Some of life’s moments should come attached to a warning label. Mine — well, one of mine — began when a flash of red under my rhododendron caught my eye. Red...

Three minutes into the heist, Louie was dead.

The first thing I do when I get to the armory is check the roster. A silly thing, I guess, but I just like to see my name in print, you know? Having it in bl...

I had always wanted a child.

Working for the Almighty is no piece of cake. Even the winged guys Upstairs have it tough, working 24/7 for Eternity. The Downstairs folks have the same hour...

Steven rubbed his hand over the stent in his chest, and for the first time in a year felt he could get up and move. He knew it was time to die.

Thomas had four older brothers and he didn’t like any of them. They always hid his books or made him eat the green paste that came with sushi or tickled him ...

“I don’t understand why you’re doing this.” Valeria spoke in hushed tones, though no one other than Nolan was within earshot.

The knotted tassel and last night’s full moon agreed: it was time for him to go. Eblick counted the shells one more time and tucked the faded tangle of leath...

On her twelfth wedding anniversary, as she cleaned the house, Laurie came upon a leather-bound notebook in the nightstand drawer on her husband’s side of the...

Alan found me at Cook Creek, near where it fed into the summer sludge of the North Raccoon River. He dropped down beside me, on the log where we used to tell...

Carter’s mom pinned the cape around his shoulders, brushed out the folds, and then stood back. Carter glanced in the mirror and nodded. A superhero looked ba...

When I met George Gershwin I was cleaning up D Deck. The gravitational retractors had gone offline, sending clothing, magazines, a thousand odds and ends int...

Before she turned into a dragon, Kathy Cutter was Comanche Zariphes’ best friend.

Well, this would have been about three years ago now, just before my stepdaughter went into first grade. She was still in the process of getting used to me b...

Viola leaned across the white tablecloth of Luigi’s Interstellar Cafe and Pub. “When I said the ninjas were no match for us, I meant it. Joe will have the Wh...

LONG AGO, when you were just a baby, we went to the Moon.

IT WASN’T THE WORST BENDER of Anthony Cardno’s life, but it was the first that he had ended in a cemetery, vomiting into an open grave. His head throbbed; hi...

THE NAME is a lie; no lake or lakes exist here. Outside it’s just a parking lot, some trees, a well-manicured lawn with the light-and-dark stripes mowed into...

Stories have always fascinated us. The world was created with a word. Or at least so we say, in the story we tell of it. And we believe, because what else co...

The worst part about picking my son up from the police station was the walk to get there. I hadn’t been outside in years, but it was still the same — the dra...

Violet carved her hate into her flesh one name at a time.

Fall From Grace

Content note: This story deals extensively with issues of child abuse and alcohol abuse.

It is a curious thing to live long enough to hear the story of your life go from a gossipy tale told by people on the periphery to a myth that frames you bot...

High in the tower, the witch bent over her spinning wheel.

Until the last moment, I do not know if I will dance.

When Junebug’s clippers bit the nape of De’Vontay’s neck, my boy didn’t flinch. The three old men waiting their turn to my right — their dark faces weathered...

The moon was dark the night our Prophet died.

The Gods Whispers woke me in the night. My eyes opened and at first I grabbed for Marc, but I stopped myself before my hand could land on my sleeping husband...