Dad claims cheer is banal and salacious. He threatens to stop funding the rah-rah-sis-boom-bah. Mom offers that there are college scholarships in cheer. Dad holds that Lucy needs better grades, not a better Herkie. Mom offers a divorce. Dad goes silent.… More
When you meet up with an old fling at a Boston sushi bar but she doesn’t know you’re trans yet
FICTION FLASH FICTION by Judy SlittEvery day is a new performance for me. Today, I’m on stage as Punk Boy: Mannequin Pussy tank. Black Levi’s. Nail color: black.… More
Hubbell Securities: New Listing Alert
FLASH FICTION by Molly McCarronPAUL’s ability to withstand hours of exposure to alcoholic, inappropriate relatives confirm our belief in PAUL’s long-term growth profile. Maintaining our STRONG BUY rating and increasing the 12-month target.… More
Two Essays
FLASH NONFICTION by Naa Asheley AshiteyI woke up sobbing because God, in the form of my girlfriend, helped rest the pistol in my mouth and the last thing I heard was his laugh echoed over hers when she helped pull the trigger.… More
Retail Theft Abatement
FICTION by David GilbertIf he has a sexual encounter, he would have to confess to the collective. Abusing white supremacists would be a way of justifying such involvement, but he does not know if sleeping with clients is a mortal or venial infraction of the collective’s moral code.… More
Talking to Replika before police bust in
FLASH FICTION by Eirene GentleSometimes in group we play a game. We call it survivor though it’s usually the opposite. I win a lot because people have funny ideas about that word.… More
The Corpse Seeker’s Picnic
FICTION by Ian JohnsonThe day six version of him was an ugly puddle of a man—his shattered knees spreading, his severed nubs flexing, his bagged kitten remonstrations now guttural and sullen. The sting to him had returned, his scheming soul looking to grab, his sawdust compassion dried to a sneering paste.… More
A Breakdown
FICTION by Shaun Anthony McMichaelI like a little junk in the trunk. I ain’t your typical white guy.… More
Outed by the Storm
FICTION by Heather Clague“You know how things happen and your brain just can’t quite compute, it all seems like some hilarious joke. I can handle everything else, but the idea of lying awake another night wanting to strangle an innocent woman snoring on the cot next to me—”
… More
The Field
FICTION by Sean Padraic McCarthyYou went to school, went to Mass every Sunday, whether you liked it or not, made the sacraments, blew out birthday candles each year on your day, finished high school and went to college, and that was that—there was no arguing other options.… More
Stopping at Roses
FLASH NONFICTION by Lou StoreyI am no longer a child and know these efforts won’t atone for the sins of a father, transform a stranger into a mother, yet I keep going as if at some point I will be rewarded, handed whatever it is I seem to want from one of my almost-mothers.… More
