Factor Four Magazine is a quarterly magazine featuring flash fiction stories from the Speculative Fiction realm. Factor Four Magazine will focus on four of these genres. Science Fiction, Fantasy, Supernatural, and Super Hero. Genre lines are very hard to define at times, so we keep things a bit fuzzy when it comes to the definition of each of those. You may even find a few stories blend several genres together.Flash Fiction is traditionally thought of to be stories that are 1,000 words or smaller. We do stretch that word count a little if the mood strikes us. The great thing about Flash Fiction is that these are satisfying stories packaged up in a bite size format. Great to read on the commuter train, during your lunch break at work, or while waiting for soccer practice to end.In this issue we have 16 flash fiction stories from these authors:Krystal ClaxtonFloris M. KleijneKT WagnerLina RatherMatthew BaileyMark SalzwedelJeff SoesbeLarry HodgesJonathan BronicoZoey XoltonLaura DavySteven FischerEdd VickDawn BonannoKyra Worrell and Theresa Barker

John Cato is an ex-CIA agent with a vendetta against a malicious terrorist syndicate known as the Vanguard. When a shadowy government organization recruits him for a special operations mission, he assembles a group of questionable individuals to help him, such as a wanted sniper, a sticky-fingered art thief, and Talia Salomon, a beautiful ex-Mossad agent who is secretly a Vanguard operative. Neither Cato nor Talia is aware of the other's agenda as they and their team pursue a ring of human traffickers in the glamorous city of Monaco. But, when the traffickers prove to be a threat of a supernatural nature, wanting their prisoners for their blood instead of their bodies, the team will have to work together using their specialized skills to outwit their physically superior opponents, staging their rescue operation as a heist that cannot afford to fail. And as Cato gets closer to Talia, he will have to make a choice between completing his mission or completing his revenge.