I was but a fresh-faced eighteen-year-old, the summer I worked grounds crew at Camp Sand Lake.
Sand was a given, being smack in the Mojave Desert, and it would’ve been omitted altogether in an alternate universe where “Camp Lake” made good branding. The eponymous lake, however, was a mystery. How deep was it?
“So, Aedan, I’d like you to take care of the place today. This will be an opportunity to get your feet wet managing the business.”
“What?” I glanced up from my phone, sipping my rapidly-melting milkshake. Uncle Johnny didn’t usually bother me on my lunch break.
He sighed. He looked frazzled, and his white hair stuck out at odd angles.
“Once upon a time” is how the inhabitants of Earth begin their tales. But we are not Earthlings, and this is not a story of fiction. Gather ‘round as I recount how Moonfolk first encountered these aliens and how cunning and wit kept our world safe.
It was an ordinary day. Children were at school in the lunar craters.
I was about to flip the sign on the front door of my office from “Closed” to “Open” when I spotted a bulky black form on the sidewalk. My heart jumped.
Then I recognized my visitor and smiled.
“Papa Bear! You caught me by surprise.” I swung the door open. “Come in.”
I assume you’ve heard of the princess and the frog: a darling meet-cute about a prince transformed into a frog by an evil witch, and the princess who saved him with a kiss. Such a romantic story—and a complete lie.
While a witch was involved, she wasn’t evil. Galavia had been hired…
The most terrifying day of my life was humid and hot—the type of weather that either makes people love summer or wish for winter. I stood in front of Rimlain Canyons, casually scanning the uneven cliff walls with Mr. Krinkleton, a librarian and fellow adventurer. Rumor had it there were riches to be found here, yet many who went searching for them never returned.
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Jerry squeezed his hands together, staring at a narrow strip of ground bordering Main Street. The year before, Reedville had added a watermelon seed-spitting contest in that very spot. Jerry had come in third. To Ma, it was just another loss. To Jerry? He’d felt amazed as he wiped off his chin.
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Pastor Shantel peered through the little window of the flying saucer purring at three hundred miles per hour. Tsulee, the leader of the blue alien children, sat beside her, watching the screen track their progress to Area 51.
The craft flew high enough to be a speck from the ground but low enough…
I flipped another page and blew out a surprised breath. Wow, that chapter had gone fast. Action-packed and a main character with depth. This book was most definitely a page-turner—the perfect summer read.
Discovered in the beach’s Grab-N’-Read Library—a wooden box on a pole buried in the sand—it surpassed the usual finds that beachgoers left behind.
Announcing the winners of the “Remember June” flash fiction contest!
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Ailith slammed her staff against the straw dummy’s head, envisioning the man who’d asked her to marry him last night. The vibration traveled up her arms and into her spine as she readied another blow.
He’d ruined everything.
The Midsummer Feast was the only royal celebration where she didn’t have to wade through…
“If we said wedding vows, do you think we’d say ‘‘til death do us part,’ or ‘‘til death bring us together’?” I raised my gray, ghostly hand to view it in the moonlight.
“I don’t know, Eliza, but d’ya think you can ask this question again after we stop two raging yōkai from…
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