“Jason B- was a lightning rod for guilt; it cracked and sparked and struck him with the wild, idiotic gibberish of static electricity.” Thus begins “Propitiation,” a short story written by English graduate student Kel Munger.

The short story recently received an honorary mention in Lynx Eye’s “Captivating Beginnings” contest. Lynx Eye is a quarterly magazine which features short stories, poetry, essays and artwork. It is published by Scribble Fest, a non-profit literary association.

“I was pretty elated when I found out,” Munger said. “It is my first published short story. The magazine has previously published three of my poems so I thought I would give short stories a try.”

Given the odds of getting the story published, let alone being a runner-up in Lynx Eye’s contest, she succeeded beyond her wildest dreams.

“We receive 250 short stories a month,” editor Pam McCully said, “and we publish about 50 a year. We look for good writing — something that adult readers would like to read.

For the “Captivating Beginnings” contest, McCully said, “we judged every entry on its first 500 words. We were looking for something that pulled the readers in and made them want to continue.”

Munger’s story did just that. “Propitiation” tells the story of a man who feels guilty about who he is. This guilt fuels him to several failed suicide attempts (including hanging himself, inhaling exhaust fumes and trying to catch himself on fire).

“I wrote the story and I thought it was pretty good,” Munger said. “The story is really weird, I’m not sure where it came from. I’d been thinking about what would happen if guilt started consuming a person. But not guilt over something wrong, a guilty feeling concerning who you are.”

McCully liked the concept of the story as well. “It was a fairly unique topic,” she said. “Munger has a wonderful, distinct style. She was able to deal with a very serious, somber subject in a humorous way. I liked that.”

Apparently, McCully isn’t the only person who likes Munger’s style. A collection of her poetry is slated to be released next spring by the Minnesota Voices Project, a company that seeks out new talent in the Midwest area.

But until that happens Munger will continue writing (she has just finished a long poem titled “If the Creation Had Lasted as Long as the Firestone Strike”).

She will also be starting a Ph.D program at the University of Missouri next fall.