Spurgeon, by Glen Pourciau
I looked forward to not having to leave the house for days at a time. Sometimes, when I did leave, I could pick up some groceries and be set to hole up for several more days. I didn’t want to be around...
View ArticleGirl Heads, by Caitlin McGuire
Emily found the first button under Sam’s pillow. She’d come across it, a cheap little milk-opaque thing, while making the bed after Sam had left for work. She wanted to mend the shirt before Sam knew...
View ArticleThe Boy Who Turned Into the Man Who Ate Himself, by Paul Davenport-Randell
It began with coal.He was just a boy then. Eleven years old. Until he’d overheard his mother discussing it with some other mothers, he’d never known such a thing. Never thought you could or would even...
View ArticleThe Plaything of Whales, by James Claffey
The dying loons crash from the branches of the eucalyptus trees that line the Pacific Coast Highway as the road curves towards the north and the sun’s glow diminishes with the latening day. I leave the...
View ArticleApollonia at the Retirement Home for Great Apes, by Martha Otis
Apollonia, a Tanzanian chimpanzee who played violin for the Cleveland Orchestra, had gotten herself into trouble. Deep in the midst of a tragedy of thwarted love and ambition, Apollonia had gone on her...
View ArticleOn Returning, by Sarah Flynn
There’s a saying and there’s a reason why you say it: if you love something, let it go. Is there a saying about what to do when that thing just keeps coming back to you? I don’t know about you, but I...
View ArticleBalcony, by Sarah Marian Seltzer
As Carl readied himself for Theo’s party, he reflected on his three-day gap in communication with Maya. They were on some sort of break, triggered by a fight over her refusal to come out tonight, or...
View ArticleA Character of Fiction, by Simon Barker
Mr. Sherlock Holmes was seated at the breakfast table toying with his empty syringe while I stood upon the hearthrug examining the stick that had been accidentally left behind by one of our visitors...
View ArticleTim Time, by David Parker Jr.
On Thursday night, Tim Thomas’s wife, Linda, gets ready to travel across town for an evening with the Ladies Auxiliary Club. Tim Thomas can hardly wait for her to be gone, but he maintains his...
View ArticleOgdensburg, by Myfanwy Collins
I wore a white skirt. Earlier that day I sunbathed with his roommate while he was at work in his polyester uniform.The roommate and I gossiped, drank wine out of plastic cups. He knew that I knew about...
View ArticleLondon, 1973, by J.E. Reich
From the Diaries of Emil OsterWest Hampstead, London, Britain, October 1973Here is what my wife does not do when she sleeps: cry, breathe loudly to reassure me, whimper words in susurrus breezes, grit...
View Articlefrom 'American Past Time,' by Len Joy
1September 5, 1953Dancer Stonemason drove through Maple Springs headed for Rolla. His left hand rested gentle on the steering wheel, and in his pitching hand he held a baseball – loose and easy – like...
View ArticleGhosts in the Termini, by Joel Hans
My mother’s words are not words but ripples in water: This is the right thing, my babygirl. That’s all I ever asked. Months ago she made me promise I’d never let her dry out now that she’s dead.“I’m...
View ArticleSome Girl, by Beth Gilstrap
1984The van was all hot breath and man stink so I closed my eyes, resting my head against the fogged window. This was what I wanted –to be squished next to Brandon and headed west where the country...
View ArticleYou Think I’ll Actually Be Nice About This?, by Elizabeth Green
Lisa was late, and when she sat down he could tell she had been drinking for breakfast by the way she flopped into her seat and sat up straighter than usual, as if it were a chore to do so.“I think you...
View Article2014: A Year in (fwriction)Review
“The Boy Who Turned Into the Man Who Ate Himself,”by Paul Davenport-Randell“The Plaything of Whales,” by jamesclaffey “Apollonia at the Retirement Home for Great Apes,” by Martha Otis“On Returning,” by...
View ArticleWhat World We Build After All That's Burned Away, by Justin Lawrence Daugherty
My husband had started to believe his left arm was a lie. We’d gone to the redwood forest where we’d first conceived to bury the memory of the child we never shared. It had been months since the loss,...
View ArticleMissed, by Sergei Burbank
–Hey you, there. Don’t know why you’re not picking up. I thought you were acting weird at the place during the thing, didn’t want to bring it up in front of everyone, like maybe you wanted to be free...
View ArticleLast Train, by Paul Crenshaw
The woman sat alone on a bench on a cold night in winter an hour before the last trains ran. She wore a coat that was too thin, and no gloves. She kept looking up and around at the snow that came...
View ArticleThe Rat King, by Kerry Cullen
I moved in with the rat king because things between my girlfriend and me fell apart. Of course, I mean this literally. Six months in, she gave me a necklace that she’d made of silken string and sea...
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