TOSHIHISA NIKAIDO: Life Outside Boxes

Submissions, Top Stories, Touching, , , , ,

Glancing over her room, Itsumi wondered if it was too late. Her entire life, fifty-three years, fit into sixteen midsized cardboard boxes. She didn’t believe her life would have been better with more boxes; she merely noticed that no one was there to help carry them to the donation center.

Toshihisa Nikaido worked on popular video game series such as Resident Evil, Pokémon, and The Legend of Zelda. Toshihisa more recently joined Japan’s space exploration agency for a completely new challenge while using various forms of writing as a creative outlet and has since been published in several literary journals.

HENRY BLADON: You Wait

Submissions, Touching, , , , ,

You wait for them to smile, as you wait for sleep through the night.
You wait for first words, as you wait for them to walk.
You wait for preschool, college, graduation, job.
All that waiting takes its toll.

Until you look about one morning and realise that they’ve gone.

Henry is a poet from Somerset in the UK. His work has appeared previously in 50WS.

DAVE MYERS: The Rings on her Fingers

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

For decades only one ring adorned her fingers, a symbol of their commitment.

At some point she decided to wear an additional ring on the opposite hand, a simple band.

Then, another, gaudier…

Nowadays he scans her hands as if trying to pick out a familiar face from a crowd.

Dave Myers (he/him) lives and teaches in Bend, Oregon.

RAN WALKER: Able to Leap Tall Insecurities in a Single Bound

Adventure, Amusing, Submissions, , , , , ,

She’d been able to fly for quite some time now. She no longer needed to run before take off and didn’t require props like capes either. Still, she kept this secret to herself. Her boyfriend was already insecure that she made more money than he. This certainly wouldn’t help matters.

Ran Walker is the author of 26 books, the most recent of which is BLACK MARKER: A Novel in 100-Word Stories. He teaches at Hampton University in Virginia.

EMMA SLOAN: Second Star to the Right

Artistic, Poetry, Submissions, , , ,

we stay up
discussing wendy darling
’til our mouths go soft;

outside, the moon presses
against the windowpane
like a rib, mid-exhale.

“was adulthood
ever a choice?”

we dot a spine of stars
from our overhang
to the clouds–

the second star hangs
to the right, blinking
like a satellite.

Emma Sloan is a Canadian poet, flash fiction writer, and journalist. Her works have been featured in publications such as The Huffington Post and The Good Men Project. Head to weewriter.ca for writing updates and news.

WAYNE SIKES: Old London

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

Searchlights slash through the darkness creating shards of black. Somewhere unseen it approaches, that familiar sputtering sound in the sky.

Then the quiet, that horrid time of waiting. Time stands still as death approaches.

An explosion is seen in the distance.

You cheated death. This time.

Wayne is a retired videogame developer of 35 years. He’s written the gameplay and screenplays for many popular games as well as programmed them. His first big title was “Duke Nukem” in the early 1990s. Since retiring, he writes fictional short stories, has finished one book, and is currently writing another.

STEVEN HOLDING: The Parasite Hides in Plain Sight, or: Don’t be Negative; You’re the Right Type!

Adventure, Odd, Submissions, , ,

Unlike literature, some obsessions are far from romantic. Insatiable hunger. Unquenchable thirst. Such appetites hurt. A constant needling, waiting to be fixed. That’s what it is to be an addict. Late night, out to score, I bump into someone who’s carrying. Smiling now; my teeth, as sharp as any syringe.

Steven Holding lives in the United Kingdom. Most recently, his work has appeared in TREMBLING WITH FEAR YEAR FIVE from HorrorTree.com. You can follow his work at www.stevenholding.co.uk.

BOB THURBER: About Them Pigs

Amusing, Submissions, , , ,

There were four, not three.
Pinky, Browny, Whitey, and Blacky.
They weren’t little.
Each weighed about 300 pounds.
Their houses – constructed of mud, straw, sticks, and bricks – collapsed in the same windstorm.
They were pigs, not builders.
Ask yourself: who’s telling this story?
Hint: I left town in a huff.

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.

GENE NEWMAN: Our Combustible Britches

Amusing, Poetry, Submissions, , ,

Oh to make that scary old saying right
that if you lie, your trousers will ignite.
But there should be exceptions
for any merciful deceptions.
There’d be no flaming ignitions
for any charitable omissions.
But what a great sensation
if a fibbing pol’s TV presentation
ended with a cashmere conflagration!

Gene Newman wrote this poem.