To honor brave and loving women everywhere who, through their love and nurturing of children — their own or others — have earned the privilege of calling themselves mothers, we present our special Mother’s Day issue.

Ambrose Bierce, one of our favorite Classic Flash Authors, once gave this definition: “Sweater, n.: garment worn by child when its mother is feeling chilly.” In our first story, “Star Maven” by Sarah Akhtar, chosen especially for Mothers everywhere, we see that mothers never change — not even when they are separated from their children by the wide chasm of space.

In Adam Smith’s “The Deep,” another mother tells her story of longing and loneliness in a post-apocalyptic world.

And for our Classic Flash, Carrie Seever gives us one clever seven-year-old’s quest to obtain the perfect present for her dear mother.

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Happy Mother’s Day!