The day of the Cow Rite had arrived, like a lover who had blacked out overnight and had finally come home from the pub. As the day dawned, a mauve haze like a spill of off-coloured milk on the dairy floor of the horizon, the fields blossomed with daffodil…

To understand why Mike Green had begun to scream, one must merely look at the events of a few seconds earlier.

Then, an old man had sat in a windowless van, ensconced in soundproofing, and raised a small radio to his lips. "Begin," he declared tonelessly,…

A friendship gone

Forever lost

Indiscretion

Brought the Frost

So much in common

Yet years apart

So many differences

Lies of the heart

Deception takes on

Many forms

Resulting in

Abandoned norms

Out of sight

Not out of mind

Ease of pain

A Difficult fin…

"So, I heard you were in town?"

He could practically hear Mike Green's intense grin over the phone. In college, she had been his best friend. Shortly thereafter, they had parted ways - Gonçalves to Freetalk, Green to some analytics firm bound by sheafs of…

Ryle was a powerful force, to say the least. He provided an impetus, an undeniable single-minded focus on the task at hand that defied setbacks, distractions and complications. He would have been a superb operator in any scenario.

What I brought to the p…

Ryan Gonçalves stared into his drink at an airport bar. The bar was disgustingly new and trendy, with its former Starbucks-esque earth tones phased out in favour of post-Starbucks decor, all garishly bright contrast. The drink was something lime-green and…

So it's all about the first line here, as in many other forms of writing. Use it, in a narrative-type scene, to either set the scene or establish reader interest. A good trick is to start with dialogue, as it immediately and naturally brings questions - t…

The sky over the city was still pitch-black, even at five in the morning, with forty-five minutes to sunup and a clear sky. They made their way to a parking garage downtown, a few blocks from the scaffold-ridden visage of the Megaspire, with forged securi…

Story is marked as mature

Astarlane said nothing, but Tenever made a palm-inward up-down-up-down motion over his primary magazine pouch as they moved out.

What are we doing?

Sadie rolled her weapon and briefly pulled on the charging handle to check the brass in the firing cham…

The magnificent lines of the Core Expeditionary Force were on full parade formations, that day. Thousands of ships all arrayed in perfect arrangement, capital ships surrounded by droves of smaller combatants.

When the order came to fire upon the ragged a…

One minute.

It struck me, toward the end, that every disaster movie had been too optimistic. Deep Impact thought that we'd have around three years to save the world. Armageddon predicted a few weeks. But Asteroid 409233 Megiddo was discovered and tr…

The transition from mundane to extraordinary was mind-numbingly quick, that day. I was storing a recoilless hammer back in an equipment box and when Fuel Tank 3 exploded in a blinding flash.

Before my conscious brain could process what this meant, my mam…

Venus, powers in space, wind and light, lit the candles in the room and swung the door open, 20 feet away, "Well, dear sister, the party isn't until the shop is closed tonight. We open right about... now."

Fashionably retro 70s era, her go-go boots clom…

The tinkle of the bell as Felicity entered the shop was a warning alarm to her sisters.

"God, I hope she doesn't touch anything." Viciously said her sister, Valerie.

"I'm even surprised she showed up," Venus said, violently ripping apart duct tape to repa…

I was picked for the interview. Of all the applications I imagined were stacked in some in-box tray, mine was one that was chosen.

The realistic part of me said it was because I had filled in every box and attached a resumé. I knew that companies often s…

If you've never seen a Time Timer before, it's a big timer with a red wedge instead of hands on its face that shrinks as the time nears zero.

Lucy sat quietly wriggling. She pulled at strands of her hair, lifting them high behind her head and shaking her…

Felicity paced in the sand slowly, eyeing the tide wash up and run away. Bones of small animals seeped up through the sand, separating her toes.

"What to do, what to do..."

Her sisters, triplets, all fit in to the family like pegs in a board. Veronica, Ve…

"Well met, Gulmar of the Eldergreens. My name is Sadie, and in different times we were the III Section of Darkfall's Moonriders. We travel east to fulfil the last wishes of our late commander, and are grateful for your timely assistance."

The towering or…

A sudden volley of gunfire erupted from their flank. Astarlane and Tenever hit the ground; a fireteam of orcs stepped out of the trees, weapons firing with well-disciplined precision. The wraiths charged their position, but hulking figures stood their gro…

The library is a church turned community center, with opaque glass, barred windows and a draft. Ms. Riley works with dial-up and a folding chair.

They find metal bed frames and blankets and build a ‘Bat Cave’ in the basement. Fuse practices their Englis…

Tenever's weapon ran dry first. A ghostly third hand appeared to swap magazines while his real hand hit the bolt release, and he was straight back into semiautomatic fire.

Sadie dropped her weapon on its sling and drew her sabre to deflect a darting thru…

If only, if only, the broken mom cries

You chose to look up and not text while you drive

My shattered bones ache, but my heart always screams

My time with my daughter now locked in my dreams

-

Beware the invincible, foolish, and young

Their mistakes are s…

She has the aesthetic of long skirts and crop tops. She wears black hats and black eye liner. She reads books by candlelight.

She keeps herbs in mason jars and poured tea on paper to age it. Her counters are covered in Babies Breath and cat hair.

She d…

The low hum of human interaction was a pleasant background noise to my mind, much like the lively Spanish red that was delicately swirling around in a fantastically clear crystal glass. A light classical tune (Rachmaninoff?) drifted in and out of hearing,…