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 […]

DOME OF FLORENCE, PART II, by Richard Marsden: Mahir continued to berate Filippo, both in heavily accented Italian and in his own dialect as well as a few choice curses from long-dead languages as they meandered through the winding streets of the city. Whereas Mahir had followed Filippo into Cosimo’s lair, head downcast, now their positions […]

DEMON-FANG, by R. Michael Burns: Having no means of crossing this life, I make swordsmanship my hiding place. –Yagyū Muneyoshi, Heihō Kaden Sho, 17th Century   Somewhere in the deep of night, the Fang whispered, and Shadows stirred.  The samurai Hokagé — Shadows-from-Firelight — opened his eyes on darkness, bitter voices crawling over him like […]