Latest Stories

CallmeJayne

Kennedy's Children

'It was already November the twenty-second.' Diane glanced at the letter and attached visiting order. 'Another Christmas alone.' She switched on the radio for the news. The final item made her smile. Girls sobbing in the streets because they were unable to buy tickets for a concert. At thirty- four Diane was too old for The Beatles. Today was Friday. The insurance man was due. She...Read On

Added: 22 Jan 2020 | Category: Flash Fiction | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 206 | Tags: news  sixties  wife   | 5 Comments

MasterClown

The Magic of Oz

After a tornado transports a Kansas farmgirl to a magic land, she must seek a wizard to return home.

-DRAMATIS PERSONAE- L Frank Baum: the narrator Dorothy Gale: a Kansas farmgirl Locasta: the witch of the north Sir Dashemoff Daily: a poet Scarecrow: in need of some brains Tin-man: in need of a heart The Cowardly Lion: in need of some courage The Wicked Witch: an oppressor The Snow Queen: a frost spirit The Wizard of Oz: ruler of the Emerald City Sir Wiley Gyle: a winged monkey...Read On

Added: 22 Jan 2020 | Category: Plays | Avg Score: 0 | Words: 3,515 | Tags: vaudeville  

Beesting

Fuel Season 1: Episode 2: Diamond in the Rough

Its week 2 of Monday Night Fuel as Stevie learns the art of sports entertainment

9th of September – Season 1 Stevie’s pulse was racing as she moved at an incredible speed. Darcy Stevens was known for many things: having a dark, chocolate complexion unique for a colored woman; having a soft spot for coconut-covered snowballs and for being one of the fastest human beings in Southern Africa on open-wheels. As Stevie weaved and bobbed between vehicles, she could feel...Read On

Added: 21 Jan 2020 | Category: Action | Avg Score: 0 | Words: 1,812 | Tags: motorsports  soap opera  south african  

CallmeJayne

L'Auteur

Each weekday, after her husband has left for his office, Claudia covers canvasses with solid colour. Mid-morning she walks her small dog. On Mondays she meets a friend for lunch. Other days, weather permitting, she sits shrouded in shades at a pavement cafe. On Tuesday and Thursday afternoons she meets a lover. Afterwards they lie back on tangled sheets and bicker about politics and...Read On

Added: 20 Jan 2020 | Category: Micro Fiction | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 86 | Tags: wife  artist  dreamer   | 4 Comments

Adrienne

A New Spark

A NEW SPARK I wonder if you feel anything like I do.  Do you long for the past, hate the present and fear the future? Has your heart been ripped up through your throat and straight out of your head up to the sky. You might feel something like this But do you also know that someday a new spark will start another fire?...Read On

Added: 19 Jan 2020 | Category: Musings | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 64 | Tags: heartbreak  adrienne  spark  newbeginning   | 4 Comments

RowenAether

S.E.C.R.E.T. Chapter Two

Chapter Two   When they pull up to the crime scene, a nondescript single-story house, human officers swarm the yard, already having taped off the house. Calypso is the first out of the car, followed closely by Melissa. Valerian ambles from the back seat, yawning and stretching, letting out a satisfied sigh at the pop from his spine. The trio slip under some yellow police tape only to...Read On

Added: 19 Jan 2020 | Category: Supernatural | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 5,413 | Tags: humor  gay male  love story  novel  vampires  werepeople  succubi   | 1 Comment

actung

Keep Dancing

Once upon a time, many, many moons ago, a pretty young ballerina practised her dance alone though in more ways than one she was not alone. She began by holding a handrail and stretched for a moment or two, one leg at a time. The mirrored walls not only reflect her but almost, in her mind anyway, reflect an alternative self, an imaginary dance partner, an identical opposite, a mirrored twin. ...Read On

Added: 16 Jan 2020 | Category: General | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 637 | Tags: together   | 1 Comment

Beesting

Fuel Season 1: Episode 1: The Abominable Seduction

Witness the debut episode of Monday Night Fuel as we follow Solo Magubane

2ND OF SEPTEMBER   - SEASON  1   “Welcome to Monday Night Fuel.” Those were the words that boomed from Moodswing’s mouth as he stood atop the stage that sat right in the middle of the racetrack. But while Moodswing gave the landmark speech that would change the face of the island province of Azania forever, all Solo could think of was his upcoming race... and just how many people...Read On

Added: 16 Jan 2020 | Category: Action | Avg Score: 0 | Words: 1,504 | Tags: motorsports  soap opera  south african  

Darkniciad

Tales From the Tabletop III

"Work!" The word that nearly brought the world to ruin.

Wherever they are found, and wherever they have traveled, Kender evoke a common adage amongst those who have encountered them. The most dangerous thing in the world is a bored Kender. I must beg to differ in this tale. For those who don’t know Kender, they are a race of Halflings/Hobbits known for an overwhelming sense of curiosity. So great is their curiosity that they are fearless even...Read On

Added: 15 Jan 2020 | Category: Memoirs | Avg Score: 0 | Words: 2,496 | Tags: pnp  role-playing  gaming  funny  

RowenAether

S.E.C.R.E.T. Chapter One

A supernatural love story where people almost get eaten by a monster.

  Chapter One   Valerian wakes to a shrill sound going off by his bed. The bed sheets are tangled and constricted around him, one of the reasons he stopped sleeping in a coffin. He's a very restless sleeper. When he was younger and a coffin was not optional, it was a lot more annoying. He was constantly waking up by banging his elbow or hitting his knee or smashing his head. Once a hole...Read On

Added: 14 Jan 2020 | Category: Supernatural | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 2,535 | Tags: humor  gay male  love story  novel  vampires  werepeople  succubi   | 2 Comments

redwriter

Back Without Regret

Music takes him back over many years

That’s it. Breakfast dishes all cleared away. Cups neatly stacked, in the lower cupboard, Cereal bowls alongside with the plates. Now, why do I find something so menial satisfying? Oh, don’t I know the reason very well? It’s a form of security. Just like the warm aroma of my wife’s scones baking in the oven. There’s something steadfast and reassuring about that sort of thing. Fifty years or...Read On

Added: 14 Jan 2020 | Category: Romance | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 1,832 | Tags: dating  promise  hope  dismay  reassuring   | 6 Comments

AnnaMayZing

The Long Road Home Chapter 14

“How can snow still be so beautiful amidst all this devastation?”

Innsbruck, December 17 th 1943   Both Maria and Katarina were glad that the policeman hadn't argued. They had spent some ninety minutes on the back of this filthy, freezing lorry as it picked its way carefully along the rubble-strewn streets, almost but not quite stopping as it drove over bricks and pieces of debris. The foreman had done a marvellous job of keeping the...Read On

Added: 14 Jan 2020 | Category: Drama | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 3,163 | Tags: history  ww2  innsbruck   | 5 Comments

Welshdreamer42

The Decision

Added: 11 Jan 2020 | Category: Micro Fiction | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 103 | Tags: decision  hope  determination  cancer   | 11 Comments

CallmeJayne

Watching

Who the watcher, who the watched? And who can truly say? That they are ever quite alone, As they rise to meet the day. Many years back then For reasons not obscure. Wrapped in the cloak of Soho Like a million souls before. He watched an act as old as time, But never came to know You don't have to be Prince Hamlet, To take part in the show. In a cell with bars of loneliness He...Read On

Added: 11 Jan 2020 | Category: Songs | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 137 | Tags: voyeur  lonely  peepshow   | 5 Comments

AriesDragon

Converse and Cornflakes

Being organised is not in my DNA

My Alarm goes off at 6 am... it starts with the calm mellow tones of Enya, then Adiemus and progresses through to the likes of Pink Martini and Fever Ray. I really do not like waking up, my finger is well trained at locating the snooze button, so off I go again, back to the land of nod, subconsciously aware of the gentle sounds until I’m very rudely brought back to reality by...Read On

Added: 06 Jan 2020 | Category: General | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 569 | Tags: children  earlymorning  mum  chaos  feralchild   | 6 Comments

Adrienne

The Rhythm of Silence

walking my dog by some mysterious birds

Added: 06 Jan 2020 | Category: Flash Fiction | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 65 | Tags: landmark  adrienne  tree  birds  dogwalk   | 4 Comments

maryruth

The airport

The day at the airport Many were waiting for loved ones A look at the clock told the time was near Sounds of the plane had finally come  People moving  Cries and laughter were everywhere A man moved into view My heart told me It was him We stopped  As customs say  Our eyes didn't meet I heard the drop of a bag  Saw him go down on one knee As he extended his hand Palm up I...Read On

Added: 05 Jan 2020 | Category: Memoirs | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 129 | Tags: airplane   | 5 Comments

Darkniciad

Anew As One

A forest spirit reborn of love.

Added: 05 Jan 2020 | Category: Micro Fiction | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 95 | Tags: dryad  magic  love  longing  reunion  joy   | 1 Comment

actung

Dexter's House

Ralph never knew quite why he went into the Plaza hotel on that bright summer afternoon. He had passed by the place so many times without ever going inside and each time he did pass, his intrigue grew. The building almost seemed to call out to him. It was as if he was meant to go there and become a part of something, something big, bigger than him, bigger than his pet rabbit, bigger than...Read On

Added: 05 Jan 2020 | Category: General | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 1,729 | Tags: new year's   | 2 Comments

Darkniciad

Tales From the Tabletop II

Name? Choose wisely...

Here’s yet another fond memory from the bygone days of PnP role-playing. This tale centers around one of my players creating a new character. Everyone playing the game had many characters. We just picked out characters from our portfolio according to whim every time we sat down at our custom-built plywood and 2x4 gaming table. Everyone wanted a wide variety of options, so we often rolled up...Read On

Added: 03 Jan 2020 | Category: Memoirs | Avg Score: 0 | Words: 756 | Tags: funny  role-playing  pnp  d&d  

Lev821

A second opinion

A celebrity criminal appearing in pantomine is about to recieve a piece of Barbara's mind.

I can't believe the cheek of him, bold as anything, staring out at me with his stupid face. Well, there's no way I'm putting up with this. No way. I've never liked him, never trusted him. He's smarmy and sly, and now here he is, a face on a poster outside the small Shaftsbury theatre, in the town where I live. He's appearing in a pantomime in a kid's play for God's sake. This man killed an...Read On

Added: 02 Jan 2020 | Category: Crime | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 986 | Tags: short story  fiction  thriller  crime  drama   | 1 Comment

Wordpusher715

My Y2K Experience

Memories are best told after the pain of making them is past...

Twenty years ago last night, I spent New Year’s Eve waiting for someone in the world to call and tell me something in our product line didn’t work. Or that it worked incorrectly. It was December 31st, 1999 and Y2K misbehavior was clearly at the forefront of many people's minds. Including mine. In January 1999, I had been re-assigned from Director of World Service to Director of Quality...Read On

Added: 02 Jan 2020 | Category: Memoirs | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 911 | Tags: y2k   | 4 Comments

Darkniciad

Tales From the Tabletop

Never get on the Dungeon Master's nerves...

There were some grand moments in my old PnP role-playing days that I will think fondly of until my dying day. This is one of them. My gaming world was one of my own creation, put together in the fashion of Frankenstein’s monster from numerous sources. It was quite the “Monty Haul” campaign, which means that loot was abundant. I balanced this by giving the monsters and other beings in the...Read On

Added: 02 Jan 2020 | Category: Memoirs | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 898 | Tags: pnp  role-playing  gaming  funny   | 1 Comment

MasterClown

A Twelfth-night Masque

Within a medieval castle, festivity begins to take shape.

INT. A MEDIEVAL CASTLE HALL A set of banners are hung around the hall.   SONG: Pastime with Good Company A band of musicians enter and play. They exit afterward.   SCENE: Antimasque The Sprites enter. SPRITES    Black spirits and white, red spirits and grey,    Mingle, mingle, mingle, you that mingle may.    Four points of the circle, weave the spell,    East,...Read On

Added: 25 Dec 2019 | Category: Plays | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 1,903 | Tags: pageant  winter  revels   | 1 Comment

MasterClown

Kaleidoscape

INT. A CIRCUS RING Zippo slowly enters. With his umbrella, he turns on the lights, one by one. He greets the spectators as the Thespians enter. Zippo, with his umbrella, makes the Thespians twirl about. The Ringmaster enters. RINGMASTER    Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages, we welcome you to the glorious production of the spectacular Kaleidoscape! A wild and wonderful collection...Read On

Added: 24 Dec 2019 | Category: Plays | Avg Score: 0 | Words: 591 | Tags: circus  clowns  theatrics  

Survivor

The Whacking of the Trees

It was all she could do for her heart and her soul

Added: 24 Dec 2019 | Category: Micro Fiction | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 100 | Tags: micro fiction  cancer  coping   | 8 Comments

actung

A Nightmare on Christmas Street

One, two ... soon he'll be coming for you. There is a darkness with which we are becoming accustomed to, and it returns every once in a while whether we want it to return or not. No matter how often it comes, or how long it lasts, we never really get used to it at all, now do we?   Half-past six on the morning of Christmas Eve and Christine opens her eyes. Such an odd way to wake,...Read On

Added: 24 Dec 2019 | Category: Horror | Avg Score: 0 | Words: 1,206 | Tags: not freddie  

MasterClown

The Masque of Christmas

  DRAMATIS PERSONAE Santa Claus: a midwinter icon Hans Muff: a satyr The Boy: a curious lad The Archangel: a herald Befana: an old woman The Reindeer: an animal Chorus: peasants, angels     INT. A PARLOR ROOM   A boy is seen in a chair, reading a book. BOY    Santa Claus is very big and fat. He’s got a red suit and a white beard. He brings you many gifts, but not if...Read On

Added: 23 Dec 2019 | Category: Plays | Avg Score: 0 | Words: 1,093 | Tags: santa claus  solstice  change  

maryruth

Whisper

To fill the hours in the day I do as expected Alone in a crowd I prefer it that way Not really alone As some think I see you in my mind Feel you in my soul Your whisper at times I hear Whenever I miss you the most Every beat of my heart Every breath I take Your whispers give me strength The courage to continue on They are really a treat I realize  To have the time we did ...Read On

Added: 23 Dec 2019 | Category: Memoirs | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 85 | Tags: loss   | 3 Comments

redwriter

Christmas Whoopee

Father's major Christmas Worry

A lot of tinsel Kids wanting more Queues at the check-outs In every store What is the reason? Another season Another Christmas   Dad is defensive He knows the sign It's all expensive, The gifts, the wine. But Mom's not stopping She's gone out shopping Another Christmas   She's bought out Harrod's And M and S, She went through Wallmark Like an express So no one's missed out,...Read On

Added: 22 Dec 2019 | Category: Songs | Avg Score: 5 | Words: 169 | Tags: check-outs  shopping  spending     | 4 Comments