GARETH WILSON: The Gatekeepers

Artistic, Submissions, Touching, , , , , , ,

The gatekeepers see all, never blinking, no matter what the time.

Those who seek the angels don’t see them for they hide in plain sight.

With one foot in each world your fate is decided with the yowl of annoyance or the purr of contentment.

Those wonderful misaligned felines.

Gareth Wilson would call himself a serial reader, slayer of titles, leaving a woody (and shortly electron) swathe in his wake. Currently he is improving his writing skills by cutting his teeth on short pieces to work up to his own full-length title. He reviews general fiction here and YA and children’s books here.

NEWS: Site Speed Improvements

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You’ve probably noticed that the site has been really slow over the past few weeks. After trying a handful of different strategies for dealing with this (including hiding under the covers and hoping it would just go away), I finally opened a support ticket with my web host (JaguarPC.com, which has always been very good to me), and they pointed out an old, forgotten forum on an old, forgotten site of mine that was monopolizing the server’s CPU. The forum had gotten infested with bots and spam, so I went in, wiped it, disabled it for the future, and will be deleting it for good later today.

Now the site is loading at normal speeds again! Hooray! To celebrate, I’m going to post two guest stories this Monday.

Fixed-Term Residential Plan

Amusing, Odd, , , , ,

He lived inside his phone, drifting from app to app and nesting in the dim recesses of the End Call button.

He’d been there since the rotary days. The passing years had drastically reduced his living space.

He had no idea how he’d fit his mattress into a Bluetooth headset.

Unregiftable

Amusing, , , , , ,

She watched arrogantly as the valet flung the bags into the trunk.

There was a tinkling crunch.

She turned to her husband. “See? They broke. I’m packing next time.”

He feigned sheepishness. Packing sucked, and they’d both hated Aunt Gertha’s gift. As far as he was concerned, this was victory.

Competing For Affection

Touching, , , ,

She chose him.

I think what hurt most was that she didn’t choose me. I have nothing against the guy. In fact, I’m happy for him.

But why not me?

Did I use the wrong words? Did I smell funny?

Whatever her reason, I’ll recover. The world holds many puppies.

Signs and Cymbals

Odd, , , , , , , , ,

The day Tom was born, his father wore a high hat.

As a two-year-old, Tom loved taking a ride on his mother’s knee.

When he was four, he watched his brother catch rabbits in a snare.

At six, a pony gave him a nasty kick.

Naturally, Tom became a cowboy.

I know, I know, explaining jokes isn’t funny, but… form your own conclusions.

BONUS – LARISSA THIESSEN: Why Do We Come Here?

Amusing, Puns and Wordplay, Submissions, Touching, , , , , , , ,

Every Saturday morning the tables were set up. Goods new and used, handmade and home baked, were put out to browse through.

Every Saturday morning they came, tails tucked between their legs, cowering at the ends of their leashes.

The dogs would never understand the draw of the flea market.

This bonus story was written by Larissa Thiessen. It’s her birthday today, the last birthday she’ll have with the last name “Thiessen,” and that’s largely my fault!

LIANNA WILLIAMSON: The Darkness Those Eyes Have Seen

Artistic, Submissions, , , , , ,

He pointed the camera at her and asked, “Grandma, how does it feel to be a great grandmother?”

She looked up from the baby they had named for her late husband, her eyes wet.

“Everything the Nazis took from me… I got it all back.” Her voice was triumphant: “Everything.”

You can read more of Lianna Williamson’s writing on her writing blog.

NEWS: March 7 Pay What You Want Sale

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March 7 is my fiancée’s birthday, so in celebration of that, I’m holding a Pay What You Want Sale for Fifty-Word Stories: Volume One. Until midnight PST on March 7, you can pay any amount you want to download the Volume One ebook bundle, which includes the ePub, .mobi (Kindle), and PDF formats. After this, the price will go back to $3.99.

So throw me a penny, a dollar, or heck, why not a grand? (I kid!) Take advantage of the offer, enjoy the book, tell your friends, and leave a review on Amazon, while you’re at it.

A Match Made in the Heavens

Amusing, Touching, , , ,

“Where have you been?” they demanded, leaning out of their windows in pajamas and nightgowns. “Did you get lost? Did you think it was funny?”

They hadn’t seen the moon in over a week!

Moon peeked over the horizon at her dearly beloved, the sun, and hid a contented blush.