CASEY LAINE: Winter’s Child

Artistic, Poetry, Submissions, Top Stories, , , ,

In a hole in the ground,
there lives a child.

Winter’s seed,
immune to the cold.

When spring rains down,
instead of drowning,
she absorbs.

Shrugging out
of her outgrown coat,
she stretches–
fingers up and up,
toes down, down–
and raises her green head
to smile at the sun.

Casey Laine comes from a long line of talkative women. She works as Fantasy Editor at Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores, and publishes an annual anthology of fiction and poetry for her writing group, Writers Assembled. In her spare time, she chases butterflies with her camera. Find her on Facebook, Amazon, and Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores.

HENRY BLADON: Every Day

Submissions, Touching, , , , ,

Every day after school, we go to the park.

Every day, the man on the bench admires the acers in the Japanese gardens.

Every day, he smiles and asks my daughter how she is.

But today he isn’t here. She whispers that maybe this is his first day in Heaven.

Henry appreciates nature, and spending time in the park admiring the trees seems like a pretty good way to use your time.

JOHN M FLOYD: Mom’s the Word

Amusing, Submissions, , ,

“A 50-word story? Impossible.”

“You’re wrong.”

“Try it.”

“Okay: Honey, I’m pregnant.”

“What?”

“Just kidding.”

“Not funny.”

“How about: I’m pregnant, and it’s not yours.”

“What!?”

“Kidding again. How many words, so far?”

“34.”

“Let’s stop. I’m hungry.”

“For what?”

“Pickles.”

“Pickles?”

“How many words now?”

“47.”

“And ice cream.”

John M. Floyd’s work has appeared in more than 250 different publications, including Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Strand Magazine, The Saturday Evening Post, and the 2015, 2018, and (upcoming) 2020 editions of Best American Mystery Stories. A former Air Force captain and IBM systems engineer, John is also a three-time Derringer Award winner, an Edgar Award nominee, a recipient of the Short Mystery Fiction Society’s lifetime achievement award, and the author of eight books.

JANET KOOPS: The Gist

Amusing, Puns and Wordplay, Submissions, , , ,

Introduced by a mixologist, Stan was a zoologist, Evie a geologist. They lived in a metropolis, were happily monogamous, their lives never monotonous. Then Evie saw a gynecologist, who sent her to a virologist.

Stan wasn’t a monogamist.

Evie thought him the rottenest. He’s at the ER with a proctologist.

Originally from Toronto, Janet Koops now calls Bend, Oregon home. When she is not sitting at her computer, she is exploring the high desert with her husky.

MELISSA BENN: Downwind Leg

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

The airlock doors clicked.

She squeezed her elbows into her side. With each mile she climbed into the sky, her heart lightened. Her breath slowed, no longer raggedly keeping up with her heartbeat.

Earphones in. No internet, no phone, no screen. She breathed deeply. The only place she found solace.

Melissa Benn is an aspiring kind human who likes to write on planes.

PONTIUS PAIVA: Oversight, Overshot, and Overdue

Adventure, Submissions, , ,

Halfway through his two-day mission the ship approached lightspeed. His knuckles whitened, and in a snap he was the first person to exceed the cosmic speed limit. Master of time and space.

Many came to celebrate his historic return. His wife and son weren’t among them, but his four-times-great-grandchildren were.

Travel to pontiuspaiva.com to read past stories. Hopefully more of his stories will be published in the future.

MICHAEL AUGUSTINE DONDERO: Nail in the Coffin

Adventure, Amusing, Puns and Wordplay, Submissions, , ,

The evidence was already heavily against me. The ring—that item meant to solve my problems—found in my possession. Tire tracks in the mud. The dirty shovel in my car.

But what really convinced the jury in the grave robbing case was DNA proof. My nail in the coffin.

Michael Augustine Dondero is a Brooklyn-based writer. Read more on his website, augustinedondero.com. He’s also the co-creator of the horror/sci-fi podcast “Lost Signal Society.” Tune in at lostsignalsociety.com.

COLIN LUBNER: Failsafe

Submissions, , , , ,

She was hopeful, he knew. He programmed; she called movies “films.” Blade Runner was common ground.

During the credits, he shrugged. The replicants’ four-year lifespan failsafe was stupid. Engineers were smarter than that.

She was silent for a long time.

You know, she said. I think you’ve missed the point.

Colin Lubner writes (in English) and teaches (math) in southern New Jersey. His fiction has either appeared or will appear, temporally speaking. Extant pieces can be found through his Twitter at @no1canimagine0. He is keeping on keeping on.

GRAHAM ROBERT SCOTT: Practical Matters

Amusing, Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

After the woman with the coronavirus symptoms departed, Matt Febrezed his desk and—popping an antibiotic from an old prescription—returned to writing his email to his niece Laura, about how nothing she studied in college was going to be of any help out here, not in the real world.

Graham Robert Scott’s stories have appeared in Pulp Literature, Barrelhouse, and Nature. See more at hemicyon.wordpress.com.