The Love Song of Oliver Toddle

The Mediocrity Principle

From the category archives:

Awards Winners

by Dariel Suarez
I’m a traveler, and the universe is my road. To some this might sound improbable; to others it will seem absolutely ridiculous. Nonetheless, the truth remains: I’m a universal traveler—it’s my work, it’s my life.
It is not my intent to convince anyone, or to show proof for what I am about to relate. [...]

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Roaming

September 15, 2009

by Stephen Pope
I’ve always kept the number for my cell phone listed. It makes me a target for a lot of cold calls and telemarketers, but it also makes me the man to call when there’s a problem at work and there aren’t any other senior level engineers around. I’ve gotten my name [...]

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Willing Blood

August 15, 2009

By Kat Heckenbach
Simone’s nails dug deeper into the leathery skin of the demon’s neck, and a thick, black liquid oozed over her fingertips.
“I told you to leave her alone, Wraith,” she said, forcing his head to the side and ramming his cheek into the brick wall of the alley. In human form he was [...]

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Demonology

May 16, 2009

by Niall Boyce
You must forgive me for falling out of touch. The past few years at the library have been quite absorbing. I have not had time for my friends, or for anything else for that matter. It is a situation I am keen to rectify.
I think the last time we spoke was just after results [...]

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The Last Fairy Tale

April 15, 2009

by Lynette Mejía
The old woman sat in the worn rocking chair and looked out over the view from her back porch. A short patch of grass, now long overgrown with weeds and the husks of last year’s wildflowers, led to 50 acres of woodland that she’d acquired with her husband a lifetime ago. It, in turn, [...]

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Deliverance

February 16, 2009

by Heather Parker
I trailed along the overgrown lane, pulling half-heartedly at dandelions and throwing two or three in the rush basket. How come this task always fell to me anyway? I sighed and sat down in the grass for a rest. As always, I let my mind wander and tried to imagine what this place [...]

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The Key to Heaven’s Gate

October 31, 2008

by Darren R Scothern
On opening my eyes, and adjusting to the lights of the arrival and recovery studio, I expected to suffer sudden agony; the resumption of physical sensation previously absent for millions of years. But it was a trauma-free resurrection.

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