We’re getting older. We’re running out of time to do all the things we wanted. We planned to cruise the coast of Scandinavia and dance under the Aurora Borealis. But things keep getting in the way.
The ice sheets are melting. The Arctic is burning.
We’re running out of time.
Juliet is an adult education tutor, crafter, and conservation volunteer based in Edinburgh, UK. She blogs at craftygreenpoet.blogspot.com and tweets at @craftygeenpoet.
The sign says “If you see something, say something.”
Today, on the subway in Boston, I saw a man wearing a black sombrero with a live parrot sitting quietly on his shoulder. No one paid the slightest attention to either one of them.
How I love living in the city.
Jeri Quinzio is the author of Dessert: A Tale of Happy Endings.
Three blocks away, someone asks how much for the Czech wolfdog.
Strangers have inquired before, but this is the first she stops to think it over. Four years pet-minding, and his owner refused to write her a reference.
“Ten bucks,” she says.
The chocolate brownie gelato is cool and sweet.
Graham Robert Scott’s stories have appeared or are forthcoming in Barrelhouse, Nature, Blink-Ink, and Pulp Literature. See more at hemicyon.wordpress.com.
The bottle was half-buried in the sand, its neck protruding at an angle, a cylinder of clouded and pitted sea glass.
The cork stopper had a thick wax overlay, showing its age.
The message inside was disturbing:
If you found this bottle, I know who you are. Be very afraid.
Ed N. White is a writer of Mysteries. A teller of Tales. A graduate of the University of Iowa with an M.A. from the University of Rhode Island, and a former faculty member there. A New Englander trapped on the Suncoast of Florida hoping for some snow.
This relationship feels hopeless,
Unadulterated frustration.
Yet…
To abandon now? Impossible.
Too much time invested.
Amazing highs,
But oh, those lows.
Sometimes unbearable.
“Walk away!” an inner voice screams.
But I can’t. I’m in too deep.
So with a cleansing breath and renewed resolve,
I pull out the half-finished manuscript.
Judi MacKenzie is a writer whose unfinished works are actually starting to growl from inside the filing cabinet.
The curator stands next to a tall glass case filled with a dark liquid and pauses a moment, before flipping a switch to illuminate the creature inside it.
The visitors recoil in shock at its bare flesh, piercing eyes and white teeth.
“I present to you our predecessor: homo sapiens.”
Daniel doesn’t visit museums much these days.
Down on one knee, I produced the ring. “Will you marry me?”
My heart raced as I looked up at her perfect features.
Her face went blank as her eyes rolled back inside her head. “Please stand by,” she said. “Software update in progress.”
My timing has always been lousy.
Bill is from Aberdeen, Scotland. Read more of his scribbles at northeastnotesblog.wordpress.com.
A State trooper approached a stalled auto with caution. The stranded motorist—already outside of his vehicle—was walloping a highway marker with a tire iron.
“What’s going on here?”
“When I called my roadside assistance provider, a recorded voice told me to enter my membership number and pound sign.”
John H. Dromey’s short fiction has been published in Mystery Weekly Magazine and over one-hundred-fifty other venues.
“Bless you,” the stranger said.
“Take it back!” was my response, as I sniffed and wiped my nose on my sleeve.
Her eyes widened. “What? Why?” Her disgust and disapproval at my rudeness danced in her eyes and voice.
“It burns,” was all I could say.
Then I sneezed again.
Chad Bunch writes speculative fiction from the suburbs of Saint Louis. He is currently trying his darnedest to publish two novels and several short stories.
Trading is difficult. Markets are changing constantly. To win you must predict everything. It pushes you to move fast: confidently, decisively. Competitors won’t spare you. What are their intentions?
“I rolled 7! Everybody who has more than 7 resource cards should discard half.”
What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.
Alexey writes in English to master the language, and publishes stories at medium.com/@sonicCat.