I was recently chosen as one of the honorable mentions for the 2018 Literary Taxidermy Short Story competition. Hooray! The Literary Taxidermy competition, for those who don't know, sets a challenge each year: to use the first and last line from different well-known works of literature and create your own completely unique story. The lines … Continue reading Literary Taxidermy Honorable Mention
Fiction
A Metaphor of Ships
Note: This is story number four of six so far! Only forty-six more to go. A short story by Laura A. Freymiller Let us imagine that we, every one of us, wake up one day, stranded on an island. We don't know how we got there, we don't know why, but there we are alone, totally alone, on an island. It … Continue reading A Metaphor of Ships
Frigid
A short story by Laura A. Freymiller In January the first of the planes fell out of the sky. It was a gentle descent, and we watched with about as much concern and mitgefuehl as a crowd of middle-aged sightseers at an aquarium. There was a vague murmur as the mass of metal shone and … Continue reading Frigid
Clear Water, Bright Lights
A short story by Laura A. Freymiller I remember the date when I first realized I was drowning. December 19, 2014. It was written in violent pink on the bachelorette party invitation email. Eunice missed the wedding season, I’ll give her that, but there’s something cruel about inviting a bunch of twenty-somethings to go out … Continue reading Clear Water, Bright Lights
Girl Cries Alone With Camera (2017)
A short story by Laura A. Freymiller I’ve been here a year, a sun-soaked spotless year, the light bleaching memories until I return to a blank-page, useful for writing on, useless for writing with. There is the Bay which is fertile and degraded, there are the hills which are aspiration and struggle, and then there is the Pacific, … Continue reading Girl Cries Alone With Camera (2017)
Modern Horror for the Modern Woman
A short story by Laura A. Freymiller I first noticed it under my bed a few months ago, but who knows how long it was there before. It was small at first. I only found it because of the bump. It was about midnight, and I was tossing and not sleeping as I tend to do when Charley is out … Continue reading Modern Horror for the Modern Woman
Accidents
A short story by Laura A. Freymiller He hit the dog almost without knowing it. He might have driven on had it not been for Charlene’s screams from the seat beside him. “What? What?” he shouted. “Out there!” she said, pointing a trembling finger. So, Sid pulled the rented Jeep to the side of the … Continue reading Accidents
Dear Ma
By popular demand, I am posting the short story I wrote for my dystopian writing class. It is entitled "Dear Ma". I read the first letter at my first ever real-life-adult reading! Dear Ma, I suppose this message is long overdue. The one I send to you apologizing for running oft. But now that … Continue reading Dear Ma
Poem from Women’s March
There's been a lot of discussion about the Women's March and its purpose and its controversy and I support that. I'm still thinking about exactly what and how I fit into this movement. I know I need to be a part of it, that I must be a part of it, but I also cannot … Continue reading Poem from Women’s March
When the Dictator
When at last the dictator’s reign came to an end, the reins slipping from his tiny hands, his strident yell faded to a hoarse unintelligible rasp, the resistance forces breaking through the final of his gun-toting thugs to find him cowering in his bathroom, there was much rejoicing. The capital, long savaged by a poisoned … Continue reading When the Dictator
