Do you want a girl this time? they all asked when the fourth grandchild was on the way.
It really doesn’t matter, and we know what to do with boys.
When she was born after a long labour, it was just relief.
But when we met, I was bowled over.
Ann Sangwin is a retired teacher, now a career grandmother. She has written all her life but until recently has not thought of submitting for publication. She lives in Kent, where she recently joined a writing group which has changed her life.
“I don’t like this alternate universe, Lucy.”
“Why not, Jerry?
“I’m afraid I’ll be bored to death. The only web browsers here are spiders.”
“You want excitement? Did you look closely at the steam-powered train?”
“What about it?”
“Forget cows and buffalo; the locomotive is equipped with a dinosaur catcher!”
John H. Dromey recently had short fiction published in Saturday Night Reader and a novella in Weird Western Yarns Vol. 3.
“I was down low, deep in the scorched bowels of the Earth. The swirling of the thick, greyish, mephitic air slowed my progression towards the doomed book of Alhazred.
“As I wrote those lines, I swear I saw it exhale, although I might have been deceived then.
“Read… and tell.”
Arnaud Moussart teaches English in a French University. He cannot read long books anymore. He writes songs for a rock band, LadyH, and short articles dealing with science fiction and the real world.
“Men are only after one thing,” says the prostitute.
“Yeah,” the barman replies, “alcohol.”
“OK, two things,” she sneers as the bell rings for last orders.
“Another pint!” shouts the vicar and frowns at the prostitute. “These streets aren’t safe.”
She shrugs.
Once the bar has closed I follow her.
Steve Lucas lives in Cardiff, UK, and works for the Arts Council of Wales.
To our naked eyes, millions of pinpoints prick the night skies. They dazzle, dangling from immeasurable heights. We do not understand them.
But when our hearts resonate with theirs, they are a wordless fire, larger and brighter than anything on Earth.
The stars do not reveal themselves; we seek them.
Rhol Abisan is a a coffeeholic; a Lover of Books; a fan of J.R.R Tolkien; a Musician; an Artist In His Own Way; Melancholic yet Hopeful; a Treasure Keeper; a Wanderer but not Lost; a Follower of Jesus Christ.
Dad, how many times have I let you down? The question goes unasked as I stand near you. No need for an answer. I know you’ve forgiven me.
Today, I bury the past. I’ve let you down for the last time.
I thank the funeral director for letting me help.
Crystal Moore doesn’t like to reveal much about herself, which is why she won’t be found working the pole at a strip club. However, she can be found dividing her time between the realm of her imagination and North Carolina’s Coastal Plain region. Her publication credits include humorous greeting card copy, children’s short stories, and flash fiction.
Are you ready to go home?
He opened his eyes and nodded.
His wife held his hand. She kissed his forehead. Manage the airway. Now the tube. Suction that airway.
His wife wiped his mouth with a warm wet cloth. Then she kissed his hand as his last breath left.
Billie Pritchett is an assistant professor of English at Chosun University in Gwangju, South Korea. He has written articles and reviews for the philosophy website The Partially Examined Life, and he maintains a blog called Si Hoc Legere Scis.
I imagine us together.
I imagine you committing. I picture us making plans.
But you just can’t see it.
Instead, you yell at me to get off your porch. Then you slam the door.
So I take my Acme Vacuum sales kit and leave, hoping your neighbour has more imagination.
Chris Fries is a still-developing writer, slowly working to hone his craft. He is an engineer by vocation, a guitarist by avocation, and a writer by compulsion. So far, his blog has been his primary outlet for his quasi-creative meanderings.
Blood worked in refining the ritual: I stopped aging!
However, I repent these sins.
Now the only life I take is my own, ensuring the ceremony dies with me. One virtuous short life is worth a hundred long lives of evil.
Goodbye, world I have known longer than anyone else.
Fr. Kevin Pentalow is an Orthodox Catholic priest and a published writer and poet. He contributes many articles to local papers, international blogs, and magazines. Through his writing he won the NPR short fiction award of 2002, among other accolades. Reverend Pentalow is also a high-level Scottish rite freemason and has written extensively for masonic publications. He is also a well-respected icon painter, a musician, known for his diverse music projects.
While shopping, I saw a Marilyn-Manson-like Goth kid. I thought he was trouble.
After leaving the store, I lost my wallet. I searched to no avail.
Ironically, I heard that kid yell, “You dropped this!”
He returned my wallet. I offered him money.
He replied, “No thanks. Pay it forward.”
Bob McNeil is a writer, spoken-word artist, and illustrator of some modest renown. Influenced by the Imagists and the Beat Movement, he attempts to address the needs of our human mosaic.