Violet’s Breasts by Charlie Fish
“Last year, on an ordinary day in July, at exactly 3:43pm, Dr Antonia Franklin made the worst decision of her life.” – excerpt from “Violet’s Breasts” by Charlie Fish #MetaworkerMonday #TheMetaworker
Category: Fiction
Unknown Author by Paul Rabinowitz
“I will always return the books you lend me because I know they are important.” – excerpt from Unknown Author, fiction by Paul Rabinowitz #TheMetaworker #ForgeFriday
Giant Steps by Neil Jefferies
“I met him at a gas station. He was pumping air into the tires on his Pontiac Sunfire and I was vacuuming the inside of my old Ford van.” – excerpt from Giant Steps, fiction by Neil Jefferies #TheMetaworker #ForgeFriday
Your Scent by Erin Jamieson
“I trace your name in morning shadows.” – excerpt from “Your Scent”, micro fiction by Erin Jamieson @erin_simmer #MetaworkerMonday #TheMetaworker
Shallow Water by Susan Laurencot
“Planning took a few days. Meanwhile, Emily hadn’t called back. The longer Helen went without hearing from Emily, the more she wanted to call her mother.” – excerpt from Shallow Water, fiction by Susan Laurencot #TheMetaworker #ForgeFriday
Closer to the Sky by Carolyn R. Russell
“You want the memory to serve you somehow, to mean something that you can make sense of…” excerpt from Closer to the Sky by Carolyn R. Russell #TheMetaworker #ForgeFriday
Motel Soap by Bonnie Brewer-Kraus
“I love the little pink soap in its shiny white wrapper that I place on the gleaming porcelain sink of Room 118.” – excerpt from Motel Soap by Bonnie Brewer-Kraus #TheMetaworker #ForgeFriday
Recipe for an Unfinished Book by M. R. Lehman Wiens
“As you stroll along cliffs that grace the tops of Appalachia’s rolling canopy, you’ll notice that the plot of the book becomes more cohesive.” – excerpt from Recipe for an Unfinished Book by M. R. Lehman Wiens #MetaworkerMonday #TheMetaworker
Bananas by Jared Cole
“She couldn’t believe it. She looked down at her hands, examining them, turning them back to front and back again.” – excerpt from Bananas by Jared Cole #TheMetaworker #ForgeFriday
The Bronx Botanical Gardens Orchid Show by Jacqueline S. McCauley
“He on one end, she on the other, they march with purpose to the orchid show. The children between them are bundled so tightly, they waddle like penguins in the winter glow.” – excerpt from The Bronx Botanical Gardens Orchid Show by Jacqueline S. McCauley #TheMetaworker #ForgeFriday
The Season of Solitude by Jenn Haase Vetter
“Like the Man, she appeared oblivious to the absence of walls. Standing in my usual spot observing the house, I kept willing [the Woman] to look my way.” – excerpt from The Season of Solitude by Jenn Haase Vetter #MetaworkerMonday #TheMetaworker
Memories of Earth by Felix Anker
“There was no such thing as afternoon here; it was always nighttime. Every day it became murkier. Every day Kivotos-4 moved further from the sun.” – excerpt from Memories of Earth by Felix Anker @bananentupper @schundundsyntax #TheMetaworker #MetaworkerMonday
Only a Witch by Steven Hage
“I’m cursed to know the whereabouts of every small lost thing, even the things I never touch, like your toothbrush.” excerpt from Only a Witch by Steven Hage #MetaworkerMonday #TheMetaworker
Microfiction by F.D. Jackson
Microfiction by F.D. Jackson #MetaworkerMonday #TheMetaworker
Ashmedai and the Hairdresser by Allister Nelson
“Today was the day – the day I’d make three year’s salary in a single evening. The day I met the Spaniard.” excerpt from Ashmedai and the Hairdresser by Allister Nelson #MetaworkerMondY #TheMetaworker
The Recipe by Annie Borelli
“Where shall they meet? The deli, let’s say. Maybe she works behind the counter. Maybe he comes in for a sandwich.” – excerpt from Recipe by Annie Borelli #TheMetaworker #MetaworkerMonday
“Cleotis, The Secret Portraitist” by T. G. Metcalf
“Cleotis and I were guards at Parchman… He was a single man, a quiet kind of guy, and an exceptionally talented amateur oil painter.” excerpt from “Cleotis, The Secret Portraitist” by T. G. Metcalf #MetaworkerMonday #TheMetaworker
“Skate Country” by Robin Wyatt Dunn
“…she finds her balance again, inside her head, atop the roller skates.” excerpt from Skate Country by Robin Wyatt Dunn #MetaworkerMonday #TheMetaworker
Microfiction by Kathryn Gossow
Microfiction by Kathryn Gossow #MetaworkerMonday #TheMetaworker
“Big, Blue Watery Eye” by Joe Ducato
“Her other big talent was the ability to talk Kit into anything as long as she supplied the courage. That’s how she got him to go into that cave that day.” – excerpt from Big, Blue Watery Eye by Joe Ducato #MetaworkerMonday #TheMetaworker
“Porcelain Sheep” by Jamie Anthony Louis
“Sheep are floating in the ocean, and I’m going to be sick again. Not that those two have much to do with each other.” – excerpt from Porcelain Sheep by Jamie Anthony Louis @jamieanthony187 #TheMetaworker #MetaworkerMonday
“Our Thoughts Are With You” by Sean Monett
“Our Thoughts lurk in the darkened corner of your bedroom while you sleep. Our Thoughts are watching from outside the window while you enter the coffee shop and ask for a large chai latte with almond milk.” – excerpt from “Our Thoughts Are With You” by Sean Monett @nonsensepoetrycomics #TheMetaworker #MetaworkerMonday
“Astronaut Application” by Andrew Rodgers
“Breathing through his respirator to filter out the steady stream of dust from above, Dimitri passed through murky pools of brown air illuminated by always-on streetlights.” – excerpt from “Astronaut Application” by Andrew Rodgers #TheMetaworker #MetaworkerMonday
“A Living Stone” by Jason Ruiter
“The egg of flesh was placed on the table where my son and I were breakfasting. It was the shape of an ostrich egg, and slightly larger than one, too. Its ‘shell’ would bend to the touch, but it had skin like that of a human.” – excerpt from A Living Stone by Jason Ruiter #MetaworkerMonday #TheMetaworker
“Grave Lighting” by Max Zell
“Give it up,” hollered a voice two tombstones down. “Nothing’s spooky to anyone in this damn world of endless light. You’re not scaring anyone.” Excerpt from “Grave Lightning” by Max Zell @ZellWriter #TheMetaworker #MetaworkerMonday
“Department for Adjusting to Tragic Circumstances” by Max Wheeler
“If my days were like the calcified chambers of a nautilus cell, then my work was the living meat they had arisen to protect. The most human part of me.” @mxwheels #MetaworkerMonday #TheMetaworker
Thirst by Chris Cooper
“The blinding light from the Frigidaire beams, a humming blaze fluorescing Lacey’s face as she stands, staring into the refrigerator glow with a vacant gaze.” @coopd88 art by @curiouscerid #TheMetaworker #MetaworkerMonday
“My Sphincter Bleeds for Chartreuse Anteaters” by Phillip Temples
“Many thought that the worldwide aphasia outbreak would bring about the end of the world. It certainly put a crimp in all normal day-to-day activities.” #TheMetaworker #MetaworkerMonday
“The Almost Real Thing” by Leland Neville
“Our reconditioned 3D printer just made that gun,” said my boss. “The genuine ones were used by real cowboys during famous gunfights.” #MetaworkerMonday #TheMetaworker
“The Balloons Return” by David Henson
“One day, colorful dots specked the sky as if a rainbow exploded.” #TheMetaworker #MetaworkerMonday
“The Babies of Borad” by Alison Bullock
“The babies of Borad weren’t sleeping. They lay in their cribs blinking. Then the crying started.” #TheMetaworker #MetaworkerMonday
“What Did I Know” by Adam Conner
“The bottom drawer in my father’s room contains his trash. Crumpled Budweiser cans and Marlboro ash, frayed photos from his childhood.” #TheMetaworker #MetaworkerMonday
Retreat by Amita Basu
“I stand at the corner hailing autorickshaws. Many are ferrying schoolchildren, plastic sacks full of produce, five-litre gas cylinders, or the drivers’ wives holding stacked egg-trays bound for grocers.”
#TheMetaworker #MetaworkerMonday
“A Village” by Ken Poyner
“Good news greets Quibble’s return: his wife has conceived.”
#TheMetaworker #MetaworkerMonday
“Powerless” by Storm Lomax
“My little brother had shown early signs, spitting up fire with his baby food. My parents were
covered in small burns for the first few years but I’d never seen them so happy.”
#TheMetaworker #MetaworkerMonday
“Predictable Recklessness” by Ace Boggess
“When the desk guard told him to report to medical, Cobb was dressed to go, his flimsy khaki shirt tucked neatly into his khaki pants, his sneakers—the good white ones he ordered from an inmate catalogue—laced, his prisoner ID card already in hand.”
#TheMetaworker #MetaworkerMonday
For Thea by Linda Lacy
Nate turns me toward him, my round belly the bumper between us, his brown eyes plead with me. “Everyone has evacuated. We have to go now. Please.”
#TheMetaworker #MetaworkerMonday
“City of Gold” by B. C. Nance
“I lived here when the comet struck,” he said, raising his voice, “and I lost my Nellie when the rain of molten gold came down.”
#TheMetaworker #MetaworkerMonday
“New Year’s Day” by Sharon Y. Sim
Microfiction by Sharon Y. Sim
#MetaworkerMonday #TheMetaworker
Microfiction by Corey Bryan
Three Microfictions by Corey Bryan @pip_prompts #TheMetaworker #MetaworkerMonday
“Andropov’s Dance” by Robin Wyatt Dunn
“The river of silence passes through the large classroom trough, its charcoal sides soft and cool to the touch.”
#TheMetaworker #MetaworkerMonday
“Beauty Defined” by Alexis Watson
“Your autumn red curls, wrapped in Nigerian print, crowned your head like royalty. Africa hung from your earlobes, swayed in pride.”
#MetaworkerMonday #TheMetaworker
“Game of Interludes” by Patricia Ann Bowen
“He told me how the image of that clear cold gin sliding past my red lips and down my throat had driven him nearly mad with desire.”
#MetaworkerMonday #TheMetaworker
“How to Unflap a Flapper” by Leslie Cairns
Step 1: Take your shorn hair, barrette the sides with glimmer, the way you want to be a mermaid, tails extended, breaking hearts with the …
“Deer Hunt” by Sylvia Cumming
I’ve put the sign on the door for a reason: “Day sleeper, don’t ring or knock,” but the doorbell rings anyway, just when I’m dozing …
“The Missing Piece” by Jeremy Decker
A piece was missing. It was a puzzle print of George Seurat’s A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte laid out on …
“Gearshift” by Patrick R. Wilson
The car, an older gas-powered Lincoln, rolled up smoothly, making no splash in the curbside puddle. Driver’s face (human, of course, the Others could operate …
“In All the Weightless World” by Mark L. Anderson
The woman at the cafe was out of breath as she sat in the window seat looking through the early night at the few groups …
Microfiction by Doug Jacquier
DetourmentiaIt began with her putting the kettle in the fridge and calling everybody ‘darling’ because shecouldn’t remember their names. Then she copied the young women’s …
“Masquerade” by Kevin Hopson
“What are we waiting for?” Chris asked, staring at me from the passenger seat of the car. I shifted in the driver’s seat. “Lorenzo told …
“Things We Live Inside” by Liza Olson
I’m making a video game for you to live inside, since you can’t live inside the world anymore. I’ve never made a game before, so …
“Pink Sneakers” by Maggie Nerz Iribarne
The woman passes every day with her pink sneakers and floral running pants and cute son in a navy uniform. The son talks a blue …
“Older Brother” by Robin Wyatt Dunn
“Older brother?” “Not now, I’m busy.” The papers shuffled make a noise like a river on a bank. “Older brother?” “What is it?” “Nothing.” Outside …
“Unsettled Cemetery Dust” by Em Dietrich
In a house, in a heart, a demon lurked. The girl found it in her dead brother’s skull buried in the backyard. She looked into …
“Hares to Hounds” by Marco Etheridge
The boy feigns sleep, but he is ready to spring. Two children stalk his bed, dark-light-girl-boy, clad in spring-green and ochre, barefoot both. The boy …
“Tangled” by Gary Carr
When I think about it, none of this would have happened if Roger weren’t such a slob. After Roger left for the gym, I decided …
“Heavy Boots on a Sunday Morning” by Lea Murray
The Mother sifts through the soil, searching. Using her fingers like a sieve, she tries to find the thin filament sprouts in the mulch and …
“Fury from the Skies” by Erin Swann
There’s a distinct scent to the air right before a Firestorm breaks: acrid and sulfuric, with a touch of sweet smoke. It manifests moments before …
“The Message Sent Through The Stars” by Catherine Yeates
The sky is bigger in Texas. The trees in the Midwest loomed large, stretching their branches upward and forming green canopies that provided shelter. But …
“Blueblack Pier” by Robin Wyatt Dunn
Sometimes I come out here to think—I’m tempted to say “about death,” but that isn’t socially acceptable, and not quite true. Not even death’s cousin, …
“Out of Body” by Liza Olson
I am lying flat on the ground in a quiet living room in a quiet home in the kind of quiet suburb everyone’s at least …
Three Microfictions by Ashley McCurry
My Friends and I Started Having Premonitions About Future Lovers Sonia dreamt of being sawed in half by a mustached magician, rugged steel grinding rosewood …
“What the Wind Brought” by Charles Haddox
When dust rolls in like an eruption and you can hardly see across the street, and everything else (city, mountains, sky) is hidden by a …
“For Them” by Paul Attmere
Since our son was born, you always pull out and cum on your side. I roll onto your side of the bed, still warm and …
Three Microfictions by Conor Barnes
The Dongle You thought you were arriving at the train an hour early, but you got the times wrong and happened to get there just …
“The Firelets – A Fireside Tale” by Christiana Thomas
The wind howled and tore through the treetops, and our horses, Highland and Orion, crowded together to share their heat, but I was warm and …
“The Day in Yellow” by Shelley Davenport
Afternoon. Deep afternoon. Long afternoon. Too deep. Too long. Sylvie in her quilted bed. Try to sleep. Go to sleep. Quickly now! Go to sleep. …
Microfictions by Ken Poyner
FATE Quibble spends the day imagining what he might do, if he had the opportunity. He scolds himself that most of the things he dreams …
“Fireworks” by T.K. Howell
Vincent closed his laptop and stared at the wall. The afterglow of an Excel spreadsheet burned across his retina. He waited for it to fade …
Microfiction by Jennifer Novotney
The Art Gallery I pop into the art gallery lined with textured paintings of the seaside. The artist greets me as she works wielding a …
“Swamy” by Ranjit Kulkarni
I sometimes wonder if people are crazy or from some other planet. But I am not complaining. Why should I? Not at all. After all, …
“A Fair Deal” by Jon Kemsley
Featuring original art by Cerid Jones The kid next door had stopped screaming and was now bashing out a single flat note on a toy …
“That Damn Selfie” by Laurel Osterkamp
If only Joyce hadn’t taken that damn selfie. Her and Tate, laughing at a truck stop in Mexico, drinking beer with lime, his cotton t-shirt …
“The Burial Begins Slow” by Robin Wyatt Dunn
The burial begins slow, carrying up the earth over the barrow for the devils, each in turn highing their breath and turning over the gravel, …
“The Arc” by Nath Oddson
From Atlanta to New York City, I went tripping, delivering packages, on buses and trains, stopping—three days—in Cincinnati. There’s the arc. Greyhound issues you an …
“Close to the Fire” by Bill Kitcher
Jerry backed the ’68 Ford Fairlane into a driveway, then jammed it into Drive, and stomped on the accelerator. The tires squealed and he crossed …
“Plastic Hearts” by Chella Courington
At fifteen Anne bought her first action figure—Wonder Woman. When she saw her on television in her blue starry shorts, legs rising out of red …
“Mortuary Rites of the Blattidae” by Patrick M Hare
The first cockroach appeared during a tour for prospective graduate students. Being a laser lab, we had turned the lights out and configured exhibitions of …
“Rare” by Joanne Howard
Two a.m., well into her night shift at the NICU, was never a good time to receive a call on her cell. “He’s gone,” Jason’s …
“Pandemic Yoga” by Judith Beth Cohen
At the Senior Center, we challenge stereotypes about old ladies. We practice yogaoutdoors for “social distance.” If it starts to drizzle, we ignore it. If …
“Indistinguishable” by Kenton K. Yee
When I was in eighth grade, Dad started feeling “neither here nor there.” The harder he tried to relax, the more violently he’d jitter. The …
“Eyelash Extensions” by Clive Aaron Gill
Brittani, the unmarried maid of honor at her younger sister’s wedding in a small village church, spent years in graduate school. It infuriated her that …
“Scrutiny” by Tim Frank
I played with the curls of your clipped auburn hair that I kept sealed in your grandma’s silver locket, because you always said I didn’t …
“In the Willow Garden” by Isabel O’Hara Walsh
Down in the willow garden, where me and my true love did meet,There we sat a-courting, my love fell off to sleep – “Rose Connelly,” …
“In the Kingdom of Songora” by Linda McMullen
James was a senior when I was a freshman at Salem North High School; I fell in love with him when I heard he’d persuaded …
“Abracadabra” by Christina Marable
The man I loved as my grandfather was a tall, strong, broad-shouldered man who carried a fake ear in his back pocket. With his indigo …
Microfiction by Megha Nayar
Grievances David calls as I’m retiring for the night. “You really need to stop spoiling that dog, Mom!” he begins without preamble when I pick …
“In Between” by Kelly Claytor
Are you dead, Maria? One Hour It seems so. Seven Days Their black clothes. Their black veils. Their white handkerchiefs, dry in their pockets. None …
“Maybe Next Time, Pat” by Mike McLaughlin
The man’s souvenirs were in a box somewhere. He had kept it handy for a few years then put it away. In a desk, then …
“The Sky Traveler” by Dan Yokum
When I remember to look, I will see her. At least that’s what usually happens. I work on the high hill in the towers of …
“Damp Streets in a Dry Town” by Timothy Resau
Countless streets going past, streets and buildings waiting, decaying; lining the city boulevards like tombstones leading into oblivion, waiting to be called into action, waiting …
“Red Sun Red Moon” by Dan Yokum
Pauli stood at the railing on the back deck and flicked glances at the giant red sun fall slowly to the ground. The surrounding sky …
“Remember Miss Dorothy” by Christopher Matthew Thomas
“Is that Dorothy?” Elaine asked as we turned up the driveway. An old woman stood next to the mailbox. Her white legs with blue veins …
“The Living Room Express” by Jared Cappel
You tell me I’m a bird. Calloused hands pinch into my ribs and lift me overhead. In your eyes, I’m soaring through the clouds like …
“One Learns Ruthlessly” by Lydia Storm
“And I learned, gentlemen. Alas, one learns when one has to. One learns when one wants a way out. One learns ruthlessly.” —Franz Kafka, “A …
“Coffee with David Lynch” by Thomas Morgan
“Say I had the power to grant you one wish,” his wife said. “What would you wish for?” “Hmm…” her husband said. “Can it be …
“A Vacation” by Matthew Brinkley
While his children bickered and his wife ignored him, Charlie tugged at the thin paper flap of a packet of tea. His eyes scanned the …
“Departure” by Richard Helmling
On the first day, the sky went out. Davis had trouble remembering what they’d been doing when the noise started. Whatever it had been, they …
“Wildflowers” by Matt McGuirk
People say suburbs are for well clipped lawns with green grass like you see in real estate photos or magazines. We didn’t move there for …