The Puddlegulch Post is my latest writing project.  It is a satirical small-town online newspaper for a fictional town called Puddlegulch.  We have 7 writers and a copy editor.  I am the managing editor.  In a sense, it is a role-playing experience.  Each writer has a staff character and together we are building a world of people, events, and places.  Any reader is welcome to participate by interacting with the writers, contributing letters to the editor, or even write about a visit to Puddlegulch.  We want engagement!

We publish nearly daily; sometimes twice a day.  Here is the About of the paper to give you a feel for it.

 

---

 

The Puddlegulch Post was established on December 15th, 1869 by Nathaniel Puddle, who delivered the famous “Possum Address.” The speech saved the lives of every resident of then Douglas Gulch. The town voted unanimously to rename itself Puddlegulch after Nathaniel Puddle.

Puddle, although not a man of letters and only 22 years old, was deemed “the voice of sanity and wisdom absent any pride or valor in a world of imprudent sacrifice.” His first edition was a forthright account of the day the entire town of Puddlegulch pretended to be dead, at his suggestion, in order to avoid certain massacre at the hands of rogue Civil War war soldiers who had never received their orders to cease fighting though the war had been over for four years. No one knows what side they were fighting on and many have suggested that they did not know either. The article was entitled “This is what happened. Possum’s honor!” which has become the slogan for The Puddlegulch Post. He was the first editor in chief.

With the help of Thadeous Felcher, Puddle acquired a small printing press. Felcher credited Puddle’s possum idea for a lucrative spike in possum meat sales. The town’s official dish, now the center of the Possum Day celebration, became the Puddle Possum Pot Pie served with a side of savory persimmon pudding. The dish is commonly referred to as a “Sixpie” for its six p’s and it being a pie. “Feltcher’s” Butcher Shop is a sponsor of the paper and still provides quality possum meat and, as always, “All meat – all the time! ™ .”

Through the years, the title of “Editor in Chief” was passed from father to son, starting with Nathaniel Puddle, Jr. and ending in 2003 with Nathaniel Puddle, IV after he died eating an off deviled egg. The title passed on to the current Editor in Chief, Gordon Geary; however, the family tradition is still minimally carried on by Nathaniel Puddle, IV’s son, Douglas Puddle who writes the obituaries and the classifieds.

Although the paper still circulates in print to many of the 988 Puddlegulchians, the successful launch of thepuddlegulchpost.com has brought in many tens of readers from around the state and also three from Somalia. Look for more international news in the future as we become a global news source!