She’s three inches taller than me, but outside appearances don’t mean anything, she says. We’re all butterflies, nestled in our cocoons, waiting for the spring. I’ve been around for sixteen springs, I say, and shit never changes, but she says she’s talking about another kind of spring—that place each of us is meant to be.… more
Category Archives: FICTION
Seven Mornings, Forgetting, and The National Guard
FICTION by Miles VaranaToday begins, as a lot of them do, with an attempt to reconcile a vague sense of shame with memories of last night. Drunks all over the world are this way, waking up thirsty and trying to figure out if they’ve pissed themselves. Given the opportunity, I’ll revel in self-pity for an hour or two, like a pig rolling around in shit, but today I have work.… more
The Performance Review: A Fable
FICTION by Phoebe Reeves“The Man grimaced, stepped around The Donkey, and yelled at the ceiling. ‘Hey, why am I waiting in line behind a dumb fucking beast that doesn’t know how to do anything–and doesn’t grasp mortality?? Animals don’t understand time–I’m the one with a larger brain–I’m the one with a more wrinkly cortex–I’m the one with a soul!'”… more
Enough
FICTION by Shaun Anthony McMichaelMr. Northup began waxing poetic about anti-expansionists and abolitionists during the Mexican-American War. He exalted them like a guy talking about a girl he was still holding out hope for. These were men we’d never heard of. No movies had been made about them. No bills carried their faces.… more
Flash Fiction
FICTION by Elvis BegoWe call him Vampire anyway, in the way we do here in the hills when you let us peer into the dark, unswept corner of your soul. We don’t even remember his real name anymore.… more
Darling Dre
FICTION by DL DawsonEven the schlubbiest bartenders get shameless solicitations when their patrons are properly lubricated; fucking a bartender topped so many bucket lists. My mere existence as a six-foot-two dude who can make a simple old-fashioned bumps me higher on a stranger’s “fuck-it” list even though I have to be the least horny bachelor in Brooklyn.… more
Two Stories
FICTION by Tetman CallisWe stripped him naked and painted him blue. Water-based acrylic, so it wouldn’t kill him. It was a warm night. He’d be fine.… more
What Danza Did to Dad
FICTION by Travis FlattWe all get up and go outside to finish the deal. I bring my slice along to watch, folded because we’re in New York and when in Rome. Outside, it’s seventy-five degrees. Tony’s jacket seems excessive, but, hey, he’s the boss. … more
The Fog Man
FICTION by Alice K. BoatwrightArthur’s ex-wife thought it was a bad joke when he said he felt most fully alive in a fog, but he didn’t see what was funny about it. No one joked about scuba divers who were happiest groping along the bottom of the ocean.… more
New Year’s Eve, 1978
FICTION by Scotch RutherfordYou could feel the history between the cracks in the conversation. Old-timers and industry movers in their prime, resonated complete with the adult contemporary jazz ambiance. At the end of the line of booths, he was greeted by a familiar face.… more
