All Stories, Humour, Short Fiction

bailiwick of the billigits by Leila Allison

ireneallison12

-1-

A little *Bird told me about a movement in Saragun Springs calling for the legitimization for the common misspellings of commonly misspelled words. For example, “mispelled”, for some, should carry the same weight as the correct item that appeared in the opening sentence. The instant I heard about it my mind drifted toward the billigits, our resident four wee winged orange folk. The billies not only eschew the use of capital letters and punctuation, they also are usually the last to receive their participation trophies at the yearly Spelling Bee, if you catch my drift.

Continue reading “bailiwick of the billigits by Leila Allison” →
All Stories, Science Fiction

Mind Sweep by JJ de Melo

literallystories2014

Dad’s house reeks. Of bad coffee and cheap wine. My uncle talks at me through the odor. I barely hear him over the other mourners, rambling about how I look just like dad did at this age.

“If only you hadn’t got all these tattoos,” he says. He points at one in particular—a barcode from my favorite cereal brand over the left eyebrow.

I shrug at the comment. Stare at my wine glass. If I focus my consciousness on the swirling merlot, I’ll keep this bullshit conversation from recording onto my slate. That’s the trick these days—If you don’t want something damned into a forever memory, look away.

Continue reading “Mind Sweep by JJ de Melo” →
All Stories, Crime/Mystery/Thriller

Mehico by Richard Hulse

literallystories2014

Emerson drove all through that warm afternoon. The three of them were quiet most of the way, but at one point Bobby looked over to Charlene in the back seat.

‘So, where’s you and your folks from?’

He felt a little awkward. He was just trying to make conversation. But she said nothing and perhaps she hadn’t even heard the question. She was frowningly immersed in Modern Screen. On the cover of the magazine was a picture of Bette Davis, blonde and alluring.

Continue reading “Mehico by Richard Hulse” →
Short Fiction, Writers Reading

Writers Read – Childhood’s End by Arthur C Clarke

ireneallison12

Science Fiction is not my thing (nor the site’s), but I have read some really good stuff by the likes of Sir Arthur C. Clarke, the co-creator of 2001 a Space Odyssey and the Big Brain behind the communications satellite.

Continue reading “Writers Read – Childhood’s End by Arthur C Clarke” →
Latest News, Short Fiction

Week 584 – The Norm, No Need To Iron And Mr Rossi Is Still Going!

gwencron

I’m going to try something different here this week.

Normally I go off in tangents. I’m all over the place and one topic leads to another. But not today.

I’m going to investigate the status quo. And that’ll give me a reason to let you hear some music that a lot of folks hate but I hope that you listen with an open mind, or open ears or whatever the fuck.

Continue reading “Week 584 – The Norm, No Need To Iron And Mr Rossi Is Still Going!” →
Fantasy, Short Fiction

The Jump  by SJ Butler

literallystories2014

The pigeon pecking imaginary seed on the outside ledge thought it strange that Alan should open the office window and join her – his long gangly, shaky, legs unfit for perching eleven floors up.

‘Don’t worry little bird, I won’t be here long,’ he said at last standing with his back to the glass, the palms of his sweaty hands acting as limpets attaching him securely to the building.

Continue reading “The Jump  by SJ Butler” →
All Stories, General Fiction

Memoir of a Fiction by Claudine Mussuto

literallystories2014

The abortion wasn’t the commencement or the culmination. The termination wasn’t the central event.

1.

It was a day when a more fanatical human placard did not carry a gun with which to shoot and kill the adult female receptionist. The procedure transpired in the summer of 1982 on Beacon Street in Brookline, an upscale suburban sister to Boston and, across the river, to academic Cambridge and its proletariat neighbor, Somerville, where I lived. Human billboards displayed the evolution of the species through its bloodied protozoan, bird, and fish forms at a proscribed distance from the clinic entrance. I and my volunteer escort were unmolested up the short flight of concrete stairs and into the locked steel and glass door of the health center brownstone.

The one-night stand wasn’t the inception or the finale. The encounter wasn’t the foremost incident.

Continue reading “Memoir of a Fiction by Claudine Mussuto” →
Fantasy, Short Fiction

The Storm and the Silence by Sam Kandej

literallystories2014

Once upon a time in the future, when you’re long dead in your grave, two brothers with magical powers meet again in the middle of the Indian Ocean to settle their dispute once and for all with a final duel.

Sam and Mitch are ship captains, just like their father. They own big container ships and spend almost their entire time on the Indian, Atlantic, and Pacific Oceans. Each brother has twenty-two crew members and a magical power. Sam can control the weather, and Mitch can mute whoever or whatever he wants.

Continue reading “The Storm and the Silence by Sam Kandej” →
All Stories, General Fiction

The Convert by Christopher Ananias

literallystories2014

I stood alone at my stepmother’s funeral, fondling a plant, watching rain bead down the fogged window. The funeral parlor’s black walls, and black curtains were heavy-handed leaning too much on the death knell. Ten lines of bright red chairs clashed with a maroon carpet. The organ music droned like it always did—my whole life.

Continue reading “The Convert by Christopher Ananias” →
All Stories, Humour

See You Next Year by Mark Barlex

literallystories2014

Like all large things taken for granted, the North Atlantic Current knew the importance of what it did and thought long and hard before jacking it in.

An elemental system shifting oceans of warm water from Mexico to Europe slowed in protest at anthropogenic climate change then stopped altogether.

Nature’s last laugh. A landmass expecting to fry now pondered winters twenty degrees below average. No North Atlantic Current, no band of temperate air wrapping the Celtic fringe. Have another ice age, Nature seemed to be saying. Exactly what you didn’t order.

From Galway to Hamburg, people laboured through a winter of deadening snow and ice.

The next year, they stayed at home.

The year after that, they felt like staying in bed.

The year after that, they did.

Continue reading “See You Next Year by Mark Barlex” →