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“On the Writing Process:

"When in doubt, take it out.,”
― Barbara DaCosta, Resort to Murder

“To tell others that
It is a rumor
Will not do.
When your own heart asks
How will you respond?”
― Gosen WakashÅ«

“At least once a week, Dinsy was amused by the indignant sputtering of someone who had just spooned dill weed, not sugar, into a cup of Earl Grey tea.”
― Ellen Klages

“None of us seem to have a purpose anymore but my search has become my purpose.”
― Nathaniel Luscombe, There is Us

“We could not hold the burdens on our backs, so we left them in order to find our own way, revealing the world to the innocent so that they could bear their own weight.”
― Nathaniel Luscombe, Faces to the Sun

“For some people, the lure of travelling and exploration is just too strong to resist. I have jokingly called this the ‘Itchy Feet Syndromeâ€�. Years ago, you would have been able to spot this person easily, as their passport would have been filled with exotic stamps and visas. Today, they are likely to have a mass of photos and travel stories uploaded onto their Facebook page or blog.

So what makes some people reach for their passport at every opportunity? What inspires them to leave home and travel the world on a sailboat or in a converted van? Is it simply a need to explore and see what is around the next corner? Or is it a deeper desire to be free, to live a simpler life?

On talking to many of the authors who have contributed their travel story to this anthology, it became clear that having ‘Itchy Feetâ€� is a real thing. Many have described how they felt this way from a young age, or even inherited this from their parents or grandparents. What is clear is that their desire to travel is so strong they cannot resist the attraction of the next new place or experience.”
― Alyson Sheldrake, Itchy Feet - Tales of travel and adventure: An anthology of travel stories

“Generative AIs can produce reliable, near-perfect virtual scenarios, and AIs that expand consciousness can induce perceptions, but they still cannot completely erase the residual imprint of reality.”
― Michael B. Morgan, Lost in the Shell: Flash and shorts around SciFi: Short stories - Science fiction - Illustrated - English version

“They have loved her so fondly that people might confuse it for romance when it was always admiration. Sometimes, the wallflower thinks, their friend is a goddess. However, they never wanted to put her up on a pedestal. Not even now. This book in their hands is just a small thanks. A way of hoping to reach her heart in the way her writings have theirs.
Maybe not all the collected stories will rattle the hearts like hers. After all, they have only started to write. But the wallflower hopes that their stories are being read by their friend and that they will understand how much they mean to them. But until then â€� they will attempt to find the words for these characters and their lives within these pages.”
― Skylar C. R. Wolf, Wallflower Stories. Life is a Story - story.one

“We organized ‘The Great Indian Poetry Contestâ€�, an international poetry competition. It was judged by an eminent panel consisting of Kalki Koechlin and Kausar Munir. It was an extensive process which started in May 2018 and took several months to conclude. It included multiple rounds of screening, reading and re-reading the poems on various levels, discussing and arguing our choices of winners, reasoning out each selection with the jury, and finally declaring the results in November 2018.”
― Fouqia Wajid, Aatish 2

“I lift myself from lifeless hands
and cut the tethers from my soul
until I rise, my bonds cut free,
to join the flowers that are whole.”
― Nathaniel Luscombe, Faces to the Sun

“My strong desire is for this anthology to serve its readers as a model of male transparency, and as a source of encouragement to seek support and to persevere in the face of difficulties....Adversity is the canvas upon which you paint your greatness.”
― Jim Sharon, Ordinary Men, Extraordinary Lives: Defining Moments

“the old cedars watch us
make love by the pools
that drain to the inlet
where orcas slip ghostlike
through a salmonless sea”
― Barbara Black, Sweet Water: Poems for the Watersheds

“Rainforest

Nictitating eyelid sky
omening leaf mould melancholia
mollusc ruminating spores/ spruce
pores sweat steamed [fungus]/ frog
needles old man's beard
devil's club seeps gloom.”
― Barbara Black, Heartwood: Poems for the Love of Trees

“Every saint has a past. Every sinner has a future."
Oscar Wilde”
― DJ Robb

“In her heart stirs a revolution...a true revolutionary believes in the best in people, in their courage and brains.”
― Luis J. Rodríguez, The Republic of East L.A.

“I can see she's a sad lonely person, despite her job. Somewhere she's made some wrong turns, met some wrong people, and now she can't see her way out of this except in a dream of money -- what everybody tends to do. Money, though, is an illusion with green faces. I think this is so money has personality -- like the way our deities end up with traits like the rest of us. People create money and then they let money create them. Money is a facade but it has a force greater than nature.”
― Luis J. Rodríguez, The Republic of East L.A.

“You come by feeding the lions
A bedlam of these last summer days
I have given out cigarettes to a pastor who is explaining to me the beef between Drake and Pusha T
We lived this life ages ago”
― Harry Edgar Palacio

“The scars on his torso dance and swirl like tadpoles in a murky puddle, ribcage resembling ripples in the water.”
― T. L. Huchu

“Shub Niggurath, Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young. Her love is felt across the cosmos and we happily fall under Her warm, eldritch embrace. Iä! Shub-Niggurath! Iä! Shub-Niggurath!”
― Emily Wyeth, Mother's Milk

“They come from miles around, my characters do, traveling the great distance from the fringes of my mind’s eye, some even making the long and arduous haul from my childhood, just to sit and talk. They do this whenever I’m alone.”
― Rhyan Scorpio-Rhys, A Story Box Full Of Regret: The Collected Shortish Stories of Rhyan Scorpio-Rhys

“Four kids in T-shirts and jeans jam on a powwow stage. They’re grinning, bouncing, fully engaged with their music, each other, and the relaxed crowd. I’m splitting fry bread with a cousin as we cheer on the band, and across the tent, a young girl reading a paperback catches my eye.
In that moment, I wish for more characters like those kids in the pages of children’s books.
This anthology is a fulfillment of that wish.”
― Cynthia Leitich Smith, Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids

“He just stays. He stays without purpose. He stays. The sky rains a few drops on him. In the meantime it has become dark and with darkness comes silence.
And he recognizes it, he recognizes the good silence.
He recognizes the silence and stays in it.”
― Michael B. Morgan

“In my opinion, readers' opinion is the only criticism an author can tolerate, for better or for worse.”
― C.J. Green, Unexpected short stories: Short tales with shocking endings that will keep you on the edge

“The wallflower finishes their writing and closes the book, taking a final look before saying their goodbyes to everyone and the shop and becoming a shadow amongst the people on the streets again.”
― Skylar C. R. Wolf, Wallflower Stories. Life is a Story - story.one

“„I remember it all too well.â€�, he sighs into the hot cup of coffee Hades hands him.
She nods, taking a look as well. This place here in a small town somewhere in Scotland has become a haven for the tragic stories of a past and gave them a chance of becoming something new. Not everyone’s story is going to be fixed. Chiron is terribly aware of it, brushing over the large scar on his arm but for the most of it, people have a chance of rewriting their own stories.”
― Skylar C. R. Wolf, Wallflower Stories. Life is a Story - story.one

“It’s a warning. There was a time she believed he could be her best friend, but she’s always been the shoulder to lean on and never vice versa. There is a point where someone can give you only so much. She has nothing left to offer him any more. At least not without receiving anything back.”
― Skylar C. R. Wolf, Wallflower Stories. Life is a Story - story.one

“„Say, Pythiasâ€� Are you trying to flirt with me?â€�
„Have been for years.�, they sip from their coffee, „You’re catching on only now?�
There is this blush Pythias enjoys seeing on Damon’s face. He already reminds him of a painting which came to life but especially this rush of blood to his face turns him almost human instead of ethereal. There are still streaks of the paint from their art session clinging like nettles on his beautiful face.
„I mean, how could I not? I owe you my life, but instead I’ve sworn my friendship to you. My lifelong loyalty and my heart. It is all I can offer you and I would hand it over to you even without anything in return. Although it would be nice to get at least a fragment of my affection back.”
― Skylar C. R. Wolf, Wallflower Stories. Life is a Story - story.one

“„I can feel you starring.â€�, he puts the brush down for a moment, „Say, Apollo. What’s on your mind?â€�
„You’re too handsome for your own good.�, he climbs down.
Hyacinthus laughs which turns Apollo’s cheeks crimson: „Says the one who literally shines like he is the sun himself.”
― Skylar C. R. Wolf, Wallflower Stories. Life is a Story - story.one

“It was the sensation of the unknown becoming more than some abstract thought. It was present and tangible and clammy to the touch, burrowed so viscerally inside of and surrounding her, she was sure she could see it if only she had some fucking light”
― Jordan Peele, Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror

“Subok ko lang ito sa pagsusulat. Pero salamat sa isang pagkakataon. #SubokLang”
― Dayana, Sa Muling Pagmumuni-muni Ni Di