literary short fiction

Dec 210 min read

"Rag Doll Heart" by Robert Firpo-Cappiello

I’m eleven. Kneeling beside my bed, hands clasped. “Uncle Brendan? Are you up there? Sister Claire says now that you’re in heaven you...

Nov 1722 min read

literary short fiction

"Finding Serenity" by Micah Muldowney

She looks spent. The coldness of the light has saturated her skin and her eyes and even her hair. They look dull and flat and hard like...

Oct 134 min read

literary short fiction

"Clusterfuck" by Maura Yzmore

“Let me just send this one email,” Derek says, his eyes already on the phone, thumbs flying across the screen. He’s not expecting me to...

Oct 134 min read

literary short fiction

"Restaurant Review" by Sherry Cassells

I just read the beginning of a restaurant review in which the writer said the one thing chefs have in common is a mother who can cook, so...

"Subterranean Sales Journey" by Mark Burrow

Sep 247 min read

literary short fiction

"Subterranean Sales Journey" by Mark Burrow

Everyone said the sniff was to blame for Rob going off the rails. They thought it was why he stopped hitting his sales targets. Ruben...

"The Festa of Santa Marija" by Sara Sheldrake

Sep 314 min read

literary short fiction

"The Festa of Santa Marija" by Sara Sheldrake

On a breathless night in Malta, light fragmented by bedroom shutters pries Maria’s eyes open. She leaves her empty bed. The church bells...

Aug 187 min read

literary short fiction

"My Clawfoot Tub" by Sloan Sprau

I’ve figured out that if I run the bath for 10 minutes on full heat and two minutes ice-cold, the water in my clawfoot tub will reach the...

"After the Fall, 1975" by Sally Reiser Simon

Aug 1815 min read

short fiction

"After the Fall, 1975" by Sally Reiser Simon

Dzung Life sure is trippy sometimes. Take today. I’m sittin’ in a brand new ’75 Chevy Impala across from my dad. Two weeks ago, he was a...

Aug 412 min read

literary short fiction

"You Are Here" by Lyra Cupala

5 pm. Flight canceled, a fourteen-hour layover. Ernest sits in a vinyl seat, a little girl wriggling on the seat behind him, and calls...

"Miracle Missiles" by Robert Firpo-Cappiello

Aug 48 min read

short fiction

"Miracle Missiles" by Robert Firpo-Cappiello

I don’t exactly know where my dreams end and my memories begin, but I’m pretty sure that most of this is true. The summer I turned five....

Jul 217 min read

literary fiction

"Day of Connection" by Joey Hedger

There were plans for a party at Ava’s place to celebrate the moment when the continents would converge, when land would finally touch...

"The Microwave Clock is Unreliable" by Richard A Shury

Jul 74 min read

literary short fiction

"The Microwave Clock is Unreliable" by Richard A Shury

There’s nothing I’m more sick of than the reliable tick of my grandmother’s grandfather clock, standing watch as it does over a living...

"Skinnymalink Melodeonlegs Big Banana Feet" by Sophie Thompson

Jun 92 min read

literary short fiction

"Skinnymalink Melodeonlegs Big Banana Feet" by Sophie Thompson

I’ll never forget his face, wide open to the harsh light of the screen, drinkin’ it all in. At’s why it happened, Da said. He was all...

"The Post-Adolescent World" by Justin Aylward

May 421 min read

literary short fiction

"The Post-Adolescent World" by Justin Aylward

Lori Martin was careful never to mix up her textbooks with her client book, which by the end of term was almost full. It was hard to...

May 412 min read

literary short fiction

"The God Hole" by Dave McNamara

Trixie had been writing for 10 years before she finally got published. It was a long slog, with dozens and dozens of bad short stories, a...

"We Don’t Need Another Birddog" by Jeff Harvey

May 42 min read

literary short fiction

"We Don’t Need Another Birddog" by Jeff Harvey

If I ever have a wife, there’s no way I’ll buy another hunting jacket over fixing the leaky toilet and the broken backdoor lock and if I...

Mar 172 min read

literary short fiction

"I Got Bats" by Sherry Cassells

Every so often – such a vague beginning I know but stick with me – every so often Marty calls me on the telephone, always the same wet...

Mar 1710 min read

literary short fiction

"Watchers of the Sky" by Robert Rosen

In the fading evening light of summer, 1961, Frank rests his palms on the rough wooden kitchen table. Through the window, just beyond the...

Mar 315 min read

literary short fiction

"Purpose" by Margaret Cahill

Susan wakes up in a sweat. A suffocating feeling of doom pins her to the bed. For a moment she panics and thinks she is back to those...

Feb 1811 min read

literary short fiction

"From the Rubble" by M.E. Proctor

My friend reminded me of a house fallen in disrepair. The slanting roof, the peeling paint, the gutters hanging loose. It can take ten...