And the Editors’ Choice Is… “Summertime Dusk” by L.L. Madrid Congratulations to L.L. Madrid for this powerful little gem. Secret Prize If you don’t know about our weekly book giveaway, now is a good time to know about it. I buy one lucky reader a book every single week…it’s pretty simple stuff. You just have…
Writing Contest - Issue 17
Below you will find all stories that were submitted for this contest.
Blue with Envy
By Jeff Switt
I captured the color yellow and didn’t tell anyone. It was a gradual process. Gardeners wept as daffodils and chrysanthemums turned sickly pale. Artists mourned the fading yellow paints on their palettes and from the world’s greatest paintings. Eggs no longer sizzled sunny side up. Without yellow, green-leafed trees and grasses turned blue. There were…
Heat
By Lee DeAmali
He says no in a way that makes me feel dirty for asking. I know he’s lying, can see the telltale bulge, aware of what it means. I’ve got one, too, tucked away, available with the flick of a well-practiced wrist. He’s moving away but I keep him in my sights, steaming hot and setting…
Home Security
By Simon Hole
The weather turned foul, which suited Thomas just fine. Through the picture window, he watched the maple in the front yard swing in the wind. He smiled when it cracked and fell on the power line, plunging the neighborhood into darkness. Jeanette had stormed out of the house an hour ago. They had been arguing.…
The Glimmer
By Marchell Dyon
Its blue flame woke me. My skin was tinted purple from glimmer mixing with my heart’s blood. Finally, I could feel it in my hands, while flames as blue as the once blue sky glazed my fingertips with power. The tattered window curtains shook off their stains and returned to new when I glimmered. I looked…
Hello
By Jean Blasiar
“What kind of man do you want to attract?” “Intelligent,” Naomi said. The interviewer nodded and made a note on her computer. “Most women are looking for handsome and rich,” she said. “Intelligent could mean nerdish, socially backward…” “This will define him: He must have read William Morris’s News From Nowhere and be eager to…
The Hearse
By Conor Kelly
When Joe began collecting his daughter from the local kindergarten school in the hearse he used for the family business, the principal felt she had to act. She asked him to stop. “It could frighten the other children,” she said. “Not at all,” he replied. “It will teach them that death is natural. It’s not as…