THE TIP OFF • by Paulette Zander
Buzz and Candi sat in their usual spot in the far corner. They were the only regular patrons of the dilapidated coffee shop who didn’t avoid the rear booth. The faux leather seats were always sticky...
View ArticleTOMORROW WE’LL BE ANYTHING • by Chaz Salembier
This is the night mom pulls out her cardboard poster tube from where she hides it in the oven. We meet in the dining room with grilled cheeses and she slides out a diploma — can you believe it? she...
View ArticleHAUNTED DELIVERANCE • by Catherine Olaso
Teenage ghosts hound me, plague me — compel me to their hidden, rotting corpses left unclaimed and un-eulogized and beg me to dig them up. It’s a gruesome task, but what choice is there? The siege is...
View ArticleA TALE OF PATRICIDE AND IMPATIENCE • by Frank Roger
The haggard-looking man stormed into the police headquarters and addressed one of the cops on duty: “I’m turning myself in. I committed the worst crime a man can possibly commit. I don’t deserve to be...
View ArticleREVENGE OF THE RIVER GODS • by Sarah Hilary
Tamas, dark river Bringing the Isis to the London Eye Sailing the skulls of babies out to sea. *** Under the empty stare of the London Eye, in the shadow of Westminster Bridge, two men in Savile Row...
View ArticleDIVINE INTERVENTION • by Joanna Bressler
Lily Rose Jones slowed to a stop on the shoulder of Highway 5, sixty miles out of Los Angeles heading North toward San Francisco. A florist by trade, automatically she noted spots of color on the hills...
View ArticleTHE PROMISE • by Warren C. Easley
Momma always said I slept like a nervous bird. When I heard the front door click open that night, I got up and peeked down the hall. It was Momma’s new boyfriend, Duane, and he was just closing the...
View ArticleTHE GOOD STUFF • by MAB Lee
I was driving through a neighborhood of dusty bungalows north of Hollywood headed to my next story. I didn’t figure it would be headline material. A couple of paragraphs on page two, headed “Robbery...
View ArticleTHE COTTAGE IN THE WOODS • by Sarah Hilary
At the police station, the first thing we did was call in a cluster of experts. That’s by-the-book. The psychologist said, “Test case. Extraordinary. Unheard of.” “Appalling,” was the dentist’s...
View ArticleRED HANDED • by Tina Wayland
“Am I in trouble?” The boy raises a thumb to his mouth. Chews. There’s a layer of blood under the nail and he licks at it. Wipes it clean. The detective puts the boy’s file on the table. Flips to the...
View ArticleLAST DATE • by Robert Walton
“And this is Jim Lange signing off! See you next week on The Dating Game!” Sergeant Ted Bernard, LAPD, leaned forward. “Very entertaining, Al. So?” Al Murphy flicked a switch and the tape stopped...
View ArticleDISTURBANCE AT APARTMENT 408 • by Mark Noce
In the Mission District, all the creeps come out at dusk. Mom-and-pop shops do business during the day, but the hoods and addicts emerge when the sun goes down. I hate getting calls for this part of...
View ArticleTHE EAST FORK • by Tim Hanson
The East Fork of the Ruby River tumbles out of the Big Buffalo Mountains and races through narrow, boulder-strewn gorges and wide, steep-walled canyons until it joins other watery allies and eventually...
View ArticleLITTLE OLD LADY • by Ward Weatherford
No matter how hard she tried, the dust always floated in her house. It glittered about in the early morning sun that pierced the kitchen window. It hung in the air like a fairy born on wings powered,...
View ArticleREVENGE OF THE RIVER GODS • by Sarah Hilary
Tamas, dark river Bringing the Isis to the London Eye Sailing the skulls of babies out to sea. *** Under the empty stare of the London Eye, in the shadow of Westminster Bridge, two men in Savile Row...
View ArticleNO ENEMY BUT TIME • by Jenny Schwartz
“If he’d stayed like that, I wouldn’t have killed him.” Wouldn’t-‘ve-killed-‘im, wouldn’t-‘ve-killed-‘im, whispered the tyres of the London bus as it travelled through the wet, wintry streets. On...
View ArticleTHE COTTAGE IN THE WOODS • by Sarah Hilary
At the police station, the first thing we did was call in a cluster of experts. That’s by-the-book. The psychologist said, “Test case. Extraordinary. Unheard of.” “Appalling,” was the dentist’s...
View ArticleTHE TEDDY BEAR WHO WAS HITLER • by Carl Steiger
The teddy bear was Hitler. Josh knew that for a fact. Why else would Josh be holding the gun at the bear’s head? Josh didn’t know how Hitler had got into his run-down house. He couldn’t have snuck over...
View ArticleBUTTER FACE • by Ani King
[Trigger warning: rape survivors may find this distressing to read.] Surprised a big girl like you couldn’t take him. That’s what he said. The young cop. McNeil maybe? He’s right. I am a big girl. Six...
View ArticleCROW’S FEET IN THE SNOW • by Deven D Atkinson
The deputy said the snow where Uncle Jake had broken his neck is interesting. Over by Harper’s cabin a jay is harping and there are flashing red and blue LED lights on top of all of the sheriff cars...
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