Yesterday morning, before breakfast – before coffee even – I stood in my pajamas with a mixing bowl in one hand and a lid in the other trying to coax a mouse out of my pantry. It happens about this time every year. After the first few frosty nights, our house is looking a little too warm and welcoming, a little too safe from hungry hawks and foxes.
My first alien was a Cetitharian. Slender, mirror skinned, beautiful as a solar storm. I never asked him why he came up to my home-ship. I never asked him much of anything. Reflected in his skin, the cargo hold’s dull gray walls were silver. Even I, little brown mouse that I was, polished into tiger’s […]
Wikipedia Abduction Myth From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The “Wikipedia Abduction Myth” is an urban legend and conspiracy theory asserting that the free internet encyclopedia Wikipedia is written by a group of American scholars held captive in Russia. No credible evidence supports for the love of god help us this assertion, and it is widely […]
The river nudged my log raft against its mooring post with a steady thud on the night I first saw Old Qiu’s woman. Sitting on her knees at the end of his boat, she offered his cormorants a few of the small fish they’d caught that day. Her young, round face echoed the full moon, […]
My name is not Elisabeth. My eyes are not full of tears. My life has not just changed forever. My best friend is not dead. Mum screeches my full name like a fishwife, carrying over the howling winds of the bay, and the magic is broken. Every evening I sit looking over the sharp rocks […]
Author of “Mirror Skinned” This month’s interview is with Kelly Sandoval, the author of “Mirror Skinned,” and “Home Isn’t.” She’s a quintessential nerd. When I called her, she was glum over having missed out on a game of Pathfinder in her area. We had a great afterward during our interview bonding over our writing heroes […]
Author of “The Cormorant in the Glass-Bottomed Cage.” Anna Yeatts: Congratulations on getting “The Cormorant in a Glass-Bottomed Cage” published with Flash Fiction Online! Tell us the story behind the story if you will. Rebecca Birch: Thanks very much! I’m thrilled to be published in Flash Fiction Online. As to the story, I’m involved in […]
PEOPLE OF EARTH: I AM GRAALNAK OF THE VROON EMPIRE, CONQUEROR OF WORLDS, DESTROYER OF ALL WHO OPPOSE ME, AND YOUR SUPREME AND BENEVOLENT OVERLORD. FOR THE NEXT SIXTY OF YOUR EARTH-MINUTES YOU MAY ASK ME ANY QUESTION WITHOUT FEAR OF RETRIBUTION. – Posted by graalnak 1 year ago * * * [ Display options: […]
HARLAN LEANS OVER TO PLANT A KISS ON MY CHEEK. His fingers wriggle beneath mine so that our palms rest together, our fingers interlocking. It would be so easy to kiss him. Too easy. I lean back in my seat and pretend to be focused on the movie, letting the bright light of the fictional […]
I WAS TEARING THE SKINS OFF SHALLOTS LAST NIGHT when Mother came in wearing Fifth Face. Fifth Face looks like Julie Andrews, but the thing doesn’t fit Mother’s skull. You can see wires sticking out behind. Fifth Face speaks in Zenlike one-liners that I suspect are lifted from Kierkegaard, although we don’t have any Kierkegaard […]