William Legrand, who discovers a peculiar gold-colored beetle while on Sullivan’s Island in South Carolina. Legrand is obsessed with the scarab beetle and makes drawings of it. Later, Legrand receives a scrap of parchment paper with a cryptic coded
Short Short
Them By Meg Pokrass
You would hate it if you knew how many times I apply lipstick now that you’re gone. I’m putting it on, like, every five minutes to get through the next fifteen, though I know they use fish scales to make it
Miracle Stain Remover
Long-suffering Gwendolyn O’Malley felt mid-sentence, the tiredness that comes with uttering pointless words.
Thief by Kristy Gherlone
I watch them together, though I’m supposed to be in my room. They’re sitting too close. Cigarette smoke trails in front of my eyes as I sit huddled in the corner.
Nobody Shall Sleep By T. Dem
I’m lying down on the bed. Naked. Carefree. One hand thrown carelessly behind my head propping me up. The other playing with my belly button or any small indent on my skin within a comfortable radius.
Retreat by Jack Coey
She ran away from home, and Pastor Bruce was dismayed after talking with her mother. Her mother said she’d been sullen for the last month or so, and even the school nurse called once.
The Garden Party by Kathleen Mansfield
And after all the weather was ideal. They could not have had a more perfect day for a garden-party if they had ordered it. Windless, warm, the sky without a cloud. Only the blue was veiled with a haze of light gold, as it is sometimes in early summer. The gardener had been up…
Buy it Now!
Buy it Now! by Melanie Friedman <Open Transmission> BUY IT NOW! New BactiCulture Watch™! Have the time of life with this organically engineered timepiece complete with genome technology. Why waste your brainpower reading boring analog watches or throw away precious materials with a digital device? The BactiCulture Watch™ makes YOU a symbiotic being – just…
My Daughter’s Best Friend by Michelle Reynolds
My Daughter’s Best Friend by Michelle Reynolds “Here you go Missy.” Elizabeth hears her daughter say as she enters the kitchen. Brooklyn is sitting
The Message on Emily’s New Phone by Charles Lee
Emily Bradley wanted a smart phone for her tenth birthday. Her mother and step-father had been reluctant to give her one because they felt it was a luxury for a child to have
The Deceased’s Wife by Charles Milton Lee
Three elderly women stood huddled in a corner of the funeral home, whispering and glaring at the deceased’s wife.
Strutters’ Ball by Barry Basden
Strutters’ Ball by Barry Basden Cleaning out my father’s things I found an old black and white photo, one I’d never seen before. Hidden away all these years. The photo was taken in some kind of hall, a gentlemen’s club perhaps. Joyless carpet, somber wainscoting, a small mirror propped on its rail. Patterned wallpaper and…
A Quick Twist by Patrick Hanford
Patrick Hanford is a short story author and has been published in Heater Magazine and Elite Critiques Magazine. He is a member of Caprock Writer’s Association and has published on their website.
Crazy by T. E. Cowell
She said, “This is crazy.” She looked at me. “Isn’t this crazy?”
I shrugged. I thought that, sure, maybe it was a little crazy. But I thought it was exciting, too. Crazy or not, I thought it might be crazier if we parted ways and never saw each other again.
Who/Whom? by David Lohrey
David Lohrey grew up in Memphis. His poetry can be found in Otoliths, Sentinel Literary Quarterly, Easy Street and Quarterday. In addition, recent poems