As they spoke, Solomon made a reference to a year he’d spent in prison, as though this were common knowledge.… more
Category Archives: FICTION
Disciples of Suede
FICTION by Max HippIn a dream I conjured Cindy Pickens in a field of fire and lilies. She wore her apron and a frilly blouse before her clothes popped off like bubbles. Naked, she was Shannon Tweed, Queen of Cinemax. Her skin frothed and spat with heat. I woke up seething, convulsing. I gasped at the darkness above my bed while her burning image floated close.… more
When the Cold Wind Comes to the Glass Yard
FICTION by Jeff BurdIt brings with it roughnecks reckoning with reality they were warned against long before they laced up steel-toed boots and lit lights on their hard hats. They know the dust cough. They know how the mine spits them out until the cold wind pushes them stumbling in the dark with their bottles to the glass yard.… more
Vape
FICTION by Mehreen AhmedThe sun responds, transiting notches away, farther this time. Rozie vapes a few more puffs and sits up. She wraps herself waist down with a slit saffron sarong. Her top part mostly bare, can barely keep up with the tremors.
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THE GUIDE TO KING GEORGE
FICTION by Bradley SidesIf Dad had to die, I wanted to give my new best friend a chance at eternal life. Something that would keep me from losing him, too. So, I named him King George.… more
Horace Poor, Horace Mint
FICTION by George SingletonHorace once wrote, “Don’t think, just do.” He also wrote, “Mix a little foolishness with your serious plans. It is lovely to be silly at the right moment.” That’s why I thought Perry quoted the Roman, not an ex-roofer with a broken back. There’s nothing more “roofer” than a man acting fool while concocting serious plans.… more
Long Ago
FICTION by Charles Dodd WhiteGreta March brought Evan up for one last tryst. Years had passed since they’d seen one another. Now everything was different. It wasn’t quite the end yet, but she was beginning to betray a deeper degree of illness—a general thinning of figure, feature, and voice. She wanted to see the lake house alone this last time.… more
Derailed
FICTION by Sheree ShatskyAt 5:06, the tracks start singing. HG’s beer can rattles the metal arm of his chair and stops. Rattles. Stops. The tracks hum, then skip, hum skip hum skip humskip humskip humskip humskip. The sound is wrong, plain wrong…… more
Gender Soldier
FICTION by Rain RobinsonThere was a time that you can now no longer remember, when someone scraped you off their shoe and taught you how to be human. How to have arms and legs, how to have a face and a body, how to wear clothes and cut your hair and see things and be seen. There was an adjustment period, but after that it was a gloriously certain time, when meaning could be plucked fully-formed from thin air like ripe fruit. You loved that.… more
Fighting my enemies in the Applebee’s Parking Lot
FICTION by Pat JamesonMy therapist tells me I need to start making amends. Instead, I post to Facebook. Anyone who has been wronged or offended by my past actions is welcome to fight me tomorrow at the Applebee’s on Route 30. I provide the details. Starting at noon, I will be in the Applebee’s parking lot all day,… more
