By Bernard Martoia The drumming of rain against the Deer Head Inn’s windowpane stirred Waffle Print from sleep. After twelve straight days of sun in Pennsylvania, the weather changed, mirroring his challenging endeavor to cross New Jersey. Then, he remembered the crowded streets as he made a frantic trip to Manhattan to buy himself boots. … Continue reading Rattlesnake Mountain
Imitating Imperfection
By Laurie Nguyen Paul’s mother called him her “special little boy”, so special his teachers diagnosed him with an emotional disturbance disorder, autism, attention-hyperactivity-deficit disorder, and the occasional antisocial personal disorder without any medical knowledge whatsoever. His doctors disagreed. They were helpful, but his mother was always fiercely independent of the healthcare system; she hated … Continue reading Imitating Imperfection
Heart of the Order
By T.R. Healy With the assistance of a burly corrections officer, the two old teammates lifted the cream-colored steel casket into the back of the Ryder rental van. Then they secured the casket with a couple of ropes attached to the inside of the van and braced against it four bales of hay. Before he … Continue reading Heart of the Order
It’s A Great Life If You Don’t Weaken
By John RC Potter There are people one meets during one’s lifetime who are larger-than-life: the expression, ‘real characters’ comes to mind, the kind who could have sprung from the pages of a delightful book. I had the great fortune to meet an endearing ‘character’ decades ago, when I moved into a charming red-brick building … Continue reading It’s A Great Life If You Don’t Weaken
The Stolen Prince
By K.L. Crino Marin had thought she'd heard a baby's cooing last night. She realized now she shouldn't have ignored the sound– she should've listened to her gut as a good captain would. But so far, her gut had only led her team to become the worst pirate crew in all of Porto Sama. In … Continue reading The Stolen Prince
On the Lam
By Julie Iverson “We got to get clothes; three days we go bul, fresh so we not crumb.” “Nah, three days? Nah, what fuh”? “Cuz we ade it, Mum’s prize pie, the jawn fa’ St. Michaels, Tommy” “Jeez, James, bro’ now I’m skeered. She okay or she keel us”? St. Michaels Parish at Queen Village, … Continue reading On the Lam
The Black Cat
By Harley Carnell When I initially heard the meowing, I thought it was coming from Pumblechook, my black Maine Coon. Only when I came out into the hall did I realise that it was actually coming from outside. I opened the front door tentatively and saw a small black cat outside, who began to meow … Continue reading The Black Cat
The Clockwork Heart of Elias Thorne
By Plamen Vasilev Elias Thorne was a master of imitation. Not of voices, or faces, or physical tics, though he could manage those too. Elias was a master of imitating lives. He was a chameleon, a blank canvas onto which others projected their expectations, their desires, their lost hopes. He became, quite simply, what they needed him … Continue reading The Clockwork Heart of Elias Thorne
I Almost Drowned With My Cat
By David Halliday When I was a kid I almost drowned with my cat. I remember lying on the bottom of a swimming pool, bubbles leaking out of my nose. Looking to one side and seeing my cat Lulu doing the same. And then I was choking and spitting out water, on my belly, gasping … Continue reading I Almost Drowned With My Cat
And the Hero Arrived
By Oliver Hickman And the Hero arrived, galloping through the gates on a golden-maned mare. It was a dark place he entered, snuffed torches reaching out at the one he carried, begging to blaze once more. Another gate waited before him, then another after that. They were all buckled inwards, their timbers cracked by great … Continue reading And the Hero Arrived
Academy of the Heart And Mind 