Stories

Some Say the World Will End in Fire by R. Daniel Lester

Some Say the World Will End in Fire by R. Daniel Lester

R. Daniel Lester’s writing has appeared in print and online in multiple publications, including Adbusters, Geist, Broken Pencil, Pulp Literature, Switchblade and, most recently, Retreats from Oblivion: The Journal of NoirCon. His novella, Dead Clown Blues, from Shotgun Honey and Down & Out Books, was shortlisted for a 2018 Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Novella by the Crime Continue reading Some Say the World Will End in Fire by R. Daniel Lester

An Accidental Coven by Laura Blackwell

An Accidental Coven by Laura Blackwell

One Saturday night six months ago, my husband and I attended a party where we saw three women wearing the same dress. To save those present from embarrassment, I will not identify them by name, career, or family status, but instead describe the fateful three by their avocations: the Artist, the Athlete, and the Gardener. Continue reading An Accidental Coven by Laura Blackwell

The Memory of a Memory by Marc A. Criley

The Memory of a Memory by Marc A. Criley

I crack time. Part the seam, step into gray-green gloom. I wait as eyes adjust, hear the seam flutter closed. Bookshelves line the corridor, extend into the past. Shelves crammed with books, spines to the wall, smelling of ozone and rose water. Hardcovers, paperbacks, trades, loose leaf. The past as hardcopy, minutes pressed against minutes, Continue reading The Memory of a Memory by Marc A. Criley

The Girl Who Ate Galaxies by L’Erin Ogle

The Girl Who Ate Galaxies by L’Erin Ogle

There’s a black hole inside me. Yesterday Oklahoma disappeared. The dry dusty fields stuck in my throat for a moment, my jaw unhinging and elongating to accommodate that wide rectangle of land. Part of Texas came with it. Lake Meredith and the Canadian River came last and cooled my sunburnt throat, as the salt skated Continue reading The Girl Who Ate Galaxies by L’Erin Ogle

Refuge by Jack Caseros

Refuge by Jack Caseros

“It will be dark soon,” Tristán said. Arturo cleared his throat in response. He looked like he could be Tristán’s brother, but only in the way that the church ladies who welcomed the asylum-seeking families assumed everyone who arrived on that military bus were one big family tree, chopped down from a Central American war Continue reading Refuge by Jack Caseros