MARY ALICE DIXON: Peach Skin Letters

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

“The trees send me love letters on peach skins,” Granny said. “In their world language is taste. You read with your tongue.” She placed a peach in my hands, then disappeared into her orchard.

I licked peach juice from my fingers. Granny’s last words tickled my tongue: “Remember to compost.”

Mary Alice Dixon has taught architectural and landscape history, is a Pushcart nominee, Best Short Fiction nominee, and award winning poet. She lives in North Carolina where she gardens with cow manure, talks to tree, and communes with the ghosts of her dead cats, Alice B. Toklas and Thomas Merton.

NATALIE NEE: Fly Away

Submissions, Touching, , ,

A weathered dog sniffs a discarded cigarette, now only a filter. His stomach probably growls like mine. If I had any, I’d share my food with him.

Overhead, a plane roars. Its metal glare temporarily blinds me from reality. For a few hopeful seconds, I imagine I’m flying away, too.

Natalie Nee is a bibliophile, graduate of Colorado State University, former ghostwriter, and latte enthusiast. Her debut novel, a domestic thriller, is currently out on submission. Natalie’s short story, “Saudade”, was published by the webzine, Across the Margin. Her other poems have been published by Roi Fainéant Press, Half and One, and other literary magazines. She’s cooler on Twitter (@NovelNatalie).

SUSAN GALE WICKES: The Most Wonderful Thing in the World

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

It wasn’t the most wonderful thing in the world.

Just a soft, lush spot of cool, green grass at the bottom of a downspout.

I’d barely noticed.

Then, a barefoot three-year-old giggled with delight at the feel of those cool blades of grass.

And to think I almost missed it.

Susan Gale Wickes is a writer from Indiana. She enjoys writing short stories and the fun of cartoon captioning.

STEVEN HOLDING: No Plague Will Come

Adventure, Submissions, , ,

Nighttime’s nice.

Quietly enjoying a walk, talking helping her to heal. Conversation’s a little one-sided, but that’s to be expected: it’s hard to find a good listener.

Strange, her voice, aloud, amongst the forest’s sounds.

She tightens his gag, forces the gun into his back.
Whispers in his ear.
“RUN!”

Steven Holding lives is the United Kingdom. His story PULLING NIGHTS can be found in the latest issue of STYGIAN LEPUS. You can follow his work at www.stevenholding.co.uk.

JANE R MILES: Not Alone

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

The dark isn’t always scary, or so the voice tells me. You might even come to like the simpleness of it. There’s the unknown to embrace. Not cold, it says, not alone.

I nod, not sure the voice will understand.

Am I dead?

No.

My eyes?

Gone, the doctor whispers.

Jane R. Miles lives in the Netherlands, but will always call Australia home.

JENNIFER SARA WIDELITZ: In a Dark, Dark Room

Adventure, Submissions, , , ,

The darkness—a thick sheet of steel. Impenetrable. Even time’s fingers, not finding purchase, had slipped silently from the room.
The man scoured every inch by hand. Found nothing.
No door opened—yet… a change.
A bend in the air. Breath down his neck.
Someone was there with him.
Waiting.

Jennifer Sara Widelitz is currently a student at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, pursuing an MSc in Creative Writing. She has a BFA in Visual Effects from the Savannah College of Art and Design and worked as a compositor, creating special effects for film and television. Her poetry and photography have been featured in various literary publications. She is the author of Battle Cry and illustrator of A Heavenly World. To find out more, visit her website.

LINDA FEIST: Holding Court

Submissions, Touching, , , , ,

Laura lovingly laid out her husband’s clothes.

Now, after thirty years, the professor dresses alone.

His brilliant mind, incapable of ordinary, combines odd colors with zany patterns. People smirk and stare. They call him the Jester.

He doesn’t mind. He’s juggling balls of sorrow and heartbreak in the air, anyway.

Linda Feist has been published in Flash Fiction Magazine, the Florida Writers Collection series, Chicken Soup for the Soul, and other publications. Fellow writers inspire her.

DAVID LOWIS: Imprints

Artistic, Submissions, Touching, , ,

That woodland path, where you walked Dexter each morning. Worn by your footsteps. Those daffodils, flowering from the bulbs you planted. That watercolour, painted by your hands. Until that path is overgrown, those daffodils no longer bloom, that painting has faded to nothing, how can I say you’re truly gone?

David Lowis lives in Surrey, England, and has had microfiction and short stories published in various online publications.

TALIESIN PLATT: The death of me

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

“You’re gonna be the death of me.”

And she smiled and maybe more of me died the way that fern died sitting on my desk: a little more each time the water came—drowned—and how could you tell, when its leaves turned dry and brittle, that it wasn’t thirsty?

Taliesin is a university student studying creative writing, focusing on short fiction at the moment (not usually this short).