SHY DAISIES, by Gretchen Tessmer, with artwork by Andrea Alemanno     She’s muttering to herself oh, clasp these hands together before we’re all done in— keep them steady keep them still don’t shiver even as the woods dress in winter-white all their apple seeds and maple saplings close to the chest, sleeping under this […]

The Portrait of the Bold Captain, by Deborah L. Davitt, artwork by Karolína Wellartová     Every portrait is a lesson in what the portrayed wishes you to see take this one hanging here, the bold and doughty captain his falcon on his shoulder, a sword at one hip, a book hanging from a baldric […]

THE UNBITTEN FRUIT, written and read by Oliver Smith   In the desert’s empty heart, it whispered, “I am the wind who wore smooth the tomb. Yet, still fair Aždaja, whom you loved and who loved thee, came to search the musty, statued halls; among the mould of skulls, forsaking her golden crown, for pages […]

THE GOBBLER RAID, by Aidan Redwing, pending artwork by Simon Walpole   Pit-pat, pit-pat fall the raindrops from a grey moonless sky. Clink-clank, clink-clank from the mine shaft, the Gobblers creep below. And the villagers lay sleeping, all a bed a-sleeping, on this wretched and dreary night.   Skit-scat, skit-scat, scratch their long claws, creeping […]

FOUND IN A HIDDEN CAVERN, written and read by Colleen Anderson   Found in a Hidden Cavern Notations on Artifacts & Manuscript I in icy seas black as a villain’s heart in depths the sun fears to touch lies the last of a knowing race encased in a shell, waiting for that moment between breath […]