[Mostly] Wordless Wednesday - A Sun Shrine-y Day & Links

As promised, I actually got out of the house and took some pictures this week. One of our treks was to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. About 1400 feet above the zoo (about 8100 feet elevation) is a shrine dedicated to Will Rogers and bearing the ashes of two of the folks instrumental in developing Colorado Springs with things like the zoo, the Broadmoor, El Pomar Foundation, and the Fine Arts Center: Julie and Spencer Penrose. I'm not sure why the shrine was originally being built, but during the building Will Rogers died in a plane crash in Alaska, and Penrose decided to dedicate it to him, or so the story goes.

The shrine is made of granite, and is said to contain no nails or wood. It was completed in 1937.

A view from the shrine of the road we drove up to get there, as well as Ft. Carson and a portion of Cheyenne Mountain

Front door to the shrine (one of a pair of French doors)

A view of a portion of Colorado Springs. In the center, downtown Colorado Springs. Nearer the bottom center, the Broadmoor.

A peek at Pikes Peak (the snow covered mountain in the center) from a different angle than I usually post.

A bust of Will Rogers rests at the foot of the shrine.

Ah. The eccentricities of the rich, eh? In case you're curious, this is considered to be Romanesque Revival architecture.

Now for some links!

Accepting Submissions:

Ideomancer is accepting speculative fiction and poetry. Up to 7000 words for fiction. Pays $.03/word, flat fee of $6 per poem. Rolling deadlines, with current deadline being April 30.

Story Emporium is seeking steampunk and weird westerns. 2000-6000 words. Accuracy in details will matter with this publication. Pays $20, plus contributor copies. Deadline April 30.

Breaking Fate Publishing takes short stories for themed anthologies. Currently, they're looking for horror stories with the theme of "13." They also accept novellas and novel submissions in dark genres. Short fiction for anthologies should be 1000 to 15,000 words. Deadline for this anthology is April 30.

Crossed Genres is taking submissions for Hidden Youth: Speculative Fiction from the Margins of History. 2000-8000 words. Must be set before 1935 C.E. The protags must be young people who were marginalized in some way. Pays $.06/word. Deadline April 30.

Meerkat Press is looking for short stories for their anthology Love Hurts. Speculative fiction. 1000-5000 words. Pays $.01-.04/word. Deadline April 30.

TuplipTree Publishing wants stories for My Favorite Apocalypse: A Collection of Stories. How do you think it ends? No word limits. Pays $100 and contributor copies. Deadline April 30.

Crossed Genres Magazine's theme for April is "Portals." Science fiction and/or fantasy. 1000-6000 words. Pays $.06/word. Deadline April 30. Note: their novelette edition is still open for submissions through March 31.

Suddenly Lost in Words has reopened to submissions. They want short stories, memoirs, and serials for young adults. 3000 words or less. Pays $.05/word. They take submissions from minors with an adult signing the contract with them. No deadline.

Shroud Quarterly is looking for literary dark fiction. Submissions are free, but they do offer a paid submission option that will get you a critique with your rejection. 500-6000 words. Pays $25-65, depending upon length. No deadline.

Grimdark Magazine wants your grimdark stories with medieval fantasy or sci-fi settings. Up to 4000 words. Pays AUD$.07/word. No deadline.

Are any of these of interest to you? Anything to share? Publication news? (Seriously, tell me your publications news--I love good news!) If you were millionaire, what or who would you build a shrine to? Would it be castle-like or something else?

May you find your Muse.

[Mostly] Wordless Wednesday-Zzzzebra & Helpful Links

So many people posted about zebras as their "Z" post that I felt compelled to share Zeke here. This photo was taken at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo:

And now for some helpful links:

Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers is having their annual Colorado Gold Writing Contest, which is for unpublished novel-length works. Deadline is June 1. I entered this last year and got some fantastic feedback, so I recommend it.

Windmill Networking is offering a free e-book about using LinkedIn in networking, entitled 30 Minutes to Maximizing LinkedIn. I have not gotten a copy, so can't tell you if it's any good.

Screenwriters, Amazon is having a screenwriting contest.

This sounds like fun: Wordle.net creates a word cloud from your text. Use it for fun or as a tool to see what words you may be overusing.

The Writing Network supports and encourages self-published authors.

Fiction 500 is running a short fiction contest with cash prizes.

Anyone else having trouble getting back into the swing of things? Any links to share?
 
May you find your Muse.

[Mostly] Wordless Wednesday: Santa's...Moose?

Hey! That's not a reindeer!

I've never seen a moose in the wild, but apparently they wander through here sometimes. Followed by five billion cameras, including ones from all the local news stations. Next time one wanders through I'm totally stalking the poor thing, too! Okay, I won't really, but you can bet your sweet bippy I'm taking a picture if I happen across one.

This big guy is from our local zoo, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.

How about you? Do moose wander through your neck of the woods?

May you find your Muse.

[Mostly] Wordless Wednesday 11/30/11 & PPW Event

I've been wanting to post this little guy for awhile. He's an Asiatic Black Bear, and I think he's adorable.

These guys are sort of hidden at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, but it's fun to visit them. The Asiatic Black Bears climb trees in their habitat, and the zoo does enrichment where they send a snack down in a paper bag on a zipline, which is always fun to watch, because the bears love it. You can visit the bears at the zoo or HERE.

These guys are found in, gasp, Asia! They like honey, just like Pooh Bear. Some interesting bear facts (not just Asiatic): A male is called a boar, a female a sow, and a group of bears is called a sloth or sleuth, which otherwise have entirely different meanings, of course. More info on bears HERE.

I'm a bit behind on responding to comments and visiting, but will catch up this week.

Also, I wanted to let people know about an event for kids and teens at the Citadel Mall, here in Colorado Springs, put on by Pikes Peak Writers in partnership with other groups. There will be crafts and creative activities for smaller kids, Hunger Games activities for teens, and visits from Santa and The Fairy Godmother. More information can be found HERE.

Lastly, I will be posting about a Flash Fiction Contest within the next couple days (Monday, at the latest). Keep an eye out! I'm excited to be helming this project for the Pikes Peak Branch of the National League of American Pen Women. The contest will be open to non-members, male and female alike, which is my favorite part! I'm not a fan of excluding any gender from events.

Any fun activities in your neck of the woods? Ever seen an Asiatic Black Bear? Aren't they the cutest?

May you find your Muse.

[Mostly] Wordless Wednesday 9/14/11

Since I've been alternating between photos of places and photos of animals, I guess it's time for an animal photo!

This pride of lions is from the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, here in Colorado Springs. You can hear this guy roaring all over the joint when some jerk upsets him (for instance, he really hates it when people shine flashlights in at him during the night-time zoo experiences--so would I--I hope he busts through the glass and eats one of them).

But the real cool cats in this photo are the lionesses. They are the reason I have to visit the lions every time we go. They exude attitude. I've named them. I even have imaginary voices for them. Not kidding.

Last time we went, I got to see who the winning bad-ass of the lionesses was, as she took out two of the others over a bone. They went off into separate corners and pretended not to glare at her for awhile, but they never made another move. There was much nonchalant paw licking while they watched her out of the corners of their eyes, saying "You didn't scare me; I just don't want a bone right now. I was just after that little ant in front of you. Shows what you know, Mary Beth." The fourth one just shook her head (well, internally, anyway) and ignored the younguns while she cradled a piece of meaty bone none of the others appeared to notice. Seriously, she was hiding it, all wrapped up in her paws. I watched her cover it up when they walked her way. Smart.

Mary Beth also eyeballed my nephew like he was dessert. I got pictures of her staring at him while gnawing away, but they suck because of how badly damaged the glass is (or maybe it was just super dirty that day). She walked right up to him and continued eyeballing him. I'd rather not know what she said; she doesn't mess around.

The lionesses of CMZ rock.

And that's your [Mostly] (though [Hardly] might make more sense sometimes) Wordless Wednesday. I'm hoping for an opportunity to go get some fall photos now that some of the trees have started to change, but we'll see. Life is busy right now!

Don't forget to tune in Thursday for an interview with Andrew Leon!

May you find your Muse.

[Mostly] Wordless Wednesday 8/3/11

Hello, and welcome to Wordless Wednesday! Before I post today's photo, I wanted to let you know that I'm the guest poster over at Arlee Bird's Tossing it Out today. Hop on over to read about how I got involved in the original A to Z Challenge and how the Visitor's Follow-up Challenge came about. Leave a comment if you like and make friendly-like!

The following photo is a cute little meerkat from the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, who appeared to be standing guard over his buddies, who were passed out in a big ol' snuggly pile under a log.

Isn't he the cutest? I believe he was talking some major smack to me, though. Had he walked, it would have been with a swagger. I don't know if he was being punished by exclusion or if he truly was on guard. He stood there the entire time at parade rest.

This photo was taken at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, here in Colorado Springs. It sits up on Cheyenne Mountain. Bet you've never walked around a hillier zoo! A day at this place is a fantastic workout. It was originally opened by Spencer and Julie Penrose, two people who were responsible for creating much of the city. The first animals there actually came from Spencer Penrose's own private pet stock, as he had a fondness for collecting animals on his numerous travels and keeping them in his resort hotel, the Broadmoor. When a monkey attacked a child and other complaints came in, he had to find a new home for the boa constrictor in the furnace room, the monkey and the elephant golf caddy who helped out on the Broadmoor golf course (not kidding), along with any other critters he came up with over time. He built a tiny little train going up the mountain from the Broadmoor so he could escort his guests up to view his animals. Don't you wish you had that kind of expendable income?

Have you ever been to an unusual zoo? Have you been to the Broadmoor or Cheyenne Mountain Zoo?