You took the lessons of “Stabbing for Dummies” to a new level in your winning entry.

— Dr. Michael Arnzen

Thanks to Raw Dog Screaming Press and Dr. Michael Arnzen, my short story “A Delicate Touch” won the 100 Jolts Retrospective Writing Contest!

The rules of the contest were that we had to take one of the lines from Arnzen’s “Stabbing for Dummies” story in his excellent book 100 Jolts: Shockingly Short Stories and use it as the opening sentence of a new story. Also, it was stipulated that “the tale must build to an outrageous conclusion, and fall under 1000 words.”

I couldn’t refuse this challenge, especially with the chance to win a really cool prize pack.

So, after channeling my inner creepy, I penned the story “A Delicate Touch,” which Dr. Arnzen and Raw Dog Screaming Press selected as the winning entry.

Thank you very much to the judges!

If you’d like to read my story, assuming you are sitting down and in a well-lit room, head on over to the Raw Dog Screaming Press site, where “A Delicate Touch” is currently featured.

Dr. Michael Arnzen is a Bram Stoker Award winning horror author who also teaches in the Seton Hill MFA program and publishes the Goreletter, an award-winning horror newsletter.

Raw Dog Screaming Press, from their website:

Raw Dog Screaming Press is dedicated to putting into print the highest quality literature from the fringe. If it’s dark, deviant, off-kilter and thought provoking we will sniff it out.