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Boy and Cave and Man and Night
Fiction by Chloe N. Clark At eight o’ clock on a Saturday night, the sky opens up so subtly that no one will notice for a few more hours. It’s just a splash of extra-dark across the night, some stars excised, but they’d been dead for years anyway. When Alex notices it, he thinks it […]
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Pulling Free of the Roots
A Review of Eli Cranor’s Ozark Dogs By Wiley Reiver Eli Cranor’s 2022 debut novel Don’t Know Tough rightly garnered impressive critical notice, being among USA Today’s “Best Books of the Year” and the New York Times’ “Best Crime Novels.” In addition, the Mystery Writers of America recently nominated it as a Best First Novel […]
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Soundscapes: Abiding with Birds
By Erin Calabria It is a clear, mild day in October, my first time home in nearly three years. All the leaves are glowing, suspended in translucent tiers of colored light, just on the brink of letting go. My brother turns off the road, parks, then leads the way into the woods. Almost as soon […]
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we drink hot chocolate when the world ends
Creative Nonfiction by Jim Almo My phone rang on December 20, 2012. My mother was calling to say goodbye. My aunt had messaged earlier: “Your mother’s batshit crazy. She called in tears to say she’s sorry I won’t be with her in heaven. Her church thinks the ancient Mayan calendar is predicting the end of […]
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Artful Academics: Calling My Energy Back
By Brandy Renee McCann I light a small candle while nodding to my grandmothers whose faces smile out of framed pictures displayed on the table that serves as my home altar. Words of prayer and whispered gratitude are my offering along with some candy. Also on the table are nature treasures given to me by […]
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When You Get Her Pregnant
Fiction by Kate Arden McMullen When you get her pregnant, the girl, your neighbor Rhoda, something in you feels relieved. Relief’s not the word, but you won’t know the word for how it feels to know how the rest of your life will be. Not because you want it, her, the baby, but because you’re […]
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Love, Loss, and the Lioness
A Review of Mark Powell’s Lioness by Chris McGinley It’s rare to encounter a work with multiple, fully-developed characters, with clever and meaningful use of narrative time, and with a story that continually compels a reader forward. It’s even rarer to be able to create a sense of place that genuinely shapes characters, something formative […]
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How I Cured My Depression
Fiction by Bethany Browning The school nurse suggested I might have clinical depression, so naturally the first thing Momma did was take me to see her psychic [1]. “It’s a demon,” Miss Charlene said, too bluntly for my taste. “It lives in the upper right-hand corner of your bedroom,” She sucked a deep drag on […]
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Amen: The End of Men
Fiction by Owolusi Lucky I was born during harmattan, when sky in stinginess withheld its blessing, before first rain of the second year kissed earths dust, I was crawling about. They said the rain scared me. A lot scares me back then, like the man that wear shadows, and stayed in the dark, waiting for […]