“Did you hear about Milton?”
“No, what happened?”
“He’s not here anymore.”
“No way.”
“Have you seen him around?”
“No but he’s probably just on vacation or something.”
An Overdue Appearance by Larry Lefkowitz
For some time now the literary world has been speculating upon the delay between Sidney Shield’s 14th Gothic novel and the appearance of his long overdue 15th. The reasons being bandied about are quite preposterous, especially the more macabre ones, though Mr. Shield is not displeased by the latter. As personal secretary to the author, I have been authorized to give an explanation on his behalf. I hasten to add that the words used are my own.
Orchid Thirst by Ashlie Allen
I heard my orchids screaming last night. They were angry I did not kiss them and spit blood on their pistils. My body was numb from the combination of red wine and rum. The day had been full of anxiety, so I made the decision to exhaust myself with harmful liquid.
Week 70 – Memories
Ok we are on week 70! What has that number inspired in me? Well it reminds me of the 70s. Now I know that we are a worldwide community but unless I look on the web I can only say what the seventies meant to me as a very young Scottish person. I loved the music. I loved the freedom of flares although I lost my wee Yorkshire Terrier under them on so many occasions. I thought I had hit puberty early but eventually realised that it wasn’t my legs sprouting hair, just the dog hiding! I especially appreciated not having to iron my cheesecloth shirt. But polo necks (Turtle-necks) they were something quite different. They were positively evil. My mother’s sadism knew no bounds as she insisted that I wear these elbows of the devil. Even now the thought of a wet neck and one of those jumpers makes me shudder! I feel positively ill watching The Poseidon Adventure with Gene Hackmen wearing one of those things. And to cap it all, he is soaking wet all through the film!!
Shadowed Solitude by Donald Baker
Vince hid the look of disbelief as he stared at the twenty-something punk who had just asked him the ridiculous question. Worse, had done it with a smirk that told him right away what he already suspected from the beginning.
He didn’t have a chance at this job.
Ballad of a Ray of Light by Keith Frady
“Out, out!” roared the unfolding supernova, its end birthing one last litter of photons into the universe. Out these photons flew, alongside their elemental brethren, into every direction of this breathless third dimension. Out they flew, these fairies of light, into the stunning dark.
The Dumb by Doug Hawley
Crazy Ed Mahoney went out the back door on Monday to urinate in his garden. He believed, incorrectly, that he was saving on his water bill. His neighbors had given up on changing his ways. After seeing him in the act a few times, they learned not to look in the direction of his backyard at 7am, 1pm and 4pm when Ed would urinate like clockwork. Whatever else was wrong with Ed, he had an excellent prostate.
The Craterville Catastrophe by Tom Sheehan
Craterville came up like the rock came down, in one helluva hurry. When the dust cleared, there was a town where the hole used to be, and a hundred or more shafts were slicing down into the earth. After six men were shot, five of them bushwhacked, one surprising a thief deep in his digs, the saloon owner, Harry Wilkes, called a meeting of town businessmen. Wilkes once was a conductor who got off his train one day outside Omaha and never got back on.
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Swords Hanging on the Walls by Richard Mark Glover
“My father, Franz Josef Schennach, was a gendarme, Hauptmann, in Tirol. After the Nazi took over, he had to prove that he was Arian. He could not prove this,” Anna Stenson said. She looked across the room from her chair.
“Brown eyes go to Africa… They taunted me. At school. Only the blue eyes would stay in Europe, if Hitler won. I was hoping he would not,” she said adjusting the hem of her skirt.
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Week 69 – Sharing
Even though nothing was said. Nothing was mentioned. I am still sure that my fellow editors were sniggering in the corner when I agreed to write this…Thanks guys!
I can be mature without a second thought! It’s not a problem! I can be serious and focused straight off the bat…So here is my 417th version of this posting.
literally stories 