Bewildering Stories introduces and welcomes...

Danielle Woodgate

Danielle is a preschool teacher in Corcoran, Minnesota. She is active in social media and has a blog. She has the hardly unusual ambition to be recognized for her writing!

“Hide and Seek” will resonate with teachers, pupils and students in the USA, whose first thought on school days might be: “Go to school, get shot.” Readers living outside of North America might consider, if they’re planning to visit or immigrate, that massacres have become almost customary at schools and other public places where crowds occur. As one high-school student survivor said, “I expected it.”

“Hide and Seek” emphasizes that being a potential target for gunfire is hardly something one becomes accustomed to outside of war. Some readers may feel that the teacher and pupils would express their emotions only after the event. However, the lockdown is announced as a drill only after it’s over. And a flash fiction story must do a lot in a restricted space and time; depicting the teacher and children in a state of combat readiness might appear to deprecate their terror and subsequent relief. In “Hide and Seek,” the readers will feel it.

Danielle Woodgate’s bio sketch can be found here.

Welcome to Bewildering Stories, Danielle. We’re glad to have you with us!