Cafe Cheetah
The Puppet Show
I wrote “Cafe Cheetah” the year I finally made it to Paris.
The surreal ekphrastic novella-in-flash included fifty-three hybrid/flash works inspired by all things French.
I am a bit of a Francophile.
I submitted the work in its entirety upon my return from France.
After four rejections, three withdrawals and a no response from a publisher who never bothered an either/or after 133 days, I pulled my cheetah out of the race and let her rest.
After a year, I tossed the idea of a novella-in-flash and began submitting individual works from the manuscript.
Fourteen stories have since been accepted for publication. Four additional stories had been previously published. And there’s more cheetah magic waiting to run free out in lit land.
These surreal works stood better alone. Sometimes a writer has to step away, take a second look. Maybe reconfigure. Good work though, we writers know when we see it, when we feel it.
The Puppet Show is the most recent. The timelessness of this tiny tale has proved well, timely.
Thank you, fussubmag for publishing the piece with such heart. Read the fussubmag compilation thread of less lengthy lit here.
#Twitterature is alive and well at the former blue bird.
