I used to have a recurring dream. A dream where I was on a boat out on the sea, off the coast of Africa. I didn’t know anyone else on the ship, except for one person, and she was a reason I was on that ship to begin with. The details of the dream would become sketchy each time…like a collage of events taken out of time, space and context. Did I see her smile at me or “the camera” did we swim in a pool with blue and green rocks on the bottom or was I remembering an aquarium I used to own?

CRYING SHOULDER

Creatures
by Anon Allsop

Another world, long ago

The macabre creature looked upward into the strange sky, one of its twin suns grew dim causing odd light to be cast upon the land. Tilting its strange triangle-shaped head slightly, it turned then raced back toward its nest to protect a small clutch of sleek and nearly impervious silver mirror-like eggs.

The eggs were nestled within the earthen bowl, each reflecting the face of the alien beast as Christmas ornaments would reflect back a child's face - distorted and bent across its surface. She hovered over them, instinctively using her body as the last bit of protection from what was racing down from above. Slowly she raised her head, just as the meteorite entered the thin atmosphere burning and tumbling toward the ground.

Chapter 3

I had to sit down and catch my breath. I said “That can’t be right; I don’t look girly, do I?” He said that it was not that I looked girly now, it was the fact that some small adjustments to my facial bones, that any competent cosmetic surgeon could do, would give me the look he had drawn.

Patsy Power Part 23

We went back down to the changing room and Angela came up and said,” we have just decided that there will not be a usual type of break between sets. With these numbers a stadium audience is always on the move in and out of the auditorium so we will do a five minute break between sets. I have organised a curtained area for you behind the PA speakers for you to change. “

Lyle, or Lindsey to his close friends and special acquaintances, was retired and celebrating his 50th birthday with lunch with two long time friends. It was a fairly low key gathering at the rustic Mount Baldy Buckhorn Lodge & Café in the nearby San Gabriel Mountains. The Lodge held many memories for their group because of the many special occasions held there.

Today Is Your Day

Prison Therapy
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

I never shared a cell with Saus Solnick. I like to think that if we ever had, if we had talked this through, none of this would have happened. If I knew who he was, I never would have followed him on this path.

 

Part 9 of 11

Saturday, April 16, 2016

The alarm in Alonzo's spare room is just as annoying as the one in my bedroom The cursed thing went off at 4:45 AM, which, if you can do some basic math, is two minutes short of an hour after Dawn woke up. Why does the sun rise so stinking early? Can't it wait for a more civilized time to accommodate photographers who are also nursing mothers?

'Super Dad goes a' huntin' for Dora but gets a pleasant surprise.

WANDERLUST

In a world were there has been no rape, sexual assault or harassment in over 100 yrs. Each 16 year old child gets a letter that starts like this:

Who is That Girl

Saturday morning saw us all at the local pop radio station in our street clothes. Faith was now clinging to Steve like she didn’t want him to get away again. Of course the subject of the book came up after we had said how happy we were to be here and that the crowd last night was fantastic.

 

Part 8 of 11

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

"Somebody didn't get her beauty sleep last night, did they?"

"Shut up, Darcy."

I was not in the best of moods.

After their wedding Harry and Murphy are enjoying their life in Chicago. Things change however, when they decide to locate friends that hadn't made the transition to the non-magical version of reality. Can Harry maintain his grip on things when he has to rescue Murphy from the clutches of a demon in the new Never-never?

 

Part 7 of 11

Friday, February 19, 2016

I have to write this down, but I am completely bewildered as to how I can make it all make sense. My life has settled down to be about as predictable as a transgendered, self-employed businesswoman and single mother can get - which sentence is downright silly once I put it down. I mean… really!

Judgement
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

Part 1

Docket 9613/53/56

Judgement of the Court
Justice Charles Jacobs presiding

This case involves the estate of the late Delphine Leroux.

CHAPTER 50
We changed onto the faster train at New Street, the old Commer left behind on our drive in Cannock as Dad refused outright to even think of trying to drive it through London, much less park it. The train wasn’t that fast in the end, but we finally stepped out onto a platform in Euston, people surging around us in a clear hurry, and equally as clear in their idea of the right way to go. I had asked around at work, and so we headed down Euston Road towards King’s Cross, where I had been told there were a number of cheaper guest houses.

 

Part 6 of 11

Monday, November 30, 2015

If you're in retail, Black Friday marks the start of the Christmas Rush. For a photographer, the following Monday seems to be the start of the Christmas Rush. People are too busy standing in front of some store at five in the morning waiting for a bargain to sit down for their Christmas Card Photo.