Congratulations to @R. A. Gatescf1 for her very cute story, The Book Dragon! Great story!

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Join us for more Flash Fiction stories that are fun and help you improve your writing craft!

Story Title: The Book Dragon
“Why did I agree to be here so early?” Kody yawned as he stopped by the pile of paint cans in front of the old, faded mural on the side of the magical bookstore.

“Because repainting George is an all-day job.” Laney leaned a ladder against the wall. “Plus, you’re an artist and need to suffer.”

“His name is George?” Kody glanced up to the focal point of the advertisement; a red dragon sitting on a pile of books, reading. His wings stretched out and his tail curled around the corner. “He looks more like a William with those reading glasses.” He opened one of the paint cans and frowned. “This is the color Mrs. B wants to use? It’s so…dull. I thought she wanted to really liven him up?”

Laney shrugged. “This is the paint she said to use.” She agreed with him about the muted colors. “I can try a spell to brighten the pigments. Just don’t tell her. She’s been on my case about frivolous spell casting.” She recited the enchantment over all the cans at once to save time. The colors had intensified, looking more vivid.

“Much better.” Kody leaned his cane against the wall and then slowly climbed the ladder to start working on George’s head. “A little help, witch,” he called down to Laney.

She placed an enchantment on the paint cans he’d need so that they floated up to his level so he wouldn’t have to keep climbing up and down. “There you go, wolf.”

“That’s werewolf to you,” he mumbled as he dipped his brush into the bright red paint.

Laney worked on the background and the lettering for The Dragon’s Lair Bookstore. “What kind of books do you think Geoge would read?” Surrounding the dragon were many piles of books that needed titles.

“The Joy of Cooking People.” Kody concentrated as he painted tendrils of smoke coming out of George’s nostrils. He even added a Fu Manchu to his upper lip.

“Do you think he’d like something more mainstream?” She had the idea to add current titles to the book spines.

Kody laughed. “Anything but the books about those sparkling vampires. Gesundheit.”

Laney lifted her brush off the wall right after finishing the Tw. “I didn’t sneeze.”

Kody stepped down a level on the ladder to work on George’s long neck. “Someone did.” As he applied the paint over the old scales, he noticed that there was more depth and dimension to them. Laney’s spell worked better than he thought it would. She was getting much better.

“I like that series,” Laney mumbled as she continued touching up the piles in front of the dragon’s wings.

“Oh, me too.” Kody kept his eyes on the work in front of him. “Team Jacob all the way.” The ladder trembled, making him grab on to keep from falling. “Stop shaking the ladder.”

“I’m not.” She was a good few feet away from it. A shadow fell over her. She glanced up to see what was blocking the light. She gasped. “Holy ogre crap!” George’s head and neck had come out of the wall, and he was looking down at her.

Kody screamed when he noticed and scurried down the ladder. He grabbed Laney and pulled her away from the wall. “What did you do?”

She struggled to think as her heart pounded in her ears. “I didn’t do anything. At least, I don’t think I did.” Did she mess up a simple color spell? She wanted to bring the colors to life, but this was too real. She walked to the corner to get a better look from a side angle. His head was fully three-dimensional while his wings and body were still flat on the wall. “What have we done?”

“We?”

George whimpered as he shook his head, trying to pull the rest of himself from the wall. Laney’s heart ached watching the poor thing struggle. “We can’t leave him like this.” She turned her pleading eyes to Kody, still standing in the middle of the street.

“Yeah, we can. He’s a dragon. They eat people, remember?” He crossed his arms as if the discussion was over.

“But he’s not a real dragon. He’s just life-like.” Laney forgot that Kody was new to magic and its limitations. “He was created to read, not eat.” She picked up a brush and started painting the tail.

After a moment’s hesitation, Kody relented. “Alright. But if he tries to barbecue me, I’m leaving.” He climbed back up the ladder and continued where he had left off. George giggled with every brush stroke, making it that much harder to paint him. “Great. He’s ticklish.”

“George! Stop pushing me.” Laney regretted painting his tail first.

Soon, everything was done except for the wings. The poor thing struggled to get free but couldn’t do more than hang from the wall. He reached down and picked Laney up so she could reach his wings. George even grabbed his own brush to help get them finished.

Once the painting was done, they stood back and watched George fully pull away from the wall. Only piles of books remained in the painted scene. A small crowd had gathered around them, marveling at the red dragon hovering over the street.

“What is Mrs. B going to say when she finds her book dragon missing from the painting?” Kody asked.

How was Laney going to explain to her boss that she messed up another spell? Especially when she wasn’t supposed to be casting at all? “I don’t—”

Mrs. Burns walked out of the bookstore and glanced up to the hovering dragon. She smiled and waved. “George! Glad to have you back, my friend. Now come inside. We have books to sell.”

They glanced at each other with gaping mouths. Then Kody burst with laughter while Laney frowned. “She could’ve at least told us her plan.”

Hello from Taiwan!

I'm Terrence. Though I'm originally from Los Angeles and studied screenwriting at the University of Pennsylvania, I haven't lived in the US for nearly a decade. I work in tech marketing, which has allowed me to gain a great many creative professional experiences including screenwriting, acting, video editing, voice acting, producing, directing, IP development, comic writing, and novel writing, off the top of my head.

I've already written 4 full-length novels, 3 of which are the first part of a series that I'm about to start querying, but probably the most interesting project I'm currently involved in is my fourth novel, Xtreme Saga - Book One: The War for Rig. I was hired to establish a new transmedia IP for a tech brand called XPG. The project includes animation, web comics, and full-length novels. I'm the lead writer and narrative director of the project. It's an epic sci-fi adventure story that takes place in another galaxy and centers around a teenage girl fighting against an evil empire that has invaded her home planet. You can find all the released content for free on the official website. Or just Google "Xtreme Saga". We release new content every week as part of our digital marketing strategy, so while the first of multiple planned novels is fully written, only the first 17 chapters are currently available online.

What's most interesting about Xtreme Saga is that the IP is owned an managed by a tech company with no real background in entertainment media, so they give me a lot of creative freedom. That said, they also aren't fully equipped to do a lot of the things that an entrainment company would be able to do. For example, we'd really like to do a physical publishing of the first novel. But the company doesn't know the first thing about the publishing process. So we're currently in the process of trying to find a traditional publisher to partner with for the physical printing of the novel series.

Thanks for reading my overly long introduction. If you like sci-fi, I hope you check out Xtreme Saga. If you're a publisher looking for sci-fi or fantasy novels, please reach out. I've got four books looking for homes.

Truly an embarrassment of riches! Congratulations go out to:

Not All Who Wander Are Lost (But We Are) by @MSTufail​

Choosing Fate by @LaurenDMSmith​

Portal Roulette @R. A. Gatescf1​

Congratulations to our three winners this week! I think since we have three wonderful winners, and we can only have one prompt for tomorrow's contest, I will choose one this time.

If you have not had a chance to read these stories please do so! They are great!

Thanks to everyone who participated and KEEP WRITING!
Leslie

Thanks to all the wonderful agents who spent hours reviewing the submissions. We could not hold these events without you, and we very much appreciate your time and efforts! Thank you for supporting the SavvyAuthors community!

This Spring Pitchfest, we had over 4,000 submissions to Agents and Editors. Thanks also to all of you who pitched! If your story did not find a home in this Pitchfest, we are certain it will with your dedication and perseverance!

And do not forget that we are a short 6 months away from Autumn Pitchfest and registration for this free event is OPEN!

~RJ Garside, Leslie Dow, Dawn McClure, and Walker Dow and all the volunteers at SavvyAuthors!

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Agent Requests​

• All requests have been submitted. Updated March 31 @ 3:10 p.m. EST

Andie Smith, Booker Albert Agency​

Please have these authors send me their query, synopsis, and first 3 chapters to Andie’s QueryManager: Query Submission.
* Please include “Savvy Authors” in the referral box.

• Sex, Lies, and Dating Disasters by Cheryl Smith
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Colleen Oefelein, MacGregor and Luedeke Literary​

Please send your query, synopsis, and first 10 pages to [email protected]

• Death is in the Air by Ellen Gardiner
• 100 DAYS OF UNLOVING YOU by Marisa Salvia
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• A SCOOP ON MURDER by Paula Barr
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• Murder in Old English by Marian Rakestraw
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• I LOVE THE WAY YOU DIE by Bianca Malcolm
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• Green Mountain Bride by Laura Davies Tilley w/a Alyssa Roberts
• A Duke She Couldn't Refuse by Victoria Elliot
• Reining In Love by Melanie McCarthy
• Whispered Hearts by Patience Akpan-Obong and Terri Fields

Jackie Kruzie, Focused Artists​

Please send query, synopsis, and first 10 pages to: Query Submission

• BLUE STREAK SUMMER by Evelyn Krieger
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• Baking Your Heart Out by Bethany Perry
• FIVE TILL PLACES by J. Myles Hesse
• A SCOOP ON MURDER by Paula Barr
• LOCKED-IN by Susie Robinson
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• Nu-Yo and the Old Dragon's Daughter by Shuazong Chanthalakeo

Jacqueline Lipton, The Tobias Literary Agency​

Please send query, synopsis, and first 20-30 pages of their manuscript (wherever a page or chapter break works most naturally) to: Query Submission

* Please include "Savvy Authors Spring Pitchfest Request" in the referral line.

• Scones and Skull Bones (Jacque Rosman)
• Untitled Crime Thriller, 85k words (Allison Meldrum)
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• Mask of a Thousand Angels (Maryn Boess)
• Pebble Girl and the Secrets of Mount Hua (Natalie Ku)
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• The Achilles Factor (Marianne Joyce)
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• Disorder (Peyton Garland)
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• This One Little Life Stephanie Webb)
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Jordy Albert, Book Albert Agency​

Please send query, synopsis, and first 50 pages to: Query Submission

• Dare to Lose by Angelique Russell
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• The Tenth Blessing by Taylor Wylie
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Louise Buckley, Hannah Sheppard Literary Agency​

Please send query letter, synopsis and first 10 pages to: [email protected]

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Lynnette Novak, The Seymour Agency​

Genre specific submission guidelines – see requested information at send to [email protected]

• Picture book request: Send query and attach the picture book MS as a Word document (docx). Add "Requested Picture Book – Savvy Authors" along with your title in the subject line. If author/illustrator, please include dummy as PDF (if available).
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Requests:

• COOKING UP LOVE by Rachel Scott
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• Memoir of a Mangled Mind: Surviving My Multiple Personalities by Steven Shelton
• Feeding Wars: The Making and Meaning of Nourishment by Mallory Thomas
• Naked Conversations: Body Confidence Lessons from a Boudoir Photographer by Meghan Hof
• Nu-Yo and the Old Dragon's Daughter by Shuazong Chanthalakeo

Tamanna Bhasin, The Rights Factory * Just added​

Please submit query letter, author bio, and first three chapters of the manuscript to [email protected]

• Swipe Right by Taylor Ellis
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• The Ivy that Chains Us by Catherine Holdt
• Waking Other Lives by Alena Des
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• The Flametenders by Gabrielle Story
• Kannagi by Bhargavi Kumaran
• Ghosted by Allorianna Matsourani
• The Amulet of Amun by N. M. Mainardi
• How I Met My Demon by Jason Antares
• The Billionaire Bourbon Bet by DK Marie
• Miss Foy's Wicked Month by Jenna Bigelow
• Aramide and the Sea Creatures by Olumayowa Pamela Odunaiya

Amy Nielson, Purcell Literary Agency​

Please submit query, synopsis, and first 10 pages to: Query Submission

• Baking Your Heart Out by Bethany Perry
• FIVE TILL PLACES by J. Myles Hesse

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Editor Requests​

Helen H. Wu, Yeehoo Press​

Please send email to [email protected]
The email subject line must read: “SavvyAuthors PB: TITLE by AUTHOR”
Attach text-only manuscripts as Microsoft Word attachments.
Send art samples, dummy and other materials via a link.

• Paws Off Our Library! by Catherine Friess
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• MEL by Emily Keifer by Firefly's Light by MK Stone

Holly Ingraham, Alcove Press & Crooked Lane​

Please submit blurb/description, short synopsis if available (1-2 pages max), and the full manuscript as a Word document to [email protected]

• Beyond Here Lies Nothing by Katie Maigatter
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Jess Verdi, Alcove Press & Crooked Lane​

Please submit blurb/description, synopsis, and 3 chapters as a Word document to [email protected]

• Hallie Demers Gets It by Sarah Vance-Tompkins
• Ripped from Time by H.H. Pilz
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Josh Gregory, Albert Whitman​

Please submit query, synopsis, and full manuscript to [email protected]

• “Florence’s Rose” by Stephanie Maksymiw
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• “A Hitchhiker’s Guide to Finding Your Family” by Robin Wiesneth
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• “The Lockdown Rule” by Nicole Garnett
• “Chispa of Hope” by Norma Cardenas
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• “The King of Bollywood” by Nadia Ali

Taylor Gelderman, Sourcebooks​

Please submit query, synopsis, and full manuscript to [email protected]
* Please include SavvyAuthors or Pitchfest in the subject line.

• THROUGH THE ASH TREE by Amy Higgins
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• THE BOYFRIEND VARIABLES by Crystal Nikish
• STOLEN FATE by Mary Rose Luksha
• HELLBOUND by Stephanie Bruneau

Tess Jones, Egret Books​

Please email full query letter at [email protected] with the following:

Email Subject:
GENRE – MANUSCRIPT TITLE – AUTHOR NAME – TODAY’S DATE – SAVVYAUTHORS SPRING 2024 REQUESTED MATERIALS

Email Content:
- Everything that you originally posted in your pitch
- Short biography and your contact information including social media and/or website
- A summary including the beginning, middle, and end of the story
- Paste the first THIRTY pages of your manuscript in the body of the email. Do not attach content, all text must be inline in the email.

• THE SPACE BETWEEN ATOMS by Meredith Mackin Rilley
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• How to Wreck a Life by Rebecca Minelga
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Tova Seltzer, Holiday House​

Please email the full manuscripts to me here at [email protected], with "SavvyAuthors Request" in the subject line, and the pitch included in the email body would be great. The manuscripts can be word docs, PDFs or just pasted in the body.

• A Castle for Queens
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• How to Package a Giraffe in a Hurry
• What is Help
• Chispa of Hope

Michael Dolan, Winding Road Publishing​

Please submit query, synopsis, and full manuscript to [email protected]

• #2 Matt Leyshon: I Smell A Rat
• #36 Elvir Belardi: Blood Manor
• #57 Suzanne Mattaboni: Gore, Lust & Kin
• #65 Arlene Kay: The Acolyte
• #67 Mark Philbin: Kill Them All
• #71 Paula Barr Skillcorn: A Scoop on Murder
• #90 Sheri Taylor-Emery: What She Thought She Knew
• #98 Greta Gize: You Were the Topic of Discussion

Story Title: Portal Roulette

“What are we looking for again?” Kody asked as he and Laney tromped through the woods on the way to the Portal Forest.

“Earlberry. I need it for my Potions final. It’s only found in the desert.”

They reached a grove of hundreds of trees with a shimmering aura around them. Each one a portal to a different place either on Earth or a different realm.

None of them were marked. “Which way should we go?” Laney asked.

Kody shrugged. “I thought you knew.”

She glanced at each tree, trying to figure out which one to choose. They all looked alike. All they could do was to try one. “Let’s go that way.” She led Kody through the nearest tree.

They came out of the tree to a beautiful meadow of colorful wildflowers. Laney’s nose tingled and her eyes watered. “Oh, no.” She sneezed, violently. Her throat began to swell.

“You didn’t take your allergy elixer.” Kody immediately turned around and pulled her back through the portal. Twenty minutes and a couple dozen tissues later, Laney was ready to try again.

“Let’s go this way,” Kody said as he led her to another tree. They entered a densely wooded area. The thick canopies interwove overhead, completely blocking out the sunlight. But glowing green eyes stared at them from the treetops and the ground.

Laney’s heart pounded against her chest as she recognized those eyes from last semester’s lesson on magical arachnids. When the clicking started, she slowly backed away. “We can’t be here.”

“What is that?” Kody asked, following Laney’s lead.

“You don’t want to know.” They ran back when the eyes started advancing toward them.

They tried dozens of other portals but couldn’t find the desert. Laney sighed. “We are oh for seventy-three. We’re never going to find the earlberry plant.” She slumped down to the ground, dabbing her nose with a tissue. “I can’t believe I’m going to fail. Why did I get assigned a potion with such a rare ingredient?” Her eyes stung with frustration.

Kody tapped his cane as he glanced at the remaining trees. “You stay here, and I’ll try this one. We will find this earlberry plant if it’s the last thing we do.”

Laney bit her lip as she wondered if him going in alone was a good idea. “Are you sure? What if you end up in a dragon lair or the Bog of Despair? At least I know some helpful spells.”

“I got this.” He turned and strolled through the tree.

A warmth spread through her chest knowing what a treasure their friendship was. No sooner had she opened her book to go over the potion again did she hear Kody’s voice.

“Retreat!” he screamed as he burst from the tree.

She jumped up. “What happened? Did you find the earlberry?” Laney clutched his arms to keep him from falling over as he bent over to catch his breath.

“Yeah, but…” *pant* “There’s a problem.” *pant*

Laney smiled. Finally, after all they went through, they found it. “Whatever the problem is, we’ll deal with it.”

He straightened up but still leaned on his cane. “It’s at the mouth of a cave being guarded by a vicious beast.”

Laney’s eyes widened. “What kind of beast?”

“A giant gorilla-dog thing. I don’t know. We can’t go in there.”

“But I have to. I need that earlberry.” She paced, trying to think of possible spells to use against such a dangerous animal.

After a moment of watching her, Kody sighed, his shoulders slumped. “You’re not going in alone. Are you good with first-aid spells? I have a feeling I’m going to need one.”

Laney clapped, bouncing in place. “I’m going to ace this potion after all, thanks to you.” She pulled an empty satchel from her bag to hold the collected berries.

“Okay,” Kody said as he stretched his arms and popped his neck. “I’ll distract el diablo while you go pick your berries. But you gotta be quick.”

On Kody’s “Go,” they took off running at the tree. Immediately the hot air hit Laney in the face like opening an oven door. She let Kody pull ahead as he headed right toward the…prairie dog? At first Laney thought he was crazy. The little thing was so cute sitting at the entrance to the cave, nibbling on some grass. But when it saw Kody coming towards it, the claws and fangs came out.

Kody used his cane to keep the animal as far from biting range as possible. “Get it!” he yelled at Laney who had unknowingly stopped to gawk at the battle.

“Oh, right.” Laney sprinted over to the earlberry plant. The bush had a lot more thorns than she expected. Most of the berries were concentrated in the center. The thorns pierced her skin as she reached in to get the precious fruit. Blood trickled down her arm almost as fast as the tears down her cheeks, but she kept going.

Once the bag was half-full, and she could no longer take the pain, she yelled to Kody. “Got it!” She ran back through the portal while Kody followed.

Laney clutched her treasure to her chest as she caught her breath. She hoped she grabbed enough. She opened the book to see how much she actually needed. She ran her finger down the page until she got to that ingredient. Her fingertip snagged on something sticking to the page. When she peeled off what resembled a dried-up piece of onion skin, she made an unfortunate discovery.

“Hey,” she turned to Kody who was examining the rips in his shirt. “I don’t need this for the potion. I need Pearlberry. Something was covering up the P. I’ve got plenty of Pearlberry at home.”

“Of course, you do,” Kody said before collapsing to the ground. “Of course, you do.”

Story Title: Not All Who Wander Are Lost (But We Are)

“Well, that’s not much help,” I murmured, hands on hips. This had to be someone’s idea of a joke. There was nothing, no one, as far as the eye could see, except for this sign. This seeming beacon of salvation. I squinted at the sign post towering over me with arrows pointed every which way labeled with particularly disobliging directions such as THIS WAY, THAT WAY, ANOTHER WAY.

I turned as hysterical laughter bubbled up from behind me. My best friend Kristin was doubled over, hands on her knees, laughing, with tears streaming down her face.

“You okay?”

She tried to speak, pointing at the sign, but was laughing too hard to get the words out. She wheezed and clutched her sides, as if she could hold in the involuntary laughter. She’d obviously snapped.

We’d been walking for forever, hours at least. We were hot and tired and thirsty, but we kept our spirits up reminiscing about old times and talking shit about mutual acquaintances, cracking each other up by making fun of ourselves and our shared terrible sense of direction, which is what had gotten us into this mess in the first place. We’d been flagging when we’d seen the sign post in the distance and the sight had buoyed us enough that we’d increased our pace, hurrying toward the distant bellfire. As soon as we got to that sign, we’d know where the hell we were and how long we had left to go…

And now, here we were.

And here was this stupid, unhelpful, demoralizing sign.

Kristin straightened, pulling herself together, and inhaled, letting it out in a long shuddering breath.

“The sign,” She gestured at the object of offense with a flattened hand. “The sign…”

She snorted, dissolving into peals again, and sat down hard on the ground. I surveyed her as she convulsed and whooped. Yep, she’d totally lost it.

“We’re lost!” she practically screamed through her hilarity.

“Yes,” I drew out the syllable as if humoring a child.

“We’re fucked,” she managed before laughter exploded out of her again. The laughter took on an unhinged edge and her face grimaced slightly. Now I wasn’t sure if she was laughing or sobbing. Possibly both?

I watched this hysteria manifest for several minutes. Eventually, her laughter slowed.

“Whew,” she said, wiping her eyes, with only a slight giggle in her voice. She looked up at that stupid sign and chuckled again, shaking her head. “Oh man.”

She let herself fall back, lying on the ground.

After a moment, I sank to the ground and lay down next to her.

“Oh man,” she said again, addressing the cloudless sky, a restrained mirth still tremoring her voice. “We are so screwed.”

I glared at that stupid fucking sign.

“Yep. Totally screwed.”

Story Title: Choosing Fate

The harsh metallic thuds echoed through Melantha’s research facility. She did her best to ignore them but could feel the sweat on her palms and her back grow ever colder. She pushed the sensation away, eyes focused on the sigil she was drawing on the stone floor.

The banging was as oppressive as the emptiness of this stone building. She could only hope the others had gotten far enough away through the emergency tunnels. Hartmut, who’d always looked more like he should be wielding a sword rather than a pen. Taimi, her fingers dirty from her time in the garden. Menander, who doodled little pictures on the edges of his papers. Blythe, with her easy smile and jokes to ease the tension.

The people who’d become her family. The people she’d unknowingly put into danger with this. She blinked the prickles in her eyes away, focusing back on the elaborate symbol her chalk created. She couldn’t afford to make a mistake, any more than she could have afforded to go with them, despite what they’d begged.

She should have known it would come to this. Should have known better than to trust the promises of Emperor Cyneric, despite her ties to Empress Lucasta.

Her research was supposed to help people. To save them. When she’d first proposed creating a universal antidote, she’d envisioned it being used to save people, to give them time for a healer to purify their body before the poison fully spread. The poison she’d created in the process had been an accident, but she’d thought her antidote would be the perfect failsafe for it.

Until Cyneric had weaponized it with magic, his operatives deploying it in the heart of Viltautasian capital.

When she heard what the symptoms of the poison decimating the city were, Melantha had known the truth. Cyneric would never let them live. She’d locked them all into the facility, tried to contact their allies for help, for a way out, anything, but found they’d already been blocked.

And now the imperial soldiers were trying to break in.

It was only a matter of time until they succeeded. And while the others might be able to hide, to change their identities and get away, Cyneric wouldn’t rest until she was dead. Not just because she was the driving force behind the project, but because if Melantha got the truth to Lucasta, she’d hate Cyneric for the rest of their lives. And that was the one thing Melantha knew he feared most.

The tortured screech of twisting metal was followed by a clanking crash. Melantha didn’t need to hear the stomping of heavy boots to tell her she was out of time. Sweat dripped down her cheek as she worked to finish the last letter, the last piece in a design that was the culmination of her personal research.

She couldn’t be sure it would work, but she didn’t have any other options. She’d bet on this, on a different future, one where her knowledge might be able to undo the horror she had never meant to unleash.

Melantha threw the chalk away, dropping her shaking hands onto the ground at the base of the intricate combination of loops, swirls, and magic characters that stood out white against the dark stone of the floor. She poured her magic into it, not holding any of it back. There was no point now.

She heard the splintering crash of doors being kicked in, almost swallowing the sound of the still approaching footsteps. She ignored it, feeling her body go cooler as she pushed every last bit of warmth, of the spark of her magic, into the sigil. It absorbed it all like the myth of the ever-hungry dragon.

Melantha could taste blood as her muscles felt weaker and weaker. The door behind her exploding was almost distant, the shouts like the buzzing of a flies. Her vision swam and wavered, everything dyed red, before she could feel the last breath leave her lungs.

The sword that should have pierced her back met only air, one filled with fading sparks.

The hairs all over Melantha’s body rose, an odd sensation when she’d already left her corporeal form behind. She saw the imperial soldiers, in their dark uniforms, looking around, bewildered. Before she could do anything else, she felt herself being pulled away.

Caught in the swirl of time, magic, and power that flowed invisible through the world, unable to do anything but be brought along with the current, she wondered if she’d made the right choice. Not that she had any other option. Cyneric had seen to that.

In the flow of power that sparkled iridescently, she caught brief glimpses of the world. Or worlds. It was hard to tell whether she was seeing the past, present, future, or something else entirely. Her research had hinted at the possibility of other worlds beyond hers, but she had never found hard evidence.

Up ahead she could see it. Several streams converged and spread back out again, the flow like a giant web. Or a crossroads. Each direction looked the same, and yet, Melantha knew that whatever way she chose, it would change both herself, and where she ended up, forever.

It had cost her magic, her lifeforce, even her body, but Melantha thought the price would be worth it. Her decades of memories would be preserved. And that could only make this next life better. Closing her eyes, she let the currents of power choose her fate.

This week's winning story is Contribution by Rose Gardner!
Congratulations to Rose for this very uplifting and fun story!

The setting sun marked the end of the day’s work and the forest trees sent sugar-messages to each other in excited whispers. After weeks of debate, Green Pine had been nominated to take the workers’ complaint to the Ancient Redwood. Tonight, she would speak for all those whose chlorophyll factories toiled from dawn to dusk all year round, and for the deciduous trees who had already turned yellow, orange and red, exhausted by the back-to-back shifts of northern summer nights when the sun never set.

‘Ancient One, I send you freshly manufactured sugar from my highest needles. Please accept this gift and in return allow me to address the Council.’

The old Redwood rustled his leaves. He'd anticipated this confrontation ever since the day Albino Pine took root and sprouted her first needles. Purest white they were, devoid of the chlorophyll that fed the forest. Unable to make her own food, she survived only because of the mycelial network which bound them all beneath the soil. The symbiotic fungi communicated with every tree in the commune, organising the distribution of food and medicine to those who needed it, passing on warnings of danger or attack, and regulating the health of the forest for the benefit of all. When they did put heads above the soil it was with the sole purpose of mating, and they had no more interest in snow white needles than in the fiery autumn colours which formed a carpet around their hatted stalks.

For many summers, Albino Pine had been fed by her green sisters and she was as tall and strong as them, but without any sugar to trade she stood mute through the evening discussions while the rest of the commune downloaded their produce. It had not gone unnoticed.

‘The Council of the Arboreal Forest is listening, Green Pine. You may state your case.’

‘Thank you, Ancient One. I speak on behalf of all the Pines, and our Deciduous Cousins. We all agree, it is unfair we do all the work and Albino Pine does none. She’s a mutant, not one of us. She should have been left to starve as a seedling!’

Green Pine stretched towards the star-lit sky and lifted her needles in a gesture of indignation before continuing, ‘This is our land. There’s no place for alien interlopers who steal our resources and contribute nothing themselves. She doesn’t look like us and she doesn’t join in socially. Listen! Can you hear her silence even now? Too dumb to plead for her own salvation. We want her uprooted and left to rot. We vote for a boycott of Albino Pine from this night forward!’

The old Redwood was silent for some time and the whole forest held its breath, unsure how such heart-felt pertinence would be received.

When he responded at last, his voice shook the earth and birds asleep in his branches rose screeching into the air.

‘I am ashamed of you Green Pine. Ashamed of all of you! To harbour such prejudice is not the way of the forest. We are a mutual society; we have common goals, and we strive to achieve them together.

Perhaps you believe there is but one way for a tree to contribute to the commune, but if so then you are ignorant fools.

You claim Albino Pine is silent, and it is true she is unable to speak in the way we speak. But does she not sway in the wind as you sway, dancing to the call of the aurora borealis? Doesn’t she shoulder the same weight of snow that you carry each winter? Does she not provide a home for colonies of insects and flocks of birds?’

The forest remained silent as he drew breath again.

‘The older trees will remember how it used to be, before the world grew warmer. A time when humans created vast gouges across the forest with their whirring machines, killing as many trees in a single season as the toll of a thousand winters. We feared for our homeland, and for the fate of the planet. Until one day they discovered Albino Pine, and they stopped sawing to stand in awe and wonder. A different kind of human came to the forest after that, humans who cared about trees, who wanted to know how a tree without chlorophyll could thrive. They examined our roots and took samples of the soil. They learned how amazing and extensive is the mycelial network which binds us, how it creates thousands of miles of communication lines in every square inch.’

He lowered his voice to a whisper, forcing his captivated audience to listen intently.

‘Today much of the Arboreal Forest is protected. The humans who were once our enemy became our friends. Across continents the network reports how they have changed their farming practices to embrace our natural means of communication, enriching the soil with fungi, and mimicking our natural hormones with molecules synthetized in their laboratories to dissuade pests instead of poisoning the earth with toxic chemicals. All of this because they were curious about Albino Pine. Would you not say therefore, that she has contributed more than most to our wellbeing despite her inability to toil in sunlight?’

The whole commune muttered and rustled their leaves. Green Pine was silent.

It was Red Acer, blushing in her autumn foliage, who spoke next. ‘Ancient One, I think I speak for all of us when I say we are ashamed to have been so ignorant. Albino Pine isn’t a mutant, but a marvel. It will be our privilege to continue to share our resources with her and ensure that she thrives for as long as the forest thrives. ‘

Murmurings of agreement drifted through the air and the old Redwood sighed, his branches creaking from age and satisfaction. ‘Enough talk. Look! The borealis display has begun. Let us celebrate our differences together beneath its curtains of green, and red – and white!