Welcome to the December, 2002 edition of Kudzu Monthly, a non-commercial ezine that features short stories, poetry, fine art, and informative articles on health, history and true crime. This is a site for folks who like to read!

Happy holidays and best wishes for the coming year from the staff and authors of Kudzu Monthly. For a special feature added just for Christmas week, Patricia Cresswell looks out at first snowfall and finds herself transported by memories to her childhood years. It's called We Found Christmas at the Fonthill Five and Dime.
 

Fiction

Tayazo
Suzanne Achilles

Kudzu Monthly is pleased to introduce new author Suzanne Achilles, who, in this, her first publication, brings us a sensitive and charming love story set in the American northwest. Enjoy this exercise in rhythmic prose and learn some Oglala words, too.

Hannah's Christmas
Brenda Ross

Hannah doesn't understand why her mother spends all of her time with the twins and ignores her. Her mother doesn't even prepare her meals anymore. This lack of attention hurts, but Grandma Reeves and Great-aunt Priscilla are coming at Christmas, and they'll explain everything to young Hannah.

Wall of Liberty
Jefre Schmitz

We once described Jefre's Schmitz's prose as "Texas-fried fiction," but we think you'll be impressed by this well-told and patriotic short story about two boys who learn just how much a war hero their grandfather really was.

Poetry

A Sampling of Poetry
Karen Canning

In this sampling of her poetry, Karen Canning looks at the many aspects of love and relationships. Please welcome her to these pages by commenting on her work.

Writing Challenge

The idea for a regular writer's challenge started in the Kudzu Klub, but we've decided to throw these challenges open to our many readers who are also authors and poets. We are expecting both amateur and polished submissions, and we start you off with an easy challenge and some answers from Klub members. Please join in and submit your prose or poetry.

Tell us what you think!

If you like what you read here, please leave comments to tell the authors so. If you would like to leave a comment or note to the editors, please leave an entry in the guestbook.

Writers Wanted!

If you are an aspiring or established fiction author, a non-fiction writer with an interest in U.S. history, health, or true crime, a poet, a photographer, or an artist, Kudzu Monthly would welcome your submissions. Please see the Guidelines page for more information.
 

U.S. History

The Boy Gangs of Confederate Richmond
Priscilla Rhoades

Long before the Crips and the Bloods, turf-war gang activity erupted in Confederate-era Richmond. These boys knew that they were going to be pressed into service in their teens, and some of their battles were just as intense, and a few as heavily armed, as their older soldier counterparts.

Health

Breaking Wind
The Hows and How Nots of
Flatulence and Intestinal Gas
Lisa J. Binkley

Remember, you read it here first... But, seriously, folks, Lisa does everything in her column with a determined resolve to uncover the facts that her readers might miss, and in this month's column her probing efforts are a resounding success. (Be informed before seasonal overstuffing.)

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Non-fiction

Christmas in the Mountains of the Moon
Cecile Hare

As the first promised followup to her popular "Stories from the Mountains of the Moon," Cecile Hare brings up this true story about her family's Christmas vacation in Idi Amen's Uganda. Only a few kilometers from the equator, there was no chance of snow, but the little ones were comforted that Father Christmas knew where they were.

Those Fabulous Jet-powered Firebirds
T. L. Stone

Harley Earl was influenced by the world around him, and, in the period after WW-II, nothing excited him quite as much as the newest generation of jet fighters. Could he, he wondered early in 1953, design a test vehicle that would capture the "feeling" of these modern airplanes?
 

The Last Word

Thank you for reading Kudzu Monthly. Before you go, we have one more bit of holiday cheer that's actually useful information. You'll find it in the editor's Last Word
 

The Kudzu Klub is a free, secure, gated writer's work shop on the web where aspiring authors and poets can gather to post their original work and receive comments, critique, and constructive criticism from other like-minded writers, all in a friendly, non-competitive atmosphere. Are you interested in improving your writing? If so, check out the Kudzu Klub today!