Short Stories
Fairy Dust
Rise: Queer Sci Fi's 10th Annual Flash Fiction Contest
Other Worlds, Inc. 10/25/2023
RISE (noun / verb)
Eight definitions to inspire writers around the world, and an unlimited number of possible stories to tell:
1) An upward slope or movement
2) A beginning or origin
3) An increase in amount or number
4) An angry reaction
5) To take up arms
6) To return from death
7) To become heartened or elated
8) To exert oneself to meet a challenge
Rise features 300-word speculative flash fiction stories from across the rainbow spectrum, from the minds of the writers of Queer Sci Fi.
Excerpt
When I saw the boy, I braced myself for the taunts. They weren’t long in coming.
“Fatty, fatty, you’re a little batty.”
Lionel Hampstead never understood why I wouldn’t go out with him. Three years ago, I hadn’t had the words to tell him that he wasn’t my type—but his sister Regina was.
The time he’d caught me in the marshy area behind our houses still lingered in my mind. The bruises had faded, but not the memories.
“Leave me alone, Lionel.”
His face, like his sister’s and yet different, twisted.
“Loser. I bet they shipped you off to that camp because you’re a freak.” He sidled to me, his boldness growing with every step.
I’d matured into my power late. When the time had come, my parents sent me to our relatives to teach me things Lionel would never understand.
That’s what happened in faerie.