Family is messy and uncontrollable. Just ask anyone with a child in diapers who’s picked cereal out of her hair. But a smashed wildflower from a chubby fist means more than all the clean houses in the world.
Our stories this month are about messy, complicated relationships that bring more than anticipated.
In “The Coyote Howls” by Mary C. Moore, a young woman flees her old life though some pieces of the past can never be left behind.
From R.M. Graves, “Simulation” is a testament to the power of family even when nothing else is certain.
Finally, we have M. Elizabeth Castle’s “31-E”. A mysterious woman holds the power to grant life or death, but an unforeseen connection sets her plan awry.
Enjoy!
Anna Yeatts is the Publisher of Flash Fiction Online. Since Flash Fiction Online is a free magazine, she spends a great deal of time over at Patreon, trying to drum up enough money to keep a free magazine in business. But she appreciates all the readers and supporters (including the world’s most amazing staff of editors and slush readers) who make FFO a reality every month. Anna writes in that nebulous overlap between genre and literary works where offbeat, surreal stories are born. Her short stories appear in Cicada, Daily Science Fiction, Mslexia, Drabblecast, PodCastle, Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show, and Penumbra among other publications. When not writing, Anna wrangles two wonderful children, two matching cats, and a German Shepherd who doesn’t believe in weekends. Follow her at Patreon or on YouTube.
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July 2, 2014 @ 1:57 pm
Leximize I’ll get cracking on that for you.
July 1, 2014 @ 11:12 pm
Ditto. Kudos on the single sentence summaries. Suave sister.
July 1, 2014 @ 9:50 pm
My, those first two paragraphs I thought were part of a short story… And I was looking for more.