One after another, Meg ignored all of the warning signs that her blind date might be trouble: his deathly-pale complexion; the creaky door to his castle and the heavy drapes that kept the so-called solarium dark as a dungeon; his Transylvanian accent; the lobster bib with her picture on it…
John H. Dromey has had flash fiction published in a number of print anthologies, as well as online at Liquid Imagination, three minute plastic, Thrillers, Killers ’n’ Chillers, and elsewhere.
On Christmas Eve, a young lad wandered the streets of New York. He was well dressed, only because he knew how to care for what few possessions he had.
People asked for money and he refused politely but still earned glares.
Instead, he used his pennies for a birthday candle.
Jeremy Quinn hopes to write more in the future, but for now resigns himself to doing the occasional Pokémon fanfiction.
In a secret room, a sinister cabal meets. The men there share a common goal, one they’ve had since childhood.
Among charts of rising temperatures and shrinking Arctic ice, they talk of proving what the non-believers denied.
Maps of the North Pole lie circled.
Operation: Flush Out Santa nears completion.
Cole Grinnell is a scientist, writer, and actor who works, when he works, out of Baltimore, Maryland. He should have a blog, but strangely, he doesn’t.
“This is the dumbest thing you’ve ever done.”
“I’m just gonna take a look. Do you hear something?”
“Yeah, your brain dropping out of your head. Come on, let’s call the cops.”
“The cops won’t come in time.”
“For what?”
“To stop me from killing you.”
“Ha, very funny. Wait…”
Wendy Schmidt is a Wisconsin native who has written short stories and poems for the last 10 years. Her poetry and short stories have been published in Strange, Weird and Wonderful, Daily Love, Three Line Poetry, Tainted Tea, Fear and Trembling, and Midwest Literary Magazine.
Jennifer awoke in the lion enclosure, drowsy and confused.
She’d just rested her eyes for a few seconds in the library, awash in a sea of dull economics textbooks. How and why was she here?
She shrugged her new shoulders, flicked her tail, and padded softly out into the sunlight.
Jeremy is a shambling mess of unkempt hair and caffeine-induced twitches, currently based in Southampton in the UK. He doesn’t have a website of his own, but would like to direct people towards the band he’s involved with at http://www.thebluescreenofdeath.co.uk/ and their music video he starred in.
One by one, the lights flickered into life. Olya stood speechless as they danced into shapes she didn’t have names for.
“It’s beautiful,” she breathed, awestruck.
It would be quite some time before she’d learn what the lights actually were, and a good while longer before she’d finally stop crying.
When he’s not struggling with University Stuff, Alex Aloneftis fights fire-breathing glitches and vile errors with his mighty sword, “The Debugger™”. In his spare time, he also writes exceedingly stuffy opinion pieces on gaming at k-code.blogspot.com.
On a walk I saw a dying cicada mating with a fully dead one. It was a silent act. None of the annoying buzz.
With a flickering of one wing, the dying bug ceased all movement. I wondered if it was necrophilia or one last chance to make a mark.
Nathaniel Tower writes fiction, teaches English, and manages the online lit magazine Bartleby Snopes. His short fiction has appeared in over 50 online and print magazines. A story of his, “The Oaten Hands,” was named one of 190 notable stories by storySouth’s Million Writers Award in 2009. His first novel, A Reason To Kill, was released in July 2011. Visit him at www.bartlebysnopes.com/ntower.htm.
Lightning crashed.
Wind whistled through the trees. He was only halfway through Greensleeves before Lightning asked if whistling was not maybe just a bit too jaunty, given their predicament.
Wind complied as he helped his friend untangle himself from his airbag. “Just try not to crash so hard next time.”
Jeremy Petter is a student of English Literature and Theatre at the University of Victoria. Until recently, he wrote, performed, and sometimes edited funny things for LoadingReadyRun.com, but he’s on indefinite hiatus at the moment to grow his brain. He is a co-organizer of Desert Bus for Hope, and an avid fan of ducks.
Detective Cork eyed the plate of steak-and-mushroom pie, his stomach gurgling in anticipation. “Blarney, you havin’ sum?”
His partner shook his head, too preoccupied with the case.
Gold coins, a short man in green… What was the connection?
Outside, the sun broke through, painting the sky with a brilliant rainbow.
Jordan Sevenhuysen recently spent two months travelling through Europe. This story was inspired by his time in Ireland.
Anna was once again berating the office printer. Her list of irritations was well into double figures by 11 AM. The printer finally kicked out the presentation and Anna went back to her claustrophobic cubical.
The printer sighed. “No ‘thank you’ again. Maybe tomorrow I just won’t turn on at all!”
Amy who lives in a black hole training to be an apple, but it’s all coming out pear shaped. Luckily she has her helper dog, Ellie, to munch on the worms. Read her blog at www.Blind-Style.com.