Music Box
Your grandmother has dragged you to many yard sales, but this one takes the cake. The yard is huge and full of old stuff for sale. You wander amongst the junk…
Donuts
Scott licked his fingers. “Most important thing in a donut is cream. Or jelly.” “You kidding? The best donuts are glazed, hot out of the fryer.” Travis took a…
Alpha Centauri
A warm solar wind blows steadily against the topsails of my Lady Luna. Once the fastest schooner in the whole fleet of ‘em, she presently drifts wounded yet…
The Best Thing
The best thing about being a child is the boundless energy and freedom to move as you please. Every slight raise in the surface walked upon is an ocean wave or…
Holding it all in
“Since when do you claim the right to be protective of me? You never seemed to care before.” Cynthia appeared to almost swell with indignation. Or it could be…
Design-A-Baby (June 5)
“Design-A-Baby is the biggest thing to hit the world since Bill Gates IV’s invention of Underwater iCities!” The screen above the store’s door boomed out, into…
Enitre's lost childhood
The foyer of Blake manor was first an antechamber with six slender columns supporting the ceiling. Two closets on either side were intended for servants to…
A Letter Inspired By The Septimus Heap Series
Dear Mistress Marcia, I regret to inform you that when you read this letter I will have been missing for 24 hours. It is not my fault and I was not trying to…
Can't Get A Good Night's Sleep In An Epic Life
“You have the heart for it,” he’d said. Kira pondered what that might mean. He toyed with the golf-ball sized yellow diamond at the end of a golden chain…
Volcanologist
Day 2 Scientist’s Log Venturing out onto the cooled lava flow, I took several pictures and collected samples. The air was stagnant with heat from both above…
Emerging
To write is to stretch tired, cramped limbs and see what I can still do. My brain fires electricity to parts long deprived of spark. Awakened, a fire in my…
The Duel
Steel clanged against steel. The long swords met, parted, and met again. It was like a dance, and Eleanor enjoyed watching. She didn’t understand the…
Pump House Bridget
Tadpoles sent rings of ripples across the surface of the water, skimming along shaded shallows. I just wanted to cool my feet after so much walking, but I’m…
Wyoming
Light, powder snow lay as a thick sheet across the walk, the road, and surrounding hills. It fell from the sky as feathers, like pieces of the great grey quilt…
(1)But Once You Start You Can't Stop ('til done, of course)
Who has the time? rhyme after rhyme Ever freewrite for fun? (british accent) Well, go on, try one! Make it a story, do it for the glory, write a muffin fritter…
Absence
“We are facing far more than simple humiliation at losing the box.” Lifra’s aunt wrung her hands, trembling with suppressed worry. “The Escutane family…
Iron Elements (Repost)
Humid air gathered the collective stink of Hong Kong and exhaled it back, hot and wet, onto the humanity below. Summer nights were often miserable. Qiao…
We'll Finish Tomorrow
The roof of the old mansion was interlocking slabs of slate, set into exquisitely-carved masonry. God knows how much it had cost, but it would probably last…
A Bit Too Close To Heaven
“No no no no NO!” I screamed, plunging my hand into the mass of cabling; the smell of frying electronics now overpowering the lingering scent of the shaped…
Sparks To That
If the second is the same then the flames ignite the inertia of irritation a rash against my midriff ripped up into the night every word fuel on the fire a…