Calls from Behind a Door
Ignore my calls to stay hidden. Drag me out from behind this cobweb-scribbled door. I’ll pretend to be surprised when you scream in elation, when you hold your trophy close to your heart. Find me.
Lost For Words
should speak to you my long lost love
Prized Myths and Fairy Tales of the MockingOwl Roost
Welcome to the first prize winners issue of the MockingOwl Roost – the Prized Myths and Fairy Tales of the MockingOwl Roost. This beautiful collection of fairy tale and mythology-based flash fiction, micro-essays, and haiku/tanka sequence pieces come from authors around the world.
Borderline (Shepley Woods)
In the woods we are borders of our own creation, a witness to a different scene translations from black to white…
Loyalty
Sometimes he shows me off, making friends for us wherever we go. When I have to be without him, he will look at me, as if asking: “Must you really?”
Quarterly & Special Issues
Submissions next open from June 1 to August 31 2024
September 17, 2024
Ignore my calls to stay hidden. Drag me out from behind this cobweb-scribbled door. I'll pretend to be surprised when you scream in elation, when you hold your trophy close to your heart. Find me.
September 16, 2024
September 15, 2024
Welcome to the first prize winners issue of the MockingOwl Roost - the Prized Myths and Fairy Tales of the MockingOwl Roost. This beautiful collection of fairy tale and mythology-based flash fiction, micro-essays, and haiku/tanka sequence pieces come from authors around the world.
September 12, 2024
In the woods we are borders of our own creation, a witness to a different scene translations from black to white…
September 9, 2024
Sometimes he shows me off, making friends for us wherever we go. When I have to be without him, he will look at me, as if asking: “Must you really?”
September 2, 2024
The path may not be the one you envisioned, But that doesn't mean it's devoid of purpose. Motherhood is a school in itself, A crash course in fierce love and unwavering devotion.
September 1, 2024
As I pulled out the GPS, memories surfaced of Nat navigating the streets of New York decades earlier. Navigating the streets of every country we’d travelled in. He always used to say he carried maps in his head and if he needed to find the right direction, he simply lifted his mind above the car, looked down on the streets and visualised the right route.
August 31, 2024
August 30, 2024
Popping off the lid of the tea tin versus smelling a freshly brewed cup of Tao of Tea Black Mango offers two varied aromas. The tea leaves offer a rich, dark, almost indescribable aroma tinged with something fruity. The brewed tea, however, instantly transports you to the tropics where you might pluck a mango for enjoyment right off the tree.
August 20, 2024
The Crimson Crown by Heather Walter is an enthralling escape into the world of witchcraft, misogyny and murder. A time of religious burnings, where men smile in their piety as witches/women dance in hot iron shoes.
August 15, 2024
Come one, come all, Sci-Fi lovers! We've got a great short new issue with our sci-fi fiction and poetry for 2024 right here. Check out the stories from authors around the globe, relating tales of outer space aliens, military experimentation, space travel, and much more.
August 6, 2024
It was attempting to spread It came with a sad melody, My heartbeat increased,
My lungs demanded air To fight the need, I felt to let my tears fall…
July 31, 2024
I look up at the bird, its coat of the blackest feathers sheening in whitish sunlight…So I hold dear the dark bird's song.
July 29, 2024
Arrival at night was what I was dreading. Night sailing was bad enough, but I had no desire to get into the dinghy after nightfall. The familiar coastline of northern Kangaroo Island came into view, but the sun was setting, and by the time we arrived the coastline would be obscured.
July 27, 2024
Funny to call it that, but when the soul journeys out from the body,
What else lies on the table but that which is enduring the cutting?
Like a lamb at the market providing only the choicest meat for observation.
July 25, 2024
We had been digging with our hands, trying to free our trapped family members from beneath the collapsed building. But, finally, it seemed, help had arrived. We all cheered. I jumped to my feet, despair transformed into hope, as pickup trucks and limos came into view…
July 23, 2024
My grandma said I lived in a dreamworld. But it was just a different neighbourhood…
July 19, 2024
Melting snow dripped from the leaves like tiny ice daggers onto the disgruntled trainee evil witches below. As soon as they were born, these little girls were dispatched to the camp before any chance of feeling love or appreciation of comfort or joy could tarnish them. The spells that they were taught in dank and chilly clearings were bitter with evil: how to cause pain, how to fill hearts with hatred and revenge, and how to cause sorrow through foul wickedness.
July 17, 2024
July 15, 2024
Come play in the Lonely Maple Wood, dance in the Winter Wonderland, dream of of things to come at Love's Open Door. Within the pages of the MockingOwl Roost issue "Beauty" you'll find the wonders of nature, humanity, animals, and more, inviting us each in to delight in creation and each other.