“The Marks in the Walls” • by Sophie Sparrow

When someone is miserable for a long time, it leaves an aura, a trace that seeps into the walls. You feel it viewing property: some places ache, uncared for. Others inexplicably feel like home. Mark died, and I couldn’t do anything anymore. The flat was full of ghosts, memories that hovered around my head while I tried to obliterate myself with reality TV and vodka. His...

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“Farther Galaxy’s Choose Your Own Adventure” • by C. L. Sidell

Cam and Becca begin the interactive activity. Signs flicker above the first three-pronged fork they encounter.  red // blue // WHITE Unlacing fingers, they choose separate options.  blade // CLOUD // pool Doors click. Hallways lead to new choices. Farther Galaxy promised up to twenty-one doors, depending on selections. Everything’s...

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“The Unicorn Farm” • by Carol Scheina

Mellie was seven when she discovered the unicorn farm. The unicorns’ brilliant coats glistened like sunbeams through raindrops. Manes floated like misty clouds. She imagined riding a unicorn along forest trails, but a fence, crackling with magic, penned them in. She couldn’t even pet them. From a distance, Mellie gave her best neigh. One neighed back. Later, she learned...

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“May Your Path Be Blessed Forever” • by Jeff Currier

Nyota Njeri strained to decouple the ruptured hose, her slippers sliding through pooling biogel. “Dr. Njeri, primary burn cannot be delayed further,” MUMBI said. “Nairobi Station insists you enter your stasis pod.” Nyota ignored the sleeper ship’s AI as the nozzle popped free. She inserted the hose trailing from the neighbouring pod into the socket and locked down the seal. The...

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“Flashes” • by Gideon P. Smith

 They say life flashes before your eyes at the end.  That’s what Happy Trails Hospice Services promises—a virtual reality tour for your final moments, but with only the good parts. I step in. Our first kiss under a thunderstorm, Ann’s rain-wet blouse clinging to mine. The day I said, “I do.” Our baby’s laugh, joy incarnate. My retirement party. The cottage—wind-chimed...

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Writing 101 • Part 2: Mary Sue, Totally Badass Survivalist

One of the few benefits of being my age is that it helps you to develop a sense of historical perspective.Most people, it increasingly seems to me, live inside a temporal bubble that is at best about ten years long. To such people five years ago is ancient history, and thus irrelevant, while five years in the future is so far away as to be impossible to imagine.Ironic, then,...

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Writing 101 • Sidebar: Hello, Mary Sue, Goodbye, Credibility

There’s a character you should all know and dread: “Lieutenant Mary Sue Je’nerik, the youngest cadet ever to make commissioned rank in Star Fleet.”At least, such is the lore. I first encountered Mary Sue in a piece of Star Trek fanfic that was being passed around amongst my writer friends that was so badly written, I had to believe it was intentional parody. Since then, though,...

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The Never-ending FAQ • 11 June 2025

A lot of questions have piled up in my inbox since the last Never-ending FAQ post, most of which are variations on “Where are you?!” and “What happened?!” The shortest possible answer is, “I’ve been busy.”Since this rarely seems a satisfactory answer to most people, I’ll elaborate.First and foremost:A lot of time in the last few weeks went into this book, The Day We Said...

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Book Release: THE DAY WE SAID GOODBYE TO THE BIRDS • by Allan Dyen-Shapiro

  “Genocide Joe” is a marked man.Once a highly respected corporate microbiologist, now the scapegoat for a GMO-caused ecological disaster that’s turned San Francisco Bay toxic and poisoned thousands, Joe has lost everything: his career, his reputation, his wife, his home, and most of his friends. All he has left is his 18-month-old daughter, Daphne, the clothes on...

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“As the Moon Rises” • by Isabelle D’Amato

I hasten through the dark and snowy woods, as quickly as the poor horse will carry me.Dusk is falling fast and an icy wind is rising, piercing through my coarse peasant robe as if it’s barely there. Storm clouds scud across the sky, low and fast. In the distance, but not distant enough, a wolf howls, then another, and then yet another. Their voices stir the tiny hairs on the...

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Writing 101 • Sidebar: Visualization Techniques

Sometimes, when I’m having trouble writing a scene, I’ll take a step back from trying to express it in words and just try to see the moment in my mind’s eye. Where is this taking place? Who’s in the picture? What are they doing? What important things are in the picture? What’s about to happen to those people or those things?Sometimes an image comes readily to mind. Sometimes...

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