Posted Aug. 7, 2020
Revised Aug. 8, 2020

On the planet Zhor, as in most pre-modern societies, careers appealing to women can at first seem rather restricted. But in so complex a civilization as Zhor's, a capable woman -- if determined enough --may discover that some rather unique fields of endeavor lay open to her. Lady Caron thinks that she has found one that will suit her nicely.

This story is inspired by Ranbarth's novelette "The Lancer's Tale," available at Fictionmania.

Aurora

A Short Story by Rosemary

August 2020

I was born in the lower 48, back in the 1963. My dad was an engineer for an oil company, and my family moved around a lot.

When I was seven, something happened. I began to realize that I was looking at girls. My mom caught me one day, and told me it wasn't polite. Besides, I was too young to be checking out girls.

New Forms
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

I have to hand it to Caitlyn Jenner. She is not a person that I can agree with about much, but she certainly had the courage to transition later in life. It was her example that persuaded me to take the decision I had been putting off for years.

A Comedy of Errors

A short story by Rosemary

August 2020

Doug North and his wife, Carol, were truckers. For many years, Doug had pulled flatbed all over the country, while Carol stayed home with the kids. Now that the kids were out of the house, Carol traveled with Doug.

On this particular day, they were in a backwater town, somewhere in the middle of northern Idaho, having just loaded up some treated fence posts. Doug was throwing a strap over the load when out on the two-lane highway, a car blew a tire.

Sometimes you can’t appreciate what you have, until it’s gone.

Spring! What a beautiful time of year! Everything is green. The grass, the new buds on plants. Even the Tamarack trees are producing green needles again.

So it was with buoyant hearts that the couple planned their wedding.

Raquiel

by Erisian

Light flickers across the café table's turquoise checkerboard and the cigarette's smoke curls upward, mixing with the scent of coffee and the coming rain. Voices bubble all around to fill the evening air with bursts of laughter and camaraderie, but to them I do not listen.

Instead I stare.

My gaze is fixed upon the plain white envelope resting upon the fake marble tabletop where it sits next to an ignored saucer and cup. Yet my eyes see past it to a place so very far away, beyond the reaches of this world. To a place whose name could best be translated as the Edge.

The Edge of all things.

Patsy Power Part 29

Back at the hotel most of us found the lounge and coffee machine. I was sitting with Joanne, Nina and Riordan when the CEOs’ wife came over to thank us for the experience tonight and say that she was looking forward to the full concert on Friday evening. She said that she, and her husband, needed to go shopping on Friday.

Explanations -- A Short Political Gargoyle
By Ellie Dauber © 2020

Yes, this is another politically biased story. I just couldn’t resist the notion.

The President slammed the report down on his desk. “Too damn many pages,” he muttered. “I’ve told them, and I’ve told them no more than two pages… and large type.”

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Dot 3; Fashion forward

Last time: Dot had arrived at AMPS, got a dressing down by the headmistress, a full tour of the campus, and a new code name: Fashion. Now, she’s just waiting for the other students to arrive ...

I got off my new bed, and made my way to the cafeteria, to eat a bit of supper. I had just gotten my food and sat down when my mom came in, and sat down across from me.

She was wearing a huge grin, so I asked, “What’s up, Mom?”

Weddings
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

Wedding Number One

“Come on, it will be fun,” Maggie McMullen said. “It will be them against us. The McMullen ladies against the Cavendish gentlemen.”

“You have to see how crazy this is,” said Rory. “Why the hell does Charlie want us to turn up to your wedding in wigs and frocks?”

Chapter 5

I put the rest of my stuff in the small bag that Julia had brought in and was taken down to reception to be signed out. I really did not know what my future held now.

Rohan grew up with a traditional Indian mother. She held up her values and made sure he adhered to them too. When he didn’t there was strict punishment to enforce good behaviour. For the most part, Rohan was a good kid, except that he wanted to grow his hair out.

Something is missing

A Short Story by Rosemary

July 2020

The young man was twenty-eight years old. He was nothing special, just your normal, average, everyday, young man. He worked at an ordinary job, stocking shelves, selling things, and occasionally running the till. It wasn't a huge box store, but a small, Mom and Pop hardware store, in the middle of a small town right out of Leave It To Beaver. The only thing missing on the streets was Jerry Mathers.

One Portland Night
By Ellie Dauber © 2020

A magical protester gets some retribution from two agents from an unknown federal task force. Warning: This is a politically-biased story. I won’t argue the politics, but I would like to hear about what people thought of the story.

One Portland Night
By Ellie Dauber © 2020

Shaylah was standing at the edge of the crowd, about forty feet from the Portland federal courthouse, when the vans pulled up.

Patsy Power Part 27

I went to find the band and Riordan went to find hers while Angela went off to call Sarah at home. I found Carl and the boy’s playing cards in the hotel lounge, pulled up a chair and asked them for their attention. “Just a few minutes ago” I started, “Riordan proposed a scenario where ‘Amazon’ almost doubles in size and ‘The Party’ disappears altogether. “

Chapter 4

I was in a dream, I knew it was a dream as I was floating but my body was on fire. I felt no pain, just every nerve ending was screaming. There were also sounds of speaking in my head, strange words that my dreaming brain made no sense of.

The U.S.S. ACCELERATOR has been accelerating at one gee for 45 days 7 hours, and 13 minutes -- 3.914 * 10⁶ seconds -- since its departure from the Inner Solar System.

CAPTAIN: Lefty! Do we have the latest measurements? How close are we now to the speed of light?

Patsy Power Part 25

On the flight to San Francisco I sat next to Riordan. “How do you like being an Amazon” she asked. I said that it was a different feeling but I was sure I could get used to it if I had to.

We arrived at the hotel to find that the rest of the ‘Party’ crew had already checked in. Our concerts started on Tuesday and ran until Thursday then the ‘Party’ flew to Long Beach for a weekend performance at the dance festival before a week in Los Angeles for performances on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Lady Luck
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

It is the dream of millions, but for us it came true. We won the lottery. The three of us, toiling away quietly in the huge warehouse where I had gone to work for a month or two and ended up staying 6 years, won the lottery. Me, with old man Gus, and little Paul, won the big one. 54 million dollars in one lump sum. $18,000,000 each.

Rudy strolls through life looking for the right opportunities to express herself.

The heroine Mantra (Malibu Comics) suddenly finds that she's lost almost a week of time and has appeared in a place hundreds of miles from where she belongs. But if only things were so simple. In fact, the situation is much stranger than that, and potentially very dangerous.

What gives people a sense of pride grows as a person matures and goes from being self-centered to considerate of others.The more considerate a person becomes, the bigger the circle of people becomes who increases that person's pride. How much you like them as a person is not as big of a factor if you take pride for being associated with them. Having pride in those who are close to you comes from people finding out the truth that one does not need to like a person to love them. Lori was about to take pride in her brother for the first time in her life.

Berlin 1945: A Story of Survival

A Short Story based on Historical People
By Maryanne Peters

It seems hard to believe with everything that happened afterwards, but in the 1920s and 1930s Germany was at the forefront of the battle for rights for homosexual and transsexual people.

The Berlin based sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld led a campaign throughout Europe with the formation of “The World League of Sexual Reform”. He toured America in 1931 with the Hearst newspaper chain dubbing him “the Einstein of Sex”. It was Hirschfeld who first outlined the full spectrum of sexual variations, by gender and orientation.