Short Fiction

Night has fallen, your pillow is soft. In warmth and comfort, are you ready to fall asleep?

Cassie lives in what appears to be the perfect environment. It isn't. And the narrator is more than a fill-in at a monthly bridge game...

Nils Wolfcale earned a Bachelor of Arts from Ohio State University and an Associates Degree from Hocking Technological College in Nelsonville, Ohio. His fiction has recently been accepted by the Roanoke Review. He shares a small farm in Northern Michigan with several horses, two mules, various chickens and ducks, three cats, a vocal terrier, his wife and mother-in-law.

Niles Reddick's novel "Lead Me Home" was a national finalist for a ForeWord Award, a finalist in the Georgia Author of the Year award in the fiction category, and a nominee for an IPPY award. He works for the University of Memphis at Lambuth in Jackson, Tennessee, where he lives with his wife Michelle, two children, Audrey and Nicholas.

Death is inevitable; what comes next is something more...

Sometimes events that seem unrelated connect. Lee is ten years old; she almost died when she was seven. But she celebrates the present. Someone needs to meet her, and doesn't know it yet... First, these unrelated events wait to be understood.

<p>When you know that there's some Mulligan out there just waiting to take you down, you have to keep your eye on the ball and your hand ready for the quick draw. And dammit, you KNOW those suckers are nearby, watching, ready to take you out ... they're just not always everything you think. But some of them -- are!

Lord Patu? In the hospital? Is he seriously injured? How did it happen? Will he be all right? Did he shoot anyone? Is his home-made beer safe?

I came up with the idea for The Message many years ago but I was unable to write it until recently. It's a simple story but in a way it encapsulates my philosophy for life. I hope you enjoy it. -- Ron Mulhollen

It was gold that drew them all, by the hundreds. Death met them, and cold and emptiness were their constant companions. But some learned that there was more to the land than ice and snow and gold ...

"All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts..." -- Shakespeare

Randy has a secret that doesn't excuse his actions, but it does explain them.

And all he could hope was that his old partner was still as nice...

Genealogy is a funny thing. You can see echoes of the parent in the child, odd traits revealed by the past. And when you begin to investigate your lineage, you find there are some questions that float to the surface as well...

The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines "ran-tan" as 1.) 'a knocking, banging, or pounding noise' or 2.) 'riotous conduct : spree.' By the end of this tale, the definition is definitely defined...

If only he'd kept his temper, the store wouldn't have been closed...

The only way to avoid the curse of Death is to welcome and embrace the gift it brings...

Still want your credential, do you?

Six-year-old Jackie is quite a character. He brings second chances to the ultimate...

After so long, there's a strange itch to know, to see, to speculate...is it better not to scratch?

And now, a story that will make you sit up and watch to see what's happening in the next lane -- and make you dread what appears...

It was a bad idea to start with, but it turned out to be...much worse...

How do you stand and how do you approach when you know that you cannot run?

Resentment moves in a downward spiral, and everything begins to drag you deeper. But with a gift of an understanding ear, maybe hope has a chance to grow.

Jon Herring currently resides in Philadelphia where he works as a copy editor in the pharmaceutical industry. He spends his days squinting at drug labels, while searching for a missing period or hyphen, and drinking as much free office coffee as he can.

Sometimes the best thing you can receive is what you've come least to expect...

Conclusion. A new caller is at the door, and it's not one of the paying customers...

I'm betting the shoelaces thing is true...

A workaholic father faces his daughter's unexpected anger toward him--and that anger's unexpected resolution.

A long way, and the roads were fast and dry with a mirage at the end of them all...