On his usual walk he came to a stretch where boulders were freshly dumped along the riverbank. No mystery: he knew this was to stop the erosion that had become a worry. There had been a public meeting about it; he’d meant to attend but forgotten. According to the account he read online, the room […]
Featured Fiction
The River Path
Charismatic Youth Leader
by Joseph Nicholson
I remember being told a story about a city. It was an ancient city, a city of towers and walls in the desert. The people who lived there were rich, and they were proud. I used to imagine the men of this proud place, so far away. They wore silk clothes in the colours of […]
Okichize (Battle)
by Jim Genia
The trick when it comes to industrial sabotage is to understand just enough of the
mechanism to know where the line exists between damage and catastrophe. You want to cost the oil company money, not create a natural disaster.
white walls
by Caroline Fleischauer
I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. The nursing home had brick walls on the inside. Big glass doors. But my grandmother’s room was white, unadorned, hospital-like. Her slurred speech echoed off the empty walls. At seven, I saw my mother emerge from the room, crying. I shouldn’t go in, […]
Twenty-three Crates from China
by Prudence Hemming
FOREWARD I was asked to report on the aftermath of the deceased’s life from observations made at the final viewing. The sections below list observations of the physical remains and excerpts from documents recorded at different times in her last days. The final section is based on actual events written in accordance with her wishes. […]
Resonance
by Alison Sanders
The plastic bed is cold against Tamiko’s calves, her butt, her shoulder blades. The monstrous contraption hums, as if hungry for her. She’s heard stories of people who freak out in these things; she holds in her hand, in fact, a panic button. The earnest young technician who handed it to her wears scrubs and […]
Elephant
by Chris Naff
Warning: This short story contains sensitive content related to gun violence that may be triggering for some readers. “Is it real?” When the alarm goes off one of the third graders in the back asks Mr. Davis the question Ellison is afraid to ask. “It’s real,” Mr. Davis says. “Remember, we treat it real […]
Papa’s Red Money Box
by Rashmi Agrawal
Our eyes would be fixed on the box, hoping to get a fleeting peek inside. Would its touch be steely? Or had smooth feel of those notes? We couldn’t imagine if it were heavy like Maa’s salt container or feathery like ghee’s.
Turn Around
by Ariel Kay
Queen Maud Gulf, Nunavut, Canada April 28th, 38°F, wind: 15 m.p.h. “You’re the expert, Lydia,” Scott says as they stare out at the expanse of Arctic sea. Where there were supposed to be sleek sheets of ice, there’s now mostly slush. “What now?” Scott’s nose and cheeks are red, a bad mix of cold and […]
When the Bough Breaks
by Lesley Bannatyne
I am watching my daughter nursing the baby. She is incandescent, my daughter, like a Renaissance Madonna. Her skin is alabaster and her hair haloes in the sunlight that slips through the kitchen window and slides off the bones of her face. It’s the gorgeous hair some women get while pregnant—mine grew six inches during […]
