Seasons
            Beckoned Unto Night by Bob
            Church

            

              

                
 
 
                
Three hundred eighty two days
                  passed while I paused to once again allow the world back into
                  my life. Oh, consciously I would have denied my feelings. A fifty-year-old
                  man doesn't stop functioning because he loses his father.
 
              
            

            
 

            
Pain
            III by Jon Norland (creative
            non-fiction)

            

              

                
 
 
                
I'm older than the Goth movement,
                  if you can believe that. Had it existed when I was in secondary
                  school or at University, I would have gone Goth. I was pretty
                  much straight in secondary school.
 
              
            

            
 

            
The Turra
            Coo by Eddie Bruce

            

              

                
 
 
                
As an impressionable youngster
                  living in the country village of Aberlour in Scotland, I recall
                  overhearing more than one reference to the Turra Coo legend.
                  I won't say it haunted me, it was just one of those anecdotes
                  overheard in adult conversation that you were mildly interested
                  in, yet were reluctant to provoke the "children should be
                  seen and not heard" rebuke.
              
            

            
 

            
The
            Invincible Bears by Aaron
            Einhorn

            

              

                
 
 
                
Long ago in the far away land
                  of Winnetka lived a beautiful princess named Alyssa. Her home
                  was Loftbed Tower, the tallest tower in Cama Castle.
              
            

            
 

            
Ridin'
            The Line by Bob Church

            

              

                
 
 
                
Chocolate chip cookies…
                  Lawrence Grubbs' life reduced to a thirty-two ounce sack of fat.
                  This morning, from his desk perched high atop conveyor belts
                  and box packagers, Lawrence silently contemplated his pitiful
                  existence.
              
            

            
 

            
A
            Woolf In Vita's Clothing
            by Andrew Coburn

            

              

                
 
 
                
Ten years ago a man named
                  Benson married her and took her to North Dakota, where gigantic
                  skies diminished her, winds haunted her, and winters oppressed
                  her.
              
            

            
 

            
Word Catalyst has a new Short Story editor,
            Bob Church. Send your short stories to: Bob
            Church@wordcatalystmagazine.com. For a critique of your short
            stories, send them to: critique@wordcatalystmagazine.com.