SWAPNA SANCHITA: The Dying of the Sun

Artistic, Submissions, Top Stories, , , , , ,

No one remembered the precise day, but everyone agreed it began during the hottest June of the northern hemisphere, with violet.

There had been articles discussing wavelengths, but few understood the science. By the time red disappeared, leaving behind a translucency, the only thing noticeable was the biting cold.

Swapna Sanchita is a poet, storyteller, and educator who studied engineering and management before finding her way back to her first love, literature. Swapna lives in India, with her husband and two sons and loves coffee, chocolates, and books, not necessarily in that order.

ERICA FRANSISCA: Findings in a Station

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

The first raindrop hits the box. The second infiltrates the threadbare blanket. The third dissolves the paper with his name. An hour earlier, the night-shift security might’ve noticed him. A few feet to the left, the roof would’ve sheltered him. Instead, tomorrow, the cleaner would find a cold, lifeless thing.

Erica is an Indonesian-based freelance writer whose work has appeared or is forthcoming in Anak Sastra, Paragraph Planet, 101 Words, and Five Minutes. Find her at ericafransisca.com.

K ROBERTS: Shivaree for the Bridegroom

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

After steeple bells chime wedding blessings, the ritual jesters descend, tying tin cans to your honeymoon car, clanging pots with spoons raucously under your bedroom window. Lords of misrule, anti-serenaders, we’re the jokers from Poker Night – zealously single but secretly jealous of your harmony, your full house, your winning hand.

K. Roberts is a professional non-fiction writer, a published artist, and a first reader for the Canadian magazine Nunum.

KEVIN OWEN: Fear of Flying

Amusing, Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

We’re flying back to England. It’s the first time we’ve ever flown together. I’ve bagged the window seat. He travels by train usually. He has this terrible fear you see, of speeding through the air. He’s flying flat out now, though, hidden somewhere in the hold, ticketless.

In a coffin.

Kev lives near an airport in Norfolk, UK, but closer to a railway station.

BILL DIAMOND: Holiday Rituals

Artistic, Submissions, , , , ,

Time changes what’s paramount.

As a child, Christmas meant Santa, excruciating anticipation and new toys.

Later, the right clothes, holiday parties and mistletoe.

With maturity, the wonder in children’s eyes, gathering around the table with family, appreciation for blessings.

Now, solitude at her grave and pleasant memories of special moments.

Bill Diamond enjoys both the perspiration and inspiration of creating stories from random thoughts and words.

DEBORAH TAPPER: His Daughter’s Gift

Submissions, Touching, , , , ,

She wrapped it herself, neat edges defeating tiny fingers. Scolded when she thought he’d peeked. And it was still under the tree weeks later, waiting forlorn among fallen needles. His hand hovers, tracing yellowed tape, forever wondering. Then he kisses the fading paper. Puts it safely away for another year.

Deborah writes at an old desk surrounded by five hundred pet bugs.

GARY THOMSON: Sleigh Ride

Adventure, Submissions, Touching, , , ,

On Christmas day, O’Dowd’s sleigh bells jingle along the farm laneway toward a hushed Emma Rawlins. Clydesdale Dan snorts a frosty greeting. Emma shuffles forward, grateful to escape her cloistered loneliness. Her arcing club foot brushes angel wings in the snow. Snugged and blanketed, she follows the bells into wonderland.

Gary Thomson still remembers sleigh rides of his youth: a hay wagon pulled by Smoky and Thunder along snowy rural roads.

BOB THURBER: Another Man Down

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

When O’Malley died nobody said bad things, nobody said good things, nobody spoke his name at his funeral. There was no eulogy, no sermon, no prayer. Just a box with O’Malley in it. Nobody uttered a sound outside of breathing, which is all any of us had come to prove.

Bob Thurber is the author of six books. Regarded as a master of Flash and Micro Fiction, his work has appeared in Esquire and other magazines, been anthologized 60 times, received a long list of awards, and been utilized in schools and colleges throughout the world. He resides in Massachusetts. Visit his website at BobThurber.net.

MICHELLE WILSON: Urban Legend

Adventure, Artistic, Submissions, Top Stories, , , , ,

Say his name three times (they said forbiddingly) and the boogeyman appears, manifesting your worst nightmares: snakes, spiders, failing French class, forgetting to clean your room, the blur of your father’s bony knuckles.

We tiptoed, mute, terrified of our own voices,
unaware that it was our silence that fed him.

Michelle Wilson’s words have appeared in Potato Soup Journal’s Best of 2021 Anthology, Rejection Letters, Maudlin House, Litro Magazine, The Drabble, 50-Word Stories, Literally Stories, Flash Fiction Magazine, and Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood, among others. Her story ‘Fish Brain’ has been nominated for a Best of the Net 2022 Award. She lives with her partner in Miami Beach, Florida.