Break From Reality. Daily.
Kate started hosting guests in her spare bedroom when her roommate, Angie, moved out in a Saturday morning flash. It was a move both unexpected and hurtful, since Kate had been overly generous with her money and energy. Angie worked long hours, so Kate always left an extra portion of that night’s meal saran-wrapped…
This is the next post of our February Theme Week, with a theme of Fuzzy Love (it is good, or is it bad?). This story is written by Guest Contributor, Hal Matthews. He lives in North Dakota where he spends most of his free time thoroughly questioning that decision. He has been previously published in Flash Fiction…
************************************************* This is the first post of four in our monthly Theme Week. Our February theme is Fuzzy Love: Love is one of the most written-about subjects in human history, but somehow, no matter how much we write about it, it’s never fully definable. Is it really a form of sickness? Mental illness? Obsession? Is it a…
This is the next post of our January Theme Week, with a theme of New Beginnings. This story is written by Guest Contributor, Riana Mercado, a writer from the Philippines. You can find her on Twitter as @rianamercado. ***** Back then, there was no midnight nor noon nor dawn nor anything else. To her, there was only…
This is the third post of our January Theme Week, with a theme of New Beginnings. This story is written by Guest Contributor, Lester L Weil, an ex-professional bassoonist, ex-professor, ex-custom furniture builder, ex-house builder. He is retired in Arizona near the Mexico border. Besides publishing his work in many online magazines, he is the editor of The…
This is the first post of our January Theme Week. In honor of the new year, the theme is New Beginnings. Look for a few more great twists on the theme the rest of this week! Our first post is written by Guest Contributor, Wayne Scheer, who has been nominated for four Pushcart Prizes and a Best…
This is the first post of our December Theme Week. In honor of the holidays, the theme is Festive Reunions. Look for four more great twists on the theme tomorrow through Friday! Our first post is written by Guest Contributor, Dennis Nau, who has had a dozen or so short stories published in literary magazines and another…
************************************************* This is the first post of three in our new monthly Theme Week. Our November theme is Elections: It’s a well-known fact that humans don’t like ambiguity. In fact, we are wired to look for easy answers and solutions to complex problems–whether we turn to a conspiracy theory or our horoscope. We might even say…
From the start, Matt and Lily bonded over their mutual inability to leave things the way they were. It started on their first date, when Matt accidentally flicked a straw into the hibachi grill. Within seconds, the fragrant miso aroma of the beef they were searing fused together with the off-putting scent of burning…
Marie and I have always known there was a distance between us, and one day, no different than another, we learn it’s our dead middle sister. Mom is late to our monthly mother-daughter get-together. After a bit, as Marie and I sit there, she gliding her fingers across the outside of her wine glass…
Sarah had been thinking very hard for weeks now about whether to stop taking Zoloft. The blogs she had read in her initial research about the drug warned of a “numbing effect” as the brain began to block both strong negative and positive thoughts. There seemed to be a lot of truth behind those…
When the text alert came through from her son’s middle school, Kelly wasn’t surprised by the disturbing assumption that her son was the shooter. Perhaps it was the article 74 School Shootings Since Sandy Hook a fellow mom posted on Facebook that morning that had created that suspicion; the writer had emphasized just how…
Our conversation about moving back to the country had the same cadence as all of our important conversations. First, Mike started by calmly stating his proposal. Each word was deliberate, practiced. “I just think that being away from the urban frenzy will make me less stressed. You’ll be able to focus on your writing,…
Jungle climates marked by the unchecked passion of natives. Brazilian beaches dotted with scantily clad, sexually charged females. Plantation settings with mosquitoes clouding the silence and a seething undercurrent of tension. In the middle of yet another Arizona July, as my boyfriend Lucas kept smothering me with deep kisses, I tried to picture different…
