All Stories, Fantasy

A Certain Vood,by Geraint Jonathan

This Vood.

I have it on good authority that he recently scooped lumps of coal on to his dinner plate, believing them to be potatoes. Had it not been for the intervention of a scullery-maid, he would have eaten the lot! This is the kind of creature we’re dealing with here. It bears thinking about.  Already I’ve heard tell of households where fractious children are hushed by mere mention of his name. ‘Bedtime now, or the Vood will come get you.’ I’d say that’s a worrying development. He’s acquired the definite article. People are afraid. These are decent people. When some of the children spoke of this Vood’s wearing , and I quote, “a hat of fire”, well, I was skeptical, naturally. But a hat of fire I’m afraid is exactly what this Vood has been observed to wear on several occasions! By those not given to voicing fancies, I might add. What to make of such a thing? Some demonic  form of halo? Who knows. I suspect something stranger. This much, however, is clear: when this Vood is on the prowl, even the dogs of the town grow unsettled. His name alone carries implications. I shouldn’t wonder if it’s not already sprouted a suffix or turned into a verb. Or both. He’s already entered drunkards’ ditties. That can only bode worse.

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All Stories, Fantasy, General Fiction, Short Fiction

Dial 1 for Heaven by N J Delmas

A red phone box stands alone in the middle of a field. Long grass and wildflowers surround it and little else. I make my way over; glad I’m wearing my wellies. I avoid the cow pats along the way and bat a couple of flies from my face.

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All Stories, Fantasy

Where Do Lost Memories Go? by Rinanda Hidayat

Somewhere in a land where only the forgotten remembered, stood a river flowing with discarded memories. Tears cry above it, ever begging for the one who shed them to return.

Sometime between now, today, and never, a man burst out under the river––let’s call him M. He splashed around, thrashing his arms, kicking his feet, but all was unnecessary, for the river never had the will to drown.

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All Stories, Fantasy, Short Fiction

The Pelanconi Flower by Jon Krampner

The Italian Renaissance is one of the crowning glories of western civilization. In Florence, Venice and other cities, men like Leonardo da Vinci shook off the centuries-old slumber following the collapse of the Roman Empire and blazed new trails through the intellectual firmament, sparking a fire in the minds of men and women that continues to this day. But even as they did so, village life continued much as it had for centuries. Our story concerns the remarkable events that took place in one of these villages.

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All Stories, Fantasy

Apsaras’ Dance by Kelly Matsuura

Time wastes the paint on our faces and ornaments. It roughens the once-smooth stone we were carved from. Yet behind the crumbling stone, we shine.

Our voices blend as we step from the wall, magic infusing our limbs and lighting our smiles. We sing the songs of ancient apsaras before us.

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All Stories, Fantasy

Time Capsule by Leland Neville

I was recently involved in the death of a man right here inside the Free Library.

He began making bird sounds near me. The cawing and trilling made it impossible to concentrate on my writing. When I moved, he followed. The bird songs grew louder and more long-winded.

My father, a Marine, told me that bird noises reminded him of a battle he fought inside a dark nameless jungle. Birds, he learned the hard way, unintentionally telegraph your location to the enemy. I am now older than my father was when he died inside our garage.

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All Stories, Fantasy

Project Nüwa by Wanying Zhang

Palms slick with sweat, Daji paced around her penthouse waiting for Goddess Nüwa’s arrival. She hiccupped and noticed writhing shadows behind her. She drew in her eight fox tails that had kept slipping from her human figure since she summoned Nüwa about an hour ago. Today marked the hundredth anniversary of the creation of Project Nüwa. She sipped from a glass of a thousand-year-old baijiu and cast her gaze over Beijing’s city lights, a dense kaleidoscope of blue and white LEDs juxtaposed against flashing neon billboards. The World Trade Center, a sleek curtain of glass walls reaching upward, stood as a commanding presence against the city’s skyline. Rain splattered against the floor-to-ceiling windows, blurring the urban sprawl below into an impressionist painting.

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All Stories, Fantasy

Flesh and Feathers by L.S. Engler

The fog was descending, creeping in from the mountains and cloaking the lake in a heavy mist.  Pulling the blanket tighter around her shoulders, Birgitte looked up to the darkening sky and smiled.  “We should probably be heading in soon,” she said, though her voice held no hint of actually believing it.  “It will be night before we know it, and there’s sure to be some talk or trouble if we’re too late.”

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All Stories, Fantasy

Roar by Streya Smith

Ashara dragged the tip of her staff through wet sand, carving out magical symbols. Her hands trembled as she clutched the polished beech. One careless line could have disastrous consequences for the spell, but she was running out of time. The sea stretched out to the horizon, met so seamlessly by the cloudless sky she couldn’t see where one ended and the other began. She didn’t have to turn her head to know the tide was also creeping up the sandbar behind her, threatening to swallow the sand—and Ashara—into its endless blue depths.

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