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Marta Bacon

and the Paper Octopus Press

  • Contact Me
  • Questions
    • A Lot of Questions
    • About Central Florida
    • Bunnies. Why bunnies?
    • Influences
    • The Trouble with Hair
  • Stories
    • Devotion
    • Drifting Through Space
    • Her Loving Arms
    • Not Your Breakfast Club: a short story in 2018
    • Saving David Bowie
    • The Fear of Apples
    • The Longest Love Letter
    • The Sky Fell in Love
  • The Blue Jar: a debut novel
    • A Soundtrack
    • Book Club Guide
    • The Next Book?
    • The Origin of a Story
  • Things About Me
    • Cool Places

Irrational Fears and Other Ways to Pass the Time

On January 14, 2009 By mapelbaIn Uncategorized7 Comments

I saw the spider's shadow first. I was sitting in my car at the bank and the shadow was on the passenger seat. I stopped filling out the deposit slip and looked at the windshield. The spider was on the outside. I had to move forward. The movement of the car made the spider skitter …

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Daisies, Streets, and Publications

On January 12, 2009January 13, 2009 By mapelbaIn Uncategorized6 Comments

"What's your favorite flower?" A. asked me. We were sitting in a movie theater waiting for The Pick-Up Artist to begin. It was our first date. "Daisies," I said. "But those are weeds," he said. "Don't you like roses?" I'd only agreed to this date because a friend talked me into it. And it'd been …

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Hitting Your Head Against the Wall Isn’t Really Therapy

On January 10, 2009 By mapelbaIn Uncategorized13 Comments

I wished I took drugs. If I'd been that sort of girl, I'd have felt better. Thinking like that is easy in the middle of the night when you can't sleep. This is how people go crazy, I thought, and turned over again. I threw the covers off and tried to sleep with my head …

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Not Exactly a Path to Somewhere

On January 8, 2009January 9, 2009 By mapelbaIn Uncategorized10 Comments

My husband has an idea. MFA. Novels can be written without degrees, but jobs are easier with them. I have a job now, but I've had the same job for a long time and no change waits on the horizon. Well, no change I've any clue about. The deadline is December 15th and I'll need …

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Santa Claus is holding back.

On January 8, 2009January 8, 2009 By mapelbaIn Uncategorized8 Comments

Santa Claus didn't bring a memory machine, he didn't bring a map to success, and he didn't bring a clear reflecting pool of valuable insights. In spite of the flying reindeer and the living forever, he brings very ordinary toys. I'm bound to run out of those true life stories. Some stories take too much …

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The Faith Healer Didn’t Want Me

On January 7, 2009January 7, 2009 By mapelbaIn Uncategorized8 Comments

He puts his hands on her head. "You are forgiven. She is at peace!" he shouts. My friend screams and falls to the floor. Another man runs over to cover S. with a towel. Several people are on the floor and others wait their turn. The faith healer looks at me passes me by. I …

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A New Dress Isn’t Enough

On January 5, 2009July 19, 2009 By mapelbaIn Uncategorized6 Comments

"I'll tell M. you want to jump his bones if you don't call. You know I will," R. said. I didn't know, but I needed to threat to go through with it. M. answered his phone and my voice rose to amazing heights. "Hi!" We were friends and I'd called him plenty of times. He'd …

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Finding Your Way in the Dark

On January 3, 2009January 4, 2009 By mapelbaIn Uncategorized6 Comments

He took my hand when the lights went out. My traveling companion and I had just decided to leave the disco and go back to our hotel to a room we'd been sharing with three others, but those three others had gone home. We wanted to stay at The Black Sea for one more day. …

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Who’s that there behind you?

On January 3, 2009 By mapelbaIn Uncategorized8 Comments

"You're doing the right thing," my mom said. "But you should know something before you go through with it." I was in the 6th grade and terrified of my math teacher, Mr. W---. A group of us had decided to go complain about him. We wanted him to stop calling us stupid and ignorant. "What's …

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Drunk or Hysterical Driving

On January 2, 2009 By mapelbaIn Uncategorized6 Comments

Three police cars surrounded us. I sat at the wheel of my car waiting to be told what to do and dazzled by all the flashing lights. All that--for me! An officer told me to get out of my car. I told my passenger, K., to keep quiet. Keeping K. quiet ever was a challenge. …

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That Place

That Place

The Action Figures Everyday

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Find Art on Etsy

A Collection of Short Stories

Fox & Moon–my story in this anthology

My novel on Amazon.

My Novel

That Ghost Is Going to Cost You–stories for haunted nights

An Anthology
Follow Marta Bacon on WordPress.com

My art on RedBubble gifts.

My Art

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More Art Work

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