Frost Flowers by Tom Koob Today I found frost flowers. The night had been clear and cold; the first hard cold snap. It was a bright, crisp morning. The sun shone in clear yellows through the now mottled leaves that the oaks and hickories reluctantly refused to release. A path ambled through the forest. And…
The Tinsmith’s Gift by Tom Koob Stanley was a tinsmith, and a good one. He cut and molded and soldered tin into useful items- candle snuffers, jewelry boxes, ladles. Stanley lived alone in a small cottage a mile from the village. His home was alongside a rivulet running through a forested glen. Every few days,…
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished by Dave Loftin When your children grow up and move out, it is always hard to adjust to the empty nest syndrome. At least I was lucky. Both mine only moved into Springfield, not more than 12 miles from our house. After a few years, both are married and we…
Through The Eyes Of A Child by Lisa Ray Through the eyes of a deaf girl Though she sees everything, She can’t hear a word Or a voice that can sing Through the eyes of a blind child Although they can’t see But sometimes they can see better Than you and me Through the eyes…
Hulston Mill Memories by Raymond Keith Farmer Samuel Farmer, my great-grandfather, owned the mill from 1916 to 1941, when he sold it to Frank Nixon. I was raised in Dade County, Missouri, just seven miles northeast of Greenfield. My grandfather Howard Farmer was Samuel’s son. Samuel also had a daughter, Nona (my great-aunt), and she…
Been thinkin’ about… A Magical Halloween Halloween is my favorite holiday of the year. For me, Halloween was a week of spookiness complete with a trip to the dime store for candy and picking out a mask, then home to scare my big sisters (who were often obliging enough to pretend to be frightened).After sunset…
I Have Seen the Elephant by Pat Craig A mid-1800s’ fable revolved around a farmer who heard the circus was coming to town. He had never seen an elephant and headed to town with his produce to see the elephant. On the road, he encountered the elephant. Unfortunately, the farmer’s horse had never seen an…
The Haunted Hotels Crescent & Basin Park in Eureka Springs The north entrance of the Crescent Hotel, high atop West Mountain overlooking Eureka Springs, is ablaze with lights on an unseasonably warm spring evening. Called the “most haunted hotel in America,” the beautiful structure was built in 1886. Stories of strange happenings abound, some of…
The Sluagh by Joshua Heston It was a day I’ll never forget as long as I live. I was a young priest then, fresh out of Dublin. A city boy as sure as the world. Assigned to a godforsaken western isle of Ireland on the far-flung coast of County Clare. It was a beautiful, harsh…
VisionCon 2016 by Caleb Brubaker with Joshua Heston ”And that’s when I created the first elven vampire,” said best-selling science-fiction / fantasy author Christie Golden from stage. I seated myself next to Batman and a stout fellow in a shabby Jedi cloak. I was, after all, at VisionCon — surrounded by cosplayers (those who dress…