Raul searched obituaries and wrote down names of funeral homes and cemeteries for almost a year. He tried making sense of it all but...

“We can compute an ephemeris for it,” I suggested. “What is that?” “It’s charting the path of a celestial object.” So I collected paper,...

He was somewhere on the Oregon coast, heading north on his bicycle with the wind and rain in his face. 17 years in the desert and now...

My father took a picture of me with Santa Claus so he could remind me over and over again who was to blame when I didn’t get what I...

Early mornings the birds were hungry and bold. The ibises landed on the netting above the flamingo pond and dipped their curved beaks...

You open the door and step inside. Across the room, an old lady sits behind a large desk. Unlike the concrete columns and open air of the...

Elixir He took the pills dutifully. She thought they were cyanide. Turned out to be Cialis. She decided to give the old bastard a second...

Jesus Christ Throws Himself a Surprise Birthday Party To Interrogate Who Stole His Tupperware Lid He lent the portable containers to...

Average Interviewer: What inspired your short story “An Average Short Story on Something I Have Very Little Direct Experience With?”...

For the first time in his adult years – not that he often thought of himself as an adult, or made much of an effort to behave like one –...

‘Mummy, look, a ghost did a painting.’ Maddie looks. On the kitchen table is a painting of a bucolic country scene. There is a farmhouse...

“En un beso, sabrás todo lo que he callado.” — Pablo Neruda I have two things I have to do today. A local car show, where I’m parking my...

The hatch in back my house leads to a crawl space. This crawl space, made of mud, winds wormlike, creeps, full of centipedes, and delves...

When Gran-Gran’s Pearl Necklace Goes Missing she narrows her eyes at my brother, Dusty. He’s forever misplacing stuff: LEGOs, socks,...

CW: unplanned pregnancy, termination, gaslighting/emotional manipulation, acute manic episode There’s a clamour, a buzzing like a hive....

"Before words can run out, something in the heart must die." —Alejandra Pizarnik Bella closed her eyes at the bar, and memory formed two...

I paid close attention to those who barely paused and those who honored my mother and took their time and pointed, laughed, or even cried...

Life’s been so-so, been good enough: I’m working at the Ken Foree Chrysler/Jeep down on Lankershim Blvd., selling lemons to...

When I drove for the Mano de Plata cartel, I had no interaction with the natural world. I walked on tile and cement, drank from aluminum...

After driving for many hours, Chloe and I step out of the car to approach the Grand Canyon. Both of us are smelly and stiff from the...