MAGGIE SEREN: Bella’s Bang on Trend on Buttermere

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

The fell, reflected in the mere, turns the morning upside down. Bella tiptoes over pebbles, breathing deeply as the water reaches her thighs. Exhales as she pushes off; an unhurried breaststroke.

They call it wild water swimming; they call it mindfulness.

Bella, 80 years young, calls it her daily dip.

Maggie Seren, who has only recently started writing flash fiction, teaches in the West Midlands but her heart resides in a coastal village in West Wales. When not writing, she enjoys walking her two chocolate labs on windswept beaches.

GEORGE GUTHRIDGE: Bearing the Bering Sea

Artistic, Submissions, , , , ,

Sleet beats against my parka. No more whaling: banned by those whose ancestors slaughtered bowheads to light the lamps of Boston.

Above, Rapallo-chuted, thermal-suited, oxygen-tanked daredevils crisscross the aurora, surfing the dancing green-gold: Tourists riding boards among colors of my soul.

I stab my harpoon into shelf-ice and walk away.

In 1997, George Guthridge and friend, the late Janet Berliner of South Africa, won the Bram Stoker Award for the Year’s Best Horror Novel. His short fiction has three times been a finalist for the Nebula and Hugo Awards for science fiction and fantasy, and he has won multiple awards for screenwriting. He is Professor Emeritus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where for 25 years he trained teachers in teaching writing to Alaska Natives. He lived for several years in a Siberian-Yupik village on a blizzard-swept island off the coast of Siberia.

ESZTER MOLNAR: Walkies

Submissions, Touching, ,

The dog’s pulling me to the left. But your window overlooks the path to my right.

It’s Tuesday so I know you’ll be at home, sitting at your desk, surrounded by books and photographs of your family.

Just a quick glance. For old times’ sake.

“Come on Cooper, this way.”

Eszter Molnar is a former teacher who lives by the windswept British seaside. She has been published in one of the UK’s biggest subscription magazines for children. By day, she cleans up after preschoolers. By night, she writes children’s books.

REBECCA CUTHBERT: Bait & Switch

Adventure, Submissions, , ,

“Fortunes, ten dollars,” the jeweled crone had croaked. “Your future awaits. Take my hands; you’ll see.”

You ducked into the dim tent. Carnivals were such a gas.

A year has come and gone, but still you sit—hawking the same vague promise, waiting for someone to take your outstretched hands.

Rebecca Cuthbert lives, writes, and reads in Western New York. Her work has appeared in Brevity, Slipstream, Neworld Review, and elsewhere, and it is forthcoming in Blueline Magazine. She serves as managing editor for Leapfrog Press and is a content writer and editor for LiveWriters.

RAYMOND SLOAN: Tearjerker

Submissions, Touching, , ,

Every night I pick another sad movie that I’ve seen a million times before.

It helps with the loneliness.

Each day I get up and go to work and come home to my cat, Company, who never comes when I call.

It doesn’t count as crying when I watch them.

Raymond Sloan lives in Ireland. He has recently been published in 50-Word Stories, Every Day Fiction, Flash Fiction Magazine, Ariel Chart, 101 Words, The Drabble, Nanoism, Microfiction Monday Magazine, Blink-Ink and The Dribble Drabble Review.

ANDREA DAMIC: Crumpled drawing #665

Submissions, , , ,

“It’s no good!”

Agitated, she starts another one, ever so slightly twitching her head.

A sudden squeeze on her shoulder.

Big sigh. Breathe… breathe… ever so slowly.

Dark eyes smile victoriously.

She jerks a gaze at the Man in White.

Bars on the windows make eerie shadows on the walls.

Andrea Damic lives in Sydney, Australia. She has written two children’s picture books and is working on a novel.

MICHELLE WILSON: New Friends to the Rescue

Amusing, Submissions, , ,

She was unraveling in the bathtub when the walls came alive.

The shower handle was a silver bird grooming a faucet-shaped, one-eyed parrot. “Hello, Gorgeous,” it said.

Shampoo bottles giggled; the soap dish sang an aria.

The mirror cracked a smile. “Congratulations, you’ve survived three-hundred-and-sixty-seven days of self-quarantine!”

Everyone cheered.

Michelle Wilson’s words have appeared in Litro Magazine, The Drabble, 50-Word Stories, Literally Stories, Flash Fiction Magazine, and Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood, among others. She lives in Miami Beach, Florida. Sometimes, she can be found at https://medium.com/@wilsmk.

LUCY McMAHON: Growing Pains

Submissions, Touching, , , ,

After the funeral, we started emptying her house.

“Do you remember her blackberry rhubarb crumble?”

“No.” I don’t.

“I remember. It was delicious.”

“I’m allergic to rhubarb. Gives me a rash.”

My sister looks away. “I’m sorry.” She’s not apologizing for being forgetful.

It’s easy to clear a stranger’s home.

Lucy McMahon is a student at the University of Bristol. She enjoys writing, painting, and baking.

BEN MIMMACK: Join the Army and See the World

Amusing, Submissions, , ,

I drop the bags on the floor thinking I’ll unpack later and slump down onto the couch. Feet up, shoes on, too tired to care. My exhausted mind starts to drift as my eyes close.

Suddenly, a hand hits my face.

“Daddy, I missed you. Will you play with me?”

Ben likes playing with his children, but sometimes it’s hard to get off the couch.

BRIAN MAYCOCK: Old

Adventure, Submissions, Touching, , ,

Once it soared, glorious.

Now watery eyes observe him.

He holds out his pipe. They played this game when it was new hatched – until his eyebrows were singed clean off.

There is a rumbling. A wispy flame ignites the tobacco, and a glimmer flickers in those eyes.

A dragon’s smile.

Brian Maycock lives in Scotland. He has work forthcoming in the British Fantasy Society’s Horizons magazine.