The Absolute

Gary Fincke
To follow our guide is an absolute.

Photo Story: Blocked Heart Chakra

Nin Timbers
Go ahead. Use a knife, or your hands. Split her open. Take whatever you need.

On the Rocks

Tina Barry
Life has dwindled for Sarah. One busted knee and there goes the sequined skating costumes, the tiny skirts and razor-sharpened skates. Forget triple axels and the ecstatic crowds.

Where it leads

James Montgomery
For years, doctors shone torches, scientists ordered scans, the child sitting patiently throughout, occasionally lifting his palm from his forehead with a tiny suction-cup pop.

Photo Story: Talismans

Mary Jo McLaughlin
He filled his arms with her clothing. Dresses, flowing summer pastels and autumn jewel-tones, still on their hangers.

When I Was a Child, My Mother Wobbled into My Bedroom

Ellery Akers
This is the only reason forgiveness is possible. I’m not good at it. But I know about it; I can write about it.

Pocket Dad

Nicole Brogdon
Once, I was small and he was a giant, making me jump for the razor strap hanging above the toilet, to whip me.

Ryan Habermeyer: Necronauts

An obituary is a snapshot of a life, and the novel is like a series of snapshots scrapbooked together into a collage. So, it’s a novel-in-flash.

Patricia Q. Bidar: Pardon Me For Moonwalking

Man, is anything more fun than writing flash fiction?

Extremophiles

Emily Hall
Knee-deep in the eggy marsh, Dr. Smith and three classmates lifted a refrigerator from the water like pallbearers. Hinges rusted, drooping.

Kim Magowan: The Last Day

It would be land similar to water, land that wanted to be water. I’m picturing silvery, moonscape-y sand flats.

Only Perfection Can Save Us

Chelsea Stickle
There’s a cemetery under my house where I’ve buried all the old versions of me that didn’t work out, abandoning them in the damp darkness that would otherwise gnaw me to the bone.