A phantom train beckons.
Originally published in Wilde - Paris (Insomnia issue)
© 2009 Candace Leigh Coulombe
Absinthe Minded read inspiration
A woodland police station gets mired in the misadventures of green fairies.
-Second place in heat, Challenge 1, NYC Midnight Creative Writing Championships 2008
© 2009 Candace Leigh Coulombe
As a centenarian waits at his bus stop, a memorable and menacing man weaves a true tale of a crime gone wrong.
-Third place in heat, Round 1, NYC Midnight Short Story Challenge 2008
© 2009 Candace Leigh Coulombe
Cleanliness Is read inspiration A repentant Thunderbird is redeemed by a divine car wash.
-Seventh Place, Final Round, NYC Midnight Creative Writing Championships 2009
© 2009 Candace Leigh Coulombe
Cold Call read inspiration
An optimistic cosmetics saleslady pays a call on a spectral customer.
Perhaps they each have just what the other needs.
-Honorable Mention, Final Round, NYC Midnight Short Story Challenge 2008
© 2009 Candace Leigh Coulombe
Delicates read inspiration
A tenuous relationship begins at a late-night laundromat.
© 2009 Candace Leigh Coulombe
Duck, Duck, Goose read inspiration
The games we play.
© 2009 Candace Leigh Coulombe
Flightless Birds read inspiration
A farmer's wife has dreams of a more delicious life.
© 2009 Candace Leigh Coulombe
Fruit of the Spirit read inspiration
Three sisters are too good for the liking of their neighbors.
-Second Place, Elk Grove Library Short Story Contest 2010
© 2009 Candace Leigh Coulombe
My Better Nature read inspiration
In the depth of winter, a lycanthrope struggles to reconcile his two selves.
-Second place in heat, Challenge 1, NYC Midnight Creative Writing Championships 2009
-Reading Writers 2009 First Round Finalist, "Excellence in Millieu: Ambiance of Snow," and
Second Round Finalist, "Excellence in Storytelling: The Structure within the Snow"
© 2009 Candace Leigh Coulombe
Phoning Arcadia read inspiration A telephone operator’s mistake creates a romantic connection for two strangers.
-Sixth place in heat, Challenge 3, NYC Midnight Creative Writing Championships 2009
© 2009 Candace Leigh Coulombe
ScentEasy read inspiration
A visit to an environmentally-friendly perfumery makes a girl lonely for her old life.
-First place in heat, Challenge 2, NYC Midnight Creative Writing Championships 2009
-First Place, Environmental Futures Writing Prize, Soul-Making Literary Competition 2009
© 2009 Candace Leigh Coulombe
Sutro Baths read inspiration
Everything is temporary.
© 2009 Candace Leigh Coulombe
Temporary Insanity read inspiration
An office romance becomes uncomfortably complicated.
-Eighth place in heat, Challenge 3, NYC Midnight Creative Writing Championships 2008
© 2009 Candace Leigh Coulombe
The Changing Room read inspiration
Things go awry when an ambitious young woman infiltrates an exclusive country club.
-First place in heat, Round 1, NYC Midnight Short Story Challenge 2008
-Third Place, Sacramento Public Library Focus on Writers Contest 2009
-Third Place, 15th Dame Lisbet Throckmorton Contest 2010
© 2009 Candace Leigh Coulombe
The Cleaver read inspiration
A girl survives the Holocaust by virtue of a butcher’s kindness.
-Fifth place in heat, Challenge 2, NYC Midnight Creative Writing Championships 2008
© 2009 Candace Leigh Coulombe
The Ghost on the Links read inspiration
A W.H. Auden poem sets the tone of an upper-class mystery.
© 2009 Candace Leigh Coulombe
Coming soon: The Gulf of Aden
A cruise ship is attacked by pirates to the mild inconvenience of its passengers.
-Fifth place in heat, Round 1, NYC Midnight Short Story Challenge 2010
© 2010 Candace Leigh Coulombe
The Still-Sleeping World read inspiration
In 1938, a border crossing in the Alps determines the fate of Jewish passengers.
Can, and will, God intervene?
Adapted from the screenplay of the same name.
© 2009 Candace Leigh Coulombe
The Voracious Reader read inspiration
The best editor may just well be a bookbug.
-Second Place, Elk Grove Library Short Story Contest 2009
© 2009 Candace Leigh Coulombe