She set up the pet cam for fun, to see what moved at night. The footage showed a dog by her bed, staring at something behind her. It was odd, since she didn’t own one. The next morning, her phone tagged the video: “Shared with the household.” She lived alone.
Keerthana Nalamothula writes psychological and literary fiction that explores the subtle tensions of human experience. Her stories have been published in Flywords Publications, Querencia Press and Little Fruits Magazine.
Raffaello Romanelli’s statuary on Belle Isle connects the Old World to today, bridging Dante Alighieri to Detroit city.
For nearly a century the monument of the great poet has gazed stonily at beach‐goers as Motown mixed with techno and summer sunshine turned to winter snows, between occasional community restoration.
James Schwartz is a Detroit based poet and author of various poetry collections including The Literary Party: Growing Up Gay and Amish in America and most recently Big Island Beatnik. See more at literaryparty.blogspot.com.
A salmon run, they call it.
Fish don’t have legs, do they?
If they did, where would they go?
Would they pedal the Tour de France, run the Boston Marathon, climb Everest, ultimately shattering their femur riding the escalator at LAX?
No. They are far more sensible.
They are fish.
Parker Davis is a sapien, of the genus homo. He speaks in pictographs, often jabbing his keyboard as a primitive form of communication.
I won her heart with love letters generated by a bot and a prompt, delivered in my own handwriting. Cyrano de Bergerac for a modern world.
We were so happy, an endless spew of auto-responses — until I found the folder of prompts she’d used to reply.
How dare she?
Michael McKinnon is a writer, poet and musician in Toronto who strongly objects to AI’s use in creativity and love. His latest project is Martin Lunich: Timeless.
Natural calamities, mass shootings, shelling, blackouts, forced relocation, alien invasion, and Mars colonization are easier to bear if they meet a predetermined schedule. With all your devices fully charged, alarms on, bug-out bag packed, cats fed, and all-inclusive timelines printed, there is plenty of time to enjoy yourself. As scheduled.
Olena Zheldak was born on November 13, 1981, in Ukraine. After February 24, 2022, having personally survived Russia’s full-scale invasion, she wrote and self-published an autobiographical wartime narrative, “From Irpin with L̶o̶v̶e̶ Pain,” and collaborated with the British author Paul White by writing a lead story for his new edition of “Life in the War Zone.” In 2025, her essay, “Life Interrupted. Resumed. Ended.” was published in the 195 Essays Project by 2084.
A woman at the park told me it was her husband’s birthday. She was visiting his bench. “You should take these,” she said, giving me the roses she held. “They die anyway,” she said, by way of explanation. They sat on my desk for months. I couldn’t throw them away.
Sarah Rudston is a data engineer and writer based in the UK.
When you lost your heart, I lost a friend. Someone I trusted never to change.
You parade your bitterness in late night bars.
Yet remember the time we visited London? I carry my books now in the souvenir tote bag I bought there, my invisible tribute to a friendship destroyed.
Madeleine McDonald wrote this story.
When I was sired, I knew I’d become a pariah. Figured drinking blood did that.
Over time, they hated my beef habit more. Abhorred my accumulated air miles. They joked I’d die with a steak in my heart.
These days everyone avoids the sun, and no one invites me in.
Joe Pearson is a British fiction writer living in Paris. As far as he knows, he is not immortal. You can find more of his writing at joepearsonwriter.com.
The story of the week for November 3 to 7 is…
Staring Awake at the Bottom of the Top Bunk by Liam MacDonald
and
Faculty Assembly by Wendy K. Mages
Every time I come home I check on the dark stain in my bedroom, just to make sure it’s still there. It grows and shrinks, but thankfully never completely disappears. When guests come over, I cover it with old photographs I took off the wall when I first moved in.
Gary is an earnest man who tries his best.