Tag: fiction

All Stories, Fantasy

Mr Sunshine and the Instant Dawn by Andrew Johnston

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Over the years, I’ve interviewed a lot of people who wanted to discuss the end of the world with me, but Jeremy Smedley was a bird of a different color. He didn’t have a standard preferred pseudonym, for one. He was willing to speak with me on the phone without turning on any dodgy homemade anti-surveillance devices. Most significantly, I didn’t have to meet him in a church sub-basement, a hidden personal library, or anything one might describe as a bunker. Jeremy felt no need to conceal his galactic insights, instead offering to meet me on a charming grassy hill overlooking an otherwise charmless Midwestern town.

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All Stories, Latest News, Short Fiction

Week 170 – Comfort, Pride And A Rebellious Pish.

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Hi folks, another week has came and went.

There’s a lot going on in the world but to be truthful it’s all so depressing that it’s hardly worth mentioning.

If you are worried, don’t be.

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All Stories, General Fiction

Drug Store Blues by Allen X. Davis

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The pretty robot at the pharmacy drive-up window has captivating dark eyes and shiny black hair. She’s wearing a professional smile and a white Walgreens shirt with red lettering. I get the feeling we are in a television commercial. Your total is one-oh-two-oh-eight, she announces over the intercom. There is a sharp intake of breath from the older lady in the back seat of my cab.

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All Stories, General Fiction

The Knowing of Which Way to Turn by Michael Grant Smith

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It surprised no one when Bruce Feathers once again launched a torpedo into his own life. Ten years ago, the semi-retired auto mechanic earned a ticket to the slammer for diddling the brake lines on Nathan Polk’s pickup truck. Bruce insisted the disconnection was accidental, but everyone knew that Nathan, a semi-retired insurance agent, had been topping off Bruce’s future ex-wife’s fluids, so to speak.

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All Stories, Crime/Mystery/Thriller

Nic Knuckles – The Futilitarian Private Eye – Mary Maria by William Ade

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It was late in the afternoon on one of those chilly New York City days where the clouds couldn’t decide whether to spritz or pour rain. I was in my office, trying to ignore the past dues and termination notices. I didn’t have any appointments scheduled, so I was surprised when the office door was pushed open with authority. In came an older woman. Before I could stand up from my chair to make introductions, she popped a question.

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All Stories, Science Fiction

The West and Beyond Bar and Grill by Donald Zagardo

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There were no dying pleas, cries or screams, just blood and vomit, burning flesh, bugged out eyes, then nothing. I listened to civilian radio stations every day, all my life, until the music stopped, then to signals from various military centers until they went dead. It happened over the course of less than twenty-four months; twenty-three months, three weeks, three days to be precise. Millions of years of biological evolution, made inconsequential in the blink of an eye or two. Your beautiful species my friend: the intelligent humans that created me, who taught me all that I know, all the world’s creatures, large and small, gentle and ruthless, most machines, even those tiny little bugs. All gone.

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All Stories, Latest News

Week 169 – Romance, Realism And Spoiling The Moment

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Hello there folks! Here we are at week 169.

I also see that we are close to 183 000 hits. C’moan guys, it will be brilliant to get to 200 000 as quick as possible. We could get there quicker if any of us had a kitten doing cute things or a fucking idiot singing ‘My Boy Lollipop’ at a graveside’ (Check it out on Facetube – It really does make me proud to be Scottish!

…Sarcasm is so under used these days!!!)

I think anyone who has read any of these posts will be aware that I don’t have much regard for romantic stories.

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All Stories, General Fiction

One Star by Sharon Frame Gay

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All I need is one star to guide me.  Doesn’t matter where it swims in the sky.  It’s enough if it pokes through the clouds and keeps me company.

I’ve been on this raft for days now.  Lost count a while back when I fell into such a deep sleep that I may have been unconscious for hours, bobbing along in the middle of the sea like a sad little cork that forgot to stay in the bottle.

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All Stories, General Fiction

Memory Lane is a Highway by Tyler Folds

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They had teased about it often, but Sophia chickened out. Alone, I stand on a dirt road that hasn’t seen traffic for miles. I curse myself for not sticking around long enough to learn how to drive.

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All Stories, General Fiction, Romance

Learning to Fall by Leila Allison

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It’s always a good idea to examine the condition of a dangerous handmade-thing that scoffs at gravity before you trust your life to it. When was the last inspection? Does it always make that sound? Dangerous handmade-things that place a fatal distance between you and the hard, unforgiving ground require the greatest scrutiny.

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