In Robert Jeschonek’s “Aye, Plank,” the most feared instrument of pirate justice becomes the narrator of its own strange, mythic story—a tale of transformation, belonging, and the unexpected places where second chances take root. Set aboard a ship called the Defiler as it prowls Caribbean waters in 1750, this is nautical fantasy told from a…
In Meyari McFarland’s “Echoes of a Forgotten Day,” Marie sets out alone on a storm-battered hike along the Oregon coast, determined to honor a promise made to friends. But Elakha Bay is more than just a remote, haunted stretch of shoreline—it’s a place where the past lingers, ghosts walk, and ancient tragedies refuse to stay…
This is Southern Gothic at its most intimate—not a crumbling mansion full of strangers, but a family farmhouse where every warped board and rusted hinge carries the weight of generations. When Robert Anderson returns to settle his grandmother’s estate, he expects grief. He expects guilt. What he doesn’t expect is MeeMaw herself, risen from the…
In “The Wind Witch of Weird Water Harbour,” Steve Vernon spins a salt-soaked fable of pride, punishment, and the price of a bargain struck with forces older than the sea. When Captain Donny Parsons accepts a leather cord with three knots of captured wind from Gusty Annie—the Wind Witch—he sets in motion a storm that…
