fiction

hanschristianandersen

The Flower Garden Of The Woman Who Could Conjure

Hans Christian Andersen

fiction, reprints, Monday, August 30th, 2010

Danish author and poet Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale, “The Snow Queen,” has inspired short stories, novels, and poetry. Its structure of complex, sometimes overlapping, stories is worthy of postmodern and experimental fantasists today. Here we’ve reprinted the third story, “The Flower Garden of the Woman Who Could Conjure,” in hopes that it will entertain our readers as well as perhaps lead them to the original in its entirety or even Andersen’s other fairy tales

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wedding dress

Where Shadows Meet Light

Rachel Swirsky

featured, fiction, Monday, August 23rd, 2010

Princess Diana’s ghost emerges at night. There are other ghosts, presumably, but she doesn’t see them. She only sees the living.

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fenster auf der bergh¸tte

The Wizard’s Calico Daughter

Eilis O'Neal

featured, fiction, Monday, August 16th, 2010

The wizard’s calico daughter, Anya, was not a wizard. Oh, she could do magic; in fact, she often helped her father with his work. But she didn’t want to be a wizard, and her father didn’t want her to be one either

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maori tribal patterns

And the Blood of Dead Gods will Mark the Score

Gary Kloster

featured, fiction, Monday, August 9th, 2010

“Tribals are crap, redneck poser ink. Do yourself a favor and piss off.”

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Isolated cacao beans

Stem, Stone, and Bone

Deb Taber

featured, fiction, Monday, August 2nd, 2010

Jacinta, however, was nothing but Jacinta, a woman and a worker who could couple with the city men or a visiting stranger, and at the end of nine months, out of her belly would drop nothing but a stone.

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Close up Peacock feather.

Perhaps this is Kushi’s Story

Swapna Kishore

featured, fiction, Monday, July 26th, 2010

Excitement tingled in Kushi. She had always assumed the stories to be ways to cheer younger children. Was it true, then, that the gods sent feathers to select leaders whenever the tribe was in trouble?

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Lovely purple violet nb.2

Violets for Lee

Desirina Boskovich

featured, fiction, Monday, July 19th, 2010

Like all stories of loss and being lost, this one begins with something empty. Specifically, a glass canister. I ran out of sugar while baking a cake. I’d just finished making candied violets. It’s March, after all. (Or at least it was, out there. I don’t think time even exists in here.) You have to make candied violets with the first violets of March: that’s the rule. It was Lee’s rule. Preserved by egg white, super-fine sugar, and low heat, the violet petals live on, ossified versions of their former fragile selves.

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Persian carpets (Iranian carpets and rugs)

The Seal of Sulaymaan

Tracy Canfield

featured, fiction, Monday, July 12th, 2010

I took a male form and sidled over a small dune. The rental camels had handles on their saddles so they wouldn’t spill the tourists when they seesawed to their feet.

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St George and the Dragon stained glass window

The Stable Master’s Tale

Rachel Swirsky

featured, fiction, Monday, July 5th, 2010

He lifted a bundle wrapped in fine white cloth. The bundle squirmed, and the fabric slipped aside to reveal the snout of a baby dragon the size of a housecat. I was jostled from all sides as those around me drew back in fear.

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Binary Code Error

Abandonware

An Owomoyela

featured, fiction, Monday, June 28th, 2010

Andrea was my sister. Dad wasn’t. I couldn’t share Andrea being my sister with him, but he kept asking. He kept trying to share Andrea being his daughter with me, like I could reminisce about her in her baby jumper hanging onto mom, or like I’d want to if I could.

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