Flash Fiction Online #124, January 2024

“Imago Dei” by Josh Pearce

“The Pieces of Her” by Lora Gray

“Salt” by Emily Anderson Ula (reprint, not reviewed)

“Wood, Amber, Smoke” by Lyndsie Manusos

Reviewed by David Wesley Hill

“Imago Dei” by Josh Pearce, the first story in the January issue of Flash Fiction Online, introduces us to Jaya, a veteran and a trucker, who picks up a young female hitchhiker with a baby in her arms. As we learn, “Calico” is on the run from a cult and its leader, the Reverend Dolphin, who may or may not be the father of her child. Then Jaya hears an aircraft, something “about the size of a Reaper drone,” approaching their motel. “A lapsed Buddhist,” she cocks the hammer of her gun just as the reader understands the true nature of this weird nativity scene… A visceral story with a few too many loose ends.

Next in line, “The Pieces of Her” by Lora Gray, lifts us into space for the test flight of an android pilot, which Denise’s wife Miranda created out of hardware and the remains of Lilith Booker. Unfortunately, the Deep Space Mining investors are determined to squeeze every last bit of profit from the project, which leads to a bloody denouement in this Frankenstein tale of corporate avarice and personal tragedy… An interesting, but predictable, tale.

Last up this month is “Wood, Amber, Smoke” by Lyndsie Manusos, a sly little fantasy about a cursed meerschaum pipe, which Bug’s great-grandfather won in a card game—by cheating. The consequences of this bad act reverberate down through the generations, affecting Bug’s entire family—Oma and Aunt Olivia and Aunt Claire, even her cousin Charlie—and readers can’t help but wonder if Bug, too, will succumb to the enchantment of the accursed heirloom…. An entertaining story, but without surprises.