CHARLEY GRAY: Heaven and Hell

Amusing, Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

Family sits quietly at Dad’s funeral service. Incense burns, calming the nerves. My brothers and sisters have their heads down, praying, I assume. The eulogy reflects on the acceptance of Dad into heaven and his resting in peace. But when family gathers and reads his will, all Hell breaks loose.

Charles is originally from New York and is now retired and residing in Texas with his wife. He likes playing chess and writing flash. Check out his other stories at 101 Words, Friday Flash Fiction, Microfiction Monday Magazine.

BS ROBERTS: A Division

Artistic, Submissions, Touching, , , ,

I have a notebook—leather-bound, the size of a palm—filled with my musings. It’d been packed away, lost with my marriage.

When discovered again, a mouse had chewed it for her nest. The poems are gone; I don’t remember what had been written.

I’m glad they found a purpose.

When not indulging himself by reading or writing poetry and prose, B.S. Roberts makes a living as a museum curator and an administrative assistant at the University of Maine at Augusta. He lives in Maine with his fiancée, daughter, silver pheasants, and four cats. bsroberts.com

SHARON GERGER: Us is Gone

Submissions, Touching, , , ,

I stand near the base of the waterfall waiting for my muddled mind to bring me the memory of us, holding hands and leaping off the rocks at the top, laughing as we surfaced in the icy water below. It won’t come. Perhaps I only read it in a book.

Sharon Gerger loves the challenge of creating a world in fifty words.

BOB THURBER: The Nose Twitching Scent Of Gladness (The Continuing Misadventures of The Broken Boys)

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

Single file the boys descend a slope packed with spruce and pines. There’s no path, no clear trail. Pushing through, the needles tickle more than scratch. Tonight, the boys will make camp in the valley — where no shadows live, other than night itself — beneath a widespread blue-grey wonderland of stars.

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.

PONTIUS PAIVA: Iris and the Indigo

Adventure, Submissions, , , , , ,

How amazing to discover colors existing in the grey of end times. It’s been ages since I’ve seen a flower, let alone a garden. I pick one, then another, unwittingly collecting a bouquet.

I pause.

Lovely as they are, they mock me. I can’t smell them from behind a mask.

Pontius Paiva’s flash fiction doubles as complementary pieces to his post-apocalyptic visual novel, DoomsDaisy. More at pontiuspaiva.com.

KATHERINE DARLINGTON: Rain

Artistic, Poetry, Submissions, Top Stories, Touching, , , , , ,

Her neighbor’s children
Are awake
Before the roosters crow,
And even in gray October
They play
In their treehouse
Before the sun rises

Drinking coffee on the patio,
As cool as it is,
She remembers thirty years ago
When a swing held
Her two children

She wonders:
Are ghosts real?

Katherine Darlington has articles in many publications including poetry anthologies, along with several published novels. When she isn’t riding horses or hiking on some mountain trail, she’s working on a story. See more of her work at katherinedarlington.com.

JOHN H. DROMEY: Revolutionary Revelation

Amusing, Puns and Wordplay, Submissions, , ,

The professor of Earth Sciences droned on and on. Finally, he concluded, “Therefore, it should be obvious that our planetary well-being is directly associated with its ongoing rotation on its axis.”

One student whispered to another, “What did he say?”

“I think he just made a declaration of spin dependence.”

John H. Dromey often has a story forthcoming somewhere.

REED BEEBE: Lovecraft’s Ghost

Amusing, Submissions, , , , ,

Lovecraft’s ghost typed out a horror-themed haiku on ectoplasmic paper:

The giant creature
had an octopus head and
long, very sharp teeth!

The ghost sent the haiku off to an editor for consideration, and envisioned that it would be published. The subsequent rejection letter was crushing: “Sorry; it’s too tropey.”

After years spent battling monsters and solving mysteries, Reed Beebe has retired to a quiet village to write fiction. Reed’s work has been published by AHOY Comics, Heavy Metal, and Soteira Press. Reed blogs about comics at medium.com/meanwhile.

ANDY HEDGECOCK: Harbouring a Grudge

Adventure, Submissions, , , ,

Beneath a brochure blue sky, listless waves scrape the slipway as sunlight dapples the hull of a bobbing sloop. From a hotel balcony across the bay, your binoculars focus on the headsail, pan down to the foredeck, and fixate on the corpse. Contract fulfilled.

You transfer the payment, as arranged.

“Biographical notes are fine,” said Andy Hedgecock, “unless they use contrived exposition to reveal the subject is, for example, a freelance writer from Nottinghamshire, UK.” commapress.co.uk/authors/andy-hedgecock.