flash 8/14

Apr 2, 20236 min read

"Soft Serve" by Rico Cleffi

Note from author: Soft Serve is a little piece voiced by two narrators, one a young girl full of enthusiasm and just making her way into...

Mar 19, 20233 min read

flash fiction

"The Lap Dancer" by Elsie Bauchalter

Jody and I were in the strip club. Music blared and strobe lights pulsed on a small stage. In the spotlight, a dancer was wrapping, and...

Mar 19, 20233 min read

flash fiction

"Over There" by DS Levy

On the day Sheila drives off in their new Chevy Silverado, John walks down to the lake and tests the ice. Thankfully, it holds, so he...

Mar 19, 20233 min read

flash fiction

"Way of the Deep" by Alyssa Jordan

The creature visited her every September. One year, Sarah had stopped traffic, drawn to the ocean with dread in her heart. Another year,...

Mar 5, 20234 min read

flash fiction

"Girl by Girl" by Kati Bumbera

Something was off about the woman from the start. Danielle knew it, even though she pushed the feeling down. Something in the way she...

Mar 5, 20232 min read

flash fiction

"What If I Knew?" by Margo Griffin

CW: self-harm, abuse I didn't know it then, but my friend Susan stole the five-dollar bill she gave me for my birthday right out of the...

"Losing Face" & "Papaya Summers" by Amy Marques

Mar 5, 20233 min read

short fiction

"Losing Face" & "Papaya Summers" by Amy Marques

Losing Face Don’t look in the mirror. Tilt ten degrees down: the phone, not the face. Tilt face to one side. Smile. Not a real smile. No...

Mar 5, 20231 min read

flash fiction

"Vertical Video" by Mathew Gostelow

I wince at the alien sound of my own voice. We’re bickering playfully in the clip. I’m awkward, pedantic. She’s adorably careless, as...

Mar 5, 20233 min read

flash

"Prodigal Daughter" by Sally Simon

Da died suddenly, leaving Maggie no time to plan or properly pack. She’d thrown a handful of underwear, a pair of jeans, a t-shirt and...

"The Arcane and the Absurd" by Cassie Mayer

Mar 5, 202314 min read

flash fiction

"The Arcane and the Absurd" by Cassie Mayer

“Can you believe TikToks have become homework assignments now? No, for real, my roommate at school, she’s a business major right, and her...

"The Knife Thrower's Assistant" by Joyce Bingham

Feb 19, 20232 min read

flash

"The Knife Thrower's Assistant" by Joyce Bingham

The costume is old; it smells of others' sweat; their dread woven into the fabric. The corset of scarlet velvet, good for disguising...

"Tilly Troublefield is Up to No Good" by Katy Goforth

Feb 19, 20233 min read

flash

"Tilly Troublefield is Up to No Good" by Katy Goforth

The Piedmont Interstate Fair didn’t look like much to an outsider. It was a half-mile dirt track, but it represented a long line of...

"Casting Spells on the A47" by Rachel Canwell

Feb 5, 20233 min read

flash

"Casting Spells on the A47" by Rachel Canwell

On the drive to see my mother, the transformation begins. By the time we hit the bypass the change from A-Grade student to underage witch...

"Revenge, Served Hot & Pink" by Charlotte Hamrick

Feb 5, 20233 min read

flash

"Revenge, Served Hot & Pink" by Charlotte Hamrick

Our boss was a weasley old dude who thought he was a new age Magnum P.I. because he drove a Ferrari and had a mustache. He was always...

"Basket with Raspberries (for Anatoly Marienhof)" & "Coffee Pot Larry" by Marc Isaac Potter

Feb 5, 20233 min read

fiction

"Basket with Raspberries (for Anatoly Marienhof)" & "Coffee Pot Larry" by Marc Isaac Potter

Basket with Raspberries (for Anatoly Marienhof) The raspberries are misplaced in a wooden basket, cradled thankfully in multiple paper...

"A thorn in her side" by Emily Macdonald

Feb 5, 20232 min read

flash

"A thorn in her side" by Emily Macdonald

Her index finger throbs, becomes swollen. The climbing rose brims with scarlet-edged garnet flowers. Their perfume is heady, musk and...

Feb 5, 20232 min read

flash

"Shambles" by Keith J. Powell

The music fades out and I’m concentrating through the booze to work the ATM. It’s a more delicate operation than I remember. I stick the...

"Is it Cold Where You Are?" by Francine Witte

Jan 22, 20232 min read

flash

"Is it Cold Where You Are?" by Francine Witte

After all this time, my father shows up. Only thing is, he’s dead. “Good to see you,” I tell him. “Don’t get smart,” he says. So, it’s...

Jan 22, 20232 min read

flash

"Shamanic" by Karen Arnold

Static. Hissing, voices just out of reach. No contact with the mainland for weeks now. I try every day to tune in to the base camp, but...

"What Death Knows of Love" by Lisa Lerma Weber

Jan 22, 20232 min read

flash

"What Death Knows of Love" by Lisa Lerma Weber

Death stands in a dark alley, smoking a cigarette, watching a scrawny black cat slink behind an overflowing dumpster. Greasy fast food...