Daily Features
Jennifer Florence "Today Was a High Gravity Day"
Today was a high gravity day -- very high gravity.
If I had to hazard a guess, I would say today's gravity was at least 19.394 m/s2 in most of my house, and a solid 21.0 m/s2 in the immediate vicinity of my couch. READ THE REST
"Black Dime" (M. R. Luxemburg) from Sci-Fi Stir Fry
Remember when you stung like a bee, leaving your ink all over the kitchen floor and the orchids in the kitchen window never seemed to notice how drab the sun had become over the years? It makes no sense. All languages die in the gap. So, don't speak. READ THE REST
I took this bobcat picture about ten years ago. I also took another bobcat picture at about the same time in the same spot. No sightings since then. A neighbor told me he recently saw one. My guess is it's the child or grandchild of this one. As per Google AI overview: "Bobcats establish specific, circuitous, and regular travel routes within their territories, which they patrol every 1–3 weeks. They are solitary, territorial hunters that often use established game trails, ridgelines, and sometimes human trails for easier movement, covering 2–7 miles nightly. They also use scent markings along these routes to define their territory." MORE PHOTOS
SUMMER STUNNER
is open for submissions until March 31, 2026.
We're looking for flash fiction and poetry from 1 - 3 pages in length.
Dr. Jim McCutchon "Zombie Revenge"
May 3, 2017
While taking a tour through Pass Christian on my way home from a trip to Biloxi, I stopped at Live Oak Cemetery to see if the gravestone had been placed on my aunt Rebecca’s grave and to just look around. Live Oak is a special cemetery to me. There are so many of my ancestors buried there. READ THE REST
Vaughn Westheimer "CHALK OUTLINE MAN"
Lightning animated the Chalk Outline Man
A work of art born on what had been a sunny day,
And he rose in a swirl, like Dali’s moustache,
A pink-yellow-blue (but mostly blue) pastel frame
Three turkey vultures and two black vultures on a street light near Oso Creek during the recent freeze. I don't recall seeing black vultures very often. As per Google AI summary, "they don't have the superior sense of smell of turkey vultures and follow the turkey vulture to find food" when times are tough. This would seem to explain their appearance during the cold. Maybe they stay when spring comes. MORE PHOTOS.
Patricia Alaniz "Not My Shame"
I became your victim
on the floor.
Hurts to hide,
this pain inside.
ALTERVERSES Sara Etgen-Baker (from Sci-Fi Stir Fry)
What if I've lived the exact present I’m living now before,
doesn't it make sense to think of it as though...
there is another part of me in another universe,
going through the same thing?
William Walton "Or Even What Kind of Ship It Was"
Casey was very drunk. He leaned his forearms on the cold, sticky stern rail and hung his head over the side. The sea was rough, and every time the ship rolled so did his stomach. His drink sloshed over, soaking his wrist and sleeve, but none of this distracted him from the memory of stone-faced mortuary people, condolences from friends, his wife in a body bag, nights alone, and whiskey—lots of whiskey.
Casey stared down into the dark turbulence of the ship’s prop wash... READ THE REST
Cardinals are widely considered a sign of good luck, hope, and spiritual connection, often seen as messengers from loved ones in heaven, bringing blessings, joy, and vitality, with some traditions suggesting luck within 12 days of sighting one. Their vibrant red color against winter snow also symbolizes hope and the promise of spring. MORE OF MY PHOTOS
Mariah Massengill "To Be, or Used to Be"
This decrepit monster house used to be
a suite of youth and dreams
until momma heard strangers shouting in the attic
and she drowned us in her screams
IN AN ALTERNATIVE WORLD…
By Stefan Sencerz
In an alternative world number 1
when I am about 3 and a half
my father does not buy a fish
whom I befriend during a week
My Mother's Patio by Marley Greiner
I sat on my mother's patio
Drinking tea in the morning
Reading F Scott Fitzgerald
Listening to the clean silence
and the friendly sound of birds
nesting in the trees.
“Bark to Water”Tom Murphy
Ridnow pulls the boom’s quad nanotube cables in with a deft toggle adjustment to cut close haul. The Bevlon kicks in as the spacecraft speeds through the heliosphere.
Not a moment to lose, thinks Ridnow. They spyglass their stellar trail and catch a glimpse of a light beam shifting its direction, then growing brighter. READ THE REST FOR FREE
Mariah Michelle Hinojosa "Isn't it funny"
Isn’t it funny
That poetry
Is just words
We say
The Crested Caracara mates for life. They often return to the same nest to lay eggs and raise the babies. The male shares in child care. They eat both live and dead prey and will often follow vultures to poach their food.
Black-bellied whistling ducks fly over Oso Creek. I don't know where they're going, but they do. They fly with great efficiency and urgency, whistling as they go. They fly in groups. Sometimes, there are stragglers, trailing along behind the others.
Vultures Over Oso Creek.
According to Google Images, the one on the left is a turkey vulture, and the two on the right are black vultures. As per Wikipedia, black vultures follow turkey vultures to food sources and will evidently attack livestock, particularly calves.
Peter Newall WINTER IN TOMASZOW
Allyson Larkin "Chupacabra" MORE
Be bold. Be brief. Submit to Sci-Fi Stir Fry.
Hooded oriole. More of my photos
ALTERVERSES Sara Etgen-Baker
What if I've lived the exact present I’m living now before,
doesn't it make sense to think of it as though MORE
Mysteries surround us.
Buy Mystery Twistery
June 17. Painted Bunting. See more of my nature photos
June 16. Great blue heron. See more of my nature photos
June 5 "My Kidnapping" William Mays
Tom Murphy Two Poems May 27
Chritian Garduno May 18
May 11
"Legless Lizard" May 10
May 9 "Alligator" by William Mays
May 7
William Mays May 6
Dante Silva April 26
Grady Hunter April 19
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(David Carpenter "The Epiphany") "Monica and Jerry are assholes."
It had been two weeks, and I was still muttering about my feud at work when I climbed up the tree with a chainsaw. MORE
Chupacabra
The school bus sped away in a cloud of dust. Tony started up the steep drive to the ranch house. The afternoon sun baked the back of his neck. His backpack bit into his shoulders and sweat dripped into his eyes. MORE
January 12 Spring Fling is open for submissions until February 28, 2025.
January 11 (Abrar Ahmad "The Bus Stop")
It is a stormy evening in a forested area. Downpour is torrential. There's a bus stop where a peculiar female waits. Unfortunately for her, she doesn't have an umbrella or a proper raincoat.
MORE
January 10 (Lucas Jasso "Crabby")
My granny brought clothes when I was a young tot. My mother bought clothes for me until I got married, and then my wife bought my clothes. That practice, by the three females in my life, made me develop anxiety.
MORE
January 9 (Donna Huddleston "Customary Prayers for Marie")
"I’m only thirty-four years old,” Marie said. “I’m too young to die.”
That morning, she ran away from her husband, ten-month-old daughter, and four-year-old son. She drove to an emergency room a hundred and fifty miles away, hoping for a different prognosis and then came back home.
MORE
January 8 (Clara Tamez "The Just Before")
“Would you still love me if I didn’t have teeth?”
“Did you wake up with them gone or did you get into an accident?” Jaydon’s voice sounds a little hollow as it always does over the prison phone line.
MORE
January 7 (Sister Lou Ella Hickman "i have been thinking about aliens and music")
i know this may sound strange . . .
(then again, maybe not)
recently
January 6. A green heron. Over the past fifteen years, I've taken thousands of nature photos. See a gallery of some of the best or buy the two coffee-table books I compiled.
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January 5. Join our mailing list. Let us know what type of writing you want to read. Use the contact form at the bottom of the page.
Winter Splinter January 3 (Vaughn Westheimer "BABY ELVIS AND THE MAGI OF MUSIC")
“Do you hear what I hear?”
What Murphy was hearing was subtle, esoteric babysong. Only 80 or so people in the world could detect babysong, waves which flowed outside the range of normal human hearing. These men and women called themselves the Magi of Music.
Winter Splinter January 2 (Graeme Tennant "The Smell of the Taste of Winter")
Can you describe winter as a taste?
Black licorice.
How does a snowflake taste on
Winter Splinter January 1 (Pete Lutz. An excerpt from "The Better Man," an audio play) THE ANNOUNCER. This is a tale of the Untamed Frontier – of winters that are six months long, of a land where the warmest day of that winter might be the coldest day of your entire year.