Ling hid down by the river. Waited. Listened. All she heard was the breeze whispering in the treetops. She got up on her feet. She was the only one who had survived the attack, the shame ripped her soul. Her troop was gone. Her Sargent. Her mates. She didn’t know where she was, the map and the compass had been in the backpack. The sun was going down. Southwest. She knew the base camp should be to the east. Darkness invaded the forest, the bushes got denser as she walked. She heard the sounds of little animals jumping from tree to tree, birds flying in the leaves. They sounded unquiet, stressed. Tree-trunks were scraping together somewhere in the dark. There had ben gunshots, but she hadn’t seen any enemies. The troop had been separated by the dense vegetation. Then the shooting had started.  Between some bushes she hid to sleep. The night was cold and dark, the moon could not be seen. She hadn’t seen any enemy since the attack. Strange, she was deep into enemy territory. They should be swarming. She walked with caution. Further ahead there was some kind of movement. She went closer. It could be enemies, or it could be her own. Maybe some large animal. She was starving. She got down, crawled under the bushes. Got a view. There was a cluster of plants. Human bodies were hanging from the trees. Animals. The branches moved, but there was no wind. Roots unattached from the ground… (more)

War of the Woods — Fictionspawn

A while back I approached the UK’s Youth Nature Network, A Focus On Nature (AFON), after I saw that they were searching for contributions to their blog that centred around people who perhaps had a different story to tell, for example People Of Colour, etc. When they stated they’d love a piece I decided to […]

A Small Brown Elephant – My take on Diversity in Wildlife and how I got here. — Wild Heart

If you didn’t know already, I’m sort of a nature nerd. I watch endless hours of documentaries on animals, have seen everything David Attenborough has been in, and Jane Goodall is one of my personal heroes. Some animals, like dolphins and members of the cat family particularly capture my interest, but another group of critters […]

Death Spiral, Reviewer Edition — Writing Scared

A lovely pink December sunrise.

(c) K Wicks

Hey Guys! I am Max and I will be attempting to construct one of the articles in my “end of the year series” today. This series consists of Worst Books of 2020, Best Books of 2020 and Most Anticipated Releases of 2020. Today, I will be manufacturing the most controversial article in this series and […]

Worst Books Of 2020 — Maxxesbooktopia

The garden grew, distancing her from the outside world. She sunk into the shadows of the wild growing roses and the tall, majestic trees. Something, someone, lurked between the branches, in the darkness behind the leaves. -What do you want? she screamed, breaking the silence. Soft wind far above was the only answer… (more)

Another Prey — Fictionspawn

The calm of nature’s designs.

Up Close With Nature — Jane Lurie Photography

We’re freaks living in a meaningless world! There’s nowhere to go, you fools! Monster shouted. -There is no more to find, no more to see!

-There has to be! We neeeeeeed it to be! There has to be something more than this, something that makes sense!

Nose sat there, chewing on the grass he ate yesterday. He had heard this conversation many times before, it was getting old. After a while he said: -I think it does make sense, really. The grass, the rocks. I think it’s all pretty meaningful.

-We need something to give the grass meaning! If not, there’s no meaning at all!

-Exactly! Monster said, frustrated. -There is none. Cope with it.

Nose kept chewing… (more)

A Reason to Exist