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Channel: Short Story | C.L. Mannarino
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Red Jacket

December, 1988 Zara raced to put on her skates, her brown fingers stiff with the cold. Ahead of her, Helena already leaped across the icy lake. She shrieked, dodging the snowballs her older brother,...

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Caught Off-Guard

With a final heave, Prioress Angelina Martinez stuffed the brittle evergreen branches behind the snow-covered trees hemming the Abbey property line. Just beyond her, a twig snapped. Straightening, she...

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The Raven-Haired Beauty

Marina studied them, a beautiful boy with golden hair and a raven-haired beauty walking hand-in-hand along the sun-kissed shore. They drew closer to the rocks and she ducked down, clinging to the...

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A Very Long Time

I hold the silk of my skirt in both hands: white on white. In the mirror in front of me, I keep catching myself by surprise. The woman staring back at me is a ghost, one haloed by the silver light...

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Far Beyond the Sea: Missing

The Neptunian royal family hadn’t been seen in months. Marina’s mother had just about eaten her nails to the quick, and the scales of her tail were grimy with neglect. Marina wanted to say something,...

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where have you gone

Who are you? Girl of a thousand names, and none of them are yours. Hiding, plain as anyone can see, in an identity crisis. You’re the tragedy they write stories about. You knew who you are, what you...

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Survivor, or What Will You Do?

Oh, my dear father. What on earth will you do now? You made me to be like you. Made me to fear. To hate. To believe things they couldn’t, because you believed them to be too small-minded. Scrap yards,...

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Cover for WHAT HAUNTS NIKKI WHITNEY is finally here!

That’s right! Looks super different, doesn’t it? Guess what? The whole series got a makeover. You can preorder the story here!

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Basket of Hope

Lily looked up from where she plucked spinach, and sighed. The sun-drenched garden still lay empty, with no sign of the red-haired, homespun Hope, or her wagon, in sight. Instead, her warm laugh echoed...

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Something Special

Kat pulled a chair over on the lawn, and settled in beside Matt, huddling in her oversized sweatshirt. Immediately, he grinned at her, and shifted his own chair closer. With one hand, he threw the bulk...

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Guess What I Found?

It was sitting on top of my head. It’s probably been there for days. It’s long enough, at this point: A gray hair. I saw it, and I just laughed. Laughed, and laughed, and laughed. No fucking way, I...

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Actually, though, about that nostalgia…

…there is one thing that I miss about college: The days where i had early mornings off, I’d still pack my bags and eat in the first wave of kids in the cafeteria. I’d be done fast, sitting at a table...

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Commercial

A young woman is posed in underthings on a burnt orange couch. She looks about ten years younger than she must be, all stringy blonde hair and malnourished limbs. The shades are shut behind her, and...

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Working for a Dream, or: Voluntary Confinement

It’s maddening: sitting here, ready to crawl out of your skin. You scream with ambition, and drive, aching to do the next thing, hampered by the eight hours you’ll be sitting there, waiting for the...

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Better Together

Lily reached for Zacharia across the couch, her fingers trembling in the light of the oil lamp. When she touched his shoulder, rounded over a book, he jumped, and then gave her a funny, confused smile....

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Never Really Ready

I’m sitting in a dealership, getting my car serviced. The man who sold me the car comes up, having seen my name. He asks me if I’m related to a man named F. I say yes. He says, I knew his brother. Tell...

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MIGRATION: A Queer Sci Fi Anthology

MI-GRA-TION (noun) 1) Seasonal movement of animals from one region to another. 2) Movement of people to a new area or country in order to find work or better living conditions. 3) Movement from one...

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#ROW80: We’re Actually Quite Deep

No real updates on the cat puking. He’s ancient, literally, and probably not digesting well, but he’s otherwise as demanding as ever. He’s also got a really cushy seat with the fan blowing cool air on...

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Sticks and Stones

I found him waiting for something on the trail in front of me. The clouds were low. I’d been heading back to camp, bundling up some firewood for dinner that night, when I’d caught him there. At first,...

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Muddy Palms

I made sure the camper was dripping with charms before we went to bed, glittering rocks hanging from strings. Still, as I turned down the lamp and crawled into my sleeping bag, a shiver passed over me....

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