When the rains passed, and evening was well on its way (though the sun still burned white-hot in the firmament), Little Blue lifted her head from under the scrap of newsprint and sighed.
Continue readingA Fairy Tale
fairy tale
Little Red Tatterhood
© Ayr/Gray
Perhaps Rose could have been more wary on her weekly walk to Granny’s apartment, but she knew the way and felt confident in her red cape and hood. How could she go wrong? It had plenty of pockets! And she had her wooden spoon to fend off any attackers. Continue reading
Frau Holle 2025
© Ayr/Gray
It’s an inside job for sure.
I gaze out at the fat, fresh snow falling, fairy voices singing with bell-like giggles as winds gust and tumble them into one another. Not yet time for Spring cleaning. It’s only February. Yet an urgent inner tug tells me to create something to meet the pure snowfall half way. Continue reading
Last Leg
© Ayr/Gray
To my knowledge, I’m the only one left, just one part of what was once a humming, spinning wholeness. Legend notes the root causes as bad manners and ill temper. Surely other things contributed? All my people were slaughtered, an entire kingdom stopped in its tracks!
But I get ahead of myself… Continue reading
Solstice: Fortune’s Path
Happiest Winter Solstice. The days get longer from here on in! 
Delighted and honored to be published (as alter-ego Tessa Kjeldsdottir) in Eternal Haunted Summer’s Winter Solstice e-zine (https://eternalhauntedsummer.com/)! Click on the link for full access to this issue’s poetry, short stories, and essays, and more.
Click (https://eternalhauntedsummer.com/issues/winter-solstice-2024/fortunes-path/ ) to go directly to my short story “Fortune’s Path”, a Hansel & Gretel re-visioning, with a surprise ending.
Many thanks to Karen, Kate and Alice for beta-reading and encouragement!
Valley of the Trolls 