You can barely hear the dial-tone that hums through the wires of your brain. It is the call of drones, buzzing as they fly on their secret missions known only to those who man the remote controls, striking the keys to send unmanned Hawks, Ravens, and Shadows deep into Pakistan, Yemen, Syria, and Somalia.

Untied, tied, bound, gagged squirming and groaning forced to piss ourselves duct-taped and superglued shut. U.S., the U.S., the 'us', the us versus the them them invaders with funny long names they dare to stand and speak and act black latino asian women maybe gay not 'us'. not our U.

When the frosts of winter had ceased Its snows melted Its cutting winds ameliorated; The pain will subside Our blood in our veins no longer frozen; Spring will draw on

Debra Ayis established Valiant Scribe in December 2019 in New York which aims to provide a platform for unique and diverse perspectives on human rights and social justice. It sits at the nexus of faith and social issues. Independent of each other and complementary of the other. It's self-funded and supported by volunteers.

Valiant Scribe is a new, annual online and print journal publishing fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, artwork, cross-genre, and religious work. You can read their first two annual issues on their website to get a feel for the type of work they accept. "Valiant Scribe sits at the nexus of faith and social issues.

This April there are nearly eight dozen calls for submissions. All of these are paying markets, and none charge submission fees. As always, every genre, style, and form is wanted, from short stories to poetry to essays. I post calls for submissions a few days prior to the first day of every month.

Each week in this space, Practicing Writing shares no-fee, paying markets for writers of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction: competitions, contests, and calls for submissions. These weekly posts complement monthly issues of The Practicing Writer newsletter, where you'll always find more listings, none of them limiting eligibility to residents of a single municipality, state, or province.

Enjoy Valiant Scribe's book recommendations. Check out the book of your choice here to enjoy its contents!

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