The story of the week for June 4 to 8 is…
Spider Legs by Jo Withers
JEAN LLOYD: Reality
Lingering between sleep and wakefulness, she savours that moment when light starts to pierce her eyelids, before reality dawns.
The drapes, stirred by the breeze, create flickers of light and then shadow.
She listens, hearing only her own gentle, rhythmic breathing.
Disruption, when it comes, is sudden, loud, cruel: MUM!!!
Jean enjoys writing short stories now that the birds have flown and she has more time. She would welcome a return of the disruption, though!
HARRY DEMAREST: The Boy Who Believed in Monsters
Big Gerald wanted to show Little Jerry that there were no monsters, so he locked his son in the basement.
An hour later, Gerald let Little Jerry out. “See? No monsters.”
“I’m sorry, Daddy, there is a monster. It’s very hungry!” Little Jerry sobbed. “I told it you were bigger.”
Harry Demarest wrote this story. The first draft was 1836 words.
BILL DIAMOND: Hubris
Achilles removed his armor.
His servant announced, “The soldiers wish to celebrate your victory over Hector. I’ll re-attach your anklet.”
He waved him away. “I don’t need it just to drag a body before the gates of Troy.”
Achilles taunted the Trojans, then felt the deadly bite of Paris’ arrow.
Bill Diamond is a writer in Evergreen, Colorado, whose initial work has appeared in The MacGuffin, Eastern Iowa Review and Windmill and other publications. See more at bdiamondwriting.com.
GUY BIEDERMAN: Recovery
It’s where his best stories arrived without fail, in the shower with warm water running down his back.
Later, pencil sharp, notebook open, squeaky clean, he’d chew on the pink eraser and try to remember. The muse just laughed.
That’s how he learned the best stories never make the page.
Guy’s work has appeared in 43 literary journals including Carve, dacunha, and Exposition Review, where twice, he was a flash 405 winner. Third Wednesday ran his story, The Most Shoplifted Poet, as both flash fiction and poem of the week. Guy teaches low-fat fiction, lives on a houseboat, and walks the planks daily. He prefers to write on ATM slips with low balances while waiting for traffic lights to change.
PHIL HUFFY: Quick Lunch
He’d learned that there was no Santa Claus early on, precociously reading gift labels marked “from Santa” on packages Grandma had brought in from her ancient Buick.
Now the same sick feeling emerged as he witnessed a magnificent bald eagle, prince of the skies, dining crow-like, shameless, on roadside carrion.
Phil Huffy writes at a Cheerio-stained kitchen table in Rochester, New York.
PATRICK MC LOUGHLIN: The Drowning Bucket
A sunny evening drying
plates at the kitchen window.
I see her rambling
from the shed to the door.
Little lives
moving inside her.
I will watch her. Time her
offspring
and make them disappear.
Soon dismissed.
Soon quenched
like a temporary thirst.
But by which one of us first?
Patrick Mc Loughlin is an English Language Teacher in Ireland and dabbles in writing. He also dabbles in painting and music and someday hopes to do more than dabble. He lives in the west of Ireland where it’s hard to concentrate.
KIMBERLY OSGOOD: Mistakes
From the tree line, I watched the castle going down in flames. The acrid smell of smoke stung my nose. Screams from those still inside pierced the air.
I felt so horrible. How could I know that spicy food didn’t agree with him? Who knew that dragons could get heartburn?
Kimberly Osgood lives in Miami with her fiancé Ian. She has never ever fed dragons. She can be found on Twitter at @kimberlyosgood
DANNY BEUSCH: Number 46 (Yellow on White)
I drizzle honey over yoghurt and imagine that I am Jackson Pollock.
Yesterday’s dessert was a masterpiece, worthy of MoMA, but this looks amateur. I need precision. I need clean lines.
But it’s freezing and my honey has crystallised into thick, sticky globules.
I bet Jackson Pollock could afford heating.
Danny Beusch started writing flash fiction in 2017. Find him on Twitter: @OhDannyBoyShhh.
STORY OF THE MONTH: May 2018
The Story of the Month is chosen from the Story of the Week winners announced from the past month.
The finalists for May were:
Home Security by Mark Farley
To the Grave by Melanie Cranenburgh
Missing River by Eileen Brennan McIntyre
The Art of Disappearing by Patrick Mc Loughlin
The winner of the May 2018 Story of the Month, and the $10 prize, is…
The Art of Disappearing
Patrick used incredibly rich language to paint a picture of the character who has been cut off from the world. The subtlety is impressive, with so much story around the edges. Even the character’s name seems to have been intentionally chosen as part of the image created in the reader’s mind.