All Stories, General Fiction, Short Fiction

Laura by Hugh Cron – Strong Adult Content

“I know you said that you didn’t want another drink but I’ve poured you one.”

Gina accepted the glass of wine.

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All Stories, General Fiction

All These Dreams and Tomorrow Too by Leila Allison

Words cannot adequately express the giddy joy I experienced while I stood on the ferry’ s bow, alone with my “escort” (an amiable deckhand twice my size, half my age), as the vessel glided swiftly across the gunmetal Puget Sound toward Charleston, where the Law awaited me with open bracelets. The early spring sun made a lovely show of going down behind the Olympic Mountains–all dreampurple and pastel poetry. It had been ages since I had felt a sunset unfettered by loss. I was was further gladdened when my escort shooed off some fool who had come out of the cabin to capture (thus desecrate) the sunset on his phone. There was a reason we were alone; that reason (also, twice my size, half my age) was inside the cabin holding one of those phony “Blu-Ice” bags to the spot on her meaty chin where I had landed a right cross just a few minutes before.

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All Stories, General Fiction, Humour, Short Fiction, Writing

Splash by Hugh Cron – Very Strong Language and Adult Content

Wilma sat down at the table.

“You’re a fisherman for fuck sake.”

“I was, I’m retired.”

“That’s beside the point, you know what it’s like about here, you were a fisherman and you always will be!”

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All Stories, General Fiction

Old Rain by Ian Murphy

The boy’s father considered there to be two primary aspects to parenting – the importance of time spent with the child and the importance of time spent without the child. One took precedence over the other. Once a month, without fail, the father would take the boy to the barber and they would both get their hair cut the exact same way. The father would have a shave and the boy would envy him while he had it. It was because of this ritual that the boy would forever remember the back of his father’s head.

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All Stories, Crime/Mystery/Thriller

Blueberry by Joshua Stevenson

Blueberry

You wrestle with the blueberry pie as you floss through traffic on the freeway. The lop-sided bundle of pie looks like a monkey got ahold of an aluminum foil roll and tried to wrap a banana. You chuckle; you’ll tell Berry that one.

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All Stories, General Fiction, Short Fiction

Vmbra Wormwood by Leila Allison

And the name of the star is called Wormwood…

–Revelation 8:11

Pus star Wormwood glowered ceaselessly in the cigarette sky. Although it was only midday, Wormwood pulled long shadows from the sour crabapple trees, whose fruit not even the crows will eat. Embittered little trees, Scotch broom, feral blackberries and scrub grass are all that grow in the brief ridges and ravines and knolls that serve as the community “backyard” throughout the valley. During wildfire season the broom pods burst and the smoky wind disperses their dusty spore. During wildfire season it’s easy to believe in hell.

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All Stories, Fantasy

Escape Velocity by Michael Grant Smith

My wife left me for good this time. She euthanized our dog, an action I believed extreme. Quit her job, salted the flowerbeds, grabbed a suitcase it turns out had been packed for months, banged the door behind her. Didn’t even say goodbye to our boys. Just stared at them for a moment, as if ciphering. Me, she’d learned to unsee. Then she scrammed.

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All Stories, General Fiction, Humour, Short Fiction

The Potato Grabbers by Robert John Miller

“I’ll grab the corn and you grab the potatoes,” Poncho yelled to Julia. Julia was wearing her wedding dress, full train and veil, to save time. She wouldn’t have to change when they returned.

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All Stories, Crime/Mystery/Thriller, Horror, Short Fiction

Anna by David Douglas-Pennant

Anna was not one to look twice at anything or anyone. Everyone looked twice at her though. They couldn’t help it.

Most people don’t bother looking twice at insignificant details, so unsurprisingly she wasn’t particularly popular. People thought Anna was either arrogant, or stupid, or both. But I knew that when she did look twice at something, even more rarely someone, that look could take hours, it could take days. I’ve spent my whole life waiting for her to look at me like that.

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