Kaye Lynne Booth gathered some amazing authors for Visions anthology. Reviewers can pick up a copy on Bookfunnel and readers can use this universal book link.
About the Author
Christa Planko, MA, is a professional writer with a passion for creative expression. She has had her poetry and short stories featured in several publications, including River Poets Journal, Tanka and Haiku Journal, Poetry Quarterly, and Every Day Fiction. Her story, “The Olde-Tyme Village,” won the 2021 WordCrafter Short Fiction Contest. Christa resides in South Jersey with her feline muses.
Christa graduated from Rutgers University (New Brunswick, NJ) with a BA in English Literature and from Drew University (Madison, NJ) with an MA in English Literature.
For her bio and list of published works, visit christascorner.godaddysites.com.
How the story came about?
Many people get tattoos to memorialize a deceased loved one or commemorate a significant other. What happens if a tattoo honoring a loved one vanishes when that person exits one’s life? Does its disappearance lessen the pain of the loss? Or does the void serve as a hurtful reminder? Maybe the empty space leaves open possibilities for replacement—not with a tattoo representing another person whose brand marks the body, but with an opportunity to define oneself based on one’s own accomplishments, which can then be permanentized with ink.
This story explores loss and one woman’s way of turning it into hope for gaining a fulfilling life of her own creation.
Opening
This morning I awoke to notice something terribly awry. It struck me as a sensation at first—a single note on a piano echoing in a vacant room. I felt a sense of emptiness. Sort of an icy stillness permeating the atmosphere. But even more chilling was what I saw in the mirror—or rather, what was missing.
Enjoy!
More Visions stories
Thanks Joseph, for sharing about this awesome new anthology and about Christa’s unique story, “The Vanishing Tattoo”. As I read this story, I asked myself all of the same questions which Christa poses here. As a result, I had to keep reading until I discovered the answers, and knew it had to be included in Visions.
There are few stories as engaging as the well-written, character driven mystery.