By Leland Hames Editor’s Note: This is a continuation of “The Bodark“ Mike heard the howls of wolves echoing through the nearby forest as he stood enjoying the warm afternoon sunshine on the house’s front porch. As a field researcher on wolves and wolf behavior for most of his twenty-odd-year career with The U.S. Forest…
Read moreDevil’s Bargain
By Denise Longrie “I’m not worthy. I—I’m not a virgin.” Gods help me; it was the truth. A few gasps escaped from the people gathering outside our front door. Other people tittered. My beloved Vane, the cobbler’s son, stepped away toward the edge of the crowd, but he did not escape Papa’s glare. “The lot…
Read moreThe Bodark
By Leland Hames Gregory burst through the back door followed by four dirty, and excitedly barking dogs. What had been a peaceful Saturday reading time in the kitchen was suddenly a cacophonous chaos. “Dad! Dad!” There’s something in the woods!” Gregory yelled looking around for his father. Mike sighed and closed his book. He quietly…
Read moreSalvador Dali and the Convergence
by Douglas Kolacki Paris, 1966 Outside the restaurant’s back door, where I had to hold my nose to go in or out, I spotted a rat. It was sniffing around our four grimy trash cans, nose twitching until I ran up and kicked at it. It ran out of sight. Just before it disappeared around…
Read moreNot Gone Yet
by Ryan Steven Reed Edmund leaned against the split wood fence and watched Isabella shoe her horse. He spit tobacco flake into the soft, persistent prairie wind and exhaled a line of smoke to the east. The October sun, diligent in its watching, puddled shadows below the feet of Edmund, Isabella, and her horse, Ozy. …
Read moreThe Graveyard Gardener
by C. K. Bickford Sunset was the only time Rose understood what others meant when they said the cemetery was spooky. Shadows reached out from the tombstones like fingeres, searching for loved ones who had lost track of time. The pinks and purples of the sky clashed horribly with the grey stone, like a skeleton…
Read moreBorn Under a Bad Sign
by Lannie Pihajlic I stood there drenched to the bone in my underwear, with only a tenuous hold on reality. For some reason, I thought back to meeting Ronni. It was totally a random thing, meeting Ronni. She would say that it was Destiny, with a capital D. I didn’t believe that kind of thing….
Read moreBlack-Winged Terror
by WH Ware Ondale reached down with his scarred hand and picked up the white feather that had caught his attention. “Not avian,” he said softly as he examined it. Then, at its base, the telltale hairs stood out. “Yes,” he smiled, “a pegasus.” He was certain this time. Once before—many years earlier—he had made…
Read moreThe Ethics of Elemental Servitude
by J. Scott King Hodge It was quiet beneath the great stone bridge. A light snow had been falling since early morning and the quay and river ice were blanketed in fresh powder. At the far end of the dock, stowermen huddled around a barrel fire, smoking pipes and warming their hands. An ice rigger,…
Read moreChanging of the Guard
by Curtis Bass Mont Azure San Giorgio 2010 “Come,” the Grand Prince called in response to the urgent knocking on his bedroom door. It was not yet seven o’clock in the morning, when he usually arose. His personal assistant, Andre entered, a worried frown on his face. “Your Serene Highness, I apologize for awakening you…
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