The story of the week for December 28 to January 1 is…
New Year’s Resolution by Mary Steer
It’s always nice to start off a new year with a bit of humour!
RUSSELL HEMMELL: Breathing Music
“Made of rosewood, padauk, or simple plastic, resounding with two octaves or many, and whatever mallet pleases you, but xylophones remain just that: quivering fountains of life.”
“I can’t play,” she told her lover.
“You’ll learn, for me.” The music-breathing alien placed her hand on the idiophones, and smiled.
Russell Hemmell is an alien from Mintaka snuggled into a (consenting) human host. He’s had fiction published in PerihelionSF, Strangelet Journal, Vine Leaf Literary Journal, and elsewhere.
MICHAEL MARINO: The Ninja’s Epiphany
The ninja kicks in a door, slays bad guys, kicks in a second, slays a few more.
Inside door three, it’s a room full of cats, a circus clown who smiles, honks a horn.
The ninja turns around slowly, removes his mask and says, “I gotta go back to school.”
Michael Marino hails from Santa Barbara, CA and received his MFA in Creative Writing – Fiction from Antioch University, Los Angeles. His short fiction has appeared in the Flint Hills Review and he has contributed as editor to Lunch Ticket, AULA’s literary journal.
DAVID GREGORY: Drink Responsibly
Four guys walk into a bar.
One orders a glass of Christianity, another takes a shot of Judaism, one requests an Islam cocktail, and another asks for an Atheism on the rocks.
Remembering the brawl that occurred last time, the men decide to pace themselves, and enjoy a wonderful evening.
David Gregory is a marketing pro from Washington D.C. who enjoys humor fiction. He’s currently editing his first novel, and hopes you check out his humor flash fiction website FunnyInFiveHundred.com.
MARY STEER: New Year’s Resolution
Do everything differently from last year.
Say “yes” when you would’ve said “no” and “no” when you would’ve said “yes”. Refuse to take “no” for an answer. Take risks. Be daring and bold. Socialize. Date. Accept invitations.
If it doesn’t work, then next year: Do everything differently from last year.
Mary Steer is a word nerd living west of Toronto, where she works and reworks stories from life and imagination. Her short stories have appeared or are forthcoming in Green’s Magazine, The Halcyon Reader, Quick Brown Fox and CommuterLit. When she’s not writing or editing, she likes to dabble in physics (knitting) and chemistry (baking).
STEVE COVERDALE: Doppelganger
I picked my son up.
As I drove home, I peered at him. He looked like my son but he smelled different, talked different, and his smile was so wrong.
As we sat at traffic lights, I received a text: Dad, where are you?
That was how the world ended.
Steve Coverdale is an Englishman living in Nova Scotia. He keeps trying to write short stories with a happy ending but keeps on getting dragged back to the dark side.
MADELAINE WONG: A Gift From My Father
Calm and quiet, he listened. Made me believe I had something important to say, even as a child.
His hand warm on mine, he gave me a book. “Read this. Tell me what you think.”
I have yet to read it, and now it’s too late. My father is dead.
Madelaine Wong teaches creative writing at The Alexandra Writers Centre in Calgary, Alberta. She won Freefall Magazine’s Chapbook contest in 2010. She has stories published in Dark Gothic Resurrected, Mused, Toska Magazine and in Shy, an Anthology. She is also the co-author of Cradling the Past, a Biography of Margaret Shaw.
See more at madelainewong.com.
LYNETTE HININGS-MARSHALL: London Morning
Before you rise out of sleep I memorize every moment
of the black timeless night when we moved in discovery and ecstasy
and ignited enthrall before lying in perfect harmony
even though only yesterday
we were strangers seated side by side
in 3A and 3B on the flight from Hamburg.
Lynette moves to a new country every two or three years and currently lives in Denmark, but calls the Mornington Peninsula in Australia and San Diego in the U.S. “home”. She has a Master of Arts (Writing and Literature) degree from Deakin University.
GLEN BENISON: Forever and Ever
It’s a lovely name. Four letters, synchronized and encased within a crimson heart. Forever.
The joyous pulsing within my heart helps sedate the pain of the ink injections.
In the final touches of the artistry, my Twitter account suddenly activates. The needle slips. And scars.
“It’s over,” she tweets. “Forever.”
Glen Benison is a writer of short story fiction, finding themes from everyday happenings that settle in his brain, some of which eventually take seed.
STORY OF THE WEEK: December 27
The story of the week for December 21 to 25 is…
Surface Area by Bruce Meredith
It’s rare to receive a story so uniquely creative as this one. I’m not sure what to think about it! It makes me smile, gets my brain spinning… And it clearly resonated with the readers, too.