A Month of Holidays

April is a month of holidays, some odd (Hug an Australian Day), some historical (Cosmonaut’s Day, Russia), some religious (Passover, Jewish), some patriotic (Day of Valor, Philippines).

I think I’ve found the perfect holiday for each of our stories this month. See what you think.

April 1st, April Fool’s Day (Western Europe and the United States): This silly holiday may be older than Geoffrey Chaucer, who (some believe) wrote of Chanticleer the Cock being tricked by a fox on the 32nd day of March–April 1st. For the fun of it, enjoy “Foreign Tongues,” by returning Flash Fiction Online alumnus, John Wiswell. It’ll make you hesitate next time you visit the ice cream parlor.

On the more serious side, April 30th is Mexico’s National Children’s Day. Children are a precious resource, treasure, our very future. But, as our next story shows, not every child is treated as such. From author Jennifer Todhunter, “The Knives of Her Life.”

April 27, South Africa will celebrate Freedom Day to commemorate the first democratic election in 1994, after the demise of apartheid. In our third story, “Songbird,” by Shveta Thakrar, a young woman learns the value of freedom when she loses hers. A beautiful story.

To finish up, author Laurie Tom gives us this month’s story revival, “The Ancestors,” a story of a Chinese-American family celebrating Ching Ming (April 4) in their unique way. This story first appeared at Crossed Genres in 2014 and was included in that year’s anthology, Year’s Best Young Adult Speculative Fiction.

After reading her story, click over to a fascinating interview with Laurie by our publisher, Anna Yeatts.

And, by the way, Happy Talk Like Shakespeare Day (April 23)!