ANDREA DAMIC: Fathers and Daughters

Artistic, Odd, Submissions, , , ,

She sees him in the distance, through the morning mist. It is like a punch in the gut that takes her breath away.

Twenty years since she’s moved away.

As she gets closer, his face changes. It isn’t him, but for a split second…

She remembers her eulogy and shudders.

Andrea Damic lives in Sydney, Australia with her husband and a seven-year-old daughter. She is an accountant by profession, but writing was always her first love. The only time she can actually write is at night, when everyone is asleep. She has had a few stories previously published by 50-word stories. She has written two children’s picture books (no publications yet) and is working on a novel as well.

DETTRA ROSE: Collateral Damage

Amusing, Submissions, Touching, , , ,

It was just a Sunday picnic to talk things over.

It was just an ant bite.

It was just my finger swelling, red, ballooning.

It was Accident and Emergency.

It was ring cutters.

It was just my wedding ring in two sudden halves.

The ant saw it coming, not me.

Dettra Rose is an award-winning flash fiction author. A born and bred Londoner, she now lives in Australia. She calls both places home. Find her at dettrarose.com and on Twitter and Facebook.

DON MAGIN: Campaign Promises

Artistic, Poetry, Submissions, , ,

Vast is my vision,
deep my support,
keen my attention,
to all I purport
will fuel another round
of intentional misreport.

I raise my racket,
and serve into the court
of House and Senate matters,
and civilly comport
with grace and age and reason
as I subtly distort.

Don Magin, husband (of 1), father (of 5), grandfather (of 15 so far), great-grandfather (of 1, also so far), retired chemist (reborn as a science and math teacher), and Santa-Claus-look-alike, lives in Bon Air, Virginia with his wife of 53 years. He has had stories and poems published in several online and print publications.

SAM HALL: Only a Minor Miracle

Artistic, Submissions, Top Stories, , ,

I cut an apple in two and found a pair of sleeping twins, a beautiful girl and boy, curled up where the pips had ought to be. Surely I can not eat an apple with two sleeping children inside? But the apple looks so delicious and, besides, nobody would know.

Sam Hall is a young writer from England.

NELLY SHULMAN: My Soul Forsakes Me Now

Artistic, Poetry, Submissions, , , ,

“You should be proud,” he said. “Few can take such a decision.”

His superior held an antique folder. She replied, “Pride is a canceled word.”

He hung his head.

She ordered, “Destroy this.”

Accepting the manuscript, he whispered, “Pride, which not a world could bow.”

He went to the incinerator.

Nelly Shulman lives and writes in Saint Petersburg and Berlin. See more at nellyshulman.com.

CONSTANTINE KING: Night

Adventure, Submissions, , ,

A lot of things can sound like footsteps. A wind causing the wood to lightly creak. A rat scrambling up the drainpipe in darkness. I close my eyes again and wrap my arm around the empty pillow beside me. A lot of things can sounds like footsteps.

Just wishful thinking.

Constantine is a magician, comedian, and busboy from Boston, Massachusetts.

LISA MARIE LOPEZ: Findings

Submissions, Touching, , ,

In the abandoned field, we find broken shutters, matches, a baseball.

“Anything worth keeping?” Tom asks.

I rummage through endless piles. Nestled inside a tire, mice dream. I remember how Tom collects them for the laboratory. I shake my head and hurry him to the other end of the field.

Lisa Marie Lopez wrote this story.

TED MILLAR: Clouds Over the River

Adventure, Artistic, Submissions, , ,

Where I’m seated finishing breakfast it looks like it’s going to be a gorgeous late-summer Saturday. That is until I turn to face the platinum mass in the sky over the river. It stops at the property line — reluctant, it seems, to come any closer.

Escape just might be futile.

Ted Millar’s work has appeared in two dozen publications, including Warp 10, Fictional Cafe, Little Somethings Press, Grand Little Things,, Reflecting Pool: Poets and the Creative Process (Codhill Press, 2018), Circle Show, The Broke Bohemian, The Voices Project, Third Wednesday, The Grief Diaries, Aji, and Chronogram. He was among many poets featured in the 2018 Arts Mid-Hudson exhibit Artists Respond to Poetry.

LAURA LONEY: Forgotten Pumpkin

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

The neglected jack-o-lantern’s toothy grin sags. Its mouth is full of mould, eyes dim. Its Halloween magic was stolen by the cold November wind. Now it sits. Limp. Forgotten.

A squirrel chatters, “I remember you.” His mouth clicks in time with his tail. He drags the pumpkin to its afterlife.

Laura Loney is a Canadian mom and aspiring author who loves to laugh, learn and create. Her greatest creations will always be her two kids.

BOB THURBER: Reflection on my marriage to my high school sweetheart

Artistic, Submissions, Touching, , ,

It felt like love, honest love, for a good long while. Then one morning in a bedroom without curtains I woke exactly as her eyes blinked open, our faces aligned in sunlight. I saw in her eyes what she saw in mine. And we both understood we’d only been dreaming.

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.