Short Fiction

From darkness to darkness, one melody, one strange word follows ...

Family can be trying even during the best of times, but this one is pulled in so many directions that it's very hard for them all to pull together ...

The kitchen crew are out of their depth when it comes to water flooding the big room -- and they don't know all the secrets the kitchen hides, either ...

You have it all, you can get it all, you know it all -- it's about success, in life, in society, in marriage, in work ... in getting out of the office ...

Ben wrote his first poems in Texas where he grew up. He then moved to Berkeley, Boston, Philadelphia and finally Northeast Ohio. Ben's writings fall into three genres: love, nature, and giving voice to his search for his place in the world. The Cuyahoga Valley National Park is a source for his inspiration for poetry, prose and life.

Is it what you learn from a teacher of writing, or does the class show you what you need to learn about yourself?

The usually happy Henry is feeling somewhat worried about his future ...

"Political correctitude," they decided, "means that the pursuit of happiness is mandatory and literal." ... And the only Right you have had better be the far one!

The stage door was almost perfectly an entrance for the doors Lauren found shut in her personal life ...

Laughter, they say, is the best medicine. Will it bring success in business as well? Warren Borman knows the truth ...

Shakespeare has been fired, but the kitchen is not at all the same without him -- in fact it's rather empty ...

If you cannot have freedom, is death better? If you cannot love, should the world change?

Long life, good health ... right up to the day when the phone rings, the cake is done, the darkness begins to fall...

There was only one thing he could think of that might be worse than death ...

Gail Taylor is a new Canadian writer who earned the Certificate in Creative Writing from the University of Toronto in 2009 with Honors and completed the writers' program at the Banff Centre for the Arts. Her fiction was a winner in the Random House Canada student contest in 2007, short listed for the Random House prize in 2008, and short listed for the Marina Nemat award in 2009.

The kitchen is in shambles -- exactly what is that wicked Simpson up to?

Rose McCann's essays and fiction have appeared in a number of literary journals, including Slow Trains, Green Hills Literary Lantern, Subtle Tea, Cerebration, Fiction Warehouse, The Plum Ruby Review, Ascent Aspirations, Double Dare Press, Tattoo Highway and many others. She currently teaches American Literature at Cleveland State University.

If only Marji can make it up the hill, this battle might even be worth it -- but a certain dragon-beast has a taste for revenge ...

When you're told something often enough, you can come to believe that what you've been told is true. Unless, of course, you keep the truth steady in your heart ...

Marji is fighting to reach her brother who has fallen into the jungle; can a weary girl keep up the pace she needs to save them both?

The kitchen is closed! What does one do when cooking is forbidden? Why, visit Macy's Housewares, of course!

Love breathes slowly, watching quietly, and nothing at all is better than this, except ...

Another day, another battle to cross the gorge. The same as every day, except that today, a precious burden falls ...

Just a hike, one might think, until the air stops nourishing your lungs, and the cold gnaws at your arms and legs, and gravity whispers that just one wrong step will be your last...

He needs to be able to move quickly, fire his weapon accurately, and know what to do when the battle is engaged. But sometimes the soldier is called to do none of those things -- and those days of warfare may seem the longest ...

Who but Andre would have the courage to ask Clarissa about her son's condition?

Start your day by flying over the river. Don?t drop your little brother in the gorge. Kill a few dragons and gryphons along the way and for heaven?s sake, watch out for the giant snakes! If you make it to school alive, the pop quiz on math should be a cinch.

Ah, the sweetness of the one and only voice murmuring the words that the heart so longs to hear...!

Andre and Shakespeare consider the kitchen an ideal place for Henry and Diego's wedding, but Henry would really like to have the wedding in the loft. The trouble is, Henry's mother will be the one to decide ...

He never said the right thing, but he did dance to the right music ...