January, 2015

Sew Psyched by S. Kay

Spam offers Xanax. She bites a nail, tiny flecks of “Sew Psyched” destroyed in actions that don’t quell anxiety, and plays music. Two months sober.

S. Kay is a serenely recovering @blueberrio. A sci fi book of tweet-sized stories, RELIANT, is due out from theNewerYork Press in 2015. Follow her at @blueberrio andblueberrio.tumblr.com.

Two pieces by Colin W Campbell

Borneo Lighter Green

In modern times in Sarawak, ever-so-pretty city girls hesitated to step into the dark green jungle. Then someone said it was only rainforest.

Borneo Butterfly Yellow

The brightest color of a butterfly fell in the eternity pool at Santubong. A special moment, rescued and free again. But a swiftlet ate it.

Colin W Campbell escaped from the day job in Scotland and now writes very short fiction and poetry in Sarawak on the lovely green island of Borneo and faraway in Yunnan in southwest China.

Banana Split by Barry Basden
The Asian war bride, waiting in a VA hospital for her husband’s death, thought again of her village, and banana trees that once grew there.

Barry Basden lives in the Texas hill country. He edits Camroc Press Review and is coauthor of Crack! and Thump: With a Combat Infantry Officer in World War II. His shorter work has been published widely, both online and in print. A chapbook of his flash fiction, Used Rainbows, was published in 2014 by Red Dashboard.

Flawless by Joyce H. Ackley

Her shrieks and the whoosh of the flushing toilet echoed off the tile walls as her engagement ring spun and disappeared. Farewell, perfect white diamond.

Joyce H. Ackley is a retired teacher who likes to write short fiction and articles. Her work has been published in Good Ol’ Days magazine, Aspiring to Inspire Women’s Anthology, and the online websites Romance Flash and Long and Short Reviews. Ms. Ackley is considering tackling a novel, but so far, her plans are still in the “thinking about it” stage.

Two pieces by Jayne Martin

Film at Eleven

A shiny, new tricycle on the sidewalk, abandoned. A single blue sneaker just inches from the curb. From the house, a mother calls: “Tommy, supper!”

Cheating Spouse Chai

The second hand ticks off another moment of my life. You arrive, flushed, rushed and unapologetic. I aim for your jewels, gently squeeze the trigger.

Jayne Martin is the author of “Suitable for Giving:A Collection of Wit with a Side of Wry,” a non-fiction humor essay collection available in paperback and digital. Her flash fiction has appeared in Boston Literary Magazine and won the fall 2013 WOW-Women on Writing Flash Fiction Competition. Her creative non-fiction will appear in the February 2015 issue of Hippocampus Magazine. She lives on a ranch in California where she indulges her passions for fine wines and critters of all persuasions. Since 2009, she has been sharing her views on everything from politics to private parts on her blog, “injaynesworld-where nothing is sacred.”

Thinking of Blue by Sierra Offutt
The walls carry layers of navy, bringing midnight indoors. We spatter-painted the ceiling with stars; spattered each other with occasional love. The door’s shut now.

Sierra Offutt picked up a pen at the age of seven and never put it down. She has never believed in limiting herself to a single genre, although fiction was her first love. She now splits her time between writing, borderline caffeine addiction, and being an avid overachiever working toward three majors in Psychology, Creative Writing, and English at Widener University.

Berlin There Done That. by Brenda Anderson

An old man shuffles past Alan’s bed. The name above his own is ‘Alan’. He spells out the wall plaque. What does ‘Dementia Ward’ mean?

Brenda Anderson lives in Adelaide, South Australia, writes speculative fiction and grows sunflowers every other year. She loves the offbeat.