To download a PDF of the puzzle, click here.

For the answers, click here.

For the answers to last week's puzzle, click here.

To download a PDF of the puzzle, click here.

For the answers, click here.

For the answers to last week's puzzle, click here.

Admittedly, some of our previous short-fiction contests have been a bit cruel.

So we're making it easy for our 2013 contest, which runs through August 20. (Our favorite entries will be published in the September 5 issue of the River Cities' Reader.)

All you need to do is start with one of the beginnings below and finish your story in an additional 250 words. And we've been extremely generous, giving you 50 options!

I should probably wait to tell you that the previously mentioned beginnings come from the Bible, Moby-Dick, Infinite Jest, A Tale of Two Cities, The Color Purple, Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone ... . And one - offered here in its entirety - might be the shortest story ever written.

To download a PDF of the puzzle, click here.

For the answers, click here.

For the answers to last week's puzzle, click here.