On a dark November morning, the senior sun gods discover Ann-Margaret. They linger at her locker with glowing lips and voices like arrogant roosters. Apollo hooks the edge of her hood and yanks it from her face. She slaps his hand, but too late, everyone has seen her chin lit up like a buttercup.Helios whistles. … Continue reading Flare by Kathryn McMahon
My mother has summoned me back to her home. Her home is a dilapidated shack set back amongst the cattails in a remnant marsh. The marsh is preserved wetland in the affluent community of Darien. My mother is not affluent. She believes she should be affluent, and this is why she struggles to maintain her … Continue reading Mother Imago by Henry Stanton
The fingers welcome you first. No, not fingers, despite their grip. Twigs. Green, if you snap them. Still alive. You don’t feel that way, almost to the door. How many times have you dreamed of not going back? Of saws and the echo of an empty field? The twigs tousle your hair. You hate it. … Continue reading Milk Teeth and Heartwood by Kathryn McMahon
These are the elements of the plague: (1) POINT OF ORIGIN Nothing comes from nothing; this is the cornerstone of all truth. The plague of Thucydides comes from Ethiopia; that of Procopius from Egypt; that of Boccaccio is sea-swept from the dawn toward the setting sun. Virgil’s descends from a diseased sky. Is it the … Continue reading The Elements of the Plague by Julia August
Uncle Walt was never the same after his brain operation, and the new magical kingdoms he spun made children everywhere cry hot tears. Children everywhere cried “Shouldn’t there be a palace, Uncle Walt? What is that horrid black building with the barbed wire?” Children, that was the Palace. A stark black box. Fluorescent glare spilled … Continue reading Tale Without Fairies by Matthew F. Amati
Syntax & Salt Magazine is very pleased to announce the arrival of Halloween 2017 with this special piece, an invocation of sorts, by Mariel Tishman. Cats and crows and sidewalk cracks, little curses that pass between us two. We glide by each other on the street, our glares sparking, like flint on steel. Sometimes I … Continue reading Wax and Wane by Mariel Tishma
Aground, Upon the Sand by Jennifer R. Donohue is the Syntax & Salt Fall Flash Contest 1st place winner. I say I don’t remember where I came from, because I must. After the storm, I can’t go back, and it’s impossible for me to explain what I really am, what my life was. People try to … Continue reading Aground, Upon the Sand by Jennifer R. Donohue
Feðgin by Wendy Wimmer is the Syntax & Salt Fall Flash Contest 2nd place winner. The darkness makes everything risky, every step fraught with invisible scuttling, chittering and struggling away of tiny creatures—mouse, perhaps, terrestrial bird imagined—or invisible elves—under step. We are near Bárðarbunga, Iceland, a recently quiet volcano, and in the distance, a house that was once a house, … Continue reading Feðgin by Wendy Wimmer
What You Ate Eats at You by H.L. Fullerton is the Syntax & Salt Fall Flash Contest 3rd place winner. Arden thinks she has a problem—and she does—but it isn’t the one she actually has. Right now, she’s in her office, squeezing a rubber ball so hard it looks like an aneurysm about to pop. … Continue reading What You Ate Eats at You by H.L. Fullerton
“Alice moving under skies…/ Ever dreaming down the stream…”– Through the Looking Glass Alice L. Dodgson was the first human sent to explore Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. She was chosen because she was a brilliant mathematician, had dark hair, and ranked highest in her class … Continue reading Singularity Alice by Lorraine Schein