Short Circuit - Short Circuit #02

Short Fiction

Holiday Fling

I was licking salt from the rim of my glass when Asli told me that elderly pelicans are often blind. She claimed that the force generated from smacking the water during a dive (and the fact that ... [+]

Short Fiction

Love & Loss Portrait 4 min

The Job You Want

James Ross

Mr. MacInnes had decided it was time to talk to Brian about his appearance. He didn't want to, lord knows he wasn't a stickler for such things, but lately it had all gotten a bit out of hand. It ... [+]

Short Fiction

Humor Quirky Absurd 4 min

Captured by the Dragon Cult

Laurence Raphael Brothers

Probably I shouldn't have looked in that NO ADMITTANCE HIGH VOLTAGE DANGER OF DEATH door. I was loitering on the ramp to the #7 subway train at Grand Central Station. I didn't want to go home to ... [+]

Children's

Adventure 5 min

A Notable King

Robin Blasberg

Long ago, on the highest hill looming over the lushest land that any ruler had ever ruled, a mighty castle stood watch over its idyllic setting. Inside the fortified dwelling, King Tell sat hovering ... [+]

Short Fiction

Suspense & Mystery Sci-Fi & Fantasy 2 min

When No Cats are Gray

Deborah L. Davitt

Through the weeping household stalked a small black cat—just past kittenhood, and more gamine than gangly. She darted past the skirts of a grieving wife as the woman buried her face in a ... [+]

Poetry

Nature 1 min

A Windless Afternoon on Chain Lake

Nathan Susnik

The birds sing
As I sit in stagnant heat
Hands on still oars,

And the lake mirrors the ... [+]

Short Fiction

Sorrow Portrait 4 min

God is Greater

AJ Rocca

"In their search for ‘devil's gold,' as they call it, about 300 miners make a daily climb two miles up the mountain, then head downward more than 900 yards into the volcano, where the sulfu ... [+]

Short Fiction

Sorrow Slice of Life 2 min

Always

Daniel Wallace

They went out for a coffee and then the next night went out for dinner and the next they didn't go anywhere but to her apartment where they had a massively wonderful night in bed. The sex was ... [+]

Poetry

Contemporary 1 min

Cascading Through The Ghettos

Stephen O'Donnell

Down in the belly of the welfare state.
Human shit, on the DART station floor.
The second in ... [+]

Poetry

Contemporary 1 min

North Carolina Road Trip

Mountain Nose

They serve
Pit-cooked pork
Says the sign
Beneath the mossy oaks
Of Alligator Swamp, ... [+]

Short Fiction

Sorrow Portrait 3 min

Chaim's Golem

Avra Margariti

I got the idea from one of your old stories. Building golems out of river mud and whatnot. Except I didn't want a golem. I just wanted you back by my side.

Peddling clayware in the sweltering ... [+]

Short Fiction

Nostalgia Portrait 4 min

Vitis Californica

Simone Martel

Emma pads through the living room, over the thick, ivory carpet, and settles on the chaise longue with her wineglass. As she tastes the cold white wine, her gaze falls to the fields on the valley ... [+]

Short Fiction

Sorrow Historical 5 min

Long Shadows

J. Anthony Hartley

I sat staring deep into the flames, listening to voices stirring the wind around me. Soft footfalls pressed through the grass stalks, rustling gently. Though I couldn't see them, I knew they were ... [+]

Children's

Friendship & Family Sci-Fi & Fantasy 3 min

Ghost in Training

Kathryn England

Peekaboo tiptoed towards the stray cat preening itself in the abandoned house.
His older brother, Shriekaboo, rolled his eyes. "Why are you creeping?" he asked. "The cat can't hear you."
"He's ... [+]

Poetry

Contemporary 2 min

Travel Planning from the Trailer Park

Arlo Voorhees

"And so it turned out that only a life similar to the life of those around us, merging with it ... [+]

Children's

Tale 2 min

The Cat Who Purred

Susan Lendroth

In a small cottage in a deep valley, an old woman lived with her goats and sheep, chickens and dog, a sway-backed horse and one ginger cat.

Each morning, she collected eggs while the dog led the ... [+]

Short Fiction

Nostalgia Sorrow Historical 3 min

Eggs

Andrew Stancek

Aunt Mila was the one collecting the eggs every morning but the chore is now mine. We have an extra daily egg since she has flown off and Grandma uses them to bake a cake every other day. Grandpa ... [+]

Short Fiction

Sorrow Romance 1 min

Just Enough for Jenny

Jennifer Shelby

While pulling lobster pots from the bay, Finn chanced upon the mermaid. His mind was on Jenny, dark with worry, when the mermaid appeared alongside his boat. An old friend once told him of a legend ... [+]

Children's

Poetry 2 min

Snoot's Snouts

Ann Garrett

Snoot the Pooch was sad one day.
"I wonder why I look this way.
My nose is doggone commonplace.
It's just so boring on my face."

"I'd feel better, I suppose,
if I could have a brand new ... [+]

Short Fiction

Sorrow Love & Loss 1 min

Curious Facts About Octopuses (And You and I)

Avra Margariti

1. Octopuses have nine brains.
Me? I wouldn't want so many organs with which to overthink and fly into hysterics. You always ran from those—took the car and left me alone for hours, sometimes ... [+]

Children's

Friendship & Family Slice of life 1 min

Wendell and Sam

Jill Nogales

Wendell the dog awoke to the wonderful smell of summer.

Samantha the cat stretched and yawned. She could smell it too. "This is a perfect day for..."

"...going to the beach, right?" Wendell ... [+]

A New Kind of Literary Pulse

A New Kind of Literary Pulse

Holiday Fling

The Job You Want

Captured by the Dragon Cult

A Notable King

When No Cats are Gray

A Windless Afternoon on Chain Lake

God is Greater

Always

Cascading Through The Ghettos

North Carolina Road Trip

Chaim's Golem

Vitis Californica

Long Shadows

Ghost in Training

Travel Planning from the Trailer Park

The Cat Who Purred

Eggs

Just Enough for Jenny

Snoot's Snouts

Curious Facts About Octopuses (And You and I)

Wendell and Sam