Becky Mushko

I'm a retired English teacher who writes fiction. My two novels, THEM THAT GO (2016) and PATCHES ON THE SAME QUILT (2001, 2013), as well as my short story collection MIRACLE OF THE CONCRETE JESUS AND OTHER STORIES, are available both in print and as Kindle ebooks. My Appalachian version of the Rumpelstiltskin tale, FERRADIDDLEDUMDAY (2010), and my middle-grade paranormal novel, STUCK (2011), both published by Cedar Creek Publishing, are now out of print but are available as Kindle ebooks. I've also Kindle-published ebook versions of short stories: REST IN PEACE, OVER COFFEE, and THE BEST 'UN YET. Some of the stories are prize winners and were previously published in my now out-of-print collections THE GIRL WHO RACED MULES & OTHER STORIES or WHERE THERE'S A WILL.

I'm a 5-time winner of the Lonesome Pine Short Story Contest and a 3-time winner of the Sherwood Anderson Short Story Contest. My short stories have appeared in some regional magazines, and one was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. PATCHES ON THE SAME QUILT won the 2001 Smith Mountain Arts Council award and was self-published in print with a generous grant from SMAC.

My story, "Out of the Fog," appears in A CUP OF COMFORT FOR WRITERS (Adams, 2008) and several of my dreadful sentences appear in the Bulwer-Lytton anthology, IT WAS A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT (Friday Publishing, 2008).

I've been a Bulwer-Lytton Bad Fiction Contest category winner--twice. In 1996, I won the "Worst Western" category with this:

Following the unfortunate bucking of his horse when it was startled by the posse's shots, Tex--who now lay in a disheveled heap in the sagebrush--pushed back his sweat-stained Stetson from one deep-set eye, spat a stream of tobacco juice at the nearest cactus, and reflected momentarily that the men approaching him with ropes probably weren't just out for a skip, and--if they were--his freshly broken ankle would have to cause him to decline any entreaties to join them.

In 2008, I won the Bulwer-Lytton "Vile Pun" category with this:

Vowing to get revenge on his English teacher for making him memorize Wordsworth's "Intimations of Immortality," Warren decided to pour sugar in her gas tank, but he inadvertently grabbed a sugar substitute so it was actually Splenda in the gas.

To learn more about me, visit my blogs, https://beckymushko.blogspot.com or https://peevishpen.blogspot.com.