BOB THURBER: Shivering To Death

Adventure, Artistic, Submissions, Top Stories, , , , ,

You just saved my life, I told them when they picked me up.
The man nodded without turning. The woman half-leaned into the backseat.
That’s all right, honey. Get under the blanket and get warm.
The snow had stopped but the road ahead was buried, defined only by snow-covered trees.

Bob Thurber is the author of six books. Regarded as a master of Flash and Micro Fiction, his work has appeared in Esquire and other magazines, been anthologized 60 times, received a long list of awards, and been utilized in schools and colleges throughout the world. He resides in Massachusetts. Visit his website at BobThurber.net.

JS O’KEEFE: Questions

Artistic, Poetry, Submissions, , , ,

clickety-clacking is the tram
neighbors talking politics
it’s probably mid-morning
why’s it still pitch dark
or am I dreaming

no

turns out
I have yet to open my eyes

not bad
nice and soothing
what if I stay like this
also turn off my ears
will the world go away

J. S. O’Keefe is a scientist, trilingual translator and writer. His short stories and poems have been published in EDF, WENSUM, Roi Faineant, 101 Words, Spillwords, ScribesMICRO, 50WS, AntipodeanSF, Friday Flash Fiction, Spirit Fire Review, Medium, Paragraph Planet, 50 Give or Take, 6S, Satire, MMM, etc. See more at szjohnny.net

STEVEN LEMPRIÈRE: Léon the Lion

Submissions, Touching, , ,

Léon. My grandfather. King of the Jungle.

Pure fantasy, but his name, when expressed in his accented French drawl, seeded a child’s imagination; a belief further emboldened by me being his little tiger.

Now, stooped over a coffin, caressing his manicured mane, what wouldn’t I give for one last roar?

Inspired by his grandfather, Steven stalks vowels and consonants, rustles them into words, and when rounded up, takes pride in his lines.

WENDY K MAGES: The Once-Nubile Starlet

Artistic, Submissions, , , , ,

The once-nubile starlet sips her second cocktail. Stylists flit about her like a flock of sparrows around a desiccated crust of bread. As makeup artists brush hues of youth across her cheeks, lips, and lashes, they dissemble, pretending their make-up magic, lipstick-tube talismans, and mascara-wand wizardry, will turn back time.

Wendy K. Mages, a Mercy University Professor, is a Pushcart Prize nominee and an award-winning poet and author. She earned her doctorate in Human Development and Psychology at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and her master’s in Theatre at Northwestern University. As a complement to her research on the effect of the arts on learning and development, she performs at storytelling events and festivals in the US and abroad. To learn more about her and her work, and to find links to her published stories and poetry, please visit her Mercy University Faculty page and her website, Wendy Mages: Storyteller.

JOHANNES SPRINGENSEISS: Foggy

Amusing, Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

The weatherman called it zero visibility.

Enticed, I stepped out the front lawn. Affirmative, no visibility; I couldn’t see my hands. Then, eerie feeling, I found myself. Yes, for the first time in my life I got to know me.

One thing certain, I’m not experimenting with weather ever again.

Johannes Springenseiss is a world citizen and raconteur. He mostly writes speculative fiction and creative essays, that he has published in various literary magazines.

ROBERT CARLBERG: Starry Starry Night

Adventure, Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

I look up into the vast bright sweep of the Milky Way in the moonless sky and think sadly of all the love songs, all the treacly poetry, all the sappy rhymes that are now obsolete.

The stars really are stunning tonight.

Thanks entirely to the astonishing hubris of mankind.

Robert Carlberg writes when he’s not busy not writing.

JOHN SZAMOSI: Hot & Cold

Artistic, Submissions, ,

Thick smoke wakes me in the middle of the night, the house is on fire. I run out, wearing only my robe. It’s five degrees below zero. Twin peril.

There’s an ocean of people outside. Same reality: burning house, murderous frost.

Let’s count us, how many are we?

Eight billion.

John Szamosi is a wordsmith and peace activist who has published over three hundred short stories, satires and poems in print and online magazines.

MELANIE WINKLOSKY: Sunfish

Artistic, Submissions, Touching, , , , ,

They found a hook and line on the shore of the lake. Their daughter begged to go fishing, wading in on chunky, shaky toddler legs. They swam wide circles around her, laughing and splashing. Everyone froze when she pulled out the sunfish, shimmering in the sunlight like her golden curls.

Melanie Winklosky is a fiction writer trapped in a grant writer’s body. She lives in Swampscott, Massachusetts with her husband and dog, in what those who don’t understand call her “empty nest,” cheering on her children as they chase their dreams.

MIRIAM STEIN: My Aging Life

Artistic, Submissions

Forty plus years in our two-story house
Eighty-three years alive for me
Eighty-six for my husband
Two adult children launched
Ten grandchildren to watch grow
Two past fulfilling careers
Ten o’clock bedtimes
One car to share
Two of us needed to carry groceries home
One new year with multiplying possibilities

Miriam Stein is a social worker, advocacy consultant, and author of Make Your Voice Matter With Lawmakers: No Experience Necessary. Her writings have appeared in local and national publications, including 50wordstories.com. See more at makeyourvoicematter.com.