RAN WALKER: Killing Me Softly

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

He hated living in her songs. Each lyric cut too deep, making his life a chorus for strangers.

She called it love.

And then, as if the weight finally reached her hands, the guitar slipped out of tune.

Complete silence.

Perhaps she finally understood love wasn’t meant to be performed.

Ran Walker is the author of over 40 books, the most recent of which is Fragments of the Afroverse, releasing on October 1st. He teaches creative writing at Hampton University and lives with his wife and daughter in Virginia.

STEVEN HOLDING: Now That’s Magic

Artistic, Poetry, Submissions, , , ,

To cast this spell
ink the wrinkled skin
of a virgin centenarian
making these markings
a ritualistic sigil
utilising quills
plucked from a specific fallen angel
whose once white feathers
are dyed eggshell blue
in psychedelic tribute
to a sky they once knew
and the time that they once flew.

Steven Holding lives in the United Kingdom. His story SMUDGE appears in the collection TREMBLING WITH FEAR MORE TALES FROM THE TREE VOLUME 5. You can follow his work at stevenholding.co.uk.

COLLEEN V ADDISON: Carpet

Artistic, Submissions, , , , ,

After bouts with vertigo, I step onto the ferry and pause; the floor shimmers with waves. Saints and witches walk on water, but I am dizzy on a boat. There is an anxious line of sightseers behind me, though. I take a desperate breath of air and begin to swim.

Colleen Addison completed a PhD in health information. She then promptly got sick herself. She now lives and heals on a small island, writing stories of various length about her life.

TIM BOITEAU: Hunters

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

When we were kids—
Don’t judge—
We went to the woods at night.
Hunting.
For chandeliers.
Burning bright beyond the shadows.
We would level your .22.
Easy.
Big dumb prey not going anywhere.
I mentioned we were kids?
So don’t judge.
Wouldn’t have guessed someone might come pull the blinds.

Tim Boiteau lives in Michigan. His short stories have won a Writers of the Future award and Story of the Year at 50WS. His novels include Iltday and The Nilwere. His slasher The Neighborhood Game is coming this winter.

RITA RIEBEL MITCHELL: Fire Sale

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

Memories, stacked in moving vans, evaporated like morning dew, leaving the house empty and sad. Rooms shed tears of loneliness, missing love and laughter as loss echoed off bare walls.

With a brisk click, flames swallowed doors, licked ceilings, and seared floors as the unwanted house cried out in agony.

Rita Riebel Mitchell writes in the Pinelands of South Jersey where she lives amongst the trees with her husband. Her work appears in HAD, Flash Fiction Magazine, Versification, and more. Find her at ritariebelmitchell.com/friday-micro.

AISHA ANDRABI: The Last Apricot

Artistic, Submissions, Top Stories, , , , ,

I saved the last apricot from summer, wrapped in a napkin like a secret. In winter, I found it shriveled but whole. I bit into memory: tart, soft, sun-warmed. My daughter watched, puzzled. “It’s just fruit,” she said. But I could taste my childhood, my mother’s hands, the orchard’s hush.

Aisha is a poet and storyteller based in Srinagar, India. Her work explores themes of memory, displacement, and emotional resilience, often through lyrical prose and quiet imagery.

ANGELA CARLTON: How I Left the Cheater

Artistic, Submissions

At the motel, a ghost of a man’s parked on the asphalt. Pictures of his military service are plastered over windows.

“Mam,” he pleads. “I’m—I’m living in my car!”

You see badges over his seats, like a tiny-tiny shrine, before you place that meaningless wedding ring into his hands.

Angela Carlton’s fiction has been published in Every Writer, Everyday Fiction, 6S, 50 Word Stories, Spillwords Press, The Dribble Drabble Review, and Friday Flash Fiction. In 2022, “A Jigsaw Life,” a collection of stories was released. In 2023, her story “Swallowed,” was nominated for the Pushcart Prize. See more on Facebook.

RE FEINER: In the Eye of the Bog Witch

Adventure, Artistic, Submissions, , , , ,

Conventional beauty standards lurk over Marsha’s modeling career as her hairstylist hacks at her self-image. Her agent sneers at her tears, “Maybe you’re not cut out for this industry.” Cast aside, Marsha finds solace in the marshlands. She grows native plants and feeds wild songbirds. They can see she’s beautiful.

R.E. Feiner has been writing for over ten years with over five years as a Marketing Specialist. At the end of 2024, tech layoffs forced her to reevaluate her career. As such, she rediscovered her love for creative writing. You can find more of her work on Instagram, TikTok, and Lemon8 at @book_void.

JULIE K DANIELS: Bottle Baby

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

Asking about my littlest brother? He dropped out of school, joined a carny crew he’d seen fleece folks at the fair. “Three for a dollah!” they’d hawk, fingering soft balls near chalky bottles. He’d learned, flinging ammo just so. Did I tell you? Was me fed him his first milk.

Julie K. Daniels lives, writes, and teaches in St. Paul, Minnesota, enjoying all four (not quite equal) seasons.