By Mehreen Ahmed As a lightning crackled, Claudia drew the curtains apart. She stood before the long French windows of her penthouse apartment and looked down at a wet alley. The cobblestones of the boulevard shone in the falling rain of dismal clouds. It hadn’t rained for days. She yawned and then she stretched. Across … Continue reading Coffee and Rain
It Was A Case Of All Or Nothing
By Tavinder New Latest Press: Jewels stolen from Bank of Scarlett by notorious thieves Peter and Pritchard. They are dangerous, clever and not to be trusted! The brown leather case was beside my foot and inside the jewels worth tens of millions of pounds lying there beside me, my rendezvous was to meet … Continue reading It Was A Case Of All Or Nothing
Lost and Found
By Michal Reiben One evening as I’m laying on my bed, reading, the phone on my bed-side table rings. I pick up the receiver, “Hello.” “Anna?” inquires a woman’s voice. “Yes,” I reply nervously, for a strange voice usually signifies some sort of nuisance-call. “I’m your sister Imogen,” explains the lady at the other end … Continue reading Lost and Found
The Atlas of Disappearing Places
By Ciaran J. McLarnon The shortest distance between any two points is a straight line. Gladstone had this in mind as he aimed to walk down the middle of the corridor. He wasn’t sure why he was going to the dining room anymore, but he a deep sense that whatever he had to do there … Continue reading The Atlas of Disappearing Places
Pancakes
By James Bates Auntie Gertie spent more time that summer teaching me how to make pancakes than was probably necessary but I was just a ten year old kid who'd rather have been playing baseball or video games than fooling around in the kitchen learning to cook; that didn't matter to Auntie. She had a … Continue reading Pancakes
Letter Writing
By Jim Bates The week before breaking for the holidays in December Sue Beasley teaches a section on letter writing in her sophomore English class. She always begins this way, "Okay, show of hands. How many of you regularly write letters?" It's a loaded question because it's a rare hand that goes up, especially given … Continue reading Letter Writing
Someone’s MFA Thesis
By Thomas Page Pictured before you is a Sunday Chicken Dinner. There are greens, macaroni & cheese, biscuits, and a pitcher of sweet tea. Around this banquet there sits our characters: the Petersons. There’s Adam who is the father. He sits at the head of the table. He works at the swanky office downtown and … Continue reading Someone’s MFA Thesis
Pink Toenails
By Mehreen Ahmed Then the mountains spoke. Voiced it in chorus, on the ancient land of Turag. A world where trees walked, winds cried, rivers sang and the mountains talked. This place, not for humans to reside anymore, but for natural lives and artificial intelligence. Turag, yes, this place, because humans have long been obliterated, … Continue reading Pink Toenails
The Trial of King Bela
By Mark Kodama I. When King Bela of Hungary marched his army to the Sajo River on April 10, 1241, he knew the Mongols were near. He knew the Mongols were not warriors with whom to be trifled. He could be bear being called a coward; but he did not want to be … Continue reading The Trial of King Bela
The Bard
By Mark Kodama I. When Nicanor the Bard returned home from the wars in Asia, he was restless. He had made a fortune many times over only to lose everything, save his life. When he left Greece, he was a penniless young man. When he returned, he was a penniless middle-aged man. So he told … Continue reading The Bard
Academy of the Heart And Mind 