Archive for February, 2012

Sand and Sky

By Mike Zakrajsek   There was absolutely nothing I could do but squeeze my eyes shut when the sand blew.  I had already accepted the fact that I was going to die a gruesome, sloppy death, and soon.  I had accepted that a couple hours before, judging by the progression of the blazing sun across [...]

26Feb2012 | | 7 comments | Continued

The Woods

By Douglas W. Bowers He could make out the trees along the side of the dirt road, but just barely.  Some light must have filtered through the clouds.  He could also hear the wind scrape along their empty limbs, covering up the some of the sound of his footsteps on the soft dirt.  But the [...]

24Feb2012 | | 1 comment | Continued

My Life: The Untrue Story

by RRRoze   Hanging Around the House               We can’t keep a butler. I won’t allow it. I am going to see how long it will take- using filth and dust and garbage and moisture- to rot out the walls and load bearing structures of this home. I want to do a controlled demolition [...]

21Feb2012 | | 0 comments | Continued

The Memory Tick

By Steve Land The door opened like all doors do, allowing entry or exit. The hinges moaned as if relieved to have discovered the key to a puzzling memory and the wind chime suctioned to the glass dusted the air with a bit of music…a reward, perhaps, for the hinge’s epiphany. Heat bled into the [...]

21Feb2012 | | 5 comments | Continued

Cackling and the Crypt

By Paul Reagan Smith It was one a.m. and I lay nude above layers of sweat soaked sheets. It was unusually hot for spring as the heat pulled the salty liquid from my clammy skin that beaded and rolled off my body. It was so quiet and still that my ears rang in defiance. I [...]

21Feb2012 | | 1 comment | Continued

Watched

By Scot Walker Charlie was more than morose that final Monday morning. As a mid-level manager, he was the man in charge of hiring security guards for the Cooksey Management Company and it seemed to him that his nightmares would never end. As he lingered on the Washington beltway in a six-mile backup, his stomach [...]

18Feb2012 | | 2 comments | Continued

Tinnitus

By Don Liddick David Dawson was one of those types who liked to be alone. He never intended harm, but the folks who crossed his path were not wrong when they assessed him as “anti-social.” As a child friends had not come easy, and for a brief time David envied those kids who seemed to [...]

17Feb2012 | | 0 comments | Continued

The Blush of Dawn

By Don Liddick “The carrion-fowl gather.” “Aye, ever has it been—the blood of men, even ere it be shed, acts as portent for beasts and discerning wizards.” Two stood on the escarpment, sidereal illume a mere glint on the broad cuirass of the one, the greater—the other a slender but eager shadow, bairn of the [...]

17Feb2012 | | 0 comments | Continued

A Better Change

By W Jack Savage “Off the record,” he said, “now remember it’s off the record, and after saying he knew nothing about it for twenty minutes; off the record, he said that he was terribly sorry about the girl and, though they only knew each other slightly, it was a terrible shame and that he [...]

17Feb2012 | | 0 comments | Continued

Are you ready for some magic

By Tina Muller my intensity is piercing, penetrating your shell its going to slap you and burn you. it is a powerful spell. so while you are shaking and vibrating while you are trembling and stirring something combusts and starts a fire of indefinite yearning for progress, for change, for truth and for learing and [...]

17Feb2012 | | 0 comments | Continued

Clown

By Stephan Ladanaj Part I I’m sure you’ll excuse the phenomenological approach to this narrative. I’ve been f-d up for a long time, and that’s the only way I can tell this story. Recent events haven’t helped any. It probably doesn’t matter. Nya. Georg Lukacs argued that literature has to confront reality, but I say [...]

15Feb2012 | | 0 comments | Continued

War Victims

By Douglas W. Bowers Tom Bernhardt was puzzled when he first received the invitation from Dr. Conners, but subsequent phone calls eased his mind. Tom had been at the University for only a few months, but his reputation working with the Department of Defense earned him and his family an evening with the chair of [...]

15Feb2012 | | 0 comments | Continued

The Vestige

By Adrian Cory Mr. Chang tensed as the microphones pinned him to the top of the hospital steps. “Can you tell us why the operation has been cancelled, Doctor Chang?” the same question rang out from a number of different reporters in the melee. The aging surgeon craned his neck to try and see if [...]

12Feb2012 | | 0 comments | Continued

Chip off the Block

By Daniel Dunaief Claudia would never have served him Alaskan King Crab twice in one week. Antoinette had no such hesitation. Antoinette had watched The Deadliest Catch on the Discovery Channel and just had to eat those crabs—again. “Gerry, do you want something else? I can have the staff prepare ahi tuna. We’ve still got [...]

10Feb2012 | | 0 comments | Continued

Second Chances: Simple Simon

By Justin Zipprich Simon had no idea where he was. The house seemed very familiar, he just couldn’t place why. The odd thing was that he had lived in this house for over 25 years. A beautiful voice emulates from an upstairs bathroom, he is drawn to it. As he climbs the stairs, they seem [...]

8Feb2012 | | 1 comment | Continued

Doom’s Lot

By Eric G. Ekaut As nineteen year old Jacob Moss sat in the backseat, he could still hear the paranoid warnings of his mother over and over again in his head, warnings that got progressively worse over the past few years yet started soon after his father’s mysterious death when he was only two. Jacob [...]

7Feb2012 | | 0 comments | Continued

Warehouse Workings

By Charles. K. Carpenter I nearly spill my morning coffee when I notice the big, black headlines on the front page of the newspaper. “BODIES FOUND!” it screams, and my eyes shoot to the accompanying photograph of the warehouse where I used to work. I can’t believe this. Reading farther doesn’t help me much either. [...]

4Feb2012 | | 0 comments | Continued

Watchfires

by Matthew Cherry   He peeled back the blinds and thought about all the movies and TV shows he’d ever seen in which someone peeled back the blinds only to be spotted by the bad guys and shot thirty-eight times from the deeply-tinted window of a Lincoln Towncar. The street outside spoke in whispers and [...]

1Feb2012 | | 0 comments | Continued

Unwound

By Matthew Cherry   The beer was good, although it was cold. Mr. D knew they both preferred it warm: hot, in fact. It was Guinness, and though D’s personal experiences with the Irish, especially during the 20th century, had not been pleasant, he had to admit that they produced a fine beer. “How much [...]

1Feb2012 | | 1 comment | Continued