NICK YOUNG: Maelstrom

Adventure, Submissions, , , ,

Gale-driven, the October rain lashed the face of the escarpment. Above, lightning strobed and thunder rolled. Below, the sea battered ancient rocks. Cloaked, he had fled into the wild night. Now, standing at the precipice, at the edge of the world, he knew he could no longer run from himself.

Nick Young is a retired award-winning CBS News Correspondent. In addition to 50-Word Stories, his writing has appeared in more than twenty publications including the Pennsylvania Literary Journal, Bookends Review, the Nonconformist Magazine, Backchannels Review, Sandpiper, the San Antonio Review, Flyover Magazine, Pigeon Review, The Best of CaféLit 11 and Vols. I and II of the Writer Shed Stories anthologies. He lives outside Chicago.

GENE NEWMAN: My Only Coup

Amusing, Submissions, , , ,

Skippy was my very best friend
in the third grade,
but business is business.

One day I traded my turtle Swifty
for Skippy’s very fat cat Lucy.

In just two weeks I had four cats
and poor Skippy had only one dead turtle.

He should have checked Swifty’s vital signs.

Gene Newman wrote this story.

JOHN H. DROMEY: Playing It by the Book

Amusing, Puns and Wordplay, Submissions, , ,

After a dust storm, a crew arrived at a hamlet to assist with the cleanup.

“My porch’s outdoor carpet is so dirty you can’t tell what color it is,” a homeowner lamented. “How will you deal with that?”

“We intend to sweep, perchance to steam—until—ay, there’s the rug!”

John H. Dromey’s short stories have appeared in Mystery Magazine and numerous other publications.

GARY DAUGHERTY: Vigil

Submissions, Touching, , , , , ,

Walking slowly to the garage: an annual midnight vigil. Key in pocket.

The car started. Dad’s 16th birthday gift to me.

He died at 60 from lung cancer. I turn 70 today.

Time rushes forward. Old cars can move slowly in reverse on dark streets. Dad helped me quit smoking.

Gary Daugherty wrote this story.

BOB THURBER: Before She Was My Mother

Artistic, Submissions, Top Stories, , ,

At eighteen, after winning two local beauty pageants, she hitchhiked to Hollywood, auditioned for a movie role with just one line, landed the part, but production fell through. Then she became pregnant. On all my birthdays she whispered that one line, smiling while adjusting her pose, searching for the camera.

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.

This story was originally published in The Woolf and included in Best Microfiction 2022.

OLEG V KHARCHENKO: No Problem

Amusing, Submissions, , ,

Zhora, meeting Galya in a bar, undressed her with his eyes and quickly dressed her back.

“Galya! You’ve been a widow for a whole year… I am also alone. Not so young, but, nevertheless, quite well off. I hint…”

“No problem. Zhora! I am ready to become your widow too!”

Oleg V. Kharchenko is a professional lecturer who likes writing when cats fly.

JANELLE SEABOCK: Tangled Words

Artistic, Submissions, Top Stories, , , , ,

A mouse gnawed a hole into the side of an abandoned journal. Thoughts long forgotten were shredded into a nest of tangled words. The owner was now gone, and his family wouldn’t miss what they didn’t know had been lost. The mouse’s eyes fluttered shut, her bed speaking of memories.

Janelle Seabock is a writer with a love for horror, fantasy, and animals of all kinds. She currently resides in Florida.

LEE DeAMALI: Faultlines

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

The postcard arrived with no message, only dated initials.

A rising blanket of lake fog hung between the red rock shore and looming mountains.

She stroked the image, moved again by his ability to capture beauty through a wide lens. Where he chose to focus, that’s what drove them apart.

Lee DeAmali resides in Los Angeles, working with numbers during the day, and binge reading and writing short fiction when she can.

RITA RIEBEL MITCHELL: The Memory Game

Submissions, Touching, , , , , , ,

The old man sits at his usual table in the park.

Blue cards are face down, arranged in rows. He turns over two: penguin and wagon.

“No match,” he says to the empty seat across from him. “Your turn.”

He turns over two more cards, both penguins.

“Good job, son.”

Rita Riebel Mitchell writes in the Pinelands of South Jersey. Her work appears in Flash Fiction Magazine, Versification, 101 Words, and others.
Read more at RRMitchell.com.