The story of the week for June 30 to July 4 is…
Inheritance by L.F. Khouri
and
Aspera Ad Astra by Marc Simon
STORY OF THE MONTH: June 2025
The Story of the Month is chosen from the Story of the Week winners announced from the past month.
The finalists for June were:
Queue by Tomiko Nanashi
Helicopter Seeds by Kate E. Lore
Inheritance by Paul D’Arcy
Triggered by Internet Photo by Matthew Eichenlaub
The winner of the June 2025 Story of the Month is…
Queue
DAN HEMMERLIN: My Mother-In-Law’s Birthday Buffet
The banana pudding – exquisite. And then the bacon stir-fry.
Five plates worth.
The jumbo coconut shrimp, do you want some?
Only one egg per customer!
The dessert is just a palate cleanser, and then one more plate like my first.
Didn’t like the ice cream selection I saw. Very small.
Dan writes fiction when he isn’t writing confidential technical reports (until the State deems them as public knowledge).
KATIE HEMMERLIN: A Nickel For Your Thoughts
In a world where each word costs a penny to say, a nickel to write, conversations are short, speeches are quick, but our own thoughts remain long. They haven’t taxed our mind’s voice yet, but when they do, I’m sure they’ll finally succeed.
No more ideas. No originality. Mindless.
$2.50
Katie lives on a farm in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey. Lately, she and her husband have been trail running on forgotten roads and exploring the creative side of writing. In addition to 50-Word Stories, her microfiction was recently featured in Short Beasts Flash Fiction.
MARC SIMON: Aspera Ad Astra
As soon as it’s morning light, he walks two blocks through three inches of new wet snow with a shovel in one hand and a basketball in the other. His Chuck Taylors make snow waffles. He clears off a half-court, dribbles twice, and takes a shot at a dream.
Marc Simon’s short fiction has appeared in over fifteen literary magazines. Five of his one-act plays have been winners in new works contests. His debut novel, The Leap Year Boy, was published in December 2012. His novella, According to Isaac, is now published on Amazon.com. See more at marcsimonwriter.com.
WILLIAM MITCHELL: Lies I Tell my Optometrist
“No car crashes? Violent impacts?”
He leans in, puzzling over my retinas’ freakish blood vessels.
“No,” I reply.
“You do boxing?”
I could tell him: International Planetary Response Force, Top Secret missions battling Sagittarian cruisers beyond Sirius, high g manoeuvres just below lightspeed.
The world ain’t ready.
“Insurance,” I say.
William Mitchell lives in East Sussex in the South of England. He is an award-winning author, having had early success with various Horror and Science Fiction publications before winning the Writers of the Future contest in 2012. His first novel, CREATIONS, came out in 2014 with John Hunt Publishing.
NICHOLAS DE MARINO: RIP
Eighty frozen peas, thawed, four times a day, down the pigeon’s leathery beak.
An ambulance. Across the street. Up, down, with a body, siren mute, lights still blaring.
Baby bird cries for more.
New widow already in black.
Weeks later the pigeon flies back to the flock.
Unrelated, but inseparable.
Nicholas De Marino is a former journalist and aspiring bon vivant. Read more at nicholasdemarino.com.
ROBERT CARLBERG: A New Beginning
The billionaire’s gorgeous wife was killed when his jet crashed. Grief-stricken he vowed to bring her back.
Taking some of her tissue to the research lab he owned, he instructed the staff to clone her immediately, despite the law.
A year later they triumphantly handed him his newborn baby.
Robert Carlberg writes to try to silence the voices in his head, and sometimes it works. More often they suggest stories… and then want credit if they’re published.
LF KHOURI: Inheritance
My grandfather folded prayers into matchbooks. Lit cigarettes with them. Swore they tasted sweeter.
When he died, we found them tucked in jars: Surahs beside postage stamps, verses pressed into lottery tickets.
He left no will.
Only this:
“Keep burning what they want you to forget.”
L.F. Khouri is a writer who has studied in the U.S. and abroad. His work explores war, memory, and the inheritance of silence. His flash and short fiction have appeared or are forthcoming in literary journals such as SmokeLong Quarterly, miniMAG, and Literally Stories.
ANGELA CARLTON: The Girl by the Pond
The girl by the pond has secrets that she can’t bury underwater.
She walks the chain fence until she finds the grave with one rose planted firmly in the ground. She’d been held captive for years-years-years, years before the pregnancy, the afterthoughts of a baby who might set them free.
Angela Carlton’s fiction has been published in Every Writer, Everyday Fiction, Pedestal Magazine, 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.