M ELAINE WILKINS: Good Will Books

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

Rachel bought books from Goodwill stores. Colorful jackets: flowers, buildings, people, animals. On buses, a book in her lap, she traced the cover before opening. Book upright. Turning pages slowly. Ignoring people. No talking.

She died. Secret closets. Inside. Stacks. books. Books. BooKs. BOOKS.

Her brother said, “Rachel couldn’t read.”

M. Elaine Wilkins, Ed.D., is a writer and educator from Memphis, Tennessee. Her work explores family, memory, history, and the Southern experience. Her personal essay, “The Blues Is Hard on Your Feet,” appears in Porchlight: A Journal of Southern Literature, Issue 13 (August 2026), and her flash fiction, “Sitting on China: A Hundred Years of Shards,” was published by 101 Words in August 2026. Her creative nonfiction, “Mr. Billingsley Lives,” is forthcoming from Epistle Literary in October 2026. She is currently pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing at Lindenwood University.

SARAH FLICK: When childbirth isn’t like a Hollywood movie

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

Imagine your premature, newborn daughter is dangerously sick in the hospital. You stand pressed against plexiglass, not allowed to touch her. You watch her all day instead, riveted by every tiny movement and precarious breath, your heart gripped in this fierce new mother-love that death might snatch away before sunset.

Sarah Flick is 7 feet tall. Her hair is pure starshine and her eyes gleam purple whenever she sees the sun set over an ocean. In spite of her challenges, she has published in numerous journals and especially enjoys micro- and flash genres.

STEPHANIE LYE: Taking Flight

Artistic, Submissions, Top Stories, , , ,

She told him her dreams, of college, travel, and beyond. But he caught them in his fist, and plucked off the wings. “Your dreams are right here,” he said. “Look.”

They crawled in his palm like little white bugs.

“I see,” she said, then carefully placed them in her pocket.

Stephanie is a writer from Perth, Western Australia who likes to write about life and love in the hopes it might help her understand them better.

DEBORAH TAPPER: Fugitive

Adventure, Submissions, , , , ,

Mist casts ragged nets, ice snapping underfoot. The dog’s still there. Huddled. Shaking. She could drive it away. Instead she props the woodshed door. Brings a blanket, scraps, water.

Shoots every bolt when the police leave.

Haunted by the dog’s empty eyes.

And its collar, crimsoned by a killer’s fingerprints.

Deborah writes at an old desk surrounded by five hundred pet bugs.

GARY THOMSON: Barn Find

Adventure, Submissions, , , ,

Behind tumbled hay bales in the barn loft, ten-year-old Gadi gapes on his Nazi hunters, and his forgotten ladder.

Gestapomann Wisner berates his colleague: “Any Jew hiding there would pull the ladder up behind him.”

Gadi will forget continually, until an American soldier climbs the weathered rungs, calls for disclosure.

Gary Thomson has one notable barn find to reward his search: a serviceable Victorian washstand.

CHRIS DECA: Teenage Scarring

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

There was a henhouse they showed off, corn fields, a dirt play area. Next, their sad farmhouse—thin carpeting, bad lighting, chipping paint, old Nintendo. We ate spaghetti on Dollar Tree plates. Then they had the audacity to joke about my acne. At least acne improves (though the scars remained).

Chris Deca teaches internationally and has lived in seven countries. His writing draws on travel, education, and life in unexpected places, including a monastery kitchen and a camper.

ABBY BAYANI-HEITZMAN: The Ten-Pound Man

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He was always giving pieces of himself away—a hand, a sympathetic ear, a shoulder to cry on—until he met her, perfectly complete. “Except for one thing,” she said. “I haven’t got a heart.” And since he would rather be loved than love himself, he made one final offering.

Abby Bayani-Heitzman (she/they/siya) is a Filipino American writer born and raised in Northeast Kansas, where she continues to live and work.

MICHELLE WILSON: When Searching for a Partner to Play Catch

Artistic, Submissions, ,

Ask the following: Before every pitch, do they confirm that you’re prepared?

How fast do they throw?

Do they talk while aiming (i.e., are they distracted or present)?

Do they consider not only your strengths and weaknesses, but your preferences, concerns, needs?

Most importantly: What happens when you throw back?

Michelle Wilson’s words have appeared or are forthcoming in Flash Frog, Wigleaf, Gooseberry Pie Lit, The Daily Drunk, Bending Genres, A Thin Slice of Anxiety, Rejection Letters, Maudlin House, Litro Magazine, 50-Word Stories, Flash Fiction Magazine, Potato Soup Journal’s Best of 2021 Anthology, and Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood, among others. Her story ‘Fish Brain’ was nominated for Best of the Net 2022. She lives with her family in South Florida. Read more of her work here: https://michellekwilson.wordpress.com/