The trouble with oranges materializes when it’s time to access the fruit inside. That rind, so useful at protecting the orange, is a terrible ordeal to get off. How can you bite into fruit to enjoy it if you can’t even get the peel off? You need to dig your nails in, even to get the first chunk out. It takes a real commitment to dig deep enough to get through all that white stuff.… more
Category Archives: FICTION
No Good Deed
FICTION by Spencer FleuryMullinax’s immaculate uniform, his ramrod-straight posture, and his ever-present slightly-critical gaze were all carefully crafted to suggest a well-cultivated and unimpeachable military bearing, an effort that was fatally undercut the moment he opened his mouth and his thin, nasal voice escaped into the night air.… more
King David
FICTION by K Hank JostIt’s how the story ought to end, though. A tale of brothers always ends with brotherhood broken—all the better if it’s broken by the other brother.… more
The House of Spirits
FICTION by Brian BeattyHurley didn’t drink, really, but the liquor store was his favorite place to buy lottery tickets. He’d never heard of anyone celebrating a multi-million-dollar windfall at the gas station where some teenager with a face pierced full of tin randomly generated winning numbers between yawns.… more
Wayne’s Booth
FICTION by Charles StephensThey assembled into a funeral procession led by Gator, first in line, who belted out “Died like a man,” then slapped the top of the door, spilling a bit of his drink on his otherwise pristine black apron, and they entered the shop for the last time.… more
At the Lake
FICTION by Gary MoshimerBev is singing Karen Carpenter songs. She’s getting that thin. Her voice steals across the sand to me. From the cottage. She’s making love with Mike. I’m on the lake beach watching their two kids sink ankle deep, knee deep, hip deep until I snatch them out. I roll them and sand sticks to them like I intend to fry them up. Maybe I will.… more
Three Stories
FICTION by Sreemanti SenguptaA mad woman doesn’t know what she is doing or thinking, I know, so don’t bracket me, I hissed. I don’t open my mouth because it has the garbage of the world that the oceans have left behind, the kind that can choke blue whales and leave them on the shores like impossible spectacles.… more
Sunspots on a Calendar Week
FICTION by Anthony MartinWhen you see two people fucking, with a capital F—really sharing the spoils the way it should be—who cares if the Company has gathered at three o’clock on a Monday to hear the top dog give his all-hands spiel? You look, godammit, and you probably laugh. That’s the human thing to do.… more
UFO Welcome Center
FICTION by Kim WeldinShe felt like she’d been folded up and stuck inside herself like a piece of origami. Like she was an empty shell, inhabiting someone else’s body the Earth, and attempting to exist like a normal human. Maybe she’d lost her autonomy. Maybe an alien had taken over her body and she didn’t realize it until now but it was too late to regain control.… more
Child Zombie
FICTION by Maliha MannanHow does one become a zombie? Hmm. All of us have unique stories, but one way or another, we end up losing our homes and possessions, so we take to the streets. Street life is hard. Some zombies get better, their situations reverse, but most of us keep getting worse. Our memories fade, speech gets slurred. It’s a common story, really. There are more of us around than you think.… more
