PRINCESS MOONSHADOW • by Pam Avoledo
Before I reached the toy aisle, the lavender scent of the unicorn called to me. I had to find which one it was and ran to the shelf of ponies. You can have one, mom says and then we have… Continue Reading
THE LOWEST PLACE ON EARTH FOR REAL • by Dan Tremaglio
The Pentecostal girl spends all night talking to the electric wheel in the sky. The sky turns from black to blue while the wheel spins its yarns of reckless wisdom and the secret curvature of time, telling her to board… Continue Reading
PANCAKES WITH SKELETONS • by Sarah Moon
And the door swings open. And the door swings open and open again and never shuts all the way. All sorts of things come in through the door. People. Ideas. Gifts. Tombstones. R.I.P. this. R.I.P. that. Give to the poor,… Continue Reading
THE PUNXSUTAWNEY PILGRIMAGE • by Lynn M. Rice
Dad insisted on two things when we were growing up: fireworks at the lake for Fourth of July and the slog to Punxsutawney to see good ol’ Phil every February second. Maybe Brendan and I shouldn’t have rolled our eyes… Continue Reading
A WARRIOR CONSIDERS A RAINBOW • by Thomas North
To war! To war! These were the words that made him. Grizhnakh was torn from the muck, blade thrust into hand, and armor slapped upon him, just another scarlet body in ranks tense for battle. To war! To war! For… Continue Reading
ALL THAT GOES INTO LEARNING HOW TO LIVE • by Graeme Richmond Mack
“What are you running away from, Pat?” Carolynn asked, smiling, the contours of her face faintly lit by the sun spilling through the coffee shop window. I leaned forward and cupped my coffee mug with both hands. Every time I… Continue Reading
SONORAN BREAKDOWN • by Ivan Kotevski
I’m alone now. Heavy rain hits the windshield. It rains like this more and more. It didn’t use to. He was my only friend. It was late when I picked him up and he’d been drinking and wanted to sleep… Continue Reading
THE SECRET HEARTACHE OF A PRAYING MANTIS • by Läilä Örken
Grey clumps of mould, slowly dissolving into squelchy porridge under the wheels of the tram, are all that’s left to us from the crystalline decadence of the recent snowstorm, the glittering silence of the fields when all sounds were muffled,… Continue Reading
TO FACE A LAKE MONSTER • by Kate Niestrom
It was a disgustingly beautiful day to be plodding across Lake Michigan. There wasn’t a wisp of the somber, angry clouds Lydia had pictured when imagining the first time visiting her son in prison. She squinted at the sun and… Continue Reading
SORTIE 28 • by M Harvard
The wounded Lanc labours along the breathless sky, flames raging on the portside wing. Captain David Robertson, face flame orange, tugs on the control column to hold her steady; his crew evacuates over enemy territory. His flight engineer, the last… Continue Reading