ANNA SANDERSON: The Clown

Submissions, Touching,

Without costume or painted face, he played the clown. He became the one who made her smile, while she became the world.

It was cold the day they married, but the biting wind brought consolation, helping to freeze his own smile in place as he read his best man speech.

Anna Sanderson is a writer and performer from Nottingham, England. She writes about the world as she sees it, hoping to make a small, positive change, one word at a time. She has been published online and in numerous zines and anthologies, and is currently working on her first novel. Follow her on Twitter.

BEÁTA SCHLOSSEROVÁ: Memory

Stories, Submissions, Touching, , ,

She was crying, but Grandma knew what to do. Come here. Sit with me. We can watch the clouds.

She stopped crying. Eventually she got bored.

Look, ants! Put your hand here. They walk on good people.

She did, but all the ants walked around her.

She started crying again.

Beáta Schlosserová is a young student who loves traveling and having fun. She is studying translation and interpreting.

ELDAR LEVIN: Lest We Mistake Your Identity

Adventure, Odd, Submissions,

He squinted at first, but then shielded his eyes when the light proved too overpowering.

“Why me?” he bellowed in the direction of the source. “Surely there are better specimens for you to abduct.”

Move your hand, came the reply, unspoken and foreign, yet understood. We can’t see your face.

Eldar is currently wondering (1) what achievements are considered noteworthy enough to include in a bio, and (2) whether perhaps a blurb highlighting failures is more telling and useful. He figures that some governing body has already addressed and decided on this issue.

SUE SILVA: Empty Nest

Submissions, Touching, , , ,

I once watched a momma bird feed her babies. She returned again and again with a worm for their waiting beaks.

As the babies got bigger, their number decreased: four, three, two, one.

And when the nest was empty, the robin sat holding the worm, no longer valuable or necessary.

Sue Silva is a freelance writer who lives in Ontario, Canada.

MELISSA A ROHEN: Dreams

Adventure, Submissions, , ,

She awoke from the grips of the nightmare. She’d been standing over him again, a knife dripping red in her hand.

Reaching towards him, towards the soothing warmth of his body, she frowned. The bed was empty.

Right, she thought. It hadn’t been a dream. Funny how she kept forgetting.

Melissa is a writer, teacher, and dog-lover living in the Middle of Nowhere, Michigan.

BRUCE MEREDITH: Surface Area

Amusing, Submissions, Top Stories, ,

“Surface area is easy to calculate.”

Chalk squeaked. Equations appeared. The teacher picked up a wooden box and a steel ruler.

“All that’s needed is a good ruler and the right formula.”

The box rattled.

“What’s inside?” shouted a student.

“Not important,” said the teacher. “Won’t be on the test.”

Bruce Meredith retired from the practice of law about seven years ago. For most of his career he represented educators. After he retired, he started writing fiction. He has had six submissions accepted for publication, four of them in Veterans’ Journals.

BOJAN RATKOVIC: Looking Glass

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

Her body was ideal: spotless skin, flawless features, and perfect proportions. She was never sad; she never worried. She never even frowned.

They all watched her, marveling. If only they could be in her shoes!

So they looked up at her, wide-eyed, as she stood motionless behind the glass display.

Bojan Ratković is a writer from Serbia, now living in Ontario, Canada. His work has appeared in Every Day Fiction, Liquid Imagination, Great Lakes Review, Fiction Vortex, and on the World SF Blog. He is pursuing a PhD in political philosophy from the University of Western Ontario. Follow him on Twitter.

MOHINI MALHOTRA: Father

Submissions, Touching, , ,

I have watched families light the temple pyre to wish their loved ones farewell. Other people’s people; their spires of smoke.

Now I light the pyre and sprinkle rosewater on you. Your ashes will float down the river but my memories of you will hover—suspended, like a dragonfly—forever.

Mohini Malhotra was born in New York, grew up in Nepal, Thailand, India, Italy, and lives in Washington DC. She runs a social enterprise that promotes contemporary women artists from emerging markets and invests profits to better women’s and girls’ lives. She loves words and flash fiction and just had her flash story Blink published by The Writer’s Center.

KAREN POMERANTZ: The Discoveries of Tiny Hands

Artistic, Submissions, , , , ,

I watched, awestruck, as my baby daughter’s chubby little fingers slid across the surface of my smartphone. Roads and landscapes shifted beneath her touch. She pinched, and the map zoomed out.

A photo of my husband drifted past, betraying his GPS position.

Wait… That’s not the location of his conference.

Karen doesn’t claim to be Wonder Woman, simply a wife, mother, writer and roller girl, in addition to a day job as an Electronic Design Engineer. You’re invited to draw your own conclusions. Her debut release, an eBook titled “Trapping Honey’, is available now. See more at karenpomerantz.uk.