Manu and I would like to thank all the authors who submitted during the month, and all the other months for that matter! We've tallied the reader's votes, and are happy to announce the winners of April Reader's Choice Awards. First Place ($150 Cash Prize Winner):The Rask Rebellion by SnekguySecond Place ($100 Cash Prize Winner):Matchmaker 03: March by Sanit...
The sound of thunder and the flash of lightning outside her window awoke Liora with a start. She didn't hate thunder and lightning, but it did put her into an inconvenient autopilot, moulded by years of bombs and people who wanted her dead. Her first instinct was to check on her daughter Avigail, her panic at seeing an empty bed abated by the waking remembra...
Farm life agreed with Dixie, her family had owned the Jackson Ranch for 5 generations, acres and acres of rich grazing land, a historic claim over swathes of the Texan Great Plains. Dixie had only known life on the farm, her father had raised her to be a rancher just like the generations before her, so by the time she turned 18 she could ride a horse, tan an...
The town of Fort Nimrod was abuzz with its latest mystery. Inside the Rusty Spur there was a picture of a young lady, wearing a Hillary Clinton mask and nothing else, being held spread eagled and spread pussy outside the bar. As if the town wasn't curious enough about who this woman was and how she had ended up in the photo, rumours began to spread that this...
It's the strangest feeling driving a train at night. In the cab up front with the lights off, you can see the world and nobody is looking at you. Even if they weren't distracted by the huge train you're driving, with darkness enveloping the cab you are practically invisible. Private yet public. I've been driving trains for about a year now. Started as an en...
A lot of people don't know the difference between a niqab and a burqa (and most acquainted with Muslim culture don't care either way). A niqab is just a face and head veil, usually worn with modest clothing. The burqa is a wide gown that starts from the top of the head and forms effectively a tent from there to the ground. The distinction is important for me...
Svetlana hated the holidays, she was studying far from her home country of Ukraine, so while other university students went home for the holidays, she couldn't afford to and instead stayed behind to work. Recently Svetlana had gotten a job as night security for the local shopping mall, a huge concrete complex called "the Hillview centre". As a tall and intim...
Debbie never expected the suburban life to last. When she was 23 and knocked up by the bass player of her favourite indie metal band, the idea of giving up her hard partying life seemed so distant that she baulked at the idea. However when Isaac put down his bass, left "the Needlesnakes", and got a job at the nearby supermarket it all fell into focus for her...
Hitting the gym every night, eating exactly what her nutritionist had recommended to the crumb, and investing most of her money in skincare potions and rubs had recently become the centrepiece of Ezzi's after work activities. A string of failed relationships had given her self-esteem a large hit and she decided to channel that into sculpting herself a perfec...
Dixie Jackson rolled her new smart phone in her hand, her father had asked why she needed a fancy phone when the only internet on the Jackson Ranch for miles around was in the house, but Dixie had plans for her new gadget that she could never tell her dad about. She played with the settings on the phone to confirm it would do exactly what she wanted and befo...