RAVEN CORINN CARLUK: Incandescent

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

She reads quietly in the corner, sublimely beautiful. Serene. Her soul surrounds her, highlighting every motion, drawing me like a moth to a flame. I’m not worried that I’ll burn, only that she’ll never notice my tiny spark against her brightness.

Smiling, she looks up from her book. “Hi, there.”

Raven Corinn Carluk writes dark fantasy, paranormal romance, and anything else that catches her interest. She’s authored five novels, where she explores themes of love and acceptance. Her shorter pieces, usually from her darker side, can be found in Black Hare Press anthologies, at Detritus Online, and through Alban Lake Publishers. Keep up to date with her and enjoy many free reads on RavenCorinnCarluk.blogspot.com, or join her on Twitter at @ravencorinn for daily microfictions.

DON NOEL: The Ring

Artistic, Submissions, , , , ,

Jason spotted it as he pulled radishes: big diamond. The house’s former owner had asked him to watch for it.

His wife, the gardener, had fallen. Hand ballooned; ring cut off. In early Alzheimer’s, she forgot where she’d put it. Two years ago now.

Looks valuable.

Let it stay lost.

Retired after four decades’ prizewinning print and broadcast journalism in Hartford, CT, Don Noel received his MFA in Creative Writing from Fairfield University in 2013. He has published more than four dozen short stories (including “Earthworm Ruminations” in 50-Word Stories in September 2017), but still has three longer works to place.

JO WITHERS: Friends Have Stopped Asking If I Can Go Out

Artistic, Submissions, , , , , , , ,

Wake kids,
Make breakfast,
Dress kids,
Walk to school,

Home from school,
Help with homework,
Make the dinner,
Run their baths,

Bedtime story,
Goodnight kisses,
Collect laundry,
Clean clothes,

Tidy kitchen,
Wash dishes,
Polish table,
Mop the floor,

Wake up Mother,
Bring her bottle,
Avoid eye contact,
Make no sound.

Jo Withers is author of the middle-grade science-fiction adventure 5 Simple Steps to Saving Planet Earth. Her recent shorter fiction can be found in Spelk, Molotov Cocktail, Ellipsis Zine and Flashback Fiction.

PERRY McDAID: Patricia’s Shell

Artistic, Submissions, Touching, , , ,

The face was there, but the rosy cheeks and twinkling eyes were absent, absconded along with ready smile and gleeful giggles, lost in memories.

She wore civvies, not the nun’s habit she had hiked up a little to play football with us as children.

The coffin also took her voice.

Perry McDaid is a writer of prose and poetry who has developed a taste for pastels. They’re a tad chalky but provide roughage.

KRISTYN MASS: Sleep Tight

Artistic, Submissions, , , , , ,

He wraps the pillow around is head, diving deep beneath the covers.

The yelling always keeps him awake. Mother checks he is asleep.

His door closes softly, then a loud pop comes from downstairs.

Mother checks on him again. The yelling has finally stopped.

He drifts off to sleep.

Kristyn Mass lives in Iowa with her husband and three cats. She is a professional voice actor and aspiring writer.

EVAN McMURRY: Overturned

Adventure, Amusing, Artistic, Submissions, , , , ,

“Overturned!” cried the judges. “You’re free!”

Our first tram ride home in years echoed with their warning that we remember this mercy should we ever catapult into power.

We didn’t. After the coup, we scorched our enemies out of dirt and mind.

Of course, the judges had to go, too.

Evan McMurry’s fiction has been published in more than one dozen journals, including Post Road, Euphony, Arcturus, Oddville Press, Lotus-Eater Magazine, Palaver, Mulberry Fork Review and more. His story “Nothing Kinky” won the New Millennium Fiction Prize, and his story “Nixon in Heaven” won Exposition Review’s Flash Fiction contest. “The Fall of Rabbi Gold” was selected as a finalist for the Al-Simāk Award for Fiction from the Chicago Review of Books.

BILL DIAMOND: Modern Wedding Vows

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

Stacy and Jake were in a loving relationship. They were committed and decided to marry.

They were also aware of today’s realities. Thus, Jake was not surprised when Stacy suggested they change one word in the traditional wedding vows:

“Do you take Jake… so long as you both shall love?”

Bill Diamond lives in the Rocky Mountains and writes to try and figure it all out.

JULIET WILSON: Friend / Unfriend

Amusing, Artistic, Submissions, , , , ,

We used to talk for hours about films and art, but now you just deliver monologues about your boring job, your arthritic toe, and the awful weather.

I’m shocked by how quickly you changed closeness into carefully manipulated distance.

Now you’ve unfriended me. I only wish I’d got there first.

Juliet is an adult education tutor, crafter, and conservation volunteer based in Edinburgh, UK. She blogs at craftygreenpoet.blogspot.com and tweets at @craftygreenpoet.

CHIP HOUSER: Thing is, I’ve Changed

Adventure, Amusing, Submissions, , , ,

As the clock struck midnight, ushering in my fiftieth birthday, the friends I’d been playing D&D with since middle school learned I was no longer the same person.

To be fair, one of them wasn’t surprised. I absorbed him first, while the others thought we were still playing a game.