THE WORSHIP OF THE LORD OF THE ESTUARY AND THE WAGES OF HEROISM, by James Frederick William Rowe: It came from the sea, a thing of cold, slime, and teeth. Declaring its presence through murder, it took the lives of three men fishing on the open water before it claimed as its home the estuary […]

DEATH AT THE PASS, by Michael R. Fletcher: That this foul deed shall smell above the earth With carrion men, groaning for burial. -Shakespeare, Julius Caesar Somewhere there was a Necromancer. Of that there could be no doubt. Brushing a thousand years of dirt and rot from his robes, Khraen marvelled at how well preserved […]

BEFORE THE VILLAIN, by Alexandra Seidel: Should I give up now because it’s fate? Should I bury the sword handed to me through seven generations of firstborn mages in the watery soil of the moor? in the coal-hot sand of the desert? in the soft black earth behind the house? The seer promised me a […]

DUSKRIVEN, by Keith Kennedy: Broken teeth reflected back at me — the axe blade a mirror — blood on edge and face both, setting sun a glorified backdrop. Underfoot, skulls and hearts — the important parts of men — turned to mush by marching boots and planted strokes. In small valleys, blood flows away churned […]

Summer has arrived in Oklahoma, borne upon merciless winds, hammering storms, and a solar fury unleashed way too soon.  And yet we’ve ventured forth into the dizzying heat and found stories and poems that shimmer like mirages just shy of the horizon! And yet the reward of these mirages is attainable, if you only proceed […]