The fading sun does cast its amber glow, Across the hills where silent shadows grow. The restless winds weave whispers through the sage, As time turns yet another desert page. A horseman rides beneath the endless sky, His heart as wild as hawks that circle high. The stars awake to guard the night’s still breath,…

They smile and nod, raise their glasses in empty salutes. It’s always a pat on the back, a nod of approval, a fleeting grin that never reaches the eyes. They like you, you see, for your jokes, your stories, as they pour you a drink and laugh at the correct times. But when the lights…

They had the same birth date—except for the year—the same name, the same blood type, and were in the same hospital room. It was no wonder the mix-up happened. The college girl glared at the doctor. “How could you screw up this bad?” The housewife, lying in the bed next to her, added her two…

Sundews are plants that trap prey in sticky hairs on their leaves. Long tentacles protrude from their leaves, each with a sticky gland at the tip. The droplets look like dew glistening in the sun. The glands produce powerful adhesives to trap and enzymes to digest their prey. Autumn will forever haunt my memory, should…

The door clicked shut, the sound reverberating through the still house. She pressed her back against the wood, her breath shallow. Her daughter was already dragging her injured foot toward the couch, mumbling complaints about the “dumb sticker” and asking for tweezers. She tried to answer, but her voice wouldn’t come. Her mind was still…

You sit there, the room buzzing like an old refrigerator, static on the TV turned up to drown out whatever’s scratching at the back of your skull. Somebody says, “Change the channel,” as if that’ll fix anything. Like flipping from one cartoon to another, from one talking head to the next, makes a goddamn difference.…

It was a quiet morning, too quiet for my liking. A quiet that makes you question your very existence, or at the very least, whether you should pour a double shot of bourbon into your coffee. I staggered to the bathroom, still groggy from the night’s festivities, and looked into the mirror. What I saw…

Brady rode into Silver City under a sky as dark as a gambler’s conscience. The sun had dipped behind the jagged peaks of the Sierra Nevadas, painting the world in shades of shadow and regret. Blacky, his black-coated gelding with a temperament as stubborn as Brady’s own, snorted and tossed its head as they approached…

As a kid, I imagined my future self with the grandiosity of a thousand dreams. Each morning, I’d wake up and switch careers like hats in a dress-up box—one day a firefighter, the next an astronaut, maybe even a philosopher who could unravel the mysteries of life by lunchtime. I’d think about how I’d conquer…

Now, gather ’round, folks, and let me regale you with a tale of whimsy and wonder that could only happen in the peculiar town of Virginia City. It was a fine, crisp, clear winter day when this incident left the folks shaking their heads in disbelief. Miss Eudora Flint, a woman of considerable means and…