Who Will Sub For Miss Simmons - Blog Contest and Preview

Well, I thought Labor Day would be a grand day to officially introduce my most recent labor, Who Will Sub for Miss Simmons? I was hoping to have a complete and correct hard copy to show by now, but Lulu is having some issues. According to a recent email: "In recent weeks, we have experienced the perfect storm of mishaps - a combination of unusually high order volumes, a broken printing machine, and an early outbreak of fall cold season at our US print vendor. Unfortunately, this means that we are late in shipping your order (or orders)."

Oh, well.

For now, the closest thing to something shiny and new to show you today is the ebook, which right now is only available through Lulu.com (as an epub) until the ecopy is approved for the iBookstore (iBooks), Barnes and Noble (Nook), Amazon (Kindle) and Kobi.

Click on the cover to see the book description on Lulu.com. On sale for $1.25 through September 30.

So, because of all the above, the book is on sale for the month of September at Lulu.com (remember, epub version) for one whole shiny dollar. Click the picture above or here to read more about the book or click below to purchase.



I'll let you know when the paperback is available and maybe come up with something fun to do when that happens. We'll see.

Until then, if you have any good slug stories, or other good bug stories, share them in the comments. At the end of September I'll put your name in a hat and you may win a fun treat! (Well, maybe not candy corn, but something.)

See below for a preview: Chapter One from Who Will Sub for Miss Simmons?

Chapter One

Miss Simmons

The boy stretched taut the rubber band, took a line of sight, adjusting for wind, weight of the pebble, then waited for it to be clear.

Thwack! The bit of gravel hit Mary smack in the rump.

"Hey!” she yelled. "Who did that?" She whipped her head around, a couple of kids standing in line for square ball dodging her long ponytail in the process.

"Eddie James! I saw that!" shouted Jill, the short girl next to Mary. She burst from the line, a small red and brown blur running across the playground. She skidded to a stop in front of him, looking up, hands on hips, her curly hair shaking in anger. Mary arrived a minute later, arms crossed. They stood in solidarity glowering at their playground nemesis.

"I didn't do nothing," said Eddie. "You always blame me, besides,” he paused, giving Jill a look, “if you do anything, I'll tell Miss Simmons you were the one who hacked her cell."

"Did no such thing!” Jill’s light brown cheeks turning a bright pink. She screwed up her eyes and shoved her face up into Eddie’s “Fink!"

Eddie leaned down, black eyes meeting her brown ones. "Did. So.” He looked up at Jill’s halo of curly brown hair. “Fathead!"

“Back off, Eddie,” warned Mary, voice low and hands now clenched and ready.

“Psst! She’s coming!” One of the kids watching hissed before sauntering back over to the square ball court.

The children quieted as they saw Miss Simmons' lean form coming toward them. The turnip-shaped bun on her head seemed to bristle with irritation, the pins holding it in place flying out as she strode toward them in her brown polyester pants, the squish-squeak of each step heard across the playground. Upon arriving, she straightened her olive green cardigan and peered down at them over her glasses.

“Now children," cooed Miss Simmons, grabbing Jill and Eddie’s arms. The points of her long, dark red nails bit into their flesh, adding to the pain of her steel-like vice. “What could possibly be the problem between two such lovely, well-behaved youngsters? Would you like to tell me about it?" Her voice edged into a slight threat. “Or…,” she looked back to the portable next to the school building, her homeroom and where most kids ended up spending detention — sooner or later.

Jill, Mary, and Eddie held their breaths and exchanged looks. Some of those kids were never seen again, supposedly because they were suspended or expelled, but…

Eddie and Jill weren't the first kids to “makeup" to avoid detention and Miss Simmons’ sugar voice and acid remarks.

"S-sorry, Miss Simmons," stammered Jill, anger-fueled confidence suddenly gone. "We were only p-playing." She hissed as she felt the hard fingers around her arm squeeze down even harder, one of the fingernails puncturing her skin.

Miss Simmons leaned down to look the children in the face, sharp nose pointed at each in turn. Something flickered deep in her basalt eyes. There was a clicking and a hiss, then a bright smile.

"That's better, now run along and play,” answered Miss Simmons. As she turned and stalked away there was a small noise, as if she was cackling. The trio watched her walk away, making sure she was really gone.

“Hey,” Eddie whispered at Jill and Mary as they watched Miss Simmons enter her room in the portable. “By the tree after school?”

Jill nodded, rubbing feeling back into her arm. She licked her finger and wiped away the blood from where Miss Simmons’ fingernail had pierced her skin.

“Yeah,” said Mary. “We’ll be there.”

Back to playground politics as usual....