We walk up and down in the pool. We talk a lot. She in her lane. Me in mine. Other people swim around us. We exchange pleasantries. Progress to intimacies. I’ve had a heart attack. She’s had breast cancer. She’s… Continue Reading
When the child died, we burned the village to the ground and scattered. Some of us went west, to search for truth in the lands of the setting sun. Some went east, to find the great ocean or the grassy… Continue Reading
Our best friends were having a baby. Inwardly, I groaned. “You know what this means, Frank?” I complained to my boyfriend. “They won’t be going out with us anymore.” One by one our friends had succumbed to the bothersome burdens… Continue Reading
Thank you for helping me with my term paper, she tells me. We are seated in the middle of a busy bookstore café. I look at her and tell her the truth, that it was my pleasure and that I… Continue Reading
I’ve avoided showering by using the sonic cleaners, but after this long, even I can’t stand myself. The sonics do a good enough job, but there’s still nothing like plain, old-fashioned water for cleansing, for washing away life’s detritus. My… Continue Reading
Edward Easter was an organised man: a genre-divided record collection, shoes for any weather, a shower either side of sleep. At seventeen he’d decided to become a meteorologist in the RAF; now twenty four, that’s what he was. His younger… Continue Reading
Today, thought Dennis O’Connor, would be a marvelous day. Most Mondays heading to work, a slew of other adjectives — words commonly used by waste management professionals — colored his outlook. But today, dressed in a special brand new blue… Continue Reading
The prompt words for Flash Fiction Chronicles’ String-of-10 FIVE have been announced, and the competition is on! The judge for this fifth String-of-10 contest is Kathy Fish, who was guest editor of Dzanc Books’ Best of the Web 2010. As… Continue Reading
Listen to “Forget, To Live” by Ben Langdon, read by Folly Blaine: [display_podcast] A high school teacher by day, aspiring writer by night; Ben Langdon lives in the seaside town of Narrawong in Victoria, Australia. Folly Blaine is a writer… Continue Reading
It was the morning after your father had left that your mother took you to the beach. She spread a blanket over warm sand and stripped you down to your new blue bathing suit. Her red eyes were hidden behind… Continue Reading