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March 2008

Well-known sci fi novelist and short story writer James Van Pelt started off “Just Before Recess” with this sentence: “Parker kept a sun in his desk.” It’s just that simple, it seems, and the next few paragraphs just make this impossibility seem that much more mundane.

David Tallerman, on the other hand, told us about something real, but that seems odd, in “The Desert Cold”. This story works into my mind like a splinter under a fingernail. Glenn Lewis Gillette gave us something I wish the world had a lot less of in “Downstream from Divorce”. To lighten the mood, we called up Mark Twain and his “A Telephonic Conversation”, and finally, we had a St. Patrick’s Day special in the middle of the month, “Lucky Clover” by Barbara A. Barnett.

Flash 3/2008, #1: James Van Pelt

Just Before Recess

Parker kept a sun in his desk. He fed it gravel and twigs, and once his gum when it lost its flavor. The warm varnished desktop felt good against his forearms, and the desk’s toasty metal bottom kept the chill off his legs.

Today Mr. Earl was grading papers at the front of the class, every once in a while glancing up at the 3rd graders to make sure none of them were talking or passing notes or looking out the window. Read more: HTML PDF

Flash 3/2008, #2: Glenn Lewis Gillette

Downstream From Divorce

Act II: A single eye stared back at me, its somberness swept by a long-lashed blink. On the top bunk, my step-son lay on his side, head sunk to his nose in a pillow, and watched me get ready to state my position. A comforter snugged up to his smooth jawline and humped over his slender shoulder as it spread over the bed and smoothed away the rest of his body. Read more: HTML

Flash 3/2008, #3: David Tallerman

The Desert Cold

Everyone knows the great desert is hot by day and cold by night. But that heat and cold is something you must know to understand. The midday sun seems to burn through your eyelids, so that outside the shade you cannot escape it; it pricks at your skin like a thousand needles, and sweat offers no relief because you could never sweat enough. It is harsh and cruel, and without water and a good guide you will not live long. Read more: HTML

Flash 3/2008, #4: Barbara A. Barnett

Lucky Clover

“Oh, for the love of...” Seamus shifted from foot to foot, one pudgy hand fingering the clover in his shirt pocket. The thought of using it sent his heart fluttering, but his fellow leprechauns were dying all around him, cut down by a swarm of chittering fairies.

“Aieeeee!” the winged pests cried as they flitted through the air, slashing with their sword-like wands.

“You’re going to have to use it,” Seamus muttered to himself.... Read more: HTML PDF

Classic Flash #4: Mark Twain

A Telephonic Conversation

Consider that a conversation by telephone—when you are simply sitting by and not taking any part in that conversation—is one of the solemnest curiosities of modern life. Yesterday I was writing a deep article on a sublime philosophical subject while such a conversation was going on in the room. I notice that one can always write best when somebody is talking through a telephone close by. Well, the thing began in this way... Read more: HTML