Short Fiction

All things happen for a reason...

A hacked computer has to be reformatted here. A server has to be taken offline there. People are accustomed to piracy...at least they thing so...

Beate Sigriddaughter lives and writes in New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment, USA. Her work has received four Pushcart Prize nominations and won four poetry awards.

Yep, this is how it happens...

Charles Chettiar is an Engineer by circumstance and writer by choice, working in Mumbai. He started writing short stories when in college, and is working on his first novel.

Jordan Ramsey is a Professional Writing student and Graduate Assistant in the Southeast Missouri State University Master's program. He graduated with an Undergraduate Degree in Creative Writing and English Literature from the University of Illinois in 2006. Since then, he has worked as an English Teacher for NOVA Group and Lanier Technical College and a copy editor for The Southern Illinoisan. Jordan plans to graduate from SEMO this May.

Luanne sees a kinship between a dead tree in an abandoned cemetery and her past. She decides to forget what cannot be retrieved and enjoy Jeff, the new love in her life...

It used to happen this way, it does happen this way, and when it comes, it will...

Sometimes the best plan of action is to just be up front and genuine...

Sometimes everything changes. Sometimes the world looks different. Michael struggles to salvage the relationship that has been torpedoed by Jessica's desire to return to religious practice, and he hopes that Jessica's son might be his ally, but change is never easy.

While her husband fights long lines of traffic blocked by an accident, Helen meets her blocked past ...

Thomas Elson lives in Northern California. He writes of lives that fall with neither safe person nor safe net to catch them.

Is it possible to seek something if you don't even know it exists? And do you only know something exists when you perceive that it is no longer there?

Charles teaches engaged couples how to communicate on a deeper level. But Charles has a secret he hides from himself. And it takes more than mind-reading to hear truth...

What a little princess she was!

A simple prank? No, not at all. A complex prank? Sure, why not? A killer of an idea for a prank? Of course!

This is Michael Price's last work to appear in the Piker Press. Mike died unexpectedly on February 12, 2016, and will be sorely missed.

Conclusion. Carl Tyson has found a way to venture into the future -- and it appears that the future needs him to change things for the people who are left...

Ingrid has been dead five years; she returns from the other side of life to meet with her husband, Mick. He doesn't know why she has come. Yet.

This could be the most amazing invention in mankind's history...and a glimpse of mankind's future...Part One of Two.

Ah, Vienna, city of ancient beauties! But what may feast the eye may still endanger the soul...

All the people you see are like closed doors. You don't know what's behind them...

Ricky is surviving on an inadequate paycheck. But his current problems seem to focus upon a mother who lives in la-la-land and a sister who wants to control his life.

At first it seemed like it was only pizza zombies in the little town, but now Lindy has seen the marching undead on other streets as well. From horror to fear to now annoyed, Lindy makes a leap to regain control of her life...

Bailey left home when she went to college, returning only for short visits. She believes Uncle Max's funeral will be another stop in dysfunctional land. But Max's one-track has led in directions Bailey has never fathomed...

They're everywhere she looks, zombies gobbling and munching. What? Meatlovers' pizza? Lindy is almost as grossed out as she is scared! Part Two of Three.

Nice clothes, new cell phone, company car -- now that's a good start to a business trip. But the way Lindy's day is going, you know it has to be Monday. Part One of Three.

There! By the pilings, the water moves in that certain way -- that's where you cast your line...

Conclusion. What can have happened to Charles, who is arguably the most handsome, intelligent, and sensitive of cats?

Charles has run away. Is it because of what was read to him? Part Two of Three.