This story is about a professional assassin with an unusual way of doing business. And he’s doing business with someone equally peculiar. Published by the aptly-titled journal Half Hour To Kill.
image rendered with DALL-E by author
Forfeit
Author: DL Shirey
DL Shirey writes from Portland, Oregon, where it's probably raining. His short stories and non-fiction appear in over 60 publications, including including Confingo, Page & Spine, Zetetic and Wild Musette. You can find more of his writing at www.dlshirey.com and @dlshirey on Twitter.
In Memorium
The Short List lost 25 wonderful publications in this new year. They will be missed. Now included among all our deceased:
- Pages Literary Journal
- The Birdseed
- Peeking Cat Literary
- Jellyfish Review
- Lockdown BabyBabble
- (mac)ro(mic) – published my story
- Near Window
- Pulp Modern
- SFS Stories
- Grody Magazine
- Flypaper Lit
- Reliquiae
- ThereAfter
- Writers and Readers Magazine
- Flash Frontier
- Caesura
- Poemify
- Riddled With Arrows
- Ample Remains
- Dead Skunk
- From Sac
- homologous lit
- The Moth
- Portage Magazine
- Sin Fronteras Journal
Split Decision
50-word stories are known as Dribbles, those with 100 are called Drabbles. The Dribble Drabble Review publishes them both and in Issue VII is my 50-worder about a very sad garage sale.
Explaining Distant Thunder
Published on Twitter by Cuento Magazine.
Fingernails
One year ago, my 50-word story appeared in 50 Give Or Take.
Fingernails
by DL Shirey
One-two-three-four-five-six, blow. One-two-three-four-five-six, blow. The same rhythm every time. Each rasp of her emery board makes me grip the steering wheel tighter.
At arms length she studies her work, spots a flaw and attacks the inexactitude in cadence. She splays five fingers, nods and begins the other hand.
One-two-three-four-five-six, blow.
END
Happy Birthday
I guess this qualifies as microfiction. Or is it?
Happy Birthday, Chad.
X-O
What does volunteering for the greater good look like in a tech-mech world? In the near future, X-O could be a possibility. The question is: how near is near?
Published in the October issue of Altered Reality Magazine.
Jacob’s Hole
If you like writing 50-word stories, one of the best potential publishing venues is Blink-Ink. Over the years they’ve accepted a few of my stories. This one was submitted for their Country Roads issue, but did not make the cut.
Jacob’s Hole
The three-mile walk to Jacob’s Hole was like a hotplate, but a swim was my reward.
The trip back would be miserable except when Mom and her pickup truck ambled up the parallel ruts of the dusty road.
“It’s fried boy for dinner,” Mom said when she saw my sunburn.
5-4-3-2-1
The protagonist in this story feels overwhelmed. He uses a trick taught by his psychiatrist: 5-4-3-2-1. It’s the only way he knows to stop obsessing. This is a 100-word story published in Grimdark from Black Hare Press. As you might expect, all the stories in this anthology are grim and dark.
Eidetic
The narrator in this dark piece of flash fiction introduces us to 13 people in just over 600 words. I even manage to slip in a reference to Moby Dick amid this parade of characters. Published by Theme of Absence, a fine purveyor of speculative fiction.
DL Shirey 