This story is an exemplar for Short-short Sighted #18, “Ellipsis: What to Leave Out.” So the following summer when the second princess came to Old Kwaku’s hut, he said, “What do you want?” “My father said that I must learn wisdom from you.” “And is that what you want?” “I wouldn’t mind being wise, but […]
Today, the world ends. Tuesday last, Reed grabs his best friend’s shoulders and says, “You’ve got to stop this.” Luke looks at him and wonders why Reed is the only person in the world who hasn’t changed. Three years ago, it starts with Luke covered in blood that is not his own and the life […]
Lydia turned out the light, picked up her backpack, and opened her window. She was expecting the gust of cool night air, the smell of freedom, and the call of the dance floor. She was not expecting the shower of gold. “Ow!” She threw her pack up as a shield from the heavy, glittering hail. […]
Chapter I In the morning of life came a good fairy with her basket, and said: “Here are gifts. Take one, leave the others. And be wary, chose wisely; oh, choose wisely! for only one of them is valuable.” The gifts were five: Fame, Love, Riches, Pleasure, Death. The youth said, eagerly: “There is no […]
Stephen cradled Mara in his arms. She was light, but awkward to carry because of her trees. A blood willow grew from her shoulder and hid her face behind a curtain of crimson leaves. Its trunk was pale and gnarled. They’d taken this path to visit her father’s grove, back when Mara could walk. Now […]
Every morning Bobby visits Chuck. He goes down to the basement and rattles Chuck’s cage with his cane. Chuck only snarls and spits, and grinds the rotten stubs of his teeth — gnish, gnash, gnish, gnash. He’s a real codger, Chuck is. Should have seen him back in the day, though. World ain’t got zombies […]
5:00 PM (one day ago)I can Twitter on my phone! No idea why I would, but it’s cool. Gives me something to do in the new house. 1:00 AMFound mysterious hole in new house today. In floor. No basement. Calling my realtor after my sister and her kids leave. 7:00 AMBuilding plans show no basement. […]
The free carnival pass dropped through Penny’s mail slot on Wednesday, exactly ten months after her mother died, three weeks after her son was born, and seven days before she planned to drive her car off Myrtle Pier. Penny had shoved the stack of letters behind the door, along with other bills piling up since […]
It’s the cold mud that wakes me, and the taste of duckweed in my throat. In my mouth, my nose, my ears. It fills my lungs, creeps behind my eyes. I burst through the slime with a half-formed scream. I retch until I feel empty, hollow, withered. Stagger to my feet, knee-high in the sticking […]
This story collection is an exemplar for Short-short Sighted #22, “Metamorphosis and Compassion”. In a little church by the sea, long after the old gods had begun to sleep, there was a preacher of the Christian gospel who earnestly worried for the souls of his congregants. He wanted every one of them to one day […]