BOB THURBER: The Stammering Years

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

In retrospect, I cannot now remember which was worse: those moments when my flow of speech was disrupted by sputtering consonants, drawn-out vowels and endless repetition, one gush of sound colliding with another, or the unintentional silences, those tongue-tied pauses when I felt unable to produce any sound at all.

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.

MARILYN McFARLANE: Circle of Life

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

In his hospital bed, my father,
the hearty man with the booming voice
and a thousand friends,
curls into a shell
and whispers,
“Every day I ask the Lord to please take me.”
Every day he curls a little more.
From fetal ball
to fetal ball
the endless cycle continues.

Marilyn McFarlane is a travel writer and the author of Sacred Stories: Wisdom From World Religions. She writes poetry and fiction and occasionally explores memoir. She lives in Oregon, where there is a lot of scope for the imagination.

LORRAINE CHRISTIE: In the Chair

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

She never asks, but they tell her about their troubles at home.

The sister’s affair.
The bully at school.
The overbearing mother-in-law.
The brother who can’t seem to keep a job.
The parent who has been diagnosed with cancer.

They shed their worries as easily as she cuts their hair.

Lorraine Christie still enjoys drinking coffee and unscrambling word jumbles.

EILEEN MARDRES: August 21

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

The calendar shows another month of summer, but reality is the rustle of fallen leaves, the sky poking through trees without regard for the date. Hand in hand they walk away from summer jobs, summer picnics. Walking towards, then through, classrooms and exams, down the long corridors into their future.

In retirement, Eileen loves the challenge of encapsulating larger life experiences into the smaller 50-word life bites.

LAURA DOBSON: Mummy, Daddy, and Samantha

Submissions, Top Stories, Touching, , , , ,

A riot of colour beams from clinical white sheets: pale as the bedding, swamped by rainbow pyjamas, and clutching a box of Crayola. Through intravenous tubes, she perseveres with her drawings.

You’re handed the latest. Three recognisable figures, the littlest a sort of butterfly hybrid.
​
Eventually, everything dims but this.

Laura is taking the first tentative steps towards sharing her work. This is her third 50-word story and she has a piece upcoming with The Phare Literary Magazine. She tweets at @laurarose_13.

VIV BURGESS: Rise and Fall

Amusing, Puns and Wordplay, Submissions, , ,

Sugar used her loaf, whipping up half-baked ideas that proved successful and eventually raising enough dough to buy a bakery. Seeing profits roll in by beating the competition was icing on the cake, but one smart cookie took the biscuit by undercutting her. Being creamed, her creation sank, crumbling away.

Viv Burgess is taking refuge in the absurd.

SARAH JACKSON: How Our Local Wine Bar Ended Up on the Ghost Tour

Adventure, Odd, Submissions, , ,

“It was so sudden. I’m still in shock, I think,” he said, resting his hand sadly on the girl’s knee. “Though to be honest we hadn’t been close for a long time.”

“I’m closer than you know,” I hissed, floating beside them, and reached across the table for the bottle.

Sarah Jackson writes gently unsettling stories. She lives in east London UK and has a green tricycle called Ivy. See more at sarahijackson.com/writing.

TIM BOITEAU: Beast of a Storm

Adventure, Submissions, , ,

“You think it’s safe now?” he whispered.

I nodded.

“I’ll take a look.”

He unlocked the storm-cellar door, climbed up to the yard.

Cold, dark summer skies.

As soon as I saw his back stiffen, I slammed the door shut. Locked it.

The snarls of something gigantic silenced his banging.

Tim Boiteau lives in Michigan, is the author of the dark fantasy novel The Drummer Girl and a Writers of the Future winner.

KEN GOSSE: Black Widowing

Amusing, Poetry, Submissions, , , ,

Widowed three times in ten years,
her insurance provider had fears
that she’d be a claimant
for yet one more payment
and meanwhile, though still shedding tears,
she married again
(how many more men?)
yet what she didn’t know
was that her latest beau
had lost his first five financiers.

Ken Gosse prefers writing short, rhyming, humorous poetry. First published in First Literary Review–East in November 2016, he is also in The Offbeat, Pure Slush, Parody, Home Planet News Online, and other publications. Raised in the Chicago suburbs, now retired, he and his wife have lived with their dogs and cats in Mesa, AZ, over twenty years.

EMMA FOSTER: Crossed Circuits

Amusing, Submissions, , , ,

The boy pressed the wires together. A faint spark jerked his science fair project to life.

“What have you done?” the computer’s voice sobbed, digits and code degenerating.

“I’m sorry, I don’t have an answer for that.”

Tuesday, the boy displayed his anguished miracle of life. He got an A.

Emma Foster is a recent college graduate and fiction writer. She lives in Florida.