Category: fiction

• Patches

  By Terri Clifton Patches was born with his smile stitched on, if that is what you call being stuffed and stood upright. And even if his smile hadn’t been so carefully sewn, he couldn’t have helped having it upon seeing the sparkling eyes of the child, her curly head hanging over him as he was…

  HLWW Featured Author

  June 27, 2022

  fantasy, fiction

  fantasy fiction, fiction, short fiction, short story, women author

• ‘Fess Up

  By Brenda Weathers Hargroves “I can’t wait to see you.” It had been too long since Dawn spent time with her sister. She lived in San Francisco and Karin in Jersey City. They usually got together at least once a year, but recently her promotion to trainer for a large technology company had not allowed…

  HLWW Featured Author

  March 24, 2022

  fiction, women’s fiction

• Desert Oasis

  By Kaitlynn McShea March, 1955 The small town was tucked away into the rolling desert landscape. Dirt storms were more common than rain showers, and water was a more valued possession than gold. That’s what the three hundred residents had been told for generations, at least. The gold rush had come to their doorstep and…

  Kaitlynn McShea

  March 14, 2022

  fantasy, fiction, luck

  fiction, leprechaun, luck, short fiction, short story, st patricks day, women author

• A Lion’s Love

  By Kaitlynn McShea When Laura Henderson was eleven, her father came home with a lion. It was a California summer day, and blistering, stunning heat filtered through the front door. Laura remembered it being out of character for him: he never came in through the front door, he never came home before nine, and he…

  Kaitlynn McShea

  February 14, 2022

  fiction, literary fiction, love

  fiction, lion, literary fiction, love, short fiction, short story, women author

• A Stroll Through the Fruit and Veg Section

  By Carys Crossen The week the pregnancy test displayed two blue lines Elise’s baby was the size of a sesame seed.  Two weeks later, it was the size of a blueberry, according to the pregnancy website she had started checking compulsively. Another fortnight later and it had the same dimensions as a grape.  Elise wondered…

  HLWW Featured Author

  January 31, 2022

  contemporary, fiction, prose

  contemporary, fiction, prose, short story, women author

• Surfcasters

  By Adele O’Grady Botticelli The SUV skidded on the sand, sprinkled like flour on a baker’s board along the tar road, as Jack braked to a stop in front of the grey shingled, rusty-red trimmed gate house. The July sun beat down on his truck as he leaned over to address the woman ranger, sitting…

  HLWW Featured Author

  December 27, 2021

  fiction, literary fiction

  fiction, literary fiction, short fiction, short story, women author

• The Lady in Black

  By Paige Wyatt The lonely stretch of Highway 74 is as close to a lover as Dani has known. It’s always there for her when she’s lost her way– a strong presence for as far back as her memory goes. The dark asphalt and faded white lines are a welcome sight at the end of…

  Paige Wyatt

  October 30, 2021

  fiction, speculative fiction, spooky

  fiction, halloween, scary story, spooky story, urban legend, women author

• The End of Time

  By Kaitlynn McShea The End of Time Time was ending. The Earth cleared itself by flooding coasts and burning trees, by spreading disease and withholding rain. Gradually, creatures started dying. The Earth had killed creatures intentionally and without sorrow for many millennia. It was Earth’s nature, after all. It created and destroyed, because that was…

  Kaitlynn McShea

  October 25, 2021

  fiction, science fiction, speculative fiction, spooky

• The Reflection

  By Tiffany Shull Peterson Emla was sweating and shaking as she sat at her mother’s dressing table. Instinctively, Emla’s eyes darted away from the smooth mirrored glass to the open window. Clammy night air kissed goosebumps on her skin and the familiar glow of starlight comforted her. With a roll of her shoulders she straightened,…

  Tiffany S.

  September 9, 2021

  fiction, flash fiction, horror

  fiction, flash fiction, horror, short fiction, short story, women author

• The Misery

  By Kaitlynn McShea A September wind sighed through the city. Beatrice closed her eyes and leaned into its cool embrace. Simultaneously, bells from the cathedral reverberated through her skin, marking the hour.  It was time. Within her loose fist, wings tickled against her palm. A wasp battled against her fingers, searching for a way out. …

  Kaitlynn McShea

  September 6, 2021

  fiction, flash fiction

  fiction, flash fiction, short fiction, women author