Memories On a Rainy Evening
Pallavi carefully put Junti to bed and sat beside her. The sounds of rain vividly reminded her of one such rainy evening three years ago when Junti had come to the orphanage with two other children.
Empire To My Soul
I’ll build an empire, brick by brick A fortress for my soul to sit
Synchronizing Our Timing with the Universe
Time rules the universe but we’ve boycotted It And it doesn’t rule us, I didn’t mean lord over us, we’ve chosen our ruler and our own planet, another version of the universe I didn’t mean continent
The Stranger in Our Bed: A MockingOwl Roost Movie Review
This mystery-thriller kept me guessing. It is set in England and, in part, at an old family estate in the country, both of which lend to the movie’s mystery. From the beginning, I could feel the tension that proved to weave throughout the story.
Sputter of Acclaim
[You] assumed for sure you were one day going
to wear a crown, reigning puffed-up, beloved…
Quarterly & Special Issues
Submissions open for Issue 3, Volume 1: Unknown & Unseen. Submissions close Dec 31, 2022.
December 8, 2022
Alan Hlad artfully writes a well-researched, captivating story of love, loss, and fighting for human life that will leave you breathless. He thoughtfully and respectfully weaves his story through real life events, based on real individuals, during the last years of the war. This is a book where the heroine is as willy, intelligent, and kind as she is beautiful. The hero chooses the lives of others over his own security. They cared more about a happy ending for mankind than their own hearts, like so many of the people they represent.
December 4, 2022
It’s an amazing feeling to hold the first cup. The warmth oozes from the initial grasp of my hand into my wrist. I close my eyes and take a deep breath which refreshes my lungs and immediately brings all the happy emotions.
December 1, 2022
I feel that both Jack, (and the trilogy) should become classic holiday reading material. The Spirit of Christmas lives in these novels.
November 30, 2022
And we love small presses! But we want to expand our understanding of what they can look like and be a super personal, super effective small press that doesn’t just sell books but builds community for writers, editors, and readers as we do it.
November 15, 2022
When you open the bag of loose leaf Pecan Praline tea, you’re instantly transported to the deep south where pecan praline candies are basically a rite of passage. The sweet, indulgent aroma of the nuts and deep, dark leaves, the spices – they all make for the heady scent that recalls childhood and comfort wrapped in a grandmother’s hug.
November 13, 2022
It’s a simple thing. It’s something I’ve basically been doing for years. But I’ve never been intentional about it or removed distractions from my morning like this. It has been a fantastic experience. I highly recommend it to others.
November 9, 2022
Poppy Delamere is racing to save her sister from being accused of murder when she runs straight into the dashing Joshua Fielding, Duke of Langham. She finds herself agreeing to a staged betrothal in exchange for the Duke’s help. He gets protection from ring-seeking ladies while she has protection as she investigates to clear her sister’s name. It doesn’t take the entire week for more than one truth to be exposed.
November 7, 2022
But as I have developed my career as a writer and editor myself, I’ve learned to embrace and celebrate being edited. (And I do use this phrase intentionally; when our words are edited, it feels like we are being edited.)
October 22, 2022
I live in a world of my own, away from noise, crowd, and confusion, I understand your comfort is all gone, When normal me is just your illusion
October 1, 2022
September 26, 2022
A few years ago, a hurricane demolished the storage shed and several other things on my mother’s property. In so doing, the hurricane destroyed an item precious to my mother - and to me - a marbled, dark brown accordion which she found at a thrift store years ago when she was in college.
September 24, 2022
The colors are thrown like paper airplanes hard through our bodies, breathing in every drop of rainbow
September 21, 2022
Overall, The Forger’s Forgery is an exciting, intriguing literary fiction novel that keeps a reasonably quick pace, as long as you’re not expecting an action or thriller. The characters are vivid and memorable (even after a couple month gap at one point, the characters were still extremely present for me, even if the plot needed reminders!).
September 19, 2022
Each week, I make a to-do list full of things I need to accomplish on any given day. It could be fun things for the MockingOwl Roost, or maybe a tedious task for work. Whatever it is, it goes on the list. And the list is color-coordinated, with “categories” of life in different colors. For example, my grad school work is in green text, while work tasks are in red.
September 17, 2022
Here at the edge of autumn I like to practice being generous. I read a book that I don’t like just to exercise my manners,
September 16, 2022
Gertrude and Alice were on holiday in Tuscany. They wandered away from their Golden Tour Group and came upon a strange tree with a single red shiny apple on the topmost branch. They each climbed as fast as they could to see who could get to the apple first.
September 12, 2022
You see, writing theology papers isn’t just a school task for me. It’s an exploration of what I’m learning, how I’m growing, how I’m changing, how I’m developing as an adult human. So much of youth was spent regurgitating rote memorization and trying to make a grade. But now, in seminary I’m synthesizing and expanding the knowledge I’m gaining. And it is an utter delight!
September 11, 2022
“I love you and I always will.”
Last words spoken between dearest of friends
parting ways unknown.
Hope lingered therein,
that one day no more need for “always” would come
– only the existence of that fact would overtake
by revisited presence and love.
September 9, 2022
Charlie had been in Vietnam as had Drake. Charlie worked as a cook in the army and Drake operated heavy equipment, so neither of them were ever in real combat, although both had hunkered down at night when there was incoming. Back in the states when they were neighbors, Drake was a road paver for the city of Beaverton, and Charlie had a mobile sawmill, so they had a common blue-collar argot, and this could make them friends…