Upcoming Anthology
Due: October 31, 2021

Top Themes

A Winding Path
An Unconventional Gift

Pot Luck Themes

Pick Your Poison     -     Lockdown     -     Left Behind     -     Dire Monotony     -     Mutation is Progress     -     Blood Moon

Birthday Presents     -     Falling for Fall     -     Elves or Elvis?     -     Life’s Past     -     The Woods

Rings of Fire     -     Plateau Wolves     -     Rock     -     Men and Women     -     A Legend Retold

Echoes     -     The Last Sentinel     -     Tomorrow     -     A Label     -     Surpassing     -     Twilight Falling

There's your list of themes!  You can check out the full list of rules and guidelines in the anthology forum, but take a look at this entry from last year!

---

The Seven7h Magpie

Author: @lomax61
Theme: Shadows

One for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl and four for a boy.

Five for silver, six for gold, seven for a secret never to be told.

I am sure many of you, like me, learned this children's nursery rhyme about magpies. According to an old superstition, the number of magpies seen predicts whether you will have good or bad luck. Something I came across subsequently, was the existence of many variations on this rhyme, some more sinister than the children’s version.

One of those is incorporated into this short story about boyhood abuse.

Reader Comments:

chris191070: Well certainly not your normal fair. A great story using the nursery ryme that's make the sad story, mind blowing. 

84Mags:  It’s hauntingly wonderful.  Imaginative, creative, and heart wrenching.

Valkyrie: This story was captivating, chilling, creepy, and oh so good!