41 writers. One cause. We've rallied a platoon of crime, western, thriller, fantasy, noir, horror and transgressive authors to support PROTECT's important work: lobbying for legislation that protects children from physical, sexual, and emotional abuse.

Powerful stories from George Pelecanos, Andrew Vachss, Joe R. Lansdale, Charles de Lint, Ken Bruen, Chet Williamson, James Reasoner, Charlie Stella, Michael A. Black, Wayne Dundee, Roxane Gay, Ray Banks, Tony Black, Les Edgerton and 16 more, with 100% of proceeds going to PROTECT.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Now available in Trade Paperback



The anthology is now available in trade paperback at Amazon and Createspace for $9.99
Free shipping worldwide at The Book Depository

Available for $2.99 in e-book form, for:
iPad in the Apple iBookstore
Amazon Kindle (read it on your computer with Amazon Kindle Cloud Reader, or on your phone with the Amazon Kindle App)
Nook at Barnes & Noble
Kobo, Sony e-reader and download as PDF, epub, mobi or Viewable Online at Smashwords


30 powerful stories from around the world to benefit two children's charities: PROTECT: The National Association to Protect Children (www.protect.org) and Children 1st Scotland (www.children1st.org.uk). 

Stories by David Ackley, Kevin Aldrich, David Barber, Lynn Beighley, Seamus Bellamy, Paul D. Brazill, Sif Dal, James Lloyd Davis, Roberto C. Garcia, Susan Gibb, Nancy A. Hansen, K.V. Hardy, Gill Hoffs, Fiona "McDroll" Johnson, J.F. Juzwik, MaryAnne Kolton, Benoit Lelievre, Veronica Marie Lewis-Shaw, Vinod Narayan, Paula Pahnke, Ron Earl Phillips, Thomas Pluck, Sam Rasnake, JP Reese, Chad Rohrbacher, Susan Tepper, Luca Veste, Michael Webb, Nicolette Wong and Erin Zulkoski.

It began as a flash fiction challenge when Fiona Johnson and Thomas Pluck donated $5 to PROTECT and £5 to Children 1st for every story at Ron Earl Phillips' Flash Fiction Friday and Fictionaut. Now we have collected the 30 best stories to benefit these two charities.
Join us and make a difference while you read 30 great stories genres by writers from the U.S.A., Poland, Hong Kong, Portugal, India, Scotland, England, Canada, and one told by a Lost Boy of the Sudan to his teacher.



Approximately $2 per e-book sale and $4 per print book sale, depending on retailer, are donated for each sale. The full royalty paid by the retailer goes to these causes (50% to each). Ordering from Createspace gives the greatest donation of $5.49, and Barnes & Noble the least, $1.94. The first week of each month, detailed sales and donation reports will be posted here.

If you don't have an e-reader: you can download the Kindle for PC or Kindle for Mac app, the Nook for PC App, Nook for Mac App or view it online at Smashwords, or download it as an Adobe PDF file. You can also read epubs on the Adobe Digital Editions reader for PC and Mac.
And of course, you can order a print edition!

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Contributor Chad Rohrbacher interviewed

Chad Rohrbacher, who wrote "Outside the Dream" for the anthology was recently interviewed at the Crime Fiction Lover website:

Interview with Chad

He talks about the anthology and his book Karma Backlash which is due out next year.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

No Rules, at Psycho Noir

Heath Lowrance, author of The Bastard Hand and the Psycho Noir blog, handed co-editor Thomas Pluck the microphone to spread the word about the anthology for his series No Rules.

Check it out: NO RULES

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Now available in the iBookstore for the Apple iPad

The Anthology is now available in the Apple iBookstore for the iPad, so iTunes users can get it directly for the iPhone and iPad.

A print edition is in the works, and will be available through Createspace and Amazon soon.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Review by Wayne Dundee, author of the Joe Hannibal P.I. series


THE LOST CHILDREN is a collection of 30 stories that is noteworthy for two reasons: First, the quality and theme of the stories are powerful and important; Second, the proceeds from this undertaking all go to two worthwhile charities—PROTECT (The National Association to Protect Children @ http://www.protect.org/) and Children 1stScotland @ www.children1st.org.uk). If you are unfamiliar with either of these organizations you should follow the links and check them out.
 The collection of stories presented here came about as a challenge issued by editors Thomas Pluck and Fiona Johnson on Ron Earl Phillip's (the third editor of this anthology)Flash Fiction Friday website. Pledges by Pluck and Johnson for each story submitted resulted in an initial $600 being generated for these worthy causes. The idea for this follow-up anthology soon materialized and THE LOST CHILDREN is the result. The haunting cover by Sarah Bennett Pluck and Danielle Tunstall instantly sets the tone and the flash fiction-style stories that follow are equally haunting and powerful and as painfully timely as today's headlines. The stories are not pleasant and few punches are pulled, but the message driven home again and again demands to be heard: The abuse and neglect of our young is not only horrific and damaging to them as individuals but, unchecked, it threatens the fabric of our souls and our future as a so-called civilized society.


Wayne Dundee is author of the new western Dismal River and the Joe Hannibal P.I. series. His website is http://www.waynedundee.com/

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Get a taste with Seamus Bellamy's story at the Flash Fiction Offensive

David Barber, editor of The Flash Fiction Offensive and contributor to the anthology, chose Seamus Bellamy's crime tale "Larry" to showcase the book. It's a gripping tale and will give you an idea of the talent that contributed to our anthology.



Larry by Seamus Bellamy, at The Flash Fiction Offensive


Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Now available at Barnes & Noble for Nook

The anthology is now available for Nook users at Barnes & Noble:

Nook

I have also updated the original post.

Monday, October 31, 2011

a little about... Michael Webb

Michael wrote "Perfect Blue Buildings" for the challenge:


What inspired your story?

I'm not sure, honestly. I was listening to the song "Perfect Blue Buildings" by the Counting Crows, and musing about the prompt, and I had a mental picture of the John Hancock Tower in Boston, how it looks blue from the right distance and at the right angle. Then the whole story just occurred to me, a small kid left in front of the TV, told by the adult watching him that he'll be "right back" and never returning.


What makes this cause important to you?

That's hard to answer. What doesn't make this cause important? Anyone who's raised a child, or even been around one, knows how vulnerable they are. I don't think any feeling human can fail to hurt for a child who has been left behind.


Tell us a bit about yourself and where to find more of your writing.

Probably like most contributors, I've been writing for almost as long as I could write. I blog at innocentsaccidentshints.blogspot.com, which has become a repository for my short fiction.

a little about ... Roberto C. Garcia

Roberto wrote his story "One Night" for the challenge, and hails from Fictionaut:

What inspired your story?

My story was inspired by other stories, both mine and borrowed.

What makes this cause important to you?

I had a disjointed childhood but I was luckier than most of the kids in my part of town. Those experiences taught me how vulnerable children are and it angers me when they are mistreated, neglected or abused by adults. If by contributing fiction, I can help children get out of bad situations, then sign me up.

Tell us a bit about yourself and where to find more of your writing.

I'm working on an MFA in Poetry and Poetry Translation at Drew University in New Jersey. My poems and fiction have appeared in the Istanbul Literary Review, Poets & Artists Magazine, The New Gnus Literary Journal and Metazen. My work appears regularly for feedback and constructive criticism at Fictionaut, an online writers community.

My oft neglected blogs are www.themoodofthepeopl.blogspot.com and
www.themoodofthepeople.tumblr.com

I can be followed on Twitter at @thespokenmind

The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology now available



Available for $2.99 in e-book form, for:
iPad in the Apple iBookstore
Amazon Kindle (read it on your computer with Amazon Kindle Cloud Reader, or on your phone with the Amazon Kindle App)
Nook at Barnes & Noble
Kobo, Sony e-reader and download as PDF, epub, mobi or Viewable Online at Smashwords

$9.99 for trade paperback at Amazon and Createspace.

30 powerful stories from around the world to benefit two children's charities: PROTECT: The National Association to Protect Children (www.protect.org) and Children 1st Scotland (www.children1st.org.uk). 

Stories by David Ackley, Kevin Aldrich, David Barber, Lynn Beighley, Seamus Bellamy, Paul D. Brazill, Sif Dal, James Lloyd Davis, Roberto C. Garcia, Susan Gibb, Nancy A. Hansen, K.V. Hardy, Gill Hoffs, Fiona "McDroll" Johnson, J.F. Juzwik, MaryAnne Kolton, Benoit Lelievre, Veronica Marie Lewis-Shaw, Vinod Narayan, Paula Pahnke, Ron Earl Phillips, Thomas Pluck, Sam Rasnake, JP Reese, Chad Rohrbacher, Susan Tepper, Luca Veste, Michael Webb, Nicolette Wong and Erin Zulkoski.

It began as a flash fiction challenge when Fiona Johnson and Thomas Pluck donated $5 to PROTECT and £5 to Children 1st for every story at Ron Earl Phillips' Flash Fiction Friday and Fictionaut. Now we have collected the 30 best stories to benefit these two charities.
Join us and make a difference while you read 30 great stories genres by writers from the U.S.A., Poland, Hong Kong, Portugal, India, Scotland, England, Canada, and one told by a Lost Boy of the Sudan to his teacher.



If you don't have an e-reader: you can download the Kindle for PC or Kindle for Mac app, the Nook for PC App, Nook for Mac App or view it online at Smashwords, or download it as an Adobe PDF file. You can also read epubs on the Adobe Digital Editions reader for PC and Mac.

a little about... Ron Earl Phillips

Ron Earl Phillips runs Flash Fiction Friday, is an editor for Shotgun Honey, and may or may not be an undercover investigator. I met him and I was not quite sure. What I was sure of was that he is a fine human being and writes a good tale. His story "The Dog Catcher" was written for the challenge.



What inspired the story? 

My mother worked 33 years as a case worker for the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Services, and 10 of those 33 years she worked specifically with Child Protective Services. While she tried not to bring her home work with her, I would overhear stories growing up. Stories of abuse, both sexual and physical, and stories of abandonment and homeless. And unfortunately stories of unwanted children locked away like animals, cast off to live in their own filth. While I can only fathom the thought process of those Lost Children -- how they manage and adapt, move on with life -- I found myself wondering how it would affect those who found such horror. That moment of discovery was what I was attempting with "The Dog Catcher," to put the reader in that moment of revelation. 

What makes the cause important to you? 

Whatever definition you give to Lost Children, every child in the world today, no matter how sheltered, has the potential to become lost. If the horror found in my words can help prevent the reality, then what I've written is important. 


A bit about myself. 

Nestled in the foothills of West Virginia, Ron Earl Phillips lives with his wife, teen-aged daughter, and their three cats. When not attempting to keep a roof over their heads through the mundane and legal job as a web developer, Ron reads and writes crime fiction. He also acts as co-editor on the online flash fiction magazine, Shotgun Honey, and for the upcoming e-book charity anthology, The Lost Children. Ron also maintains the weekly writing prompt site, Flash Fiction Friday.

You can find out more about Ron Earl Phillips at his website, RonEarl.com.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

a little about... Susan Tepper

Susan Tepper has four novels in print and wrote the powerful story "kid" for the challenge:



What inspired your story?

The challenge photo is one of the most devastating I've ever seen of a child. That tortured face is a map of every hideous deed done to ruin a child's life. It brought to mind a young girl I once saw in a soup kitchen line outside a church. She was early teens, very blonde, slender, and frightened looking. She stood out like a beacon on that NYC street amongst the more hardened, adult homeless in that food line. I was rushing to the subway, to get to work, but stopped there. I thought of approaching her, trying to help somehow. I didn't. This act of omission has haunted me some 20 years now.

What makes this cause important to you?

There isn't much to do in this world if it doesn't involve making things somewhat better for someone else. If someone feels better, there's a good chance they will spread it. It's the last saving grace for our planet.

Tell us a bit about yourself and where to find more of your writing.

I'm a fiction writer, poet, essayist and interviewer. Have been at this for 17 years. Have 3 books published and a 4th about to come out. Prior to the writing, I was an actor who worked at a series of jobs to pay my rent and buy my food. I didn't have a cushy life. I'm glad of that. It makes you appreciate what you do get and helps keeps your ego in line.

a little about... David Barber

David is the editor of The Flash Fiction Offensive, The Laughter Shack, and an accomplished writer in his own right. He wrote "Forgotten" for the challenge:







What inspired the story?

I asked myself what could be the worse thing that could happen to me as a father and I think the thought of one of my kids going missing would be the worst.  I then took it a bit further and put Elizabeth in the position of having a feeling that her daughter was still alive and somewhere else.  I didn't really want to go down the abuse/pedophile road.  That sickens me.

What makes the cause important to you?

If I can doing anything to help kids have a better life then I'm in.  Kids are the future and they need love and a good start in life.  The fear in the eyes of the young girl on the book cover says it all.  How anyone could look into those eyes and totally ignore that is beyond me.  If I had my way there'd be a death penalty in every country in the world for child abusers.

A bit about myself.

I'm a father of two beautiful girls.  I'm a self employed tiler by day and a writer at night.  I'm editor of The Flash Fiction Offensive and I blog at David Barber's Fiction World.

a little about... JP Reese

JP Reese wrote "The Lost Boy" for the anthology, sharing the tale of a Sudanese boy who survived the genocide there.



What inspired your story?

My story is a bit different in that the main character isn't a "character" at all. He was a student in my summer American Literature class who became one of my heroes after he told the story of his childhood in Sudan to me and to the rest of my class. I am a slow creative writer and knew I'd never have anything fictional or poetic in time to help, but after I heard of the generous offer Fiona and Tom were making in regard to the stories we produced, I knew I had to participate in some small way. David's true story of loss and redemption is my offering.

What makes this cause important to you?

There are so many problems in the world, almost to the point where one is overwhelmed when trying to decide how or where to help or even finding a way to do so. Clearly, any charity that affects the lives of children not only has an immediate impact on particular children, but also has a long term positive impact on society. Tom and Fiona are the heroes of this book. They pointed us in the right direction, and we simply followed.


Tell us a bit about yourself and where to find more of your writing.

I have been writing in some capacity for most of my life, but only began to write seriously again, after a six year hiatus, within the last two years. I have had poetry, fiction, flash, and creative nonfiction published both in print and online. I have an MFA in poetry and teach English at a small college in Texas. I am an associate poetry editor for Connotation Press: An Online Artifact www.connotationpress.com and THIS Literary Magazine www.thiszine.org. My work is compiled at Entropy: A Measure of Uncertainty jpreese.tumblr.com.

a little about... Fiona "McDroll" Johnson

Fiona issued the Lost Children flash fiction challenge for Flash Fiction Friday and donated £220  ($350 US) personally to Children 1st Scotland, £5 for each story submitted. Her story "Residual Flashbacks" appears in the collection.



What inspired your story?


Having set up the challenge for everyone else, it suddenly dawned on me that I’d need to tackle it myself.
Like everyone else, I love Danielle Tunstall’s photo and I dare anyone to look into the eyes of the child and not feel pain. It always worries me as a teacher that the children who sit in our classes everyday, year after year, will be experiencing some kind of abuse but while in school, where they feel safe, their suffering doesn’t show.

Only many years later do people realize that how they were treated was wrong. Often they have never shared their abuse with anyone but kept it locked away in a secure place in their mind. It’s one of those children that my story is about.


What makes this cause important to you?

There are so many children in society needing help. Abuse is not going away and Children 1st do such valuable work in Scotland but like other charities, they have to work so hard constantly trying to find funds for their projects. I hope through the LOST CHILDREN ANTHOLOGY, we can all help them just a little bit.


Tell us a bit about yourself and where to find more of your writing.

I live in Argyll, Scotland, which is one of the most beautiful parts of the world. I have two children of my own who love everything musical so I spend a lot of my time taking them from activity to activity throughout the week.

I’ve been teaching 3 – 11 year olds for the past 28 years but in the little spare time that I have I try my best to write crime / noir short stories. I’ve been fortunate enough to have stories published in Shotgun Honey and The Flash Fiction Offensive. Recently Trestle Press has published my first anthology of short stories, KICK IT. I’ve also got stories in two more wonderful anthologies that are coming out soon, OFF THE RECORD and BRIT GRIT TOO.

Thanks so much to everyone who has helped with THE LOST CHILDREN, now let’s make it a success by spreading the word.

Thank you.

Friday, October 28, 2011

a little about... Nicolette Wong

Nicolette Wong contributed "Scream" to the challenge, through Fictionaut. 


What inspired your story?

It's a true story in parts about my aunt who came from China. She acted aggressive toward my family and her own child, which screamed suffering in her heart - she had never dreamed that married life in Hong Kong would mean slaving away in a manual job and raising a child who had learning disorder. My uncle is also a little slow - a fact my aunt didn't seem to fully grasp until they lived together in HK. Out of wounded pride, she pushed everyone away and beat her daughter at any imaginary hint of disloyalty. The episodes about my aunt and my cousin were true events. The children next door were made up.

I was in high school when my cousin was born. The night my aunt went to the hospital, I was staying at their place because of some unfortunate circumstances in my own home. Something to do with debts and threats, and not knowing if I would have money for school after summer holiday. As I watched the couple leave the flat, I thought, "Why bring a tragedy into this world?" because everyone knew their daughter wasn't going to turn out right, her life was going to be hard. And I knew I would never love my cousin.

What makes this cause important to you?

It was an instinctive reaction - I saw the call for submissions and decided to contribute because it's a great cause.

Tell us a bit about yourself and where to find more of your writing.

Writer from Hong Kong. Editor of A-Minor Magazine. Often awake through the night. Aspiring magician at dawn. Like to swim laps, tend to plants and think by the sea. I blog at Meditations in an Emergency.

a little about... Thomas Pluck

I am one of the editors of this project, along with Fiona Johnson and Ron Earl Phillips. I worked on the e-book design and the writer-wrangling work of getting permissions and contracts taken care of. My story "Little Sister" was written for the challenge, and appears in the anthology. 




What inspired you to write this story?


I read an article about Living Water for Girls, an Atlanta charity which rescues young women trapped in sex trafficking and exploitation. The stories were heartbreaking, and so many the same: a girl is kicked out of her home during the arguments of early adolescence, left to fend for herself on the street; a young man tells her she's beautiful, she can stay with him, and she thinks his bed is better than the cold street, and she wakes up in a nightmare. Beaten and trapped, raped, and emotionally abused until she thinks all she is good for is turning tricks for her pimp. It enraged me, and the stories of women who clawed their way out of it gave me hope that someday we'd never use the words "child prostitute," but instead realize this is the face of modern slavery.

What makes this cause important to you?
The gorilla in the room that we choose to ignore is that our prisons are full of abused children who've grown to learn that their own pain is the only pain that matters. 25% of women are sexually abused. And those are the ones who admit it. The abuse of power is the common thread throughout human history, and nothing defines evil more than an adult abusing a child, physically, sexually or emotionally. We've become a society where bullying is said to build character. Would you spit on a newborn child to get him ready for the trials of life? The strong will always have an advantage over the weak. Civilization is meant to impose fairer laws over the brutality of nature. If we look away and ignore it, we cannot call ourselves civilized.

Tell us a bit about yourself and where we can find more of your writing.
I write what I call "unflinching fiction with heart." Sometimes that's crime fiction, sometimes it's noir, other times it's just character-driven stories where we see what fuels someone's intensity. On occasion I write humor. I'm a computer administrator by day, and I practice mixed martial arts and strongman weightlifting in my spare time. I've endured punches to the crotch to assist in teaching women self-defense. When I support something, I go all the way.

My writing can be found at www.pluckyoutoo.com and has been published in Pulp Modern, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, Beat to a Pulp, The Utne Reader, Crimespree Magazine, Shotgun Honey, and The Flash Fiction Offensive, among others. I have work upcoming in Plots With Guns, Needle Magazine, Crimefactory, and two anthologies, Beat to a Pulp: Hardboiled and Luca Veste's Off the Record.

I also like the odd cheeseburger and the craftiest beer I can find.

a little about... Veronica Marie Lewis-Shaw

Veronica penned her tale "Lost But Not Forgotten," about human trafficking, for our challenge:

What inspired your story?

When I first saw the picture Fiona had posted for the Flash Fiction Friday prompt, it took me back several years to time I spent in a shelter after I had escaped, and the faces of the young girls there. It still haunts me that I could not help them more; I was so trapped in my own pain and suffering, seeing myself only as a victim too. To this day, I still see those faces.

Why the cause is important to you?

A bad start for a child doesn’t necessarily mean that they will turn out bad when they grow into adulthood, but it does ‘stack the deck’ against them. Humans are an imitative species; we learn by what we experience, how we are treated. A child who is abused, taken advantage of, and neglected, is denied a fair chance at life. No matter how much they overcome, they are still haunted by their past… their future is forever tinged by the mistreatment they suffered as children. This I know all too well.

Children are our future. The adults they become will be shaped in large part by their childhood. Their capacity to love and trust; to honor and respect, not only themselves but others as well; and to realize their full potential hinges so much on the life they have as a child.

Tell us a little bit about you and where to find your writing.

I am a former daycare/preschool worker, now working part time and attending classes. The Pacific Northwest is my home. I was born in Lisboa, Portugal and grew up in the Midwest, the only child of Russian and Portuguese parents. I recently celebrated my 26th birthday and the fifth anniversary of what we laughingly refer to as my ‘bondage’ to Christina Anne Shaw, my partner and my‘forever’. We will celebrate our one year wedding anniversary on the 25th of October.

Writing was never really my strong suit in school, and had it not been for the fact that I would have had to endure my mother’s disappointment, I would have gladly paid others to do my writing assignments. I first began writing seriously a few years ago… as part of therapy. My writing at that time was of a personal nature, focusing on my ordeal and my relationship with my now-wife, Christina. Under the ‘tutelage’ of my therapist / tormenter, who had a major in English, I developed beyond the rudimentary skills that got me through my formal education. Growing weary of talking about myself, I turned my thoughts to writing fiction; having long been a fan of noir. I am a regular contributor to Flash Fiction Friday - A Community Writing Project, and Lily Child’s Feardom – Friday Prediction Flash Challenge. I have been published in PULP METAL MAGAZINE and am sharpening my pencils for this year’s NaNoWriMo competition.

You can find my writing at http://veronicathepajamathief.blogspot.com/ andhttp://veronicathepajamathief.wordpress.com/.

a little about... Sam Rasnake

Sam Rasnake wrote "Dialogue of Self and Little Boy/Little Girl, or Not" for the challenge at Fictionaut:

What inspired your story?

The Fictionaut challenge for the project was the catalyst. My normal routine for writing involves pen and journal, but this piece was written entirely at the keyboard. That is a rarity for me. Just moments before I read the challenge, I’d been at the Poetry Foundation website and noticed a link to William Butler Yeats. I don’t remember the poem that was listed – just Yeats’ name. I made the connection between the project challenge and the title of a poem by Yeats: “A Dialogue of Self and Soul”. I made the easy segue to my own title of “Dialogue of Self and Little Boy/Little Girl, or Not”. The words in my title – and not Yeats' poem – triggered the form for my own flash. The story just fell into place.


Why the cause is important to you?

Far too many children have become casualties, statistics, blurbs in newspapers. World-wide, thousands die daily from poverty alone. According to ABC, nearly 2,000 children in the U.S. die each year as a result of abuse or neglect. One article I read stated that 1 in every 58 children in the U.S. is a victim of child abuse and neglect. And we’re a world leader? If we consider the numbers globally, the impact becomes even more staggering. A tragedy.



Tell us a little bit about you and where to find your writing.

Sam Rasnake’s works, receiving five nominations for the Pushcart Prize, have appeared in journals such asOCHO, Big Muddy, MiPOesias, > kill author, BLIP: The New Mississippi Review, Literal Latté, Wigleaf, Poets / Artists, Portland Review, Connotation Press, Poem, BluePrint Review, The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature, Poetry Midwest, and Emprise Review. His work has been included in the Best of the Web 2009 anthology (Dzanc Books), BOXCAR Poetry Review Anthology 2, andDogzplot Flash Fiction 2011. He edits Blue Fifth Review, an online journal of poetry, flash, and art, is chapbook editor for Sow’s Ear Poetry Review, and serves as a judge for the Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Prize, University of California, Berkeley. Rasnake is the author of one collection: Necessary Motions(Sow’s Ear Press), and three chapbooks: Religions of the Blood (Pudding House Press), Lessons in Morphology (GOSS183), and Inside a Broken Clock (Finishing Line Press).



Web page: http://samofthetenthousandthings.wordpress.com/

3 days until release

Fiona "McDroll" and I issued a challenge at Ron Earl Phillips' Flash Fiction Friday and Fictionaut; we would donate $5 and 5 pounds to charity for each story about lost or neglected children. We raised over $600. We've now collected the top 30 stories from the challenge in an e-book anthology and all proceeds will go to PROTECT: The National Association to Protect Children (www.protect.org) and Children 1st Scotland (www.children1st.uk.org)

We have stories from around the world: America, Scotland, England, Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, Portugal, India, Poland and the Sudan.

All 30 Contributors:
David Ackley, Kevin Aldrich, David Barber, Lynn Beighley, Seamus Bellamy, Paul D. Brazill, Sif Dal, James Lloyd Davis, Roberto C. Garcia, Susan Gibb, Nancy A. Hansen, K.V. Hardy, Gill Hoffs, Fiona "McDroll" Johnson, J.F. Juzwik, MaryAnne Kolton, Benoit Lelievre, Veronica Marie Lewis-Shaw, Vinod Narayan, Paula Pahnke, Ron Earl Phillips, Thomas Pluck, Sam Rasnake, JP Reese, Chad Rohrbacher, Susan Tepper, Luca Veste, Michael Webb, Nicolette Wong and Erin Zulkoski.


The e-book anthology is available in the following formats:
$2.99 for Kindle, Kindle Cloud Reader and Kindle for Phone and Desktop at Amazon.com
$2.99 for Adobe PDF, epub format, mobi format, Kobo, Sony e-reader and readable online at Smashwords
$2.99 for Nook in the Barnes & Noble store (also available via Smashwords, if you use Calibre e-book manager)
$2.99 at the Apple iBookstore (pending approval)


For 10 cents a story, that lets your donation mean $1 to both PROTECT and Children 1st after retailers take their fees.


Join us and make a difference while you read 30 great examples of flash fiction in many genres by writers from around the world. If you don't have an e-reader, you can download the Kindle for PC or Kindle for Mac app, the Nook for PC or Nook for Mac app (if you don't like Amazon) or view it online at Smashwords, or download it as an Adobe PDF file. You can also read epubs on the Adobe Digital Editions reader for PC and Mac.