Chimaera by Steven Bruce

Her slender fingers brushed the palm of his hand.
+++ ‘Your hands are rough,’ she said, kissing them.
+++ ‘Oh, thanks,’ he said.
+++ ‘They’re still my favourite part of you.’

Suffer Not the Little Children by Gary McGuigan

He found the corpse early morning.

The Baby’s Foot by Belinda Rimmer

Pearl-Susannah rarely brought friends home – Pa didn’t make them welcome. He didn’t approve of friends, didn’t see the need of them. He had none of his own.

Pops by H. Victory

The tour guide beams, flashing her yellow spiked maw.

Baby Blue Eyes by Paul Speller

A splash, followed by a giggle and those baby blue eyes lit up.

Yellow Prism by Ashley Bullen-Cutting

Dearest Harold Greene,

You will note the package that accompanies this correspondence odd and query why it is I have sent such to you, allow me to endeavour to elucidate upon its discovery, circumstance and point.

A Demon’s Favor by Karen Thrower

Tranur appeared in a ring of fire, large, black and ominous. He immediately saw the one who summoned him, kneeling just outside the circle.

Juan Ponce de Leon by Bridget Clawson

I read to five clients, at the moment. One is an unusually tall, angular woman my own age, forty-two, who believes she is Juan Ponce de Leon.

Paradise Lost by Rae Gee

The sixties were the best time to be alive. The sun never seemed to set. The music flowed like water and love fluttered through the air like butterflies.

Evelyn’s Country Depot by Scott Hughes

+++ Nick steered a truck pulling a flatbed trailer a quarter-mile through a pecan orchard, and finally the house came into view: a two-story cottage, white with black shutters.

Parched by Nick Romeo

++++++“I think I have just enough fuel in the generator so we can watch the five o’clock news,” Mark says while he adjusts the rabbit ears. His boots echo from the steel flooring and walls as he makes his way to the couch.

Artists in the Underworld by Richard Wayne Horton

The town had been a river port. Barges filled with golden grain had steamed away. Ships filled with wines, pianos, furs and jewels had arrived.