The #ShabbatChallenge
By Leah Eichler It started as a TikTok and snowballed from there. In the original post, six 13-year-old girls from Shaliach, a Jewish sleepover camp in Northern Ontario, danced in unison to Lizzo’s It’s About Damn Time. Then, after 30 seconds, one of them announced, “Tick Tock, it’s Shabbat o’clock!” The other quickly girls shut […]
The Graduation Party
By Shane Plassenthal, Clifton is going away. Paul is thrilled. He finds every excuse to talk about it to anyone who listen. Just yesterday when we are the Stop and Save getting food for this party we bumped into Shawn and Steve O’Connor, the gay couple Paul worked with when he was at the architectural […]
Coronavirus Solitary: A Play
By Vincent H. O’Neil CURTAIN OPENS INT. SMALL APARTMENT – DAY A card table is at center stage, with a folding chair next to it. A simple board game is on the table. The PRISONER is a young man at right stage. Dressed in a tee shirt and sweat pants, he is doing a set […]
The Dead Don’t Pay
By David Bassano, Juan patiently listened to the doctor explain the next procedure Catalina required but did not ask about the deductible. The doctor then reviewed the various medications Juan and Catalina were taking and why and how he was changing them. Juan thanked the doctor very politely and helped Catalina back onto the bus. […]
The Nude River
By Kendall Klym Pointed white petals with pink markings flutter to the ground as I navigate the narrow trail. I imagine myself a sprite sprinkling the forest with floral confetti. Then I face reality: my girth has disturbed the laurel—caused the withering flowers to fall from their pedestals. June is fully underway, and the path […]
Spreadsheet People
Spreadsheet People is the winner of Esoterica’s inaugural Short Story Contest. By Emily Zasada, It was a Monday afternoon, and the spreadsheet people were at it again. Sara had the quarterly budget open, it had been open on Friday, and now it was open again, damnit; there was no escape. Also, if it wasn’t this […]
Angharad’s Back
(Angharad’s Back received an honourable mention in Esoterica’s Short Story Contest.) By Ashley T.K. Penelope sat across from Tyler who was picking at the breakfast she’d made from scratch for their two-year anniversary, which isn’t a very good place to start a story. I mean, don’t get me wrong, we’re starting here and I have […]
Crackerjacks
(Crackerjacks was an honourable mention from Esoterica’s Inaugural Short Story Competition) By Myna Wallin When I was eighteen, a flamboyant psychiatrist-cum-fashion model strutted into her office wearing six-inch heels and a cape. She chain-smoked, indoors, flaunting perfect red talons. Her eyebrows were plucked so voraciously there was only a pale blond shadow left behind. She […]
Hiroshima Flower
(Hiroshima Flower received honourable mention by the judges in Esoterica’s Short Story Contest.) By Rudy Thauberger, Normally I find a man wearing a Hawaiian shirt to be inherently trustworthy, but there’s something about this guy. Maybe it’s his cheap sandals. The strap on the right one is broken, leaving the heel flapping against the sole […]
Girls Unwanted – Part III
George F. Walker is one of Canada’s most prolific and popular playwrights. Since beginning his theatre career in the early 1970s, Walker has written more than 30 plays and has created screenplays for several award-winning Canadian television series. Part Kafka, part Lewis Carroll, Walker’s distinctive, gritty, fast-paced tragicomedies illuminate and satirize the selfishness, greed, and […]