding until the sharp edges finally wore down in time.

Obviously, the job as bishop had its ups and downs.

Once he was a member of the German Bishops’ Conference, he took on responsibility for ecology and became an early expert on global warming. Conferences with worldwide experts meant that he had many trips to foreign countries. Every now and then he would ask for help with his pronunciation of English-language texts, but that was completely unnecessary. He was fluently multi-lingual.

He had relatives in Los Angeles and took part in one Bishops’ Conference fact-finding trip to northern California under the leadership of Bishop Marx, then bishop of Trier, who later became Cardinal Marx of Munich and chairman of the Bishops’ Conference. I enjoyed discussions about Bernd’s impressions of the U.S. His conclusions were benevolent, analytical, and spot on.

In November, 2006, Bernd celebrated his 60th birthday with a gathering of exactly 60 guests in the restaurant that was then in the Kolpinghaus. He had a large circle of friends and there were many people he had dealings with as a bishop, and so I was amazed that I got an invitation. I certainly didn’t expect one. In the invitation, he specifically requested that anyone who wanted to give him a present should donate the money they wanted to spend instead to the Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Freiburg.

It was a wonderful party with an excellent buffet, many speeches, wonderful music, including a fantastic singer. As a side note, it was fascinating to see which higher-ups from the chancery office were not present.

Music was always important to Bernd. He had a sonorous voice that reminded me of Carl Sagan. He sang beautifully and could easily have earned his living as a professional piano player. He said once that he only considered himself a hobby musician, though, since he couldn’t practice more than four hours a day.

One of my efforts to add a little American culture to the German chancery office in Freiburg was baking and distributing chocolate chip cookies twice a year (on my birthday and at Christmas). Bernd and his mother took a liking to my cookies and always praised them effusively, something I appreciated.

I looked forward to every opportunity to talk to him in the chancery office. He was a very thoughtful and entertaining conversationalist. Unfortunately, once he became an auxiliary bishop, he wasn’t in the chancery office as often as before. He had many more tasks outside the building.

When his parents’ health began to fail, first his father’s, and then his mother’s, he got them a placement in the Protestant nursing home around the corner from his residence in the Herrenstraße. By this time in the region of Baden in Germany, denominational differences no longer played a role with any church. The archbishop of Freiburg and the Protestant bishop for the Baden region have long since both agreed that with respect to denominational rivalry, the “clocks run differently”, i.e. harmoniously here.

When Bernd wasn’t on the road for his bishop’s duties, he always ate meals with his parents and spent all his free time with them. His father died in 2013, a huge loss for Bernd. He often talked about how his father always took him to soccer games as a child and to church every Sunday. After Bernd’s parents moved to Freiburg, Bernd’s father made the seminary church across the street from the chancery office his favorite church, the place where he found his new spiritual home.

Unfortunately, Bernd was hit with all kinds of health issues. Kidney cancer in 2002 resulted in his losing a kidney, which, however, didn’t incapacitate him. However, it did mean that he had to watch his nutrition and his health carefully. In 2013 he suffered his first bout of leukemia. Fortunately, the treatments with the harsh side-effects worked, and in 2014 he was in remission. He soldiered on with all his bishop’s tasks. In 2017 he was diagnosed with leukemia again and additionally with lymphoma. This time he decided to retire, which he was allowed to do in 2018. He wanted to recover as quickly and as completely as possible because his mother’s health was taking a serious turn for the worse.

The treatments worked again, and in 2018 he was in remission. When he retired that year, he moved into the assisted living section of the Protestant nursing home his mother was in, around the corner from the residence in the Herrenstraße. The balcony of his apartment provided an excellent view of the cathedral, something he had never had in the Herrenstraße. When Covid arrived in 2020, and visitors’ access to nursing homes was highly restricted, he was still able to spend hours with his mother since his apartment was in the same facility.

His mother died in 2021, and in the fall of 2022 Bernd was again diagnosed with lymphoma. Despite six rounds of chemotherapy, he wasn’t able to defeat the disease this time and died alone in his apartment in the nursing home on January 22, 2023.

I visited him in his assisted living apartment a few times after he moved there (Covid made this impossible and irresponsible in 2020 and most of 2021), and we were often in touch.

It was wonderful talking to him. He was highly intelligent, educated, and well-read as well as very interested in everything going on around him.

We never really discussed any theological topics. He did mention once that when he had trouble sleeping, often during and after his cancer treatments, he used the time to pray. He also said he kept an extensive diary. I pleaded with him to make sure that the archdiocesan archives would inherit it, since he said he included many comments about events in the chancery office.

However, he also enjoyed exchanging information from the chancery office. We often had heard different things since we had different sources.

Although he wasn’t a fan of science fiction, he always encouraged my writing efforts and tried to read my published stories. He only gave up on “hard science fiction” like “Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow”.

He sent me an e-mail on January 12, 2023, in which he said his blood work was now good again with no more cancer cells detected. His doctors said he could stop the chemotherapy. Bernd said he just needed to get his strength back and was looking forward to all the things he could now plan for the spring and summer of 2023. I was so relieved and happy that I forgot that Bernd was never very good at predicting the future.

Rest in peace, Bernd. You made the universe a better and kinder place for me and so many others.

Bernd’s bishop’s coat of arms:

Photo: Bernd and his mother in the nursing home

Posted in Bernd Uhl, Bishop Dr. Bernd Uhl | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

What an amazing book!

Posted on January 19, 2023 by maryjorabe

If you think that the brilliant writer Susan J. Kroupa has a special insight regarding the minds of teenagers and dogs, you are only partly correct. She also has an amazing knowledge of indigenous American spirituality and Irish lore and is an impressive mystery writer. All these elements make her newest book, TreeTalker, the masterpiece that it is, a book that not only middle-graders will enjoy, but also much older readers.

TreeTalker is a mystery, a crime drama, a fantasy, and a bit of Irish folklore shown from the viewpoint of the teenagers who get dragged into the action. The crisis begins with a shapeshifter who usually, but not always, displays the shape of a dog.

While the main characters are the teenagers and the shapshifter, this multifaceted, multilayered story will captivate all readers.

The teenagers, as usual, are the first to recognize evil when they encounter it. The surrounding adults are a little slow on the uptake, if not absolutely clueless, but they display good will and courage when the teenagers show them what they need to do.

While escaping captivity and bringing criminals to justice in the material and magic worlds, the teenagers also deal with their real-world issues, tensions in a patchwork family, migrants’ economic fears, bullies at school.

The supernatural challenges overcome, the teenagers return to their lives in the material world. At the end, the teenagers are able to forgive their imperfect parents and recognize that the adults who love them are doing the best they can under imperfect circumstances. The adults are able to recognize what they need to do.

TreeTalker is an exciting book, a thriller with a satisfying and happy ending. Do yourself a favor and buy it for yourself and everyone you know.

Posted in book review, Buchrezension, Susan J. Kroupa, Tree Talker, writers | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment