Fiction
December Contributors
Richard Alured, Alfredo Salvatore Arcilesi, Arthur Aronstein, Jennifer Benningfield, Andrew Rai Berzins, Ace Boggess, Courtney Burten, Kayla Cain, Luanne Castle, Ronita Chattopadhyay, Tulip Chowdhury, Megan Chunn, Ben Connell, Kyle Cox, Jake Creps, Roger D’Agostin, Harry Del Monaco, K. Uwe Dunn, Zary Fekete, Ryan Frye, Steve Gerson, Benjamin Goluboff, Katie Goto-Švić, Richard Grayson, Dee P. R. Kay, Joe Kilgore, Hank Kirton, James A. Knight, Nolan Knight, Alejandro Gabriel Leopardi, Lior Locher, River Lucero, Mark Luebbers, Lindsey Maple, Shrutidhora P Mohor, Guinevere Ngozi Morgen, Faith Murri, Joseph Quilindrino Niduazu, Mika Nadolsky, Susan Brink O’Flaherty, Steve Oehmen, Seth Parker, Randall Perry, Timothy Petkovic, Rachel Racette, Arjun Razdan, L.G. Reed, Nicolas Rivera, Hil Schmidt, Gahl Shattan, Sumitra Singam, Melvin Sterne, Elizabeth Sundstrom, Amir Szuster, Jack Uppling, Derek Waulet, Walter Weinschenk, CR Widen, Jacob Wrich, Brandon Yu, Dodge Zelko, Kit Zimmerman
December Highlights
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erotomania
Flash Fiction by Nicolas Rivera
“The trick is to do the opposite of convention. Lighting, video quality, the flattery of a flirtatious angle are important details, but the key to social media is delivery.”
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all the kooks
Fiction by Ace Boggess
“The fight started right in front of her in the pasta aisle. Mary Ellen wasn’t close enough to hear if words had been exchanged…Everything was political, even the act of picking out linguini.”
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the pain master
Fiction by Lior Locher
“Neutral face, clean-shaven. Eyebrows neat, hair lined up like a platoon. He doesn’t speak. He doesn’t have to. You both know the deal.”
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the day she swalloed glass
Fiction by Ronita Chattopadhyay
“She was done with being quiet and submissive. “I will become tough,” she said out loud. She gulped down the remaining water. And then she noticed it – a crack at the bottom of the glass.”
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dispatch
Micro-fiction by Nolan Knight
“The detective flashes his penlight over a slick of blood. Eyes the busted back door, scans the yard. Body was moved. That’s three this week. Or was it last week?”
how may i help you, you sniveling twit?
by Chad Gayle
“Hi! I’m Dirk Bogarde, your online AI assistant. How can I be of service? That is, what can I do for you that you could do for yourself but choose not to?”
sand
by Scott Ortolano
“Glancing over, Amory watched as Brooke’s face drifted and dissolved, ebbing away into the headlights of a passing car; the oblivion holding terror and beauty against the dark skyline.”
unintelligible mutterings of a not yet dead corpse
by Odin Meadows
“The corpse lies on the couch eating Cheerios while I clean.”
the children’s library
by Marshall Moore
“I consider a shock. The collars also have retractable spikes. It’s so nice to have options. Instead, I stand up to leave.”
hollywood
by Mike Lee
“Three pulp paperbacks lined up on the wooden rack at the used bookstore I frequented in the East Village. One was by my father, a man my family hardly mentioned.”
area man
by Michael Grant Smith
“Dagger and Crowbar swore their baby sister Klamiddea (named after the Ancient Greek goddess of horniness) was the sweetest of all Raceways.”
the modest widow
by hiromi suzuki
“The dead put on their respective shoes and return to the heavens riding on the lift.”
three stories
by Joseph Linscott
“You settle into a hollow. In your brain, a vibration hums that matches the wiggling of worms under your body. A pale glow from the moon extinguishes your fire. Shivers shudder out and from your mouth a grey winged moth emerges.”
lord miserable
by Sean Ennis
“You think it would be easy to feel superior to a Satanist, but you would be wrong. I regularly sell my soul for discount codes, free shipping, and no-obligation, one-month trials.”
cartoon people
by Mileva Anastasiadou
“My shrink does her best but she’s tired. There’s some kind of subtle wisdom in cartoons, but it’s not what I think it is, she claims. She says I don’t miss him, I miss the game.”
blood loss
by Mary Salome
“I used a razor blade to cut my finger and let the blood trickle…”