The story of the week for April 18 to 22 is…
First Luncheon in a New City by Lynette Hinnings-Marshall
This story has great use of language, and I think most of us have been some version of this character at different points in our lives.
All posts by Tim
DONNA J DOTSON: The Great Divide
Death did not come easy to Julian Baxter. Then again, neither did life.
For three long days he lay prostrate on a cold tile floor, reliving precious memories and praying to a God he wasn’t sure he believed in for peace, a full bottle of painkillers just beyond his reach.
Whether reading or writing, Donna finds micro fiction to be the perfect answer to her short attention span.
TIAGO VIANA: Epitaph
Sometimes I wish she hadn’t read my letter. Even today I turn red, remembering her tone of surprise; I was scared, as I am right now.
I ran away and we never talked again.
Now I sit alone, going over photos of her, wondering how surprised she would sound today.
Tiago Viana is a Brazilian trying to live life as a writer in the US. With a preference for horror and mystery, he occupies himself writing novels, but sometimes he tries something new.
DC MENARD: Safe
His fork clatters against the plate. He lets out a choking sound, then grabs my arm. His fingers dig in too hard. More bruises to add to my collection.
Ever so slowly, I raise my darkened eyes to his. Panic keeps him from speaking, and I smile.
I am safe.
Growing up, D.C. Menard was always fascinated by the strange and fantastic. She spent her days lost in the worlds of her favourite authors. Her greatest hope is to create worlds that her readers can get lost in.
MELISSA ROHEN: Freedom
She’d never liked fog; it always seemed smothering and inescapable. Like Life. Like Motherhood.
Today, the cool grey mist wrapped around her felt open and somehow freeing.
Her eyes fell to the stone at her feet and she wondered what she could do now that she’d buried her last child.
Melissa is a writer, teacher, and dog lover in the Middle of Nowhere, Michigan.
DANIEL SLATEN: Growing Apart
The love affair was over. More than twenty incredible years of being there for each other gone in the blink of an eye.
“I guess it was inevitable. We’re different people now.”
Kim put the book back on the shelf and wondered when she would find her next favorite author.
Daniel Slaten writes short stories and poetry in small notebooks and on sticky notes.
CHRISTINA DALCHER: Brainless
It’s that level where you’re trapped
and they pour through a window
and I just zapped a bazillion suckers
and I’m like, bring it on
when a hand clamps on my neck
and blood oozes down my arm
and I guess this is what getting your brains eaten feels like.
Christina Dalcher is a linguist, novelist, and flash fiction addict from the Land of Styron and Barbecue. She’d like to raise awareness of the dangers of video game addiction. And zombies. Find her at christinadalcher.com or @CVDalcher.
PAUL LEES-HALEY: Pest Control
The exterminator tried four formulas, but failed repeatedly to eliminate the ants, and he still expected me to pay.
When I complained, he said, “Let’s try an experiment.”
So I put cyanide in his coffee and laid his body across the ant bed.
That got rid of the little rascals.
Award-winning author Paul Lees-Haley has written for Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Mystery Weekly Magazine, Shotgun Honey, Kings River Life, Bewildering Stories, Near to the Knuckle, Flash Fiction Offensive, The Higgs Weldon, The Alabama Writers Conclave Alalitcom, Hypertrophic Literary, Fifty Word Stories, Voices, G/C/T, CoEvolution Quarterly, Short Story, Trial, Spectrum, and many dozens of psychological and legal journals and magazines.
ELDAR LEVIN: A Puzzle
“I can’t make the pieces fit,” little Samantha said to her mother as they worked on the puzzle laid out on the table.
At that moment, her father entered the room: eyes tired and shoulders slumped, worn like the pages of an old book.
“I know, honey. Neither can I.”
Eldar Levin can currently be found taking residence in California.
LYNETTE HININGS-MARSHALL: First Luncheon in a New City
Over starched white tablecloths and silver cutlery,
criticisms of local behaviour are discreetly whispered
by elegant, satisfied wives of corporate expatriates.
She sits silently, aching for inclusion,
but all too soon there is a flurry of air kisses
and she finds herself alone again,
walking slowly toward an empty apartment.
Lynette moves to a new country every two or three years and currently lives in Denmark, but calls the Mornington Peninsula in Australia and San Diego in the U.S. “home”. She has a Master of Arts (Writing and Literature) degree from Deakin University.