The End of Days
By Rowan Keller Smith, The End Days kicked off like any other, with a walk to work. Headphones in, NPR on. The story of a dying toddler, and her mother and her father and her brother. One after another their lungs gave out. A silent prayer for all of them, the thought “God, that’s awful.” […]
In Yorktown, Her Name Is Sharon
By Brian Mosher, There are things you expect when you step inside a whorehouse or a brothel. Or, as Helene liked to call her place, a House of Entertainment. You expect women, obviously. Whisky and gin. You expect to leave with less money than you came in with. And, of course, you expect to have […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
The Green Witch’s Garden (Excerpt)
By Patricia Crisafulli A profusion of tiger lilies blossomed where the gravel driveway met the pitted blacktop of the country road. Pulling in slowly, Gabriela admired the red geraniums and yellow chrysanthemums that ringed the front of the small stone house with black shutters and wondered if these were the flowers Lucinda had wanted them […]