by Robert L. Penick

“While you rock the glass in your hand, the scars smooth themselves out and nearly disappear. This is good therapy, you think.”

by Grover Koger

“elixir of life, formulation by Query, 27

dangerous side effects of, 28

life-prolonging effects of, 29-32, 139, 157

enhancement of sexual prowess by, 45, 97, 117-48, 133-34, 157…”

by Tejaswinee Roychowdhury

“One rainy evening, a frog drunk on fresh mosquito juice spiked with manure, pointed at the red house and wailed he was forced labour, fated to live out his slippery life within its bounds, deprived of quality mates.”

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.”

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.”

by Cheryl Snell

“The Peeping Tom says, it’s lucky the mother can’t see all those folds and puckery! This is not the body she assigned the daughter.”

by Elan Barnehama

“When we met, she was sitting barefoot on the rim of the fountain, hungry for everything.“

by Beth Sherman

“104) In the picture, she has a crooked smile. Her eyes shift to the left, away from you, toward something you can’t see.”

by Susan Flint

“On the way home from the restaurant Joselyn stops at the Asian market. She walks in between rows of rotating Peking ducks and she thinks about killing herself.”

by Mileva Anastasiadou

“…he’s water and I’m air, and the fire will devour us at the end, but in a plot twist we will someday devour the world, only we play innocent now…”

Micro-fiction by James Rayvin

“This time I saw that the craft was levitating. As I approached, a bright beam split the air and trained on my head. The next world has to be better. I carve the moniker into my arm. Raise my hands to the beam. And forget about you.”

by Benjamin Drevlow

“Like Eminem’s I Don’t Give a Fuck but in which I give a fuck about everything, all things, and can’t do anything about them, but scream I don’t give a fuck in Em’s nasally whine…”

by Kenna DeValor

“he smell of floral rot: the rose,  peony, and soil swirled around me in a delicate game of tug of war.”

by Marcus Silcock

“It was 2am and they walked past the parking with license plates covered for privacy. We are only resting, they said. Nothing more.”

by Rebecca Karas

“Someone would microwave fish every Tuesday, and the oily scent affixed itself to every plush surface in the vicinity: the shitty office chairs, the fabric cubicles, the stained couch in the break room. I worked in a fetid, hungry mouth, ready to swallow me whole.”

by Rick White

“Once they pry and weedle their way inside they’ll find the tiny souls of all the unsuspecting, wide-eyed creatures who daydream-dawdled into that crooked maw.”

by Kate Horsley

“I hole up in the living-room where Bob Ross tells me humans don't make mistakes and for a while I can feel that each stain on the lino is one of Bob’s happy little trees.“

by Alex McNicoll

“‘Everything’s on fire—it’s beautiful,’ Colin said. And then, finally, I could hear them too, whistling like hummingbirds picking flowers. Bombs. Bombs that weigh as much as buildings and burn biblically.”

by Robert L. Penick

“This is the ass-end of the American dream, the part no one films for posterity. Gone with the Wind from Mammy’s point of view…”

by Kevin Richard White

“I want to be your shield and guide, and when I go to drive or move to try to find anchor, she just turns into unbreakable white snow ahead, and I’m afraid of skidding.”