All Stories, Fantasy

A Whale of a Time by Kelly Hossaini

The parking lot was empty.  But that wasn’t unusual, partly because it was midnight and partly because, since the sparkling new Saver General came to town, Dan Burns’s General Merchandiser rarely had any customers anymore.  Dan learned with dread the coming of the Saver General and he knew that, slow or fast, the death of his store was probably imminent.  Before he had closed up earlier that evening, he stood looking out the front door onto the empty lot.  It was getting cold.  Winter was certainly coming and in a high desert climate it would be dry and cold for months.  Dan didn’t mind that too much.  In the not-so-distant past, the chill would keep the townspeople coming in for heaters, batteries, warm socks, and hatchets to break icy ponds so livestock could drink.  Now the cold seemed to make things more desolate and hopeless.  Dan turned from the front door and left out the back to his truck.  At least the truck was paid for.  That would help him survive a bit longer.  Probably.

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Fantasy, Short Fiction

Slow Walking Out of Babylon by Deborah Prum

One day, I meet Beelzebub standing ahead of me in line at the To God Be the Glory Soup Kitchen. Bathed in the glare of the fluorescent lights that flicker above us, the man glistens. Shards of hard white light reflect off his glimmering jacket, obscuring my view.

But that one glimpse gives me the shivers.

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All Stories, General Fiction

Steroids and Cottage Cheese by Rachel Sievers

Mr. Morton needed a new pair of shoes. That was quite obvious to Mrs. Morton but since he had started this health kick she couldn’t convince him of anything. She shot a glance at the runners out of the corner of her eye, afraid they would jump out and get her if she gave them her full attention. 

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Literally Reruns, Short Fiction

Literally Reruns by Keith LaFountaine

Keith LaFountaine has appeared on the site a few times, but not enough. His work is sincere and thoughtful such as this fine example, Home Again. This work is multilayered and even contains a language of Keith’s (I assume) own invention. It is a masterful blend of science fiction, horror, regret and even redemption. Such a wonderful mix that is quite poignant and inspiring. We believe that readers new to it will come away feeling the same.

We have invited Keith to add his own thoughts on Home Again.

***

Now Over to Keith:

I tend to get story inspirations from imagery, and for this story the image was the opening paragraph: an astronaut in a spaceship, surrounded by his dead crew members and bubbles of blood as he cascades toward an alien planet. I didn’t know what awaited him on that planet or what would happen when he landed, and I spent a lot of time thinking about that question before landing on the final scene (I also happened to be reading Stephen King’s “Revival” at the time, which likely contributed). But mostly, I was interested in David’s life. What led him to that point? How did he end up in that spaceship? And what is he thinking about as he stares down his mortality? Whether David actually transcends time and Space, or whether it’s simply revery, I’ll leave that to readers to decide. For me, what’s important is David’s decision to turn that car around.

All Stories, Editor Picks, Latest News, Short Fiction

Week 537: Making A.I. Cry

Long ago, in the American midwest, a woman shot her husband of twenty some odd (and some even) years to death because he would not turn down the “goddam” TV.

There are three cliches we should examine to come to an objective opinion about this situation.

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

Bald White Man in His Sixties by J C Rammelkamp

It started on Facebook, a notice from a neighborhood dog fanciers’ page about somebody dousing a piece of steak with anti-freeze and tossing it over a fence to an unsuspecting dog, which ate the meat and died.  (Apparently these attacks have been happening for quite a while now, and they believe it is the same man.)  Then it was taken up by the neighborhood listserv, the modern-day call-tree, and further warnings about this criminal – described as a bald white man in his sixties – prompted an outpouring of fear and outrage.  (He appears to be targeting pitbull breeds in the Lakeview area of Potawatomi Rapids.)  A vigilante call went out; posters went up on phone polls; you heard nervous chatter in the grocery.  You could practically hear the bugle summoning us to action.  (Let’s work together and catch this guy so no more of our neighborhood pets have to suffer from his horrible acts.  PLEASE SHARE & SPREAD THE WORD!!!)

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All Stories, General Fiction

The Persistence of Ruins by Barbara Krasner

White clapboards and wooden slats nailed across double windows peek through a veil of house-high ferns, maples, and elms. Leaves caress the places where shutters may once have been. Along the front in red and white reads a sign: Private Property No Trespassing. A vacant driveway sits to the south, marked off by a heavy chain, its endpoints hidden by foliage.  

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All Stories, General Fiction, Short Fiction

Breakdown by Matthew Roy Davey

“No one’s going to be looking,” he snapped.

He heard her sigh but didn’t turn to look. After a moment, the sound of her struggling up the embankment and the crashing of undergrowth came to him as she made her way into the bushes that covered the upper slopes.

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All Stories, General Fiction, Historical

Angola Togo Conversations with Samuel Little and Jim Jones by Frederick K Foote

I’m Angola Togo, a journalist. Recently, I listed influential people I would love to interview to better understand our history and the human condition.  

This list included Queen Zenobia of Palmyra, Hammurabi, Hannibal, Budda, Cleopatra, Shakespeare, Napoleon, Mahatma Gandhi, The Dalai Lama, Eleanor Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Sojourner Truth, Martin Luther King, Jr., Muhammad Ali, Paul Roberson, Langston Hughes, Albert Einstein, Zora Neale Hurston, Jackie Robinson, James Baldwin, Nina Simon, Octavia Butler, Jimmy Carter, and Lyndon Baines Johnson.

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