Fiction
September Contributors
Mileva Anastasiadou, Tom Andes, Elan Barnehama, Sophia Craig, Karen Crawford, Eray Erkek, Eirene Gentle, GRSTALT Comms, Rebecca Karas, Emmi Khor, Thomas M. McDade, Peter Naughton, Dimitry Partsi, Alexei Raymond, Tejaswinee Roychowdhury, Beth Sherman, Cheryl Snell, and James Zoller
September Highlights
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alley money
Fiction by Alexei Raymond
“He’d never touched money of that kind. He’d seen it being handled by his mother, or by Ivan on their adventures, but he’d only ever touched various coins.“
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disintegration
Fiction by Peter Naughton
“She glanced over at her right hand and sure enough the finger was missing, though there had been no blood or pain to mark its departure.”
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fountain
Micro-fiction by Elan Barnehama
“When we met, she was sitting barefoot on the rim of the fountain, hungry for everything. “
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t is for tino
Micro-fiction by Eirene Gentle
“When Tino called in the sharks they were ready. They’d practiced so many times. The circle, the dip. Synchronized finning to the music of Bolero.”
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the haunt of age: a 5-step program for ghosting your ghost
Micro-fiction by Karen Crawford
“…anticipate your ghost’s surprise when she floats into the bedroom where your new nipped/tucked body lies. If she goes all poltergeist, rattle, and chain, flash her a ‘friendly’ smile. Your teeth blinding, lips plumped to perfection.”
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stick him
Fiction by Tom Andes
“Channeling all his hatred and self-loathing, all his rage at the number of times the Heaney boys and their minions had whaled on him, Patrick had. He’d stabbed the poor dude because Declan Heaney had told him to.”
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a significant deficit in coherence
Fiction by Dimitry Partsi
“Somewhere, deep in his alternatively gifted mind, Mr. Badgerson was certain of only one thing: he had not yet been misunderstood loudly enough.”
a significant deficit in coherence
by Dimitry Partsi
“Somewhere, deep in his alternatively gifted mind, Mr. Badgerson was certain of only one thing: he had not yet been misunderstood loudly enough.”
stick him
by Tom Andes
“Channeling all his hatred and self-loathing, all his rage at the number of times the Heaney boys and their minions had whaled on him, Patrick had. He’d stabbed the poor dude because Declan Heaney had told him to.”
disintegration
by Peter Naughton
“She glanced over at her right hand and sure enough the finger was missing, though there had been no blood or pain to mark its departure.”
george gale’s name
by Thomas M. McDade
“You’re a good man, George Gale. You saved both her and me some trouble.”
the gift of love
by GRSTALT Comms
“The bag lies next to me in my bed. I’ve never slept so well. I see its smile in my dreams.”
alley money
by Alexei Raymond
“He’d never touched money of that kind. He’d seen it being handled by his mother, or by Ivan on their adventures, but he’d only ever touched various coins.“
chinese whispers
by Rick Kennett
“The noises changed to murmurs of appreciation. Charlie and Douglas and one or two others thumped fists upon the table, chanting, “Ghost story! Ghost story!”
max’s video
by Wyatt Robinette
“The video was from a GoPro Max wore during the war. Like most GoPro scenes it was chaotic, unclear. Also, you never saw Max’s face, you just heard him.”
blood bound
by Jayson Carcione
“Someone screams. Lights explode in windows…The night is broken.
still deadly in death
by Kim Farleigh
“‘These winds,’ he warned, ‘are prophecies of your impending deaths. Don’t you little bunnies worry about that.’"
just breathe
by Zoë Davis
“The ancient ceiling fan, whining on an exposed fist of wiring, didn’t so much as move the air but stir it.”
come back panda bear
by Margaret Cahill
“When I turned to continue my walk, there he was: a man in a panda bear suit at the end of the boardwalk. At least I assumed it was a man, given that the figure was at least six feet tall.”
shiver a beauty
by GRSTALT Comms
“He never lets me fuck him – he always tells me ‘Next time’ – and that’s what keeps me coming back, the promise.”
pick a number
by Kenneth M. Kapp
“Hardly anyone asks about the quality of life. We know it is what it is.”
of lips and war
by Alexei Raymond
“Jonathan’s mind cycled between the tides of war he could remove only himself from, love’s inexplicable failure to surmount, and how he’d known, known the taste of his lips.”
bitch
by Chrissy Stegman
“The city sped past, and I leaned back into the seat, letting the world slide by inexplicably, as if the light outside the cab window could swallow everything. I really am a bitch, I thought.”
gunfight at the ko laundry ranch
by Patrick Johnston
“Jack enters the room gun first… Schiller looks up… Schiller looks like he has been caught wanking… circumcised Nazi prick… and Jack has Adolf Schiller cornered in his lair.”
in the fullness of time
by Ian Johnson
“Sex was a confrontation, challenging to give more and take more—a shiftless slavery to stolen weekends, rattling exotic headboards.”
a vase
by Michael Thériault
“Nothing tells me how I came into this vase. I may have been here from the instant the new glass cooled.”
lake trout
by Anthony Neil Smith
“I dumped Harriet into Grindstone Lake in broad daylight. Pulled my truck off the road, heaved her body bag over my shoulder and away she went.”