Cry Cry Baby, a special book for our fifth collection of utter speculation

A lot has changed since myself, River Eno, Susan Tulio, and our dear departed Dan Kinter put together our first collection of utter speculation, The Lost Colony of Roanoke. We all got a little better at writing SHORT stories (my first draft of “Goodwife Dare” as 25k words). We streamlined edits. We learned, kinda, have to navigate the ever changing kdp.

And we made Speculation Publications a real thing, debuting last year with The Dancing Plague featuring truly awesome stories completely curated through our first open submissions.

We’ve expanded out from the collections of utter speculation since then, but we always return home to speculate utterly, and this year marks our fifth year doing so, so we’ve gone back over our collections and discussed some of our favorite things about each one, and decided on a topic that really gives our authors room to show off their skills.

Across the United States there are Bridges that belong to another time. Some aren’t even attached to roads anymore, but they are well known. People who cross them, especially at night, have stories to share of phantom cries, sometimes like a baby, sometimes like a woman. There are legends attached to explain these cries, tragedies of women seeking to flee from horrible situations.

How strange that these stories are so prevalent. That so many states have one or more bridge that the residents know of not by its name, (Van Sant, Rouges Hollow, De Kalb Rd) but by the sound both skeptics, believers and unprepared pedestrians hear when they cross.

The Crying Baby.

Maybe it’s just old boards. Strange winds. Foxes and fowl in the forests.

Maybe, as so many legends believe, it is the restless souls of unwed mothers, having flung themselves over the side into the churning, frigid waters below.

Or maybe it’s something else entirely. Something dark and more mysterious that we cannot completely understand.

Starting April 27, we are hoping to get your speculations on what is behind the mystery of Cry Baby Bridge. It can be a fantasy, horror, romance, or comedy story. It can rely on facts or fabrications.

But tell us what is going on.

Speculate for us. We want to know.

Full Guidelines available at the Speculation Pub Website