Susan P. Blevins, an ex-pat Brit, lived in Italy for twenty-six years, traveled the world extensively, and has now settled in Houston, Texas, where she is enjoying writing stories and poems based on her travels and adventures. She had a weekly column on food in a European newspaper while livingContinue Reading

What changed my life one day was that I heardwhat happened one hundred ten years agofrom one who owed her being to a bird. Your first reaction hearing this: absurd,right? How could that be, and how could she know?I was suspicious too until I heard about the village razed, survivorsContinue Reading

She was a delight at her school dances but an absolute terror at the salad bar / She cleaned & reupholstered her designer handbags every weekend & spent her husband’s money on shutting down fundraisers for causes she couldn’t understand / Her hair was always out of fashion but framedContinue Reading

[Written in shifting text that bleeds between languages]ENTRY 1: THE TRANSFORMATIONWhen the books first gained consciousness, we thought it was a miracle. Then the card catalog started prophesying. Then the Dewey Decimal System achieved sentience. Now the library breathes.The walls pulse with plot lines. Stories seep through ceiling tiles. GenreContinue Reading

The boy’s family were gone, taken by the great Sickness. The brothers at the Abbey took him in. They were gentle souls, but they were old and serious men, their days set firm in routine: rising before dawn; prayer; rounds of chores; prayer; more chores; prayers; bed. They spoke oftenContinue Reading

The Dandies almost ran a clean campaign against the chairwoman of the decoration subcommittee / They handed out red white & blue roses with little life hacks written around the stems like spells / Carry a pinch of salt in your back pocket for good luck & say aloud theContinue Reading

“Your library is your paradise”Erasmus Kees* didn’t tell his mother because she worked days cleaning other people’s houses. Plus she’d only make things worse. Her limited English skills – especially when angry – yelling and spitting in half-Dutch, advocating for her son’s welfare, would not have helped matters because itContinue Reading

FADE IN:INT. OFFICE – DAY An empty, open-plan office decorated in modern millennial gray, the logo for Hi-Hai painted on the wall behind the reception desk.TILDA (30s) sits at this desk typing random letters while trying to eavesdrop on JORDYNNE (20s) who is talking animatedly on the phone in theContinue Reading

Gosh what a couple of egg heads those Goths were / A real match forged in cartoonish annihilation / They were the talk of the neighborhood for the better part of the season & shook all the pine needles down to weave baskets for their Chinese-crested named Thing / ThenContinue Reading