Mechanisms of Defense

Nina Shevzov-ZebrunMay 27, 2020

  Altruism The rain is unexpected, so violent the sun chokes. A stranger gives away her umbrella.   Humor (warning: medical, probably not ...

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Hairy Monster

Ben UmayamMay 4, 2020

“You very handsome now.  You look very cool.   You look 26, not 62!”  Cheryl laughed her low, deep laugh.  If Cher had a Malaysian counterpart, she would sound ...

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WAS IT SOMETHING I WROTE?

Colin NewtonApril 16, 2020

It's been six weeks, two days and 17 hours since we last spoke. I know I shouldn't be thinking about you as often as I am. I certainly shouldn't be keeping trac...

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Tongues

Yasha CastsApril 13, 2020

There’s a trend here. She says 5, I say 6:30; she asks where I am, I say, “coming;” she stares at her watch, I arrive frenzied. I voiced my excuse for that part...

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Sci-Fi Saturday

Charles GroselApril 4, 2020

Past the point of no return something always goes terribly wrong—an exploding oxygen tank, an errant asteroid, sabotage by the Iago-like stowaway—and the spacec...

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Hospital Visit

Kevin SterneMarch 18, 2020

My girl and I visit my dad in the hospital. He's watching this show called Man vs. Bear.   This accountant who did an Iron Man is tug-of-warring with...

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What

Joshua HebburnMarch 16, 2020

“What,” he said. “Nothing,” she said, “I didn't say anything.” One of them had lied and the other knew....

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The Getaway Car

Bethany MangleMarch 12, 2020

You got a fast car. I remember the day you came home with it, the way you sat at the kitchen counter and spun the keys around your index finger by the metal rin...

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Thoughts After Being Struck by Lightning

Jeana MahanMarch 10, 2020

It’s a weird feeling being dead. When the lightning hit, physically my body went down, but a part of me went up. I begin to float, like a balloon filled with...

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The Things We’ll Remember

Nick OlsonFebruary 28, 2020

  We'll remember the small moments that seemed not to matter at the time. We'll remember the dust motes caught in after school sunbeams, cigarette smell...

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A KIND OF DIS/ORDER: A MANIFESTO

Rachel OestreichFebruary 25, 2020

Don’t tell anyone you’re hungry Understand it’s not about not eating, it’s about not eating when you’re alone Frame your isolation as dedication Go...

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Unhappy Years

Yash SeyedbagheriFebruary 25, 2020

New Year’s Eve. Wife Betty and I consume crisp champagne, year before us nascent and shapely. It’s the year of taming bills and wounding student loans. The year...

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An Exit Strategy

Erin KirshFebruary 25, 2020

When Candice died, her garden struggled on until the frost came. After that, it didn't return. Candice’s basement tenants were kind to us, their new, reluctant ...

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Novel by the Author We Both Like

Taara KhalilnajiFebruary 17, 2020

Scotty gives me the book on our fourth date. He's written a note on the back cover, mentioning my writing and how this novel about the end of a relationship, wr...

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Frida Kahlo

Andrés PiñaFebruary 14, 2020

On the canvas she paints verbs, like red flowers. ...

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When Your Boyfriend Says He’s The Joker and You’re Harley Quinn

Candace HartsuykerFebruary 12, 2020

When your new boyfriend says he’s The Joker and you’re Harley Quinn, this means there are rules you are expected to follow. A uniform is required. That means, a...

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The Car at the End of the World

Elliot HarperFebruary 12, 2020

The worst thing about the world ending is that I can’t move that car off the front lawn. Bloody thing has been parked there for months. It must have been left b...

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When I Moved Away

Jack C. BuckFebruary 10, 2020

I would stop at gas stations along the way to buy postcards to mail back east to my friends. My first year away I was basically broke, getting by on 32 hours a ...

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TECHNOCRAT’S DOG

Chance DibbenJanuary 3, 2020

Days before the product launch, a rich, ego-driven technocrat is kidnapped, tortured, then killed by a cabal of rivals and international government forces. His ...

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Events

Thomas CooperJanuary 3, 2020

Free Speech Rally I attended a Free Speech Rally today. The first speaker was meant to be good, although I couldn’t hear anything he was saying. There were a...

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Three short stories about the Midwest

Mark JohnsonJanuary 3, 2020

1. My friend Andrew is a successful accountant. And a good person. In the sixth grade, he failed reading class. He received a form his parents were supposed to...

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A Story With a Dog In It

Emily WeberDecember 24, 2019

On the bright November day I gave away my dog, I watered every plant in the house. Even the artificial ones. The pots overflowed, leaving puddles where none had...

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waking girls

SUIYI TANGNovember 13, 2019

she woke up selfishly. as if cloistered by a hardened bowl, her mind thrashed, its soft edges driving into knots of yellowed ceramic. each hit a knot unto itsel...

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A Lesson in Meteorology

L. SovieroNovember 11, 2019

The Santiago kid committed suicide that morning. Two men had to carry Santiago’s mother out to a car. Maria said when people got that sad their legs stopped wor...

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Fucking Running for President

Mir -YasharOctober 23, 2019

I drop F bombs on the campaign trail when points don’t come through. Fucking deplore economic inequality in Dubuque, fucking deplore right-wing fundamentalism. ...

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Everywhere

Elliot HarperSeptember 3, 2019

Come with me, he said. “Where do you want me to go?” I asked him. Everywhere, he said. “Everywhere?” I asked. Yes everywhere, stop repeating me, he said. “Oh ok...

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The Secret Life of Spoons

Phebe JewellAugust 26, 2019

With my round, smooth-bottomed hull, my wide-ribbed belly, I was made for love. We take turns, you and I, filling and being filled. You open a jar, lift a lid, ...

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Three Flat Stanley Stories

Jennifer A. HowardAugust 21, 2019

Ted Bundy would have loved Flat Stanley’s mom her long straight dark hair parted in the middle. She would have been Midwestern helpful if he needed her to ca...

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My Valedictorian Speech if I Was Valedictorian

Jeana MahanAugust 16, 2019

I had a best friend. Her name was Hannah. Hannah and I met on the playground at the River City Public park. As the years went on, I got to know the quirks and ...

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Straw Foil Hat

Evan NichollsAugust 12, 2019

Back when there were people around, I would blow my moped through town, then ride on and dart between bales of alfalfa. Neighbors called me the crazy crazy daug...

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