He realizes now that was a stupid thing to have said. It feels imperative that he go to Cambodia and apologize to Gen say the right thing. He should have said he loved her. Maybe he should have said she wasn’t a whore. He didn’t fucking know.… more
Category Archives: FICTION
Pierre’s Shortcut
FICTION by THOMAS KEVIN O'ROURKEPierre Freeman was an artist, raconteur and dancer, destitute and a drunk. He tatted his hair to thick dreadlocks that flattened into the shape of oak leaves. He smoked weed, but never paid for it. He spoke with a Jamaican accent even though he had never been out of Minnesota.… more
Punchline
FICTION by Paul KavanaghWhat I loved the most was not the violence Oh I loved the violence but the walk down to the ring that’s why I was in the game I just loved the parade if only it could have been miles yes five miles wouldn’t that have been great five miles of cheering and clapping wonderful young girls peeing in their knickers the smell oh what a smell.… more
every day is a new day
FICTION by louis packardi was like ‘no i’m fine i don’t care’ and they both shrugged and did the coke while i finished closing the store by myself, it was like mad annoying but i didn’t really want to use the coke, i never really liked it anyways and honestly the last time i did coke with cloyster i think it was straight up all filler i didn’t feel that shit at all…. oh yeah and i’m uhhhh, 3 months sober… more
Pairing
FICTION FLASH FICTION by Brandon ForinashThe tech guy says, “Everything’s updated, looks like your processor speed is good, you’ve just got a ton of stuff taking up space that doesn’t need to be there.” I ask him what he means, and he shows me that what’s taking space is decades of memories all the way back to when I was in college. I tell him I don’t want to lose them, and he kind of laughs and tells me, dude, that’s why we have the cloud.”… more
Psalm of Steve (Study Edition)
FICTION by Robert SchwochAlas, as befits an artpiece, I shall never touch,
only see.
I shall never have him in my privacy,
nor regale him with secrets,
nor behold him in his nakedness,
nor embrace him at my will.
For Steve, above all, adores women,
and I, in my despair,
am a man.… more
The Empyrean
FICTION by M. B. SmithI imagine that I am the father. What kind of man is he? Was he close to his son? Was he aware of his boy’s fury at the world? Did he know his ex-wife’s husband owned an assault rifle?… more
The Way of Fire
FICTION by Michael ChinBacon spat grease from the griddle when Alice first got word of the arsonist.… more
Exit Sign
FICTION by Anjanette DelgadoSuddenly, I hear a voice like an ancestral echo saying, “no hay peor ciego que el que no quiere ver” and I see the most obstinate of those who, blinded, refused to see: my mother. Another devastated angel, one who left without needing to emigrate, now back in her homeland. Like a gambler who risked her life to get to the casino with a single coin and is back with a tired thumb and nothing in her pockets.… more
Snuggling
FICTION by Matt GoldbergHis ex-wife had never understood why he snuggled for a living. Stu remembered the way Liz would scowl at him from her side of the bed when she thought he was sleeping, prickly heat radiating off her body. The way she would shirk from his touch. “How many hands have yours touched today?” she’d accuse, as if he were contaminated. “What are you bringing into our home?”… more
