"We can create, but not collaborate!" shouted the ficlatte patron from atop the saucer. It only served to make her a few inches taller.

"We can't hear you!" called the techie trying to connect a mic to a giant speaker but clearly not having brought the ri…

The thing that spoke to me had the face of a dead god but used the voice of my father. I had known to expect this. It was a by-product of the bonding ritual that gave a semblance of life back to this former deity. Not that any of the gods ever truly died,…

"which flavor cheese?"

"the yellow one."

.................................

Story is marked as mature

So by now we all know that there’s no logical explanation why honeybees can fly, weight and wings and stuff, it shouldn’t be possible, but bees fly anyway. Perhaps bees are magical creatures, then. And the drop in bees’ quantity is alarming to the wizardi…

Prunella turned from her novel and rolled her eyes in copious disgust.

I don't know how I made it through what came next. The next days were a blur of pain, both physical and emotional, and fever dreams, in the rare moments when I slept.

My first task was to split the figure of my father in half, carefully using the tools o…

I held that piece of flesh up before me, bitter distaste filling my mouth. If what my father and I had done before had been blasphemy, this was surely something far worse, to desecrate the body of a god in such a way.

And yet it was necessary. This war b…

"Okay, so... Yeah. We've got this." Captain Gaia looked us over. "Hero Corps, let's..."

"Uh, question." Even I couldn't believe I had spoken up, never mind that I had just interrupted Captain Gaia!

He stared at me for a moment. "Is this going to tak…

The floorboards creaked with my passage, threatening to collapse, but the key is to be sure and confident - uncertainty is infectious, and many a man has died by his own hesitation. My boots did not pause until I reached my destination - Building Grachkin…

She sat on the bench in the park. It was raining and the clouds were dark. Faint rumbles echoed in the distance from a direction that she couldn't discern. The storm clouds were heavy enough that the sun was but a memory to her and she'd honestly lost tra…

Malika wiped away the tears from her eyes with the palm of one hand and gracefully rose to her feet, turning to face the newcomer.

"Be you friend or foe?" she asked. "Morduth insists you be friend, but I be not so willing to trust in his judgment just ye…

"Orthael!" she spat. "Protector of life, servant of the All-Consumer." Her voice dripped disdain. "Summoned by a local parish, no doubt." Orthael nodded. "To protect us." He nodded again.

"Well, holy man, where were you when my village was destroyed …

Malika brought Morduth up so it pointed at the newcomer. Blue flame flared up bright and tall along the blade's length, spilling over the hilt and onto her hand and wrist. She didn't notice. All her attention was on this man of the cloth standing before h…

Malika danced. Creatures emerged from the darkness all around her, and she whirled among them. Her steps were light, quick. She never remained still, never allowed the beasts to reach her. She was driven by need, fueled by the sword's own desire.

Blood …

"I ask you again," Malika said. "Who be you, and how be it you come to be here, just at this very moment? Be you a final test, holy man or not, to confirm my resolve, to baptize me in the fire of purification against the forces of Ashmar?" She could feel …

I kept my hands to myself and hurried on. I had a reasonably generous timeframe to get what I needed from Case 39 and leave before the window of opportunity closed.

"Sam, is that you?"

I started quite considerably. I had seen other case-seekers today on…

She heaved, great, gasping, shuddering sobs, still clutching the sword in her hand. Her tears that fell on the blade glistened and glowed blue, etching fine, dark lines into the metal as they traveled along it. She was oblivious of the carnage she had lef…

There's dust gathering on the bed frame

Interspaced with gaps left by careless and infrequent touches

A chair piled high with jackets worn but once

or crumpled on a cold floor

Sheets collect long hair on the left side

unwashed dishes pile on the right

T…

They fought on. Orthael gave ground again and again, knowing that he could not - would not - strike her. She threw him a dangerously open slice, daring him to show her that Fire destroyed without meaning or mercy. But that was not the case. He caught her …

The forest lay in perfect stillness around her, the bodies of the beasts she had slain strewn haphazardly all about. She stood, head tilted forward, listening for the next attack. It never came. She held the sword aloft, the blue raging flames towering ov…

Dear Dairy,

Today was an awesome day! !

You know that carton of pickles in the back of our fridge, the one on the roof? Well I was gnawing on the wrapper this morning when I finally broke through the plastic frieze packaging and got a mouthful of brine. …

What would it be like to break into a hundred different worlds? A thousand? Would he ever get used to it, the way you get used to the routines of a new job? Ray looked at the device he held in his hand. Abruptly, he tossed it up, sending it spinning end o…

Well the new pickles of the litter got along great with me, we played tag and price and code and dead and then we all bundled up in our garters and gilt and glit and flit and kilt and were in the bin of shipping in a nonce.

The dear improprietor of me got…

"I don't know what to do." That's what I hear

So many times. I say this constantly.

Yet what I mean, I cannot say for sure--

I only know I'm lost, it's hard to see

.

The purpose in my life; it's hard to feel

What's best to do--what I need most in life

And…