Gardens are generally understood to be neutral ground. For all. Mortals. Immortals. Mankind and Monsters. Why else would so many myths feature them? Cannot get any more neutral than Nature. But what makes one a monster or a man? Why is mortality a thing at all? Why aren’t we all immortal? It seems unfair, doesn’t it? Well, it's designed to. And before you judge the poor mortal woman of Abrahamic legend. It wasn’t her faul...

I am not sure how old the thick glass door is, but it might be from the early eighties. I swipe the access card, and the push bar lets me free inside the apartment. Waiting on the elevator now for the second floor, and I hear chattering behind me in Hindi. I peek through a long hallway behind a wall. And at the end of the hallway, I see a group of people in decent clothing, and each holds what appears to be the holy bible...

As I walk through the front door, a cold, empty home greets me. I plop down on the couch and frown, realizing I never really liked this couch—just an uncomfortable reminder of yet another thing I did for him. My tears finally stream down my face. I am lost - unsure of my purpose now. No idea which direction to turn. All I know is I need a way to take my mind off him. But everything in this city holds reminders. I sit in s...

January 16, 1989, Tomatlán, Mexico. I was sitting on the left side of a second-class bus two rows behind the driver. No one bothered to get off for the ten-minute stop in Tomatlán. The driver’s assistant stood at the front of the bus ready to collect tickets from any boarding passengers, but there were none.  As we sat parked in the street with the engine running, I took in the view from my window. The cinderblock buildin...

Henry Walker Wainscot stood leaning against the stone wall in the foyer of his new dorm while waiting for his mom. They were going to have lunch in the cafeteria, then explore the city. Henry had never really been to Boston, having grown up in Western Massachusetts. In cow country, he liked to think, although the three cows were more of an agricultural front for a toxic waste dump. It was exciting for him to be in the cit...

Saturday January 13th 1908 - the day after the warning   I had a routine back then. Since the death of my wife and unborn child during the Martian invasion eleven years previous I had needed structure in my life outside of work.    On a Saturday I started off my day with some manual relief of my morning tumescence prior to getting out of bed. It wasn't the only time I would do so, but I made sure that it was a regular par...

About 1900 words   Victoria Desperado's Mansion of Despair by James Foley   In Annapolis, Maryland, Andy Bannock stood on a sixty-four-foot ketch, watching the night get wetter and wilder. He was under contract to move this boat to Baltimore before tomorrow noon. And Andy's one-man crew, Michael Ward, had retired. Actually, Roger Wang, Andy's partner in their yacht delivery business, had found a replacement, who hadn't ar...

The phone rang as I was locking up for the night and I thought about leaving it ring. Then I thought about my bank account, went back around the desk, picked up, and said: “Conde.” An older man’s voice came on the line, dry as a desert bone. “Ah yes, Mr. Benjamin Conde of the Conde Detective Agency I presume?” “The same.” “Splendid, Mr. Conde. Splendid. Ah, yes, Mr. Conde, my name is Douglas P. Cahill III and the reason f...

      The Importance Of Being Ernest Hemingway It happened at a Maryland yacht club after Labor Day, when summer lingers. Philip Wright was adjusting lines aboard his forty-something-foot sailing ketch. Suddenly dark-haired Adrienne Racine called from the dock, “You’re publishing a novel?”   That Saturday was stormy, and this bold belle’s voice battled the wailing wind: “Alex Gooding told my uncle. He’s your agent, right?...

 As Sue turns off the headlights of her car, Reece and Giorgia turn on their flashlights."OH, MY COD!" they yell.Kiera cringes as she gets her first clear view of her uncle courtesy of the kid's torches. His eyebrows are platted down to his shoulders and tied off with pink bows."Nice bows, Uncle Phill!" she says cheekily, and he glares at Sue mumbling about blue, and it is all her fault."The colour suits you" Reece snicke...

"RUUUUUUUUNNNNN, GIORGIA!" Reece yells at the top of his voice as a giant foot descends upon his sister and Sprite the black cat clinging to her for dear life, at least, he thinks it is Sprite, according to Giorgia every cat so far has been her. It is all very confusing.Giorgia looks up, as the shadow of a giant foot blocks out the sun, she could barely see. Her heart pounding, she hears her brother yelling, and Sprite hi...

Prologue     Deep  in the forests of a kingdom of old, lies a hidden tribe. The tribe had seperated from the kingdom, as well as the rest of the world. Inside the tribe lives an orphaned boy of sixteen. On his own, he's become self reliant, building his own home and furniture, preparing his own meals with homegrown vegetables and fish caught by the river. Currently, he's assisting the tribe elder by moving around storage...

Chapter 1. ScotlandDonella, known as Ella since she was a wee lass had dreamed of this trip for as long as she could remember. The 22-year old woman was rather small, being only five feet two inches in her stocking feet. It must be said she was proportioned in just the right places. She had slightly curly long dark almost black hair that she usually kept in a messy bun at the nape of her neck. Her eyes were a curious dark...

SETTING: A boy wakes up in a hospital bed next to his father. A doctor walks into the room to deliver the news.Doctor: Hello and welcome to-Son: Doc, give it to me straight.Doctor: Well son, there’s no easy way to put this but-Son: Doc! How long do I have to live?Doctor: A weekSon: A week! That’s not enough time to live. I’m gonna die young. I’m gonna die young. [Son whining]Father: Oh would you stop with the whining, you...

"Miss, Vena! Welcome back!" "Aye, Vena. It's been a while sweet heart." "Yo! Vena! Over here!" "Molo, Vena. Kuye mzuzwana, abe na?" "Hey, Vena!" "Welcome back, miss snake. What'll it be tonight?" "I told you," Vena replied. "It's not snake. It's Vena. Give me a caipirinha." "You know I can't do that," the bartender replied. "Besides, even if I knew how to mix that, a girl your age shouldn't be drinking alcohol." "Come on,...