I thought of the scars all over Bob’s torso and knew it was only a matter of time before they forced that merry tale down my throat too. Everybody delighted in telling these gruesome horror stories—hangings and decapitations, old men flogged in public while children looked on, laughing. They savored the details, the humiliations, as though they fed some hunger I didn’t know about.… more
Category Archives: FICTION
Confirmation
FICTION by Ian Crutcher CastilloHow do I find joy? How do I cure this illness? You know how my mother died. They call what my father had alcoholism now. He drank himself to death. Is that any more dignified than a bedsheet noose?… more
Fighters, Circa
FICTION by Eli HastingsFlash dance of hands; locking then losing the gaze; heaving yet measured breath; the sliding of grip on sweated flesh; the knotting of legs; the intervention of gravity; grunts and growls; saliva arcing in the light; a final plunge of connection and then, for a moment, stillness. … more
Brothers
FICTION by JP VallièresI too had things to say and felt the strain of the smile on my face. I never thought it was possible to get out of myself: the loathing, the insufferable small space of my house, my future, my dead brother.… more
The Genie
FICTION by R.M. CooperJesus, I thought. Treasure. Real treasure. I didn’t say a word to the neighbor kid. All I thought about was his snot hands and my lamp. I knew what I had to do. I picked up a clump of dirt, and I thew it at his head.… more
The Purveyors of All Hours
FICTION by Mitch JamesCollege isn’t for you. That’s not your fault. You didn’t build the American education system, but you want to be a part of it, and it’s not made for everyone. In fact, it’s just the opposite. It’s made to make all of you a certain way, and if you can’t be that way, you don’t make it through, and if you do, then you’re really fucked because you’ll be outside of this every-one-gets-a-trophy university, in a world that eats its young. That’s Tupac. The world eating its young. Not the Trophy thing. Write it down.… more
At the Keg
FICTION by Colin BrightwellKnow your audience. Play Willie. Play Hank Williams. Play Patsy Cline. Play Springsteen and hum along. Cry into your drink. Try to feel happy. Talk to the bartender. Try not to look at yourself in the mirror behind the bar. Drink until you can’t feel the pain in your lower back. Drink until your cash is gone. Bring just enough cash so that you stay long enough, but not too long so people think you have a problem. Don’t get kicked out. I love you.… more
800,042 Little Lights
FICTION by Anthony Neil SmithWhat says “Christmas” more than a blinking, schizo forty-foot tall American flag with elves at the bottom saluting the drivers. Not the flag, no sir, but the drivers. Dead-eyed creepy elf fuckers robotically raising and lowering their hands to their foreheads. Salute!… more
Beach Rat
FICTION by Joshua VigilBeneath the raw flesh slick with ointments, I could see the ghost of his past self. He was beautiful. I told him as much. I said, Does it make you uncomfortable? I see it. Your beauty.… more
Cowboy
FICTION by Michael W. CoxThe house was dark by the time he reached the steps, no porch light, no downstairs light, but he could hear a radio playing somewhere nearby, something country, twangy. He stepped inside and, immediately, his mother called down to him to not turn on the light and to come up the stairs, she needed his help.… more
