… is available for you to read on Anotherrealm, a short speculative fiction magazine! Titled KNIFECYCLE, this horror piece tells the tragic tale of an abandoned knife, and has a happy ending… for someone. Much like with Breathe, Anotherrealm liked my story so much that they published it despite usually avoiding flash fiction and sentient objects.
While I loathe to bring up Charlie Kirk’s death, as the media overexposed the incident, events like that one keep KNIFECYCLE eternally relevant. Once you read it, you’ll understand. Start the story here.
But before you do that, some important context, followed by anti-context. First off, some readers reported text issues with the mobile version of the story’s webpage. I recommend you use your desktop for the best reading experience. Also, the quote at the top of my story, before the title, was an addition from the editor. Each story on the website has a similar quip or joke. I never intended for KNIFECYCLE to have an epigraph, so feel free to skip it during your read.
If you go to Anotherrealm’s main page, you’ll see that KNIFECYCLE has 2024 as its copyright date. The delay’s my fault. Anotherrealm was nothing but professional when sending me my acceptance letter, contract, and payment. From their website, it looks like they publish a story a month, which would put KNIFECYCLE‘s debut on June 2024… right when I was directing the ArmadilloCon Writers’ Workshop, teaching ESL, and pitching a novel. Turns out I need to improve my management skills. But hey, at least this horror story’s in time for a Halloween.
Finally, a familiar but important lesson: the editor’s added paragraph, after my story’s end, mentioned how Anotherrealm’s other entrants mangled their submission formatting, which reduced my competition that month. I have no doubt that other writers are better than me at plotting, characterization, diction, even all three. At least for now. But reading carefully and following instructions are writing skills— they’re how I won out over other authors in this contest. It’s old advice, but now I have proof that diligence during the submission grind makes a difference for publishing my work, so I’ll never forget it. You shouldn’t either.
Now that you have full context, here’s the link to my story again. From that year on Anotherrealm, I’d also recommend Whom the Gods Annoy.