ADRIAN L COOK: Daddy-Daughter

Artistic, Submissions, Touching, , , , , ,

She barely reaches my waist in the first of our dance pictures—hair wild, giggling. Happy.

COVID paused our ritual.

One last chance this year.

I feel her behind me, standing 5’3”.

Solemnly she asks, “You mind if we skip it, Daddy?”

“No,” I say, careful not to turn around.

Adrian L Cook is a professor of drama, English, and humanities at Tarrant County College in Fort Worth, TX. He writes when he can—amongst all the grading and encouraging others to write. He is a proud husband and father whose daughter is now actually taller than he is.

DEBORAH TAPPER: Sakura

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

Crowds swarm among blossoming cherry trees. Taking pictures, trampling fallen flowers—ignoring the aspiring poet who composes beneath their branches.

Hopeful koi surface,
mistaking floating petals
for drowned dragonflies.

Winds strip every tree overnight, faded blooms smothering the lake. He drifts with them, dreams and poems erased by uncaring water.

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

STORY OF THE MONTH: February 2026

News

The Story of the Month is chosen from the Story of the Week winners announced from the past month.

The finalists for February were:

The Astronaut by Sarp Sozdinler
Memento Mori by Kip Knott
Haunted by Uninvited Guests by Liam MacDonald
The Modern Brometheus by Joe Pearson
Flicker by Ed McManus
Expulsion by Emily Ryan

The winner of the February 2026 Story of the Month is…

The Astronaut

COLBY WRASSE: Six Toes and Sanguine

Artistic, Submissions, ,

At the end of an archipelago shaped like the devil’s tail, I sat in a bar counting toes on cats. They brought in today’s catch wrapped in yesterday’s news and shooed away the flies. Here land ended and the sea stretched beyond my vision. There was no further to go.

Colby Wrasse is a man who once thought he possibly understood the World, but now is certain he does not.

JS O’KEEFE: Dreaming

Artistic, Submissions, ,

You hear your pulse. It used to be steady; now loud. You’ve snatched a dream. It doesn’t answer to the men playing cards outside your jailcell.

Between their curses and your next breath, you learn that liberty is in your blood.

Freedom is a heartbeat that ignores Aces and Kings.

J.S. O’Keefe’s work spans short stories, essays, and poems. They have been featured in a variety of publications, including AntipodeanSF, Roi Faineant, 101 Words, Everyday Fiction,  Spillwords, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, 50WS, ScribesMicro, Dissident Voice, 50GT, Bewildering Stories, etc.

CECILE PECORARO: A Watched Pot Always Boils if You Wait Long Enough

Artistic, Submissions, , , , ,

She watched the pot. And it did boil. The water bubbled slowly at first, then rapidly. Her face was so close that a drop of the hot liquid splashed in her eye, waking her up from denial. It was true. All true. She had to accept it. And move on.

Cecile lives in Northern California where she enjoys the best weather in the world.

OLIVER CUBILLOS: On Ice

Adventure, Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

Hot breath and runny noses. Gloved hands and empty promises. Lovestruck boys and an endless river. That inchoate storm and no care for tomorrow. Careful steps and gentle motion. Push me, push me, and I got you, I got you. Crashing through ice and falling to the center of everything.

Oliver Cubillos is a writer and filmmaker from Los Angeles, California. He holds a BFA in Media Arts Production with a minor in literature from Emerson College. His work is published or forthcoming in Heavy Feather Review, BULL Magazine, Free Flash Fiction, and elsewhere.

NINA FEINBERG: 1933

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

Sitting within the home at night by lamplight, what comparisons did the German people draw? What murmurs from the radio cut through into the room?

Did someone speak the fear aloud: are we like them, is this like now? Did someone else say: No, we live within a different time.

Nina Feinberg is a writer, photographer and distance runner. She lives in Brooklyn, NY and works in user experience design.

JOHN H. DROMEY: Pushing All the Riot Buttons

Amusing, Submissions, , , ,

“Wellness check,” the policeman said. “Are you okay, ma’am?

“A cut from a tin can lid,” the woman said, holding up a bandaged finger. “Otherwise, I’m fine. Why do you ask?”

“You replied to your fiancé’s recent romantic emails with wildly enigmatic emojis. Maybe you should give him a call.”

John H. Dromey has had short fiction, humor, and poetry published in hundreds of venues.