Reckon Review

Category: Fiction

  • Plain People

    Fiction by James Cato It wasn’t about her looks. She had lovely skin and a sugary smile and nice clothes. In fact, when she hired me to breed shrimp on her aquaponics farm half the boys in the town stopped speaking to me. Nobody knew her origins and myths circulated on where she was sleeping,…

  • A Most Violent Heritage

    Fiction by Matt Starr Growing up, I knew violence by the voice it used to holler. A mangled, deep thing, like the wet howl of a bluetick. That’s how it always started, with people barking and carrying on. It ended in a similar fashion but with more whimpering than anything else. Mama and Deddy learned…

  • His Other Best Friend

    Fiction by George Wood Jack Grimes and Charlie McGinn had finished their Sunday morning breakfasts of biscuits and sausage gravy and were waiting for their checks.  Jack nursed a last cup of coffee and said: “If you got time, I got someone to introduce you to.” “Got nothing but time.” Charlie said, working over his…

  • Jackalope Kings

    Fiction by Libby Cudmore Bad news comes with a human messenger. Your Aunt Mo calls between spreadsheets and Zoom to tell you that your Uncle Pete was found dead in his apartment. No cause yet; could be a heart attack, could be pain pills, could be the guns he started stockpiling in these last few…

  • Back the Blue

    Fiction by Anthony Neil Smith Back the blue? Fuck yeah, I back the blue. You saw the flag waving out front of the house? Black and gray Amer’can flag, blue line running through it. I’ve got two more on my truck. Bumper sticker, too. Oh, and the tattoo. See? I’ll flex it for you. I…

  • Somewhere in the middle of nowhere on the last car of the last train to LA, I fell in love

    FLASH Fiction by Barbara Byar I followed the Hansel and Gretel trail of floor lights to a quiet corner of the slumbering car. Stared out the window at the star soup. Pulled out my notebook. There was no movement from under the blanket of your pea coat, so I jumped when you spoke. What are…

  • Eulogy

    Fiction by Stephen J. Golds The old man always liked to say he’d outlive me. He was wrong about that. Wrong about a lot of things as so many fathers are inclined to be. My sister, she was the one called me to let me know. Her voice sounding like a foreign language down the…

  • Codependency (Animals Included)

    Flash Fiction by Anna Schachner My sister has a pair of fake alligator boots that come up to her thighs. Tonight, on pills, she is only a little high—thigh high, she says—and asks for them. I pull them from her closet and hold them out to her.  “No, you,” she says, flopping her head against…

  • A Glamorous Life

    Flash Fiction by Katy Goforth I was born old. My mama and daddy had been busy before me and stayed busy after me. I was number four of thirteen. Lucky in some ways. I got marked as Lettie. Number ten got left with Tibb. And, well, the last one just got saddled with the nickname…

  • Part of the Business

    Fiction by Travis Cravey Tommy had been going over invoices for two hours. His computer was getting warm and the heat made Tommy’s little office hot. His desk was just piles of paper and a keyboard, save one picture taped to his monitor of Tommy’s sister Katy and her baby. The picture was old now,…