Sorry all... Ten Thousand Monkeys is on hiatus. We won't be publishing any new issues for a little bit. Please bear with us. In the mean time, we've got 84 issues of great stuff to check out. Take a read, and let us know what you think!

Thanks.

M#1

B'HAMSTER: MINE-SHAFT BLUES -
West Blocton isn't on the way to anywhere. Two major highways pass within a few miles of it on the other side of these hills, but you'd never know that. The Cahaba River is just a few miles east, down in some ravine that you can't see. In fact, even the road that goes right next to the town doesn't show you much, all you glimpse are the tops of houses set back on a plateau.>>>

THE SCAM -
Jack was a grifter.  A con man.  A thief.  And a beggar—all at the ripe old age of 15, though he could look and sound as young as 12 or as old as 18.  It was a skill he’d learned from his dad; that is, when he had a dad.  His had been arrested 2 years earlier, and was serving 8 to 10 up at the state pen for racketeering, leaving Jack alone to fend for himself.  To that end, Jack was managing just fine.  He came up with the rent for their small flat, went to school, and stayed out of trouble—well, stayed out of jail, juvenile court, and youth detention camps, anyway.  Trouble, after all, paid the bills, and then some.  Though he did, of course, never stop missing his dad.  Not for a second. >>>

CHAPTER 22 OF THE APPLE TREE: IKEBANA -
Maggie decided to switch her screenplay to a short story.

This was the conversation she didn’t have with Henry:

Maggie was dressed in running outfit:  black shorts, blue tank-top, running shoes.  Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail.  Henry was sitting in his reading chair reading the new Elmore Leonard crime novel.  Motorcycles could be heard in the distance as Maggie walked through the front door. >>>

DEGREES OF SEPARATION -
My best friend in junior high had an obsession with counting the links that separated her from celebrities.  She’d make complex maps, charts, and webs for each one.

"My father met M- at a party, M-’s mother-in-law works with E-, E- worked in a production company where he met F-, F-’s cousin is G-, G-’s brother-in law is P-, P- shook hands with X!  This makes me only six steps away from X---!!!"

Her favorite celebrity was X-.  I played the devil’s advocate.  I told her that I hated X-. >>>

OF BULLHEADS, LEAF MONSTERS, AND ASTRAL ADVENUTRES -
Leaves flew into the air as the leaf-covered body of their grandfather burst from the pile, looking like some sort of deranged scarecrow.  The leaf monster stomped around and snorted, like any good monster should.  He kicked leaves into the air, a big toothy grin on his face as he chased after Josh, then Rachel, then Josh again.  His long arms finally snatched Rachel—Grandpa lifted her off the ground, turned her upside down, and began swinging her back and forth by her ankles.  Rachel screamed from mingled terror and delight. >>>

THE BILL CHEROKEE WAMPUS TROUPE IN CARNIVAL SQUARE -
There used to be these animals that were fifteen feet tall.  They were called giraffes.  I remember when I was very young my mother took me to a traveling show in a big tent and we saw one of the last giraffes still living.  I never saw another one after that but I still remember how I felt when I tried to look up and find its head at the end of its long neck.  That was such a long time ago and now there aren’t hardly any animals left. >>>

SEA BRIDE CHAPTER 13 -

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