fiction

"All the beautiful souls there are" by Mark Marchenko

6 days ago12 min read

fiction

"All the beautiful souls there are" by Mark Marchenko

‘Compassion was the most important, perhaps the sole law of human existence. ~ ‘The Idiot’ by Fyodor...

Dec 229 min read

fiction

"Shelter" by Joseph Pfister

During those first awful weeks in March, when rumors swirled that the city was about to go into lockdown and the wealthy clogged bridges...

Nov 1714 min read

fiction

"The Blob" by Alannah Tjhatra

I almost jumped when I saw the thing but had enough decency not to. It was small and whimpering, and for a second, I thought it was a...

"These Are the Good Times" by Rolf Ebeling

Oct 1322 min read

short fiction

"These Are the Good Times" by Rolf Ebeling

On a sunny, bright blue June morning—likely the last day of his nine-month-long teaching career—Randy Shep slouched on a hot metal...

Oct 135 min read

fiction

"Mute All" by Jay Parr

She worships at his feet. She doesn’t care that I exist. She stands at the foot of the stage, looking up at him with adoring eyes, his...

"Petey’s Own Personal Jesus" by Jacqueline Doyle

Sep 306 min read

fiction

"Petey’s Own Personal Jesus" by Jacqueline Doyle

What Do You Do with a Two-Hundred Pound Jesus? They’d had one too many that night, again. Sometime after midnight, Petey and Earl found...

Sep 244 min read

fiction

"Remembered to" by R. P. Singletary

Look and see. He knew where. He took the stoned path, now more grass or correctly just plain but lovely weed, to the wooden structure,...

Sep 315 min read

short fiction

"The Neighborhood" by Julius Olofsson

In April, he rang my doorbell, and by June, he had disappeared. But I didn’t know that then, as I sat in my apartment during a worthless...

"A Blackbird, Bobble Hat And An Answer" by Sally Shaw

Sep 36 min read

fiction

"A Blackbird, Bobble Hat And An Answer" by Sally Shaw

“Will someone come for me?” I ask out loud. The only one to hear is a Blackbird I’ve named Stanley Stub. Stanley has one good leg, the...

Sep 33 min read

fiction

"Hup!" by David Cook

The audience, crammed shoulder to shoulder in tight, neat, curved rows, stared upwards, mouths agape like stunned goldfish, semi-chewed...

"The glorious Miss Glory" by Sandra Arnold

Sep 36 min read

short fiction

"The glorious Miss Glory" by Sandra Arnold

The Bible Class our parents forced us to attend every Sunday morning was so mind-numbingly boring that Trinity and I spent our time there...

"Ruminations over the loss of his dream" by Emma Burnett

Aug 181 min read

fiction

"Ruminations over the loss of his dream" by Emma Burnett

When I wake, the baby is gone. My hand rests on my flattened, soft belly, empty except for some gas. Maybe it’s left over from the dream...

"Smother (v.): stifle, suppress, suffocate" by Ayin Ships

Aug 410 min read

short fiction

"Smother (v.): stifle, suppress, suffocate" by Ayin Ships

It was almost a joke when you asked me. I’d been splashing water on my face in the bathroom off the grand ballroom’s hallway, inching up...

Aug 48 min read

fiction

"When One Door Closes" by Olivia Canny

Elaine knew that her keys were trying to tell her something when she dropped them on the floor in front of her bed. They landed in such a...

Aug 49 min read

fiction

"Pointed Edge" by Dinamarie Isola

The metal door slams behind me, shutting out the last bit of the day’s light, leaving the fluorescent bulb to its dreary work. My shoes...

"Monday Morning Quarterback" by Garrett Berberich

Jul 215 min read

short fiction

"Monday Morning Quarterback" by Garrett Berberich

A freshly cut rose stood between the smiling couple, droplets of water clinging to its rigid stem. They reached across the corner table...

Jul 712 min read

fiction

"March Madness" by Parker Wilson

They stand below the rim in a group and reach their fingertips to bump the ball toward the rim or away from it, toward another rim....

"Getting Back Out There" by Ryan Bender-Murphy

Jul 711 min read

fiction

"Getting Back Out There" by Ryan Bender-Murphy

I was told that I could no longer come into the office, but I still had to work. So my apartment became my office. And because the two...

Jul 716 min read

fiction

"The Scenic Zone" by Patrick Sweeney

Deep into the summer in year two of the pandemic, New York City’s piquant vibe of menace had curdled into a dank atmosphere of dread. ...

Jun 235 min read

fiction

"The Last Party" by Nicole Brogdon

Cosimo was looking distractingly handsome. We were celebrating his 75th birthday that day, at the Party Palazzo, and I know he likes that...