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Vacancy
Fiction by Kate Deimling I’m in the middle of a mission when there’s a scraping noise, like somebody opening the gate around the pool. I ignore it. I’ve been shot, but if I can make it to the medicine man in the woods, I can get back to full health and do the train heist.…
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Somewhere, Something, Something
Fiction by Archer Sullivan “Mark went to college,” Caleb said, his face pressed as close to the tank as mine. The room smelled like salt and algae and burned metal. “Yeah…” I started. But I couldn’t think of anything else to say. Caleb’s uncle Mark going to college didn’t completely connect to what I was…
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Momentum
Fiction by Nan Wigington Whatever happened to Sandy Shores? I blink, think of the women Uncle Len dated, his “conquests” – the freckled Esther Long, the 14-year-old Lena Miles (she looked 20), the fat and loyal Patricia Lovato, then stop. The amusement park? I say My sister lifts a cigarette, puts it to her plump…
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Clarity
Fiction by James Callan Lying there in the tall grass, not a scrap of clothing to cover his bare body, the bug bites bloomed over Jim’s exposed flesh in scattered, scarlet constellations. He had sprinted across the emerald fields of soy, September sunshine on his back, and collapsed, heaving, laughing, delighted while in the arms…
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At Such High Temps
Fiction by Jennifer Fliss We’re looking at a field of charred tree trunks. Ghostly, blackened tall things reach into the sky trying to find the light. They’re not all dead, though some have fallen. Many have fallen, but quite a few are still standing. “The lodgepole pine needs fire,” the guide says. “At searing temperatures,…
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Me and My Boy at Pep’s Point
Fiction by Russell Hehn When I awake from my occasional horror and stare myself down in the mirror of my medicine cabinet, in my underwear, calming my boiling bones with tepid water from the bathroom sink, my mind heads on down Highway 49 where I rode in SUVs and minivans with graham crackers and gummi…
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One Sheep a Herd Makes
Creative Nonfiction by Kate M. Carey “Get Up. I need help with Snowball.” My mother shook my shoulder. It’s late winter in Ohio. Blowing icy crystals forced the farm animals into the barn. Not the best lambing weather. “C’mon on. Dress warm. It’s almost zero out.” She left my bedroom. I opened an eye to…
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Night Shift
Fiction by Katy Haas I’m working the night shift and counting the cigarettes when Marnie stops in. Out of everyone that works at the gas station, I count the cigarettes the fastest, using my thumb and pinky finger to tap the top of the packs as I count them two at a time, but I…
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Dateline Plot Twists
Fiction by Benjamin Drevlow It was the husband, no, it was the boyfriend, the babydaddy, the ex, the elicit Tinder lover, the hitman one of them hired. No, it was the colleague, the boss, the custodian, the mouth-breathing, pee-smelling tech guy. Probably it was the pimp, it’s always the pimp, no, the drug dealer, the…
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After the Nashville Shooting
An Essay by Emry Trantham I. It’s 2009. I am twenty-three. My husband will be turning twenty-four at the end of the week, and I’ve been working for the last month to get him the perfect gift. It’s his first birthday as a dad. I want to get him a handgun. He can use it…