An Unwelcome Guest
By Jonathan Papernick, (NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: I wrote the short story “An Unwelcome Guest,” exactly 25 years ago in October 1998, during my first semester of graduate school. It was my attempt to encapsulate the entire Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its horrifying spiral of violence in one short story. I had spent a year in […]
Comedy Act: A Ghost Story
By Meg Pokrass My father has never believed in ghosts, at least in the houses of others. “But here in our house, we do have a legitimate ghost,” he concedes, shaking his head like there’s something lodged inside his ear canals. “Ssssss,” Ghost Mom says. “Now, Martha, let it go…” “Ffffff…” Mom says. These days, […]
Boo!
By Janie Gabbett, In the cool, expansive health club I joined this year, the recumbent bikes have TV screens to distract you from the tedium of pedalling. Flipping channels, I come upon Bonanza on an oldies TV station. OK, for those of you not quite as old as I am, Bonanza was a Western series […]
Cat or Crow?
By Jordan Nishkian, Rena missed the quiet of the morning—before Charmaine’s uninterrupted stream of consciousness steeped through the kitchen like the sun through the apartment’s east-facing window. “I had the most stressful dream. You wouldn’t believe it,” her voice ricocheted against the goldenrod-colored walls. Moments before Charmaine had traipsed in, Rena shared a breath with […]
Fredericksburg
By Andrew Clark The Hyatt Place hotel in Fredericksburg is a five-minute drive from the Virginia field where 12,500 Union soldiers were killed or wounded in the month of December 1863. The Hyatt Place Fredericksburg has ninety-three well-appointed rooms and is right next to Mary Washington Hospital. It has a pool and each booking comes […]
What’s a Manuel Ferreira? Book Excerpt from The Prison Lady
Phyllis Taylor is the author of The Prison Lady, a memoir of her journey alongside prisoners. The following is an excerpt from her book. By 45, Manny, a great-looking Portuguese career criminal, had spent two dimes (ten year sentences) in the Kingston Pen. He was fond of boasting that he knew the most infamous […]
Colossi
By Fred Johnson 1. What a day: went as usual to Mr Kebab Express. Ordered pizza—twelve-inch special, no olives, can of Irn Bru. Was waiting around like normal, sat on the old wooden bench and whatnot, twiddling the proverbial, when Sohrab calls my name. Nothing strange yet, I know, but wait, greedy fucker, wait— Sohrab—or […]
Maybe It’s Not Too Late
By Luke Beling, We fell out of love in a hurry that night. Suzy flipped over my dirty ashtray and tossed my empty can at me while I lay sprawled on the sofa watching the game. “You can’t just keep feeling sorry for yourself, you know. Bad shit happens. To everybody. All the time.” It’d […]
I Wish my Doll had Been Made of Metal: The Heartbreak of the Lahaina Inferno (Essay)
By Bruce Farrell Rosen, One of my favorite places in all the world was Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii. I first travelled there in the summer of 1975 with a friend who had come over to vacation with me following the conclusion of our respective college years. I had been a student at the University of California, […]
The Burn
By Alan MacLeod My Aunt Ruth piles family photos in boxes, and calls it our ancestry. Those faded images of people and places transport me like a time machine. Peaceful, sad feelings roll through my body. For years we’ve had quiet heritage talks in her parlour: clock ticking on the mantle, budgie scrabbling in its […]
