The downtown lights blazed in the evening air. Slouched behind the wheel, Ismael watched as Loretta’s staff—the few whose physical presence was deemed “essential”—broke at the lobby door and hunched to their cars. Loretta, gone for 15 cold days.… more
Tag Archives: Masculinity
What Men Doo
Fiction by Wynward H. OliverMaybe I was a little maníaco because I only thought about sex during our all-male camping trips in Puerto Peñasco every Easter vacation, beginning when I was twelve. Dad would load up his white work van with a bevy of motorcycles and minibikes and enough food, beer, and soda to last a bunch of fathers and sons an entire week.… more
Real Men Don’t Hit Their Wives
Fiction by Phillip Scott MandelLewis relishes, slightly and mischievously, the young couple’s naïve discourse about bridesmaids and flower centerpieces, as if it all means something. They are blissfully unaware of the inevitable mutual loathing that plagues all marriages.
She’s your problem now, Benny-boy. Enjoy paying for Amazon deliveries the rest of your life.… more
Mermaid and Seaworm
Fiction by Michael PlaceShe said her hair was red as blood, and he said it already was the color of a penny and he liked to picture it the way it was.… more
Snotknockers
Fiction by Alec CizakHe lowered his head to spear the bully in the chest, maybe knock him out of the game without the help of the refs. He imagined himself a rocket, charging through the cosmos. The moment his head made contact with Peewee, he realized why bullies always got what they wanted.… more
Silence, Father
Fiction by Delvon T. Mattingly“When grandmother passed away, father grew reticent. And I was okay with it, since he abandoned his routine of scolding me for lacking masculinity. Since he didn’t condemn every tear that fell from my face, spewing the same toxic rhetoric of how I needed to emotionally withdraw and appear similar to a parapet wrapped in black derma, to protect everyone around me, just like him. When I thought I would cry most, I felt nothing.”… more
Cigarettes After Sexism: The Shy-Boy Misogyny of Indie
Essay by John ShakespearI spent most of high school wearing hoodies, reading guys like Salinger, and thinking about a girl called Laura, whose name is not really Laura.… more
Where The Big Bad World Begins
Fiction by Justin ThurmanTall as the devil, they said. At thirteen. Wingspan of a rare stork. Hands fat as chuck steaks. He should have been ruining worlds, not having his own destroyed by a pint-sized Indian in a second-hand Raiders jacket.… more
Two Stories
Fiction by Steve ChangIt all comes out, no matter how many years later. He hated that photo, but it was telling the truth.… more
