Category Archives: Flash Fiction

by | January 27, 2026 · 8:05 am

Today’s News

I haven’t been very available on here in the past few months. A lot of my time has been taken up with my mother’s affairs (financial, medical, moving arrangements). Last week she moved into Memory Care, and it’s been a very difficult journey there–and her adjustment is, as she described, rough. My mom still knows everyone very well, can discuss family news, etc. but she doesn’t know which day of the week it is–or the date. She has hallucinations. It’s a horrible kind of limbo to be in since she understands so much.

Coincidentally, today Editor Barbara Harris Leonhard published a story I wrote before I knew this would happen to my mother. Missing His Birthday This story is dedicated to my mom.

On this double pub day, Editor Nolcha Fox has published three of my poems. Three Poems

The middle poem is another Little Red that I wrote after the publication of Our Wolves.

I’m grateful for my brother who moved my mom and visits her often.  We’re a team. I do all the stuff that can be done long distance, and he does the in-person.

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by | January 1, 2026 · 1:54 pm

It’s a New Year!

Welcome to 2026! I’m not asking for amazing things for the year; I’d just like it to be gentle with me.

2025 was difficult, although I did have some writing successes in journals, have been working with the small press, ELJ Editions, that will be publishing my flash memoir, and had my manuscript inspired by painter Remedios Varo accepted by Shanti Arts.

*Scrap: Salvaging a Family, a hybrid flash memoir, will be out March 20, 2026

*Hunting the Cosmos, flash fiction and poetry for Remedios Varo, will be out fall 2026

I should have a cover reveal soon for Scrap. Can’t wait to share it with you!!!

The problem with the new year, though, is it springs from the old and all the unresolved issues of 2025 will go on in 2026. My mother’s dementia is one of those things. Taking over her affairs is very stressful and time-consuming, but worse is the dilemmas of communication with my mother. I can still have good conversations with her if I ignore the little idiosyncracies (the “critters” that have taken up residence in her apartment, but can only be seen by her), hearing about her going to a service two hours early and waiting for others to show up, etc.

Both Perry and Meesker have serious health issues. As you may remember, Perry was diagnosed with issues two years ago, but I don’t like to talk about it. All I can say is I am constantly feeding sick cats who need food all day long and cleaning up diarrhea, pee outside the box, and dramatically hurled vomit. And Lily still hates Sloopy Anne. Last night she threw herself violently against the gate we have up to keep them apart, trying to get to Sloops.

2025 was productive for me for writing, up to a point. I haven’t written anything for weeks now. Between grandbaby duty, my mom’s stuff, and these cats (on top of regular work and business), I’ve been too busy and very tired.

I read some good mystery series this year, though, as that’s a good way for me to unwind. Actually, I read far more than I usually do, but then I did have hip replacement surgery in May, so mysteries helped out a lot when I was suffering before the surgery and then during the recovery. Here are the series: Yorkshire Murder Mysteries by J.R. Ellis; Dark Yorkshire, Misty Isle, and Hidden Norfolk by J.M. Dalgliesh; Rev. Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne Mysteries by Julia Spencer-Fleming; Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James Mysteries by Deborah Crombie; China Thrillers, Lewis Trilogy, and Enzo Macleod by Peter May; DCI Craig Gillard Mysteries by Nick Louth. (To give you a clue, I am a fan of Louise Penny, Ann Cleeves, and Elly Griffiths, and the series I’ve listed here are more like the Griffiths and possibly the Cleeves than the Penny books. The Spencer-Fleming series is a lot like the Elly Griffiths’ Ruth Galloway books, notably because of the hot love affair in the middle of the mysteries.

In addition, I read some wonderful stand-alone novels and poetry collections. I reviewed just a few of them for this blog. If I reviewed your book in 2025 and didn’t list it, please let me know!

POETRY

Review of Robert Okaji’s Our Loveliest Bruises

A Gorgeous Collection Combining Genres of Poetry, Genealogy, and History

Review of Merril D. Smith’s HELD INSIDE THE FOLDS OF TIME

FICTION

Book Tour Stop: Book Review of Deborah Brasket’s When Things Go Missing

Elizabeth Gauffreau’s Masterful New Novel, A Review

Christmas Magic

Just got a call from my son. He miscalculated the days this week and asked if I could watch Hudson again tomorrow. Sure! (Good thing I fell asleep on New Year’s Eve at 8PM). The other night the Gardener put together a tricycle for Hudson. He’s almost two, and his feet barely reach the pedals, but we can work on learning to pedal a bike again tomorrow. 🙂

Let’s work on making 2026 a tender, playful, happy year! If we all puts our heads and hearts together .  . . .

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by | November 4, 2025 · 12:29 pm

A Shadorma for #TankaTuesday Poetry Challenge No. 37, The Veil, 11/04/25

This week’s #TankaTuesday syllabic poetry prompt is by Yvette Calleiro. She asked for poems using the image of veil. While this is a great idea I learned something or maybe noticed is a better word about syllabic poetry. It’s very hard to approach subjects obliquely or “slant” (credit to Emily Dickinson) with syllabic forms.

I chose shadorma (possibly Spanish or of modern origin) for the form. This is a six line poem of 3-5-3-3-7-5 line lengths. I wanted a form that didn’t require the subject to be about nature, which is why I selected this form.

thanks to sfetfedyhghj

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The Mask Reveals the Heart

 

Bride’s coy veil,

vamp’s pillbox netting.

They conceal

to reveal—

no different from a mask

where disguise tells all.

 

Two years ago, the following flash fiction was published at The Ekphrastic Review. The veil in this case refers to the veil between living and dead or between this world and THAT world.

​Waiting for the Handsome Prince: A Farce (Of Course)
after “An Unexpected Visit” by Remedios Varo

Some girls left a glove or handkerchief, hoping to obligate a gentleman to return it. Eleonora liked to think she was different. She dropped a pump knowing he would imagine her barefoot and helpless. She remembered the velvet of his broad chest, jeweled medallion clanking, felt parts of her responding. Her new friend, Fairy Godfather, helped her prepare for Handsome Prince’s visit, adding to her pretty table setting an inexhaustible carafe and a trick candle, while assuring Eleonora they were traditional heirlooms with magical powers. Before he departed with an unnecessary hug, he reminded her what would happen if the spell were broken. All she needed to achieve the spell’s fulfillment was one kiss from Handsome Prince.Eleonora waited at the table for Handsome Prince all day. Then all night and the next day. She examined the events of the ball repeatedly. What went wrong? Was she too assertive? Too quiet? Did he prefer juicier curves or richer daddies? She tried to drink the water, but it was ensconced inside the glass, unattainable. She tried to rise, but the broken spell had already begun to claim its reward. The transformation into feline had begun. She was locked in place, the fur growing, even as the spinster cat had begun to dissolve into the woods. Just as the pitying fairies arrived to spirit her off beyond the veil, the now-unmasked Fairy Godfather appeared in his pumpkin, his goblin face taunting her.

NEW PUBS THIS WEEK

6 mixed media collages: Does It Have Pockets

2 speculative microfiction: Dog Throat Journal

revenge lit micro: Villain Era

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by | September 21, 2025 · 5:20 am

Book Tour Stop: Book Review of Deborah Brasket’s When Things Go Missing

I’m thrilled to be part of the blog tour for the new novel written by Deborah Brasket whose blog Writing on the Edge of the Wild  I’ve been reading almost as long as I have been blogging.  I’ve reviewed this very special book, and I’d love for you to read the review, hoping that will motivate you to pick it up for yourself.

EBOOK GIVEAWAY The top 3 people who leave the most likes and comments on the participating blogs will be emailed a free eBook of When Things Go Missing (epub or mobi) PLUS two extra chapters (pdf or doc file)

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REVIEW

As I began reading Deborah Brasket’s debut novel, When Things Go Missing, I was expecting a smart and well-written story since I had been reading Brasket’s thoughtful blog for at least ten years. What I didn’t expect was such gorgeous writing, significant and densely woven themes and images, or how strongly the book would make me feel.

This novel is the story of a traditionally structured family of four and how the pieces that are the individuals fit together—smoothly, imperfectly, and jaggedly. The mother leaves one day without saying goodbye or providing a destination. At that point, daughter, son, and husband all respond differently, depending on their relationship with Mom/Frannie. As might be expected, they feel as if the center of the family is gone, leaving them with only tenuous connections to each other.

When Franny leaves town, her son, Cal, is a heroin addict who relies on the help of a rotating roster of enablers—including his mother—to give him money or a place to stay. The younger child, Kay, is a graduate student in archaeology, focused on finding a place for herself in her field. They both rely on their mother emotionally, but with the maternal tenderness spigot suddenly all but closed tight, they struggle to discover who they are and how they can succeed in life whether their mother is a part of their day-to-day lives or not.

The character portraits are carefully drawn. Brasket captures not only Cal’s addictive personality, but his sister’s love wrapped in resentment for the way he siphons attention for negative reasons. Even if the characters and their fascinating evolution throughout the book were all When Things Go Missing has to offer, it would be enough. I couldn’t look away for an instant. Every moment was a surprise and yet each new action made absolute sense for these people and their troubles and their conflicted emotions for each other.

Anyone who has an addict in their lives will be able to relate to this book at a profound level. Anyone who is part of a dysfunctional family group will be compelled to learn from the psychology at work here. And, finally, any parent who ever wanted to just get away from everyone and everything to search for peace and to find themselves, will feel a connection with the character who is missing throughout the novel—Franny herself. Where Franny finds herself will surprise and please you. The character her husband and children find within themselves will gratify you. I promise.

When Things Go Missing made me cry. I could not stop thinking about it when I finished reading. Frankly, I was stunned by the beauty and the brilliance.

***

Following you will find the book information, description, and author bio–as well as the blog tour schedule.

PUBLISHER: Sea Stone Press
PUB DATE: September 22, 2025
PAGE COUNT: 352
FORMAT: E-book $8.99, paperback $14,95, hardback $21.95
AVAILABLE NOW at Amazon, Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, and all major retailers.

ABOUT WHEN THINGS GO MISSING
When Fran Albright turns fifty, she heads to the grocery store and keeps going until she reached the tip of South America, leaving behind an empty hole in the lives of her bewildered family. Her daughter Kay scrambles to finish her master’s degree while trying to glue the family back together. Her son Cal is torn between grief and rage as he fights his own addictions and demons without her there to help. And Walter tracks his wife’s journey southward with her credit card purchases, continuing to care for her as he always has, before heading north to Alaska. Adding to the mystery of the mother’s disappearance are the elated messages she leaves on Kay’s phone and the strange photos she sends Cal, who studies them like hieroglyphs he must decipher to save her and save himself.

When Things Go Missing is a masterful exploration of loss, loyalty, and self-renewal. Told through the viewpoints of Kay, Cal, and Walter, this emotionally rich, mystery-driven family drama is wrapped up in a propulsive page-turner you cannot help getting swept up in.

GENRES: Book Club Fiction, Literary Fiction, Family Saga, Women’s Fiction, Sibling
Fiction, Addiction Fiction, Introspective Family Drama, Healing and Self-Renewal

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

After sailing around the world with her husband and children, teaching literature to college students, and fighting for affordable housing as the leader of a nonprofit, Deborah J Brasket finally settled down among the golden hills and vineyards of California’s central coast to write the kinds of novels she loves to read.
http://www.deborahjbrasket.com
seastonepress@gmail.com

WEBSITES AND SOCIAL MEDIA
Author website and blog, Deborah J. Brasket, Author ~ Writing on the Edge of the Wild –

Novels

Substack Newsletter, https://deborahbrasket.substack.com/

Facebook, Deborah J. Brasket, Writer –  https://www.facebook.com/DeborahJBrasket/

Goodreads, https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/55448191.Deborah_J_Brasket

Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/dbrasket/

LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/in/deborah-brasket-39384370/

 

BOOK BLOG PARTICIPANTS

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by | September 15, 2025 · 12:10 pm

Kitty No-News News and Other Updates

I know I haven’t written about my kitties for a long time, so I thought I would update about them. We have four, all seniors.

Perry, my true love and favorite fur person (only rivaled by dearly departed Pear Blossom). I won’t say much as I don’t like to “jinx” anything. Gray and white, medium-long-haired.

Sloopy Anne, my best little girl who sleeps with the gardener and me. One of our other cats (Lily) hates Sloopy Anne with a passion, so we have a gate dividing our house in half. Sloops lives in the bedroom half. Tortico–tortoisehell from the top and calico from the bottom.

Lily, one of my son’s cats who I took in. She is so mean to Sloopy so Lily is confined to the front half of the house. The reason this is fair is because Lily is a dominant cat in great need of human touch and companionship. Sloopy is more reticent and happy in back. If the gardener sits down, Lily climbs on his chest up to his neck and sticks there like velcro. She can’t get through the gate because she’s fat. Orange and white long-haired who knows she’s beautiful.

Meesker, the other one of my son’s cats. He’s shy and was bullied by Lily for years, so for the last couple of years he’s lived in the back of the house with Sloopy Anne. However, just recently, he decided he likes it out front with Perry. Lily doesn’t dare bully Meesker out here because Perry keeps her in line. Perry is the benevolent king. Meesker is so skinny (GI issues) that he slides between the bars of the gate we put up so he can come and go as he pleases. (Actually so can Perry when he really really wants to do it). All black with black whiskers and toe beans.

The boys, Perry and Meesker:

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The wonderful journal Gone Lawn has published two of my micros: “Nature’s Ways” and “The New Girl.” The first one is fanciful. The second is kind of heart-breaking. It’s in honor of all the new girls who didn’t come into a school with the best clothes or nurturing.

https://gonelawn.net/journal/issue61/Castle.php

“Nature’s Ways” begins this way:

Ethel hoisted herself off the old, webbed chair with one hand and a sigh, grabbed her muddy gloves, and slipped on wet grass toward the garden at the back wall. Her dear Buttercup had passed in her arms the day before, and her enthusiasm for her garden, even life itself, had seemed to die with the little marmalade cat.

“The New Girl” begins this way:

The school secretary handed you off to Miss Dixon, as if you were a slippery, prickery, stinky fish, and you sat in that front row seat where nobody else wanted to sit and didn’t look around so everybody could stare at you until lunch, and I admit I was no different, noting your limp faded dress,

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Two of my micros were finalists in a contest by The Ekphrastic Review. 

You can find them at:

https://www.ekphrastic.net/the-ekphrastic-review/perfect-ten-marathon-flash-fiction-finalists-and-winner

If you go to that link you will find all the finalist stories as well as the winning story.

Here are the two inspiring art pieces that I wrote from with beginnings of the stories.

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Rogue Agent published two of my collages at https://www.rogueagentjournal.com/lcastle  along with a written description of each collage and some comments I make about them.

These collages were inspired by Sylvia Plath poems. The first, “Feverish,” is based on the poem “Fever 103.” https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/29479/fever-103

This is one of my favorite poems ever. I hope you give it a read! Plath wrote it after she had been plagued by with a high fever for quite some time.

The other collage, “What a Thrill,” was inspired by the Plath poem, “Cut.”

https://allpoetry.com/poem/8498445-Cut-by-Sylvia-Plath

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by | August 17, 2025 · 7:17 am

I Thought I Heard the Shuffle of Angels’ Feet – read it at MasticadoresUSA

Hope you enjoy this teeny prose poem/flash published at MasticadoresUSA, thanks to Editor Barbara Harris Leonhard. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

https://masticadoresusa.wordpress.com/2025/08/17/i-thought-i-heard-the-shuffle-of-angels-feet-by-luanne-castle/

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by | July 23, 2025 · 12:15 pm

A Vampire Tale and a Country Earworm

I hate vampire stories, but after seeing a show on the history channel I realized one of my ancestors could have been a “vampire.” Here’s a micro based on that realization!

A True Strzyga Tale, So Forget the Movies You’ve Seen by Luanne Castle

NEW SUBJECT: MY CURRENT EARWORM

Every once in a while I get an earworm that I can’t get out of my head. And it’s often an old song, sometimes one that I didn’t have the pleasure of hearing when it first came out.

My current earworm is 1985’s “The Highwayman” by Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings, and Johnny Cash. The song won a Grammy for songwriter Jimmy Webb in 1986. But it was written earlier and had been recorded by Webb and by Glen Campbell.

After I say my piece, I am posting a video of the song as well as the written lyrics. Two things I wanted to mention. First is that I love Willie, Kris, and Johnny. I still hold a grudge against Waylon after about forty years. Maybe longer. Maybe it was an alcohol thing (him, not me), I don’t know. But he gave a concert in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It’s been so long I can no longer be sure if he was the headliner or not. He was HORRIBLE to the audience. Just surly, churlish, and nasty.

The other thing I wanted to mention is while I love this song, I don’t get it. I understand the romantic notion of a highwayman, but he was a thief and caused a lot of grief to the victims of his crimes (speaking about it as if it were a fictional story, since that’s what it is). The other life roles/occupations are admirable. The sailor. Our world is held together by sailors. The dam builder. I’ve been to the Hoover Dam and heard how many men died building it. So I looked up the dam at Boulder. A minimum of 96 men died during construction. Heroes!!!! Martyrs!!!! And then a starship pilot or astronaut. Captain Kirk! Captain Jean-Luc Picard!

Does it have anything to do with a fine line between a villain and a hero? I don’t know!!! What do you think?

If you can’t see the following video, ugh. I will try to split the link apart and you can put it together.

***

https:

//youtu.be/aFkcAH-m9

W0?si=8x43JSpFkBZn9n5y

Here are the lyrics:

[Verse 1: Willie Nelson]
I was a highwayman
Along the coach roads I did ride
With sword and pistol by my side
Many a young maid lost her baubles to my trade
Many a soldier shed his lifeblood on my blade
The bastards hung me in the spring of ’25
But I am still alive
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[Verse 2: Kris Kristofferson]
I was a sailor
I was born upon the tide
And with the sea I did abide
I sailed a schooner around the Horn to Mexico
I went aloft and furled the mainsail in a blow
And when the yards broke off they said that I got killed
But I am living still
***
[Verse 3: Waylon Jennings & All]
I was a dam builder
Across a river deep and wide
Where steel and water did collide
A place called Boulder, on the wild Colorado
I slipped and fell into the wet concrete below
They buried me in that gray tomb that knows no sound
But I am still around
I’ll always be around
And around, and around, and around
And around, and around, and around…
***
I fly a starship
Across the Universe divide
And when I reach the other side
I’ll find a place to rest my spirit if I can
Perhaps I may become a highwayman again
Or I may simply be a single drop of rain
But I will remain
And I’ll be back again
And again, and again, and again
And again, and again…

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by | July 21, 2025 · 3:41 pm

Channeling Ethel Merman

My mother-in-law Diana Dale Castle painted this picture of Ethel Merman. MIL used to hang out at the Broadway theatres during rehearsal time. She would research the actors’ roles and role history and sometimes ended up with a multiple image painting like this one. The painting is under glass which caused the lines in the photo. Also, the color is way off. I am wondering why color is so off in my iPhone pix.

Switch: A Magazine of Microfiction, Editor Elizabeth R. George, published the story I wrote when this painting was demanding my attention. It hangs to the left of my desk . . . . This micro story, “Ethel Merman, American Treasure, May Have Expressed Regret,” allowed me to channel my inner Ethel as it’s Ethel talking to an interviewer.

The story is the 3rd one down.

https://www.switchonline.org/about-1?fbclid=IwY2xjawLrecxleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHgx66dNYqLdrIVeoUOYsDedT0K4GxnLoYyM9m5Y1-Ic7DuEDuhN0U0uox0pC_aem_RGG7s_ozdQye1MMZagsNoQ

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by | July 16, 2025 · 7:15 am

“What Would Grandma Do” at LatinosUSA – English Edition

Did you have a wonderful grandmother? This fiction story is based on mine.

My story “What Would Grandma Do” is up at LatinosUSA -English Edition.

https://latinosenglishedition.wordpress.com/2025/07/16/what-would-grandma-do-by-luanne-castle/

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by | July 9, 2025 · 7:37 am

Flash Fairy Tale “Magic” at LatinosUSA – English Edition

Do you like fairy tales and fantasy? If so, you might like my flash story, “Magic.” Editor Juan Re Crivello just published it at LatinosUSA – English Edition. 

Note: Magic is something special that is often found in fairy tales and fantasy stories. In this story, magic is “personified” as a horse.

If you want to leave a comment, please do so after the story on the journal’s site. Thank you for reading!!!!!! and I hope you like it.

Magic by Luanne Castle

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