Creative writing and fiction

On the outside, looking in

This, this, I tell myself, this see-through envelope of blueness that contains us, this fluid in which we move, this shallow film of sunlight collecting into magnanimous pools, rippling, cascading, eroding, building its deep dark wells of forgetfulness, turning our chunky limbs of flesh into ethereal shadows that precede us slanting, hovering, levitating, always one…
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Finding one’s way home

To my Romanian followers: My good friend and travel guide co-author, Claudia Tănăsescu, returned to Timisoara, Romania from Brussels some 10 years ago. She has documented her journey back and her search for a reconstructed notion of home in a heartfelt, poetic, and often funny multimodal text that is both autobiographical novel and photo project.…
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Easter itineraries – or in search of inspiration

Nowhere else is the sweet stillness of spring and the cheerful chirruping of songbirds as soothing as in the Romanian countryside in those last quiet hours before Easter, at the foot of a mountain dotted with caves and age-old monasteries. We spent three days around the northern parts of Gorj and Valcea counties in southern…
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Flash fiction Tuesday

Today’s challenge in the FB Group Ficțiuni Reale is “Romanian kiwi” – ideal for dystopia and eco-criticism. My contribution (in under 520 characters including spaces) below: Kiwi românesc Ia kiwi neamule, kiwi dulci ca mierea! striga precupeața. Vorba vine, nu era o femeie în carne și oase. Era Alexa conectată la GPT-24, o versiune ieftină. Scumpe foc.…
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Fish – Short Story

Dear friends, Given that my short story Fish, which won second place in the Writer Advice Flash Fiction Competition 2022, has now been removed from their website and can no longer be accessed there, I have decided to offer it here. Non-subscribers can access it for a token fee. (I do occasionally need chocolate to…
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Today’s flash fiction

To my Romanian followers: You can read my contribution to the topic of “Beer” in the FB flash fiction group “Ficțiuni Reale”, here, or below. Again, in less than 520 characters including spaces: La o bere “Tăcerea e asurzitoare. Doar telefonul piuie. Îmi scrie el. Din delegație. Poemul zilei? Vezi că o să-ți vină o factură…
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The Wall

For my Romanian followers: read now my flash fiction piece “The Wall” (Zidul) in the FB Group “Ficțiuni reale”, here. Or, if you prefer, read the full text below (520 characters max., including spaces): Zidul Ce trece timpul, ai zis când ne-am revăzut după 15 ani în munții ăia dragi, între noi pruncul acela ucis, hotarul…
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Watch for timelessness instead

Originally posted on andreeasepi.com: a watch is a little glass prison for time – ? where the seconds serve a life sentence without the possibility of parole. ? people like to wear captive time around their wrist. when all the seconds are numbered and can never escape, they call the watch good. ? measuring…
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Sleepwalkers

The street awash with children leaving school. The bus stop one big isle of kids. An overspill of youth. Huddled. Immobile. Captivated. Captive. Each child, oblivious to child, stares down into a phone like it’s a well of meaning. A girl ponders over the best emoji. Her finger hovers, undecided. Tap. The street awash with…
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Dragobete, Mărțișor and beyond

“Dragobetele pupă fetele.” Romanian folk saying (Dragobete kisses the girls) How many of you know that Romania has its very own early-Christian Valentine’s tradition? It’s a spring fertility ritual called Dragobete, which takes place on February 24, and it dates back to the Early Middle Ages. Not only this, but since the addition of Valentine’s…
Read more: Dragobete, Mărțișor and beyond

Category: Creative writing and fiction