Description: #Audio. #FlashFic Magic and sisterhood don’t always go together. Excerpt: “Maybe I wouldn’t have to be so cautious about spending,” Agathe said, accenting her oblique correction, “if someone I know helped bring in some income.” “Like this? How could I possibly do that?” the other was incensed. “I don’t know, give folks rides on […]

Description: #Audio. #FlashFic Getting the perfect holiday wreath takes a special effort. Excerpt: But this year, this year, Master Gavrel wanted something different, something organic. So, he went to the winter wood. He knew that others had gone before him, seeking a wreath from the Order of the Brambles, and that most had come back […]

Description: #Audio. #FlashFic A woman and her husband share a snack of clementine oranges Excerpt: He’s eating the oranges one at a time, methodically peeling and sectioning each one, then slowly savoring each petite section. These tiny, sweet, citrus fruits are his latest addiction, and a welcome replacement for the near-constant stream of gummy candy […]

Description: #Audio. #FlashFic A woman has a moment of quiet reflection on the beach on Christmas morning. Excerpt: Annie wrapped her hands around the warm mug, letting her fingers meet through the handle. Her new ritual was to send a silent prayer to the universe: for peace, for patience, for wisdom. She sat there in […]

Description: #Audio. #FlashFic  Humans call them angels, but they’ve failed their most recent experiment. Excerpt: The choir sang to deaf ears, and their enfolding wings were brushed aside by harsh hands, if they were noticed at all. Humanity was no longer a noble race, full of wondrous creations – art, music, science, technology – and […]

Description: #Audio. #Essay. The Bathtub Mermaid muses about breathing and how it relates to reading, writing, and creativity. Excerpt: And breathing… breathing isn’t all the same. There’s meditative breathing, and contemplative sighing. There’s the sharp intake of breath when something surprises you (for good or ill) and the abrupt outflow of air when you express […]

Description: #Audio. #Flash-Fic A woman ponders all the boxes in her attic. Excerpt: She’s no Pandora, unable to curb her curiosity and inadvertently setting a mass of horrors loose upon the world. Her boxes aren’t metaphors for the trials and tribulations of daily life. Links and References Read the text of Not Pandora at MissMeliss.com. […]

Description: #Audio. #Halloween A collection of five short-short stories for the season. Read by the Bathtub Mermaid and Friends. Excerpt: I reach around him and grab the bottle from his far hand, then take a swig. “Not bad,” I said. “Tastes like a ninety-nine… maybe a two thousand. Virgin?” “Virgin,” he confirms. “Two thousand. Carpathian […]

Description: #Audio. #ShortShort Nostalgia piece about a day of freedom in the seventies. Excerpt: The three of us went in different directions. Jeff went down the dirt road that led to the neighborhood tucked into the edge of the woods. I’d ridden my bike down that road after twilight once and had been convinced the […]

Description: #Audio. #FlashFic A little girl meets her dog at the pound. Excerpt: But something about this poor creature, primate head, exposed skull, cybernetic attachments as well as prosthetic limbs, reptilian (well, almost avian) claws and a furry, wagging tail, pulled at the heart strings. Made you feel sorry for it. Links and References Dog […]