Forgeries of the Self

Tyler PlofkerSeptember 20, 2022

Black sludge seeps from the walls; drops from the ceiling and splashes against my face. I do not even close my eyes, though some drips in. My skin, from neck to...

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Tour Guide

Dmitry SamarovSeptember 10, 2022

An Excerpt from paint-by-numbers   An email from the Museum of Only Art Now asking if I’d be interested in giving their artist-in-residence a tou...

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Last Night in Celebration

Swati SudarsanSeptember 5, 2022

Have you come to get me Lyra? I have been stuck in Celebration for the last sixteen years, and I am not asking for anything more than I left with. You can retur...

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You Searched For —

A. C.September 5, 2022

“allie wilde figure skating”   Skating Magazine Could this 10-year-old be figure skating’s next big thing? Allie Wilde, discovered through her lo...

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Notes on Hope and Despair

Sacha BissonnetteSeptember 5, 2022

  Monday: The world is supposed to end this Friday. That’s what the government, or whatever is remaining, has been telling us. Friday is the day w...

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The Professional

Eli S. EvansSeptember 5, 2022

Being myself a grown man, I was having an argument with a child, the particular subject of which was whether a certain artist, who the child had dismissed as me...

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Halloween 2: OFFICES NOW

J. F. GleesonSeptember 5, 2022

Coming soon: a bit of hookless prose. At the bus stop, which is the same, some decades older in body, 503 years older by soul, perhaps a great deal more, tho...

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How to Shoplift: A Guide

Nathan PenskySeptember 5, 2022

My name is Lawrence. I’m sixteen years old, and I live in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I go to school and get stoned and skate with my friends. I have a girlfriend...

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“If I ripped this seatbelt out, it couldn’t possibly do any harm, right?”

Annalie SandorSeptember 5, 2022

  Why the hell are we slowing down?    To feel the jerking and rattling of the large steel cage currently carrying me at 40 miles an hour thr...

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The Funeral of Fame

Kevin TaylorSeptember 5, 2022

“Initial here and…sign here.” Cyra shook her tired wrist and made her mark. Greeves turned the page. “And here. Excellent. Now, there is one last order of...

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The Netherlands Institutes a Trade Embargo

Scott Mitchel MayAugust 24, 2022

Night is for walking and thinking and making the most of the opportunities you are given, and she firmly believes this. She had one set over at The Cellar, and ...

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Mania

Chloe PingeonAugust 22, 2022

I’m sitting in a cafe in Boston, and my present state of mind is manic. What is your present state of mind? It’s a question typed on a crumpled piece of p...

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Temporal

Francois Bereaud and Melissa Flores AndersonAugust 15, 2022

(Missed Connections on a Spring Afternoon at JFK in 2003)   19   Lucy woke up with her bag clutched on her lap, a line of drool escaping fro...

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Confessions of a Healing Girl

Sadhika RajAugust 10, 2022

Some people ask me how I spend my time, I remain silent, but the words I heal sit at the tip of my tongue that is usually always covered with the remnants of Or...

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WELCOME TO BLOCKCHAIN CHICKEN

Caleb BetheaAugust 3, 2022

He wasn’t even there. And I was excited to tell him how I worked my way all the way through his cookbook—my Billionaire’s Bacon this close to looking like the p...

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Smoking Is Highly Addictive, Do Not Start

Dipti AnandAugust 1, 2022

Let’s try this again. A. confesses to being inoperative since growing is ongoing and she’s been at it too long a time. Luckily, she wears it well. Her cheeks do...

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Based on a true story I dreamed a few years ago while drunk

michelangelo franchiniJuly 28, 2022

A pub. No, a bar. No, a pub. A man sitting near the window. Weary. A weird waiter. Sunny outside. The man is thoughtful. The waiter asks him what he wants to or...

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A Guided Backpacking Trip with the Creators of the Simulation

Jake CampJuly 27, 2022

The creators of the simulation have many interests. Watching their characters do stupid shit is definitely one of ‘em. As far as this goes humans are the ...

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You, Reader

Adam GianforcaroJuly 25, 2022

Consider these words close enough and you too can be part of the story. My muse. Person on the other side of the screen. You, reader: the shadow casted from the...

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Jackpot

Soidenet GueJuly 19, 2022

The landlord banged the door down, issuing his last ultimatum to Sylvia and Warren Snow. They were supposed to pay at least the previous month’s rent in two day...

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I Love You, Butch Cassidy

Sophie NewmanJuly 18, 2022

Butch Cassidy’s real name is Robert LeRoy Parker, which I only know because we’re in love. We met at a Halloween party in Echo Park. I was a cowgirl, and he a r...

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Traditional 6 Braid Challah Bread Recipe

Jenna SchoepflinJune 29, 2022

So, your father-in-law just passed away—sorry about that by the way—and now you’ve been told you need to make something for your mother-in-law’s sitting shiva. ...

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Chuck E.

Maura YzmoreJune 21, 2022

Mikey slides down the big slide at Chuck E. Cheese’s, giggling and squealing. He lands in Joe’s arms, and Joe gives him a bear hug, enveloping the tiny body fro...

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Mindfulness Tips for the Wolf Moon

Tyler NortonJune 20, 2022

By now you realize this will happen every month. The transformations, they suck. I know from experience. And if you’re anything like me, the first one completel...

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A Single-Spaced Document in 12-Point Font, Times New Roman

Theodore RoweJune 16, 2022

This is a single-spaced document written in 12-point font, Times New Roman. It comprises about 500 words. If one copied the text of this page into a Microsoft W...

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Our Mandy Reverses Her Heart

Regina CaggianoJune 9, 2022

Everyone in the ninth grade knows about Mandy and her Kate Moss waist, but only we know about her reversible heart. She shows us how it unfolds: jumps, flip-flo...

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Cluck

Lauren C. JohnsonJune 7, 2022

As Friday approached, wildfires exploded in Sonoma and Napa. Smoke spiraled downwind and blanketed the peninsula. No one would drive anywhere that weekend. And ...

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A Losing Bet

Josh DaleJune 6, 2022

I had to live with my grandmom after my parents died last year and it’s sucked ever since. Losing both parents in a car crash? Yeah, really bad. But I bet you m...

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School Sucks

Caroline BeuleyJune 2, 2022

At the top of a dark, stone tower, a menacing presence lurked. A lugubrious, green light filled the room which he inhabited. Shut inside his wooden sleeping qua...

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Bruce the Astral Bull Rider

Mason ParkerMay 31, 2022

A goshawk flew over the river running through our land yesterday, and the bowling alley gave me validation about the fat emptiness I’d held for a stint. The lon...

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