Great news! OG’s Speculative Fiction, Issue 21 has been released! In Brian Anglin’s “Forget Me Nots” a man lives two lives and loves two women, but which one will win out? D. Thomas Minton’s “Memories of Childhood” tells the story of man struggling to find his missing memories and the reason they are missing. Also included is poetry by Sarah Ashwood. Let us know what you think of the issue! Don’t miss our other issues of OG’s Speculative Fiction if you haven’t read them.

Author: Deborah Owen

Creative writers and journalists sometimes have the problem of smoothly transitioning from one paragraph to the other, especially when they are changing the subject. This is a learned skill that is not hard to master. By the time you read this article, you will fully understand the trick to it.

When we writers hop from one topic to another without a transition sentence, we “jar” our readers. While sentence transitions may be the last line in a paragraph, they are more commonly used as the first line in a new paragraph. They are like a bridge, connecting one idea to another.

By Andria Thompson

In 2012 the end of the world is nigh. Just before Christmas 2012, apparently. It’s that time of the decade once again, we’re overdue a fresh round of global wipeout. And who says so? The Mayans, by all accounts. An ancient civilization that occupied large tracts of Central America, from around 1800BC until environmental change, over population and the arrival of the Spanish Conquistadores some 2000 thousand years later caused their societal collapse.

The Mayan were a culturally rich people, gifted with architecture, mathematics and astrological understanding.

Checking my personal email has become a daily ritual for me, just like brushing my teeth. First thing in the morning, last thing at night. But it is a lot more fun. Email messages are like electronic presents.

As a boy, I loved going down to the mailbox to pick up the mail. I went with a certain amount of anticipation, hoping that that great big black box held something for me. On rare occasions it did; the latest issue of Nintendo Power or an action figure that I had saved up enough Kool-Aid points to buy. Over the years, I have developed the same kind of excitement for opening my inbox.

In 1983 one of my favorite toys was a Return of the Jedi sand skiff. It was light gray with a retractable plank (for making my action figures jump to their terrible deaths in the sand pit) and a huge, black laser canon. When it was playtime, I might play with Legos one day and knights another day, but I played everyday with that sand skiff. When I became a huge collector of Star Wars figures in my teens, I dug up my old collection. Only I could never find that sand skiff despite the many hours rooting through the closets, the basement and the attic.

We all lose things in our lives.