CALI CHAMBERS: Wicked

Amusing, Submissions, ,

Who are they to call me wicked?

I may look different; my green skin may startle some. But what is the difference?

I have chosen my side, and it is with the talking animals of Oz.

People will fear me.

Not Elphaba Thropp.

But the Wicked Witch of the West.

Cali Chambers is a high school student who is currently attending her last year. She usually writes amusing little stories for her younger family members and has not done any successful creative writing for over the last four years (due to the increasing demands from her teachers.)

 

GIANNI JACCOMA: The Great Man’s Procession

Artistic, Submissions, Touching, , , , ,

The crowd swelled, so she climbed onto the mailbox to see. Flags waved from every window. Men cried openly.

When the dead man’s car slowed, she saw him in the back. There was makeup on his face and his suit didn’t fit right.

He looked a lot like her grandmother.

Gianni Jaccoma was born and raised in New York City, and would really like to do some urban exploration before he leaves. He divides his time almost equally between writing stories about monsters, reading about history and watching adorable animal videos on the Internet. His website is www.gianniwrites.com.

KATE BURNHAM: Reporter’s Lunch

Amusing, Submissions, , , ,

“You will be featured on tomorrow’s front page,” the reporter says, switching on his tape recorder, “so you understand the national significance of this interview…”

“I do.”

“Ready?”

“Yes.”

“As a resident, do you support the beach’s privatization?”

“Nope.”

The reporter switches off the recorder.

“An opening quote!” he grins.

Kate Burnham is a pastry chef and writer who can type eighty words a minute. She lives in Toronto, Ontario, with her cat and too many things. She finds people fascinating and longs for library books, but knows she’ll never return them on time.

JOAN RAYMOND: Forgot Something?

Amusing, Submissions, , , ,

Their Chevy, laden with two week’s necessities, idled in the driveway.

“You turn off the coffee pot?”

“Yes. You get my make-up bag?”

“Yes. But, I think I forgot something.”

“Mail held, neighbors reminded?”

“Yes, yes, something else…”

“Keys, wallet, prescription?”

“With all these questions, I forgot where we’re going.”

Joan Raymond is pursuing a degree in Creative Writing and English from SNHU. She enjoys watching her cats run around like maniacs at night and eating dark chocolate to stimulate her creativity.

JOE MALONE: Hugs and Hoes

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

Janie wanted hugs. She demanded them. She pestered me for them.

I hugged her but my arms began to hug her tighter. Tighter. And finally, too tight.

Mary doesn’t need hugs. She just wants a beautiful yard. She buys me shears and spades. Sharp and heavy tools.

She pesters me.

Joe Malone is living alone in Africa in a mud house. His blog is here: http://joem18b.wordpress.com/.

GARY CLIFTON: Driver’s Test

Amusing, Submissions, , , ,

“I am recent Russian immigrant. Have not yet learned good English.”

“Well, sir, we can help you with the written part.”

“God bless U.S.A.”

“First you must take the eyesight test,” the instructor pointed to a chart which read: C-X-W-O-C-R-K. “Can you read it?”

“Read it? That is my cousin.”

Gary Clifton, forty years a cop, has over sixty short fiction pieces published or pending with various venues. He has an M.S. from Abilene Christian University.

CONNELL WAYNE REGNER: Microsleep

Odd, Submissions, , , ,

I hate overnight road trips. They’re always the same, just following a thin white broken line that stretches on forever in a blackened landscape. It draws you into the centre where darkness encroaches from the sides until…

BLOODY HELL! If I didn’t swerve that truck would have got me tonight.

Connell Wayne Regner had successfully avoided writing creatively since he wrote spontaneous lyrics to music many years ago. Although from a linguistic background, he has serendipitously succumbed to fiction after spontaneously creating bedtime stories for his children. His other dabblings can be found at paragraphplanet and wtdmagazine.wordpress.com.

 

DJH WOODWARD: Inaction

Artistic, Submissions, , , , , , ,

I cast a concerned eye at the juvenile Cooper’s Hawk, assessing his intentions toward our shared focus, my favorites: chickadees, black, white, light Purbeck-marble tan.
“Don’t you dare,” I say.

He doesn’t honor my plea.

Ashamed of my fascination, I let my camera capture him as he swoops to kill.

D.J.H. Woodward has played with words since she was a child, her first work being a collection of poetry and drawings for her maternal grandmother. Now an administrative maven who enjoys life most when her non-work hours are spent in learning and creativity, D.J. especially enjoys pursuits that are the opposite of what she gets paid to do.

MATT NEPUTIN: I Meditate to Escape

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

Lying on my bed  I observe my breath to escape the images in my head.

But no matter how much I meditate an image always appears. It’s seductive, dangerous.

I can’t help but to persuaded by it into submitting to my compulsion, cry, and again try to escape it all

Matt Neputin is a recovering psychotic and psychology student who uses his past illness as inspiration to write creepy stories and sometimes even whole books, one of which he gives away for free on his website.

STEPHANIE HOUGEN: On a Moonlit Night

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

It was a moonlit night. They stood on the pier end, watching the storm brewing at sea.

He loved her so, yet he knew he pushed her to her limit. She had always stayed.

He knew she had strength. There on the pier, with one swift push… she proved it.

Stephanie Hougen is an avid reader and loves the challenge of the 50-word story!