The trauma of war can ripple across generations and bleed through borders. You can arrive in the United States or come back home to the United States, but you’ve left a piece of your sanity behind.… more
Writer: Frank Reardon
BULLSHIT YOU CAN TASTE
FICTION by Frank ReardonFather Manchette took a yardstick across my ass in front of the entire class. Sister Agnes poked my arms until little bubbles of blood popped up from my skin. “The deeds you do may be the only sermon people will hear today.” I repeated those words walking up and down Dorchester Avenue until Jesus unzipped the sky and turned on the lights.… more
Too Many Last Names
Moans from the Condiment Fridge by Frank ReardonA series of last names I’ll click clack my way through on the way to thoughts of vengeance and acting cooler than I am, until I’m told to shut up, get on all fours, and kiss the black knee-high latex boot like the pervert I am (“Hubba hubba”).… more
Jake Hinkson
BULL Interview by Frank ReardonI wanted to tell a story set in that world that would also be a pretty accurate description of that world. People aren’t cliches. No one perfectly fits into a stereotype, even when they commit their whole life to being a stereotype.… more
William Boyle
BULL Interview by Frank ReardonI always start with character and place. I put the characters in desperate situations, usually in my part of southern Brooklyn, and see what develops from there. There’s drama just in watching lives unfold. The natural drama of being alive. Throw some secrets and lies and betrayals into the mix and shit gets amped up.… more
The Rage of Silence
FICTION by Frank ReardonOne hundred T-bones a day, both cut and trimmed. Fifty ribeye, sixty Porterhouse, it didn’t matter over and over he thought of Tara’s face. He studied his boss’ actions. He learned the movements of his coworkers. It was out of habit to study people. He couldn’t help himself. He let them bust his balls often, even smiled, but he knew he could end every single one of them if he truly wanted to, but he never wanted to entertain the thought at the same time.… more
TWO TACKLE BOXES
FICTION by Frank ReardonI had been in and out of different therapist’s offices, each one telling me the same thing after I had emptied my soul out to them. I gave up on their useless advice. It never helped me. I went home and cried over a childhood that wasn’t all that bad.… more
William Boyle
BULL Interview by Frank ReardonIn a lot of ways, it’s what I dreamed about as a kid in Brooklyn who wanted anything other than cracks in the sidewalk and bus rides and trash in the streets and my decaying neighborhood. I’ve made a lot of great friends down here Oxford. The other side of it is I’ll never quite feel like I belong. I have this ache for New York, which will always be my home, and I miss it and I love it and I hate it.… more
The Goalie
FICTION by Frank ReardonMy entire ten years of life on earth was spent keeping people from fighting with one another. “Not in front of the kid” were the famous words I heard. Grandma told me one time that I was an angel sent by God to help heal the family. None of my uncles nor my grandfather liked it much when my grandmother talked like that.… more
This is What Killed Manuel “Cheyenne” Gutiérrez…
GENRE NON-BINARY by Frank ReardonSince the shit bomb went off earlier this year. Since the sickness came, killing well over 200,000 like a Gatling gun. Since the astronomical loss of jobs happened under a racist Nazi President who is actively blackmailing the country by holding back any chance of stimulus until after the election thus sending millions to bread… more
