For the Stefko Family Delilah snaked her arm into the station’s broken support thruster. If she could just get the stabilizer loose, she might be able to get it fixed. If not, they were going to have to order a new one from Earth. No one […]
flash fiction
Gail flopped down onto the new grass, peeled off her shoes, and dangled her feet into the frigid rushing water. She closed her eyes. Warm sunlight spread across her cheeks, and the brook’s burble joined with the singing birds and buzzing bees in a lovely springtime symphony. […]
May Flowers
For Marilla Cathair piled wood on his lonely Beltane fire. At home, everyone would be drinking and dancing, celebrating the spring. His heart ached. Fial was dead, and Cathair was exiled, but time moved on without them. The accusation of fratricide, falling from Neasa’s lips, had wounded […]
A Beltane Dance
There was only one present left under the tree, and it wasn’t big enough to be the racetrack that Billy wanted. It’d been the only thing he’d asked for this year, too. Well, not the only thing, but the only important thing. His parents should have known that. He fought […]
Christmas Present
The antique store smelled like old leather and furniture polish. Dahlia wandered between the chairs and desks to the back wall, where knickknacks rested on dusty shelves. She picked up a duck carved out of dark blue stone. The duck was cool and heavy, and it made her fingers tingle. […]
Magical Duck
The Apollo slipped into the room through the cracks in the blinds. He traced his daughter’s cheek. The machines beeped. He felt powerless. The boat followed dolphins to an island where a silver ship was crashed into a palm tree. The alien stood and extended its hand. The […]
Twitter Stories
Ronnie curled up in the hideout and pulled out one of the chocolate bars that Jim’s grandma had sent with him. They didn’t get much chocolate on Mars, and Ronnie usually savored it. She devoured the bar in four bites. Her mom was driving her crazy. She thought that she […]
Martian Adventures: Moms
The woodsman stared at the red velvet heart that rested in his tin palm. He hadn’t thought of himself as Nick Chopper for a long time. He wondered if he really wanted that name back–if he even wanted the life he’d been working to win back for so long. But […]
A Heart to Love With
The shopkeep stuffed a pigeon into a parakeet cage. Coos changed into sweet chirps. "Never let it out of its cage," he warned his customers. Ed wondered why he never saw baby pigeons. He found a rocky seashore, where round stones glowed in the moonlight. He never saw the sunrise. […]
Twitter Stories
Jim zoned out a little during the speeches. He listened while Ronnie’s dad got up and talked for a while about the purpose of the colony–about exploration and the indomitable human spirit. It was the same sort of thing that Ronnie’s dad always went on about. Jim’s lips twitched. He […]