TODD MERCER: Mirror Image of a Country Song

Amusing, Poetry, Submissions, , , ,

Everything he lost came back,
even a bit extra.

The Fates restored
what was snatched away,
with interest paid—
a practical apology.

He climbed out of a bottle,
walked home from the railroad trestle.

His wallet anonymously returned,
jammed full; the sainted
truck-chasing dog—alive again;
his woman re-enchanted, forgiving.

Todd Mercer won the Woodstock Writers Festival’s Flash Fiction contest and took 2nd and 3rd place of the Kent County Dyer-Ives Prizes. His chapbook Box of Echoes won the Michigan Writers Cooperative Press contest. Mercer’s poetry and fiction appears in The Lake, Mobius: The Journal of Social Change, Thema, Blue Collar Review, Dunes Review and Eunoia Review.

AJ JOSEPH: Ambition

Artistic, Submissions, Touching, , , , ,

Music flowed through the room. In her mind, she pirouetted and sashayed across the stage, her tutu flouncing. The audience applauded in appreciation.

Then she opened her eyes, grabbed the pole and twirled. Her wispy black hair danced over her bare torso.

The audience showered her feet with dollar bills.

AJ Joseph is a bookaholic, semi-insomniac, unsuccessful recovering javaholic, but most importantly a writer. She is currently in the process of reinventing her life around her first love: words.

STUART TURNBULL: Topside

Adventure, Submissions, , , , ,

I like sitting up here in the dark and quiet. Below it’s all noise, light and a smell of confined humanity which makes me nauseous.

I used to go right up and look outside, watch the storms roil in the sky. Now I have to make do with the memories.

Stuart is absent without leave from the majority of life and finds that writing helps him remain that way. He occasionally blogs a story at diamondsanddross.blogspot.com.

PM DRUMMOND: Middle Ground

Artistic, Submissions, , , ,

I feel my mother within me.

Father and brother watch for signs, indications of affliction, keeping their distance.

Mother loathes me seeing a female version of father and brother: perfect Christian, tormentor, captor.

I am tenuous middle ground, like all but unique. Neither pious nor pitiful, both sinner and saint.

PM Drummond is a full-time writer at heart who works 40 plus hours a week as an IT project manager for a large university. She has two short stories published and is currently working on a six book paranormal series.

STEPHEN RUH: Circus

Submissions, Touching, , , , ,

Sebastian went to the circus yearly. His grandfather would take him each birthday.

One year, Sebastian lost himself in the crowd. Instead of crying, he climbed.

The Ringmaster saw a child fearlessly scaling the trapeze pole. Impressed, he asked Sebastian, “Would you like a job?”

“I just want my grandpa…”

Stephen Ruh is a 22-year-old student at the University of Kentucky studying Secondary English Education. He loves the art of storytelling, and is always trying to better himself in that medium. He enjoys comedy, poetry, classics, and more. He can dunk a basketball. He auditioned to be in the new Star Wars movies, and received one call back.

JOHN H. DROMEY: Cookie Cutter Currencies

Amusing, Submissions, , , ,

Before landing, Annie reminded her husband, “Many countries in the European Union don’t use dollars, pounds, or pesos. Their official monetary unit is the euro.”

Later, in a curio shop, Harry pointed to an objet d’art without a price tag and asked the clerk, “How much is that in Oreos?”

John H. Dromey has had short fiction published in Gumshoe Review, Liquid Imagination, MicroHorror and elsewhere.

EMILY RUTH VERONA: Facts

Artistic, Submissions, , , , ,

The night road is bitter and black. His old, tired eyes are no match for it.

The radio static buzzes, an earful of gnats. He drives along. The tires thump rhythmically against the gravel.

A blur dashes into the road. Thump. He doesn’t see it. THUMP. He keeps on driving.

Emily Ruth Verona received her Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing and Cinema Studies from the State University of New York at Purchase. She lives in New Jersey.

MARIAN BROOKS: Adam’s Secret

Amusing, Submissions, Touching, , , , ,

Roseanne held her five-year-old grandson’s hand all during the burial service for her husband, Sidney.

Adam looked up and saw tears in her eyes. He said, “Don’t cry, Grand mom. I can get Grand pop back.”

“How will you do that, Adam?” she asked.

“I have a shovel,” he whispered.

Recently retired, Marian Brooks has begun to write some short fiction. Her work has appeared in Word Riot, The Story Shack, The Linnet’s Wings, The Short Humour Site, and others.

EMILY HIGGINS: The Multicolored World

Artistic, Submissions, , ,

Fluorescent lights reflected onto the cool, rushed water. I walked to the side of the falls, climbing over the fence that I peered over as a child.

Quickly, I checked to make sure no one was watching, then I threw myself over the edge and spread my wings, taking flight.

Emily is a fourteen-year-old girl living in New Jersey. Her dream is to graduate college with an degree in English and finish her first novel by the end of high school.

TITANS GIRL: Power Struggle

Amusing, Submissions, , ,

I’ve had enough of this!

Being held out on, pushed away at every attempt. Does she not understand that I need this?

Staring up at the ceiling; watching the fan go round; going crazy.

She gets to call all the shots… I’m hungry!

Just give me some darn breast milk!

Titans Girl is a teacher from Darwin, NT, Australia.