SALLY BASMAJIAN: Love Hurts

Amusing, Submissions, , ,

Gadzooks! I feel a sharp twinge in my butt. What did that curly-haired tyke just do to me?

But I forget the pain when I see a vision of gorgeousness approaching. My jaded heart goes pitter-patter.

She’s rubbing her derriere, too, and there’s no mistaking the desire in her eyes.

As a follow-up to her frivolous and fun career in broadcasting, Sally Basmajian is working on a variety of writing projects. She has won a few prizes for short fiction and creative non-fiction, and has recently completed a fantasy novel for young adults.

LIN JENKINSON: Be My Valentine

Adventure, Submissions, ,

Emma. Such a sweet young woman. And now he was going to make her his—forever.

Of course, she had no idea what he had become, seemingly overnight.

No matter, she would find out when he visited Valentine’s night.

But first he would take her out for a quick bite.

Lin loves flash fiction, mysteries, and thoughtful horror. Twists and humour are like spices that flavour a writer’s work. She is still waiting to be rich and famous.

GRETCHEN IVERS: Mirrors Can’t Lie

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

Woke up on a different side of the mirror this morning, looking at a child who believed in herself and her dreams. I watched, helpless, as she was introduced to this devils’ haven.

I saw her life fly by, watched her sparkle flicker. Falter. Fade.

I miss being that child.

Gretchen Ivers is not quite sure why all of her stories turn out so morbid.

MATT THOMPSON: Gambler’s Tale

Adventure, Amusing, Artistic, Submissions, , ,

The fixed-odds betting terminal fired out an electronic pulse, causing my bio-interface implant to twitch in excited anticipation. I paused, my finger poised above the play button, and adjusted the frequency receiver to that of the sender. An incoming message.

What the machine had to say was this: HELP ME.

Matt Thompson is a London-based writer of oddball fantastical fiction: short stories, flash fiction, comics scripts, poetry, and the occasional novel. He is endeavouring to follow Ray Bradbury’s advice of writing a story every week. To date, this has been adhered to in theory more than reality.

ADA JENKINS: Claustrophobic

Artistic, Submissions,

When I enter the room, the room enters me: piercing my mind with distortions: smiling faces, baring teeth, a swaying ceiling. The chairs come to life, their wooden legs snapping together over and
over, laughing. The lights blur.

I swallow back my fear, but it sticks in my throat.

Therapy.

Ada Jenkins is a feminist, vegan, and animal rights activist. Her writing has been published by _Lip_ magazine, United Press, and The Flaming Vegan. She is in the middle of setting up a blog called Spiritual Vegan.

MICHAEL D HILL: The Man You Could Set Your Watch By

Amusing, Submissions, ,

Five days a week for forty years the alarm woke him at 7:20.

He left for the office at 8:05 and arrived at 8:57.

At 5:14, he left for home.

When he retired they gave him a gold watch.

On his way out he dropped it in the waste bin.

Michael D. Hill is a Londoner who has lived in Dorset for more than half his life. He enjoys reading, writing and breathing.

DEANNA VAUGHN: Only At Night

Amusing, Submissions, , ,

She gets up and goes to the other bathroom. The one they never use. As she sits there she hears, then smells, then sees this grunge of a man sitting on the tub. Ambien fog at 4 AM? She asks him, “Do you live here?”

“Only at night,” he says.

Deanna wrote this at four in the morning near the end of December.

CARRIE DANIELSON: Alzheimer’s

Submissions, Touching, , ,

The old woman gazed at the teddy bear, the toy goose, and the heart-shaped pillow. “Isn’t it nice that I have my family here with me?” she said.

“I am your family, Mom,” said her son.

“Well these children are nice; you are not.”

He sighed and left the room.

Carrie Danielson grew up in the Colorado Rockies. Her first career was acting, but she later became an English teacher. Now retired, she has time to devote to writing. Carrie lives in Chula Vista, is married, has four children, and spends time with her four grandchildren, four dogs, and a parrot.

SANDRA BUNNING: One

Artistic, Submissions, Touching, , ,

Morning was a tangle of sweaty sheets and panic.

One coffee cup stain on the table, one bowl to wash; the start of a never ending sequence of ones.

Black heels clicked across the linoleum. The limousine was here.

They had always been two; now she was one.

Screw cancer.

Sandra Bunning, an overstuffed teddy bear from Calgary, Alberta, has always lived in a fantasy world that she much prefers to the real one. Both a Poet and a Writer, she finds endless inspiration in the day by day life of the people around her. Published in several school publications and blogs, Sandra is only now dipping her toes into the field professionally.