It's 95-word fiction time!

Welcome to this week's Reno News & Review.

Yeah, it's me again. Returning this week to bring you our regularly scheduled announcement about our 95-word fiction contest. Full court press! It's that time again! You've got two weeks. Sample:

Ronald “Smitty” Wolfe loved love. He loved the kissing. He loved the flowers and the intimacy. He especially loved the uninhibited sex, rolling around on clean sheets. “Maybe I’ll meet someone today,” he thought as he transferred a touch of Old Spice deodorant from his armpit to behind each ear. He combed his hair with a razor part that could have been made with a ruler and adjusted his pressed shirt as he slippered down the tiled hallway. “BURITTO DAY,” proclaimed the reader board at the entrance to the dining hall at the Shady Rest.

There it is: 95 words exactly! It's 95-word fiction time. We, the editors of the Reno News & Review, ask you, the readers of the Reno News & Review, to send us your short fiction stories—preferably with a beginning, a middle and an end, and exactly 95 words. That's excluding title, and as counted by LibreOffice, Google Docs or Microsoft Word. Your published story and the envy of all your friends will be your reward. We require you to add your name, email and contact phone number at the top of the stories. (Don't worry, the names will be removed before judging.) Do not send as attachments.

To get an idea of what we're looking for, and to size up the competition, last year's winners can be found at www.newsreview.com/reno/biggest-little-stories/content?oid=15843656.

Send your entries for the 95-word Fiction Contest to renofiction@newsreview.com, with Fiction 2015 in the subject line. All entries must be received by 9 a.m. on Dec. 16. Selected entries will be published on Dec. 24.

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Man, after having an unusual amount of time to watch the political buffoons doing their danse macabre over the Thanksgiving weekend, I can think of a couple of turkeys who didn't deserve a pardon.