THE PRIESTESS’ DAUGHTER, by Jennifer Blackford I barely remember my father’s golden eyes, or his shouted laugh that made even my solemn priestess mother smile. She knew too much and not enough of wild things. Before my father died, all the village children envied me. He was the only man we knew with his own […]

JUMBLE, by Mary Soon Lee, art by Gary McCluskey Twilight. Two men on the snow. Tsung’s thoughts jumbled, snow below him, above him, branches thickened by white. King Xau bent over him, blood trickling from the king’s shoulder. Red blood, white snow as Tsung drifted in and out, the king’s hands on his stomach– pressure, […]

THE BOOK OF RUINS, by Jennifer Crow   Some ruins are not meant for rebuilding: jumbled stones with crumbling corners, a slope of gravel that once bore the face of god, the lake of unknown depth from which a lone bell

THE CAVE OF GLOWING SKULLS, by Gary Every     A small stream exits the cave at the mouth tumbling and cascading down the cliff before plopping onto the sand and seeping softly into the sea. The climb is rugged but not dangerous. One can easily walk a half mile inside the mountain, then the […]

SWORDS, by Colleen Anderson     Torn from the earth with hard edged tools biting into its mother’s belly hammered, chiseled, pulverized until it no longer recalls its long slumber A sword begins the chaotic journey of which it is forged Without love nor comfort nor the still acceptance of nature it enters a fiery […]