The Ring

The loss of the ring was a small thing really ... simply tucked away somewhere and then forgotten. Days passed and when I thought of it again, it was nowhere to be found ... a mystery for the ages.

I bought the ring for myself ... a particularly determined step of rebellion, a move toward independence. It was the first quality piece of 'real' jewelry that I had purchased for myself and I wore it like a talisman, a reminder to never to back.

Today, years later, I still physically feel its absence from my finger, sometimes glancing over my shoulder for the whisper of the past, but always reminding myself to keep stepping forward.

After all, it was only a ring ... wasn't it?

The Unprovoked Rape of the Classical Novel (Guest Post by Adam Whitlatch)

If you came to my house and invaded my office, you would find four overflowing bookcases lining the walls. And if you were a really nosy bastard, you would find volumes in my collection ranging from Stoker to Scalzi, from Hemingway to Heinlein, from King to Koontz. What I promise you will not find there is Seth Grahame-Smith's blasphemous publication Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

Pride and Prejudice. . . and zombies. Wow.

Understand that I am a fan of all things related to the living dead, but I think I have finally found my "No, sir, I don't like it" moment. At first I chuckled and put it out of my mind. Surely people wouldn't dignify ...


Adam J. Whitlatch is the author of over sixty works of speculative short stories and poetry, as well as the novels E.R.A. - Earth Realm Army and The Blood Raven: Retribution.
His work has appeared (or is slated to appear) in Six Sentences, Northern Haunts: 100 Terrifying New England Tales, Dead Science, Shroud Magazine, Crossed Genres Magazine, The Drabbler, Vicious Verses & Reanimated Rhymes, Illumen, Unheard Magazine, and Scifaikuest just to name a few.
Adam lives in southeastern Iowa with his wife, Jessica, and their two sons. He is currently studying to become an English teacher.
His blog, Bazooko's Circus, is available for viewing at http://adamwhitlatch.blogspot.com

This Time

I’ve lived life wide open … I’ve trusted … I’ve loved … I’ve given. And every time I got the wind knocked out of me, I got up and brushed myself off and started all over again. Determined to live life wide open and not to miss a thing. That’s how I’ve lived. Yes, I’ve made mistakes. But I haven’t regretted it. I’ve been hurt from time to time but I’ve become a better person for it all. And I’ve had the joy of experiencing things that I would have missed otherwise.

This time I gave more … and I trusted more. I trusted completely. I believed it was safe for me to be totally and completely who I am… no holds barred … no walls… no defenses. Not to the point of putting aside wisdom and reality … and not to the point of being entirely fearless about it … but to a point farther than I had ever gone in my life. This time I cared more than I had ever cared before … perhaps because that incredible amount of trust was there … perhaps because I felt a ‘something’ that I had never felt before … perhaps because I could be so completely me … perhaps because I was foolish.

And this time I learned a bigger lesson. I learned that giving away that kind of trust is foolish. I learned that no matter what the jackpot could have been, nothing will ever be worth that kind of risk again. And I will never open myself up to this kind of hurt again. There is a strong and good and wise and powerful person in me … and if avoiding this kind of pain means that I live with only that person for the rest of my life, then so be it. If it means that I settle for less in order to protect myself, then so be it. If it means that I never feel that kind of love again, then so be it. I still have no regrets ... but the cost is far too high to risk again. To do so would leave nothing except regret.