ELODIE A ROY: Now and Forever

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

After the ceremony, she couldn’t decide what had been worse: standing in the cold, damp chapel while the priest was marrying them, or stepping outside in the sudden, overwhelming heat afterwards – people frantically speaking, grabbing her hands, clutching at her dress as she could feel herself falling, something breaking inside.

Elodie A. Roy is a French-born writer living in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. Her short stories and essays have appeared in journals including The Stinging Fly, New World Writing Quarterly, The Oxonian Review, MASKS, The Drouth, and Scrawl Place. As a cultural theorist, she’s the author of two nonfiction academic books.

BILLIE-LEIGH BURNS: Ashes of Yesterday

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

I set fire to the past by burning photographs, old diaries, and your heart-shaped pendant – a shackle around my wrist until now. Doused you in alcohol and watched as the flames consumed you.

And yet you still persist.

In the dulling embers, buried in yesterday’s ashes, your heart still lingers.

Billie-Leigh Burns is a writer from Liverpool. Her short stories and flash fiction have been published by Fictionette, 50 Word Stories, and Naked Cat Lit Magazine. She is currently working on a novel set in a dystopian future.

CASEY LAINE: The Brunette and the Bayou, Part 2

Adventure, Submissions, , ,

The brunette downed the bourbon in one swallow. Pushed the shot glass forward. “Pour me another.”

The bartender complied. “You been…” his chin lifted briefly in the direction of the swamps, “out there?”

She laughed. “Honey, the bayou ain’t nothing. I been to the ends of the earth and back.”

Casey Laine comes from a long line of talkative women. She works as Fantasy Editor at Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores, and publishes an annual anthology of fiction and poetry for her writing group, Writers Assembled. In her spare time, she chases butterflies with her camera. Find her at Facebook, Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores, and Amazon.

Editor: Read part 1 of this story here.

JENNIFER SMITH: Her Last Bouquet

Submissions, Touching, , , , ,

She didn’t hug, but her life embraced me in richness, like fertile soil nurturing zinnias. Like Earth’s dense nutrients nourishing blooms that flourish in early autumn fields.

Flowers pose grandly under a canopy sky of her favorite blue. Basket in hand, I stoop and pick her a medley of colors.

Jennifer Smith is a retired elementary school speech-language pathologist. She writes stories inspired by her small town southern life. Residing in Rock Spring, Georgia, Jennifer enjoys walking in beautiful places and listening to audiobooks.

JAMISON BROWN: Remnants of Regret

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

Sarah’s quivering hand turned the old, rusty key in the lock. The hidden door creaked open, revealing a room filled with memories of her late father.

She traced her fingers over the exit wounds in the wall where his old dartboard once hung, reminders of unfulfilled dreams and missed opportunities.

Jamison Brown has had a rewarding career in technology, a journey that has allowed him to travel extensively. Jamison now takes pleasure in the simple joys of being a homebody. This transition is, in no small part, thanks to his three delightful grandchildren, who keep him constantly on his toes. An avid lover of writing and music, Jamison maintains a passionate connection to his tech roots, ensuring that the digital realm continues to hold a special place on his priority list.

ANANIAH J: Pink Plastic Dinos

Poetry, Submissions, Touching, , ,

You brought me pink plastic dinos when I was six
I’d hide them between your couch
And we’d laugh when you found them

A decade later,
I still buy myself pink plastic dinos
That I hide when I’m home,
Waiting for you to find them
So we can laugh again.

Ananiah is an artist, writer, and bibliophile who draws inspiration from the raw fragments of existence. With her cat as her companion and the aroma of coffee filling the air, she believes that life itself is art and each day is an opportunity to create and acknowledge the unfiltered authenticity around us.

CHELSEA UTECHT: Childhood Bravery

Amusing, Artistic, Submissions, Top Stories, , ,

If you don’t look, don’t allow a toe to pass the mattress’s precipice, then it can’t get you. This intuition lives in my bones.

But she dared me.
“Baby,” she sneered.

What to do?

I extend my leg.
Laugh triumphantly.

But whatever is under the bed laughs along with me.

Chelsea Utecht is an American abroad in Tbilisi, Georgia where she teaches literature and writing. A recent participant in the renowned Iowa Writers’ Workshop, her work is forthcoming in Shooter Literary Magazine.

FAUNE ALBERT: Vicarious

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

Before my nephew was born, as we waited for him to arrive in the Arizona heat, my left breast swelled to painful proportions.

Later, I crept outside of the hospital and phoned the doctor in Massachusetts. The sun was high in the sky, the parking lot bright like blanched bones.

Faune Albert is a writer and artist from the Ozark Mountains who teaches writing at Hampshire College.

EILEEN MARDRES: A Walk on an Autumn Day

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

A single breath of crisp fall air. A single golden leaf, fluttering, beckoning. A single magpie stoically ignoring. A single squirrel chattering, proclaiming from its favorite branch. A still brown hare peering from its borough. A single step, and then another, away from summer, stepping into the earth’s annual glory.

Eileen finds autumn days uplifting, comforting, and full of joy and hope.