A New Hobby
A Vignette
By Maryanne Peters

The fact is that when Toby and I fell out of that tree both our mothers said that we needed to find a new hobby – something to keep us busy and wear off the “excessive energy” and something not dangerous and preferably inside where they could keep an eye on us. One of them said, or maybe both of them did – “If only they were girls, we could have them enter those tweeny beauty contests!”

“I mean... he’s hot, he’s a great guy, but I can’t marry him! He’s straight as a pin, and I’m male like 80% of the time!”

I decided to take Melody's advice and entered the room that was marked 'Cosplayer in Peril' about an hour after I left the other room. It was now well into the afternoon and the convention was about to reach the supreme madness that always follows an afternoon of fans being fans. The room was controlled chaos. A good dozen people were rushing around, all of them wearing jeans and bright neon orange shirts that had the words “Stage Hand” followed by the word “Volunteer” emblazoned upon the back.

Wildman’s Wife
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

From the fact that this isn’t their first time, I’m guessing they’re both realizing — or at least suspecting — they’re not as purely cis as they thought.”

“Okay, seriously,” Hayley groaned as she relaxed back onto the sofa. “Just pick one already, they all look great and they all look great on you as well.”

“I know,” Sophie sighed as she picked another dress from the pile in front of her and held it against her body. “I just want to make the perfect first impression, you know? This is my first ever book- well, not ‘tour’, thank you co-bloody-vid, but- you know? Especially considering what the topic of the book is as well.”

After the superhero Curador and his more experienced partner are captured by the evil Dr. Quasi, the demented genius subjects them to bizarre and horrifying experiments to satisfy his thirst for knowledge—as well as his own lascivious desires. Helpless to defend themselves from his depravity, the humiliated heroes soon discover that there are some fates far more outlandish than the merely life-and-limb dangers to which they had become accustomed. (A tale of Faraday City.)

I awoke in a sweat beneath cold light streaming through a framed picture window set into the wall beside me. It was flanked by heavy gold curtains on either side, but they had apparently not been pulled during the night. I struggled to remember where I was; it was a bed for certain, and likely a bedroom, but how had I gotten here? As I struggled into an upright position I surveyed my surroundings; it was indeed a four poster bed, the sheets made of soft green satin and presently drenched with my sweat.

“Cerridwen Circe Whitethorn!” I heard my mothers voice echo down the hallway. It seemed she was on the very verge of flipping her lid. I groaned as I looked down and then looked down at the toilet. Pieces of half chewed up chicken, sausage from this morning and bits of egg and corn floated in a light brown broth. Drinking the potion had forced me to empty my stomach. 

Jennifer Lam, of "A Bikini Beach Summer" and "A Bikini Beach Late Summer", revisits Bikini Beach for the first time.

“So why weren't you in Subterfuge class?” I asked Ella when history class ended. “I thought that every student on the leadership track had to take.”

“I talked it over with my advisor, we decided I could skip and go to the second year course,” my roommate said. “Honestly I learned most of what they teach in 101 before I left the nursery.”

“That sounds rough.”

Third Wife
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

I had always had long hair. My mother let me grow it. She said that she had long hair when she was younger but cut it when she had children. She liked to brush it.

At high school I wore it in a long braid oiled so that it did not have too much volume. After it was washed it would gain volume and look like girl’s hair, which was not a look I wanted. It was interested in girls and so I wanted to be masculine. In fact, girls used to like to play with my hair.

“Why is it wet?” I lifted my foot and shivered in the waning light as I looked at the standing water forming a thin film over the brick road, stretching from one end of the street to the other. Quinn shot me an almost amused look, then shook his head.

“Drainage problems, kid,” He shook his head. “The pipework below Jovial have been clogged since as long as I remember.”

“How long is that?”

Jared Raynes was a big man. Not that he was built like a linebacker, but he had a presence that was right there on the nail from the beginning. Using the word ‘Imposing’ did not do him justice.

Once the introductions had been made, he said,
“This is my show, ok? If I tell you to duck, you duck. Got it?”

Discharged - Female
A Short Story based on Fact
By Maryanne Peters

A Sad Little Song
By Sabrina G. Langton

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Author's Note: Just a little music to break up all the words. Just a little fluff to compensate for all the deep ideas, thoughts, and ideas floating around on this site. Just a little laugh to get us ready for the holidays... I hope YOU like it.

***

"So, sometimes a song makes me sad."

Linda, my wife, was asking why I was crying. I felt I was crying a lot lately, but in this instance, I had a good excuse, it was a sad song.

"This song is so not sad."

When magic class finally ended, I headed off to subterfuge, the one class I actually wanted to attend. I didn't want to become a trained liar, but it had my favourite teacher Bob, and I wasn't likely to get burned or horribly maimed in it. That had never really been a concern of mine before coming to Doom Valley Prep, now it was at the top of my list.

Putting the old priestess and her words out of his mind, Keir turned his attention to the children and teenagers who were coming to a stop before him. They were looking at him with wide eyes, some bowed their heads when they saw him looking. The oldest boy hobbled up on a crutch, then fell to his knees, his lame leg stretched awkwardly behind him, and looked at the ground.

Greg and Jill begin their new lives as Lisa and Blake. Lisa bonds with the girls at Bonnie's class. Afterwards she goes shopping with her new friends. Blake recruits a personal trainer and makes an exciting purchase. Lisa cooks a delicious dinner and she and Blake consummate the love they have for each other. 

I was expecting to land on something soft. Maybe an awning, a pile of refuse, a puddle of water, anything,. That was how it worked, right? In stories, the hero would face certain death and then find themselves saved just in the nick of time by mysterious circumstance. I was no hero. Instead my body hit solid ground. Rough round cobblestones greeted my body; the shock came first, then the pain, then the garbled, muted scream that barely escaped my lips through a crushed windpipe. Rib cage shattered, left arm twisted and malformed, knee caps cracked.

Have you ever looked over the edge of your life and pressed the rewind button in your brain? Just looking back at the things you might have done, could have accomplished, or conquered like a battalion on a literal battlefield of life? I’m pretty sure the general in charge of my life was either asleep at the morning briefing or he was annihilated and no one informed me as I ran up and over the hill into the line of fire.