We’re celebrating the season of back to school by putting our anthologies on sale! Whether you’ve already started back to classes or are about to, we have collections to consume in one go and those that can last the semester! Both of our BIG anthologies—we’re talking 60+ stories—are a special $5 off the print editions!…
Throwback Thursday |An AFTER THE HAPPILY EVER AFTER Excerpt: “A Sleeve of Feathers” by Claudia Quint
“Stephen, how do you feel about living together with all six of Geileis’s brothers?” The well-intentioned doctor with her degrees framed and hanging on the wall, pulled down her glasses to stare at them, and Stephen leaned forward and fiddled with the cuffs of his shirt as though an animal were caught in his throat,…
Throwback Thursday | An UNDERWATER Excerpt: “Happiness Shoal” by Gregory L. Norris
The man pressed forward through the rain. Happiness radiated in his eyes, a rich green the color of emerald gemstones on that moody gray morning, and his lips, the lower slightly plumper than its twin on top, a crooked smile beaming from the prickle of a new, unintentional beard. The wind gusted, stirring the ocean’s…
Throwback Thursday | A DISTORTED Excerpt: “Lost in the Labyrinth” by Christian Bone
I was lost in the labyrinth. Sweating stone walls, as black as the heart of the Beast, encased me, echoing the helpless cries of my fellow cattle. One by one the cries died away. I heard but two and then merely one. I realised the sound was my own. Sacrifices. Prisoners. Finger food. We were sent…
Long and Short by Jean Roberta
Novelists and short story writers can be classified as different groups, with some overlap. In a workshop on erotic fiction that I ran recently for a local writers’ group, a man complained that he couldn’t find a publisher for his erotic romance novel, which was well over 100,000 words. My advice was to write something…
Throwback Thursday | An AFTER THE HAPPILY EVER AFTER Excerpt: “It’s in Her Kiss” by Tiffany Michelle Brown
Delilah has developed a fetish of the human-who-was-once-an-amphibian variety. Her predilection has progressed into a full-fledged addiction as three or four times a week, the door to our flat bursts open and a new prime specimen drips pond water onto the Ikea rug in the foyer. Delilah wears a proud smile and clings to their…
Throwback Thursday |An ON FIRE Excerpt: “The Clearing” by K.N. Johnson
We gathered on summer nights electric with the spectacle of storms, the promise of charred messages from the gods. The wind lifted our feet from the ground as we raced through the musty woods. Small branches snapped, green leaves sacrificed to pad our muddy path. At the clearing, trees stood back, and all knew to hush, to press lips…
Throwback Thursday | An UNDERWATER Excerpt: “Fossegrimmen” by Megan McFerren
Kjell knows better than to go near the falls. So do the sheep, for that matter. This doesn’t stop them, of course, not when the sweetest grasses grow so close to the water—a tasty temptation even in a wide field free for the eating, bordered only distantly by trees and Kjell’s little wooden home. His…
Genre Specific by Lori M. Myers
I was leading a workshop where my writing background was known by participants beforehand. To wrap up the session, I took questions, and one student asked this: Isn’t it better to be known for being a horror writer, or a science fiction writer, or a writer of women’s fiction rather than being published in multiple…
Throwback Thursday | A DISTORTED Excerpt: “Where the Arrows Files” by Patricia J. Esposito
In the elementary school courtyard, the flag fluttered and snapped before the blue sky. Claire waited on the bench outside for the bell to ring. Twenty minutes. But the wind made the fifty-degree day feel colder. So much for fresh air; it wasn’t relieving the rush of blood inflaming her pelvis, making her feel like…
An IN THE AIR Excerpt: “Areomancy” by Anthony S. Buoni
It isn’t easy. Months have passed since I’ve last fed. I hate going so long between meals, but too much activity and the Circle of Sorrow will catch on to my presence. The last thing a hunter needs is to be hunted. Heartrate and breathing slow; the beast’s skin and bones reset. Each transformation leaves…
An IN THE AIR Excerpt: “Wind Advisory” by Lorraine Schein
(Anemos—Gr., wind) An anemometer sprouted from the skull of the Anemometriste. Its fleshy stem was a second neck growing from the top of her skull. Four hemispheric cartilage cups extended from it—a double set of ears whirring over her head. She could tell the source of each wind filling her by the sound the tree…
