Attack of the Lonely Hearts - Winner of the 39th Annual 3-Day Novel Writing Contest

Oct 13, 2026

Winner of the 39th Annual 3-Day Novel Writing Contest, this work presents a tense, character-driven opening set in a stripped-down, dust-filled room after loss and abandonment. Margaret Rudge leaves what remains behind, locks up the house, and accepts keys from a young buyer. In parallel, an unreliable, shabby setting and an unsettling hallway light create pressure as an old man in a green sweater claims he is “the FBI” and continues an uneasy effort to secure access, setting the stage for a mystery and emotional unraveling.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryStory & Novel

FormatPDF

Pages116

Reading Time2 h 59 min

AccessFree to download

Opening Scene

Margaret Rudge Leaves and Locks Up

Keys, Buyers, and the FBI Claim

WINNER OF THE 39TH ANNUAL 3-DAY NOVEL WRITING [ONTESTAttackof theLonelyHeaurtsMark Wagstaff ATTACK OF THE LONELY HEARTS NO置 ●N HSAREVIEW PURPOSES ONLY WINNER! 39THANNUAL 3-DAY NOVEL WRITING CONTEST # of theLonely Hearts byMark Wagstaff Winner of the 39th Annual 3-DayNovel Writing Contest ANVIL PRESS·2017 Copyright ◎2017 by Mark Wagstaff All rights reserved.No part of this book may be reproduced by anymeans without the prior written permission of the publisher,with theexception of brief passages in reviews.Any request for photocopying orother reprographic copying of any part of this book must be directedin writing to access:The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency.OneYonge Street,Suite 800,Toronto,Ontario,Canada,M5E 1E5. Anvil Press Publishers Inc.PO.Box 3008,Main Post OfficeVancouver,B.C.V6B 3X5 CANADAwww.anvilpress.com Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Wagstaff,Mark,authorAttack of the lonely hearts/Mark Wagstaff.—1st edition. Winner of the 39th Annual 3-Day Novel Contest. ISBN 978-1-77214-103-0(paperback) 1.Title. PS8607.1213C432017 C813.6 C2017-903991-9 Printed and bound in CanadaCover design by Derek von Essenlnterior by HeimatHouse Represented in Canada by Publishers Group CanadaDistributed by Raincoast Books The publisher gratefully acknowledges the financial assistance of theCanada Council for the Arts,the Canada Book Fund,and the Provinceof British Columbia through the B.C.Arts Council and the BookPublishing Tax Credit. For the dreamers and the dancers'. This room has looked so much better.There were flow-I ers on the shelf,though they died and had to getswept up.A comfortable couch with just a spring or twoloose.There was the table,where they ate dinner togetherevery night from when they got married 'til a year,ormaybe two years after.Anyways,they ate dinner.Therewere pictures on the wall,candy bright imitations of sum-mer days. Now look at the place.All the furniture gone,eddiesof dust swirled into the corner,a few pages torn from theTimes crumpled on the floor.Light rectangles on the graywalls where pictures once hung. Now look at her—okay-looking,maybe,but a mess.Hair stuffed anyhow inside the collar of a coat that hasseen three more winters than its makers intended.Lightfrom bare windows is not flattering to her.She may havebeen recently crying.She picks up a scrambled lump ofnewsprint from the floor.Focused on Singles,Sock Deliversan Upset.She doesnt get what it means,shakes her head.The room's dusty emptiness delivers an upset. She looks around one last time and goes out to the hall-way.Takes a grip on the doorknob,takes a breath,pulls itshut behind her.Locks each of the three locks they had installed to get cheaper insurance.Out of habit,pocketsthe keys. "Hey."Young guy in a suit blends out from shadow"Hey,Mrs.Rudge.The buyers will want those keys." She hands them across without fuss.What can youdo? In this other building,the hallway light keeps going out.The old man in the green sweater—more holes thanthread—tells her to keep jinking the switch,while hetries getting poorly-copied keys to make peace with anold lock.Each time the light coughs back on,it bringsout the relief-scape of his head—thin,greased-down hairnot concealingflaky welts and ridges of some specificallylocal,specifically this-town disease. "It's a steal,"he tells her,the umpteenth time. “You walked right up on the sweet spot.”" Margaret Rudge looks left and right down the hall-way—closed doors,dark turns veering off who knowswhere? "Who else lives here?"she tries sounding informed. Hunched,the old man glances back."I'm the FBI now?" Okay,the place is shabby.The couch sits low,like thelegs wore down or got sawed through the middle.Thesingle bed has a kind of mist floating above it.Someonehas tried to decorate the bathroom tiles with stencils ofParis,which,worn through by wet and steam,appear as

FAQs

Who is the protagonist introduced at the start?

Margaret Rudge is introduced as she looks around the empty room, gathers herself, and leaves through the hallway.

What triggers Margaret Rudge’s departure?

She performs a final look at the ruined, dusty space, then goes out to the hallway, locks multiple locks, and pockets the keys.

What role do the keys play in the early events?

A young man tells her the buyers will want the keys, and she hands them over without fuss, while an older man struggles with poorly copied keys elsewhere.

Oct 13, 2026

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