The Unexpected Bliss of Death—and Life By Avijit Roy The bedroom is dark. It's been drizzling for two hours. A cold breeze blows into the room's only window,...

Willow of the Wisps By Sue Midlock I am the oldest. A girl. A sister to four younger brothers. Dreadful beasts they are and yet, I am to endure their antics ...

Berta I was nine the summer I learned what cruelty was. It was then I knew it was true, what Tom had said. Berta really had killed two husbands. Berta was alw...

Taste the Words Flash Fiction by Anita Haas “What colour is it?” she asked, running her fingertips over the surface of the plate. “White. Well...” he knew be...

By Rick Blum The talk radio station droned on relentlessly. Normally, Joel Bergman would gleefully soak up the latest current events and political analyses o...

From Gangster in Our Midst (2017) by Betty Brandt Passick Ice fragments in the pre-dawn November 1933 air sparred with Marshal Sweeney Delaney’s face as he p...

By Greyson Ferguson Samuel Richards sat at his empty wooden desk. Pocked and scratched, once sharp corners dulled to the touch, the desk had accompanied Samu...

By Anita Haas It was a small house, but big enough for the two of them. Aurora and Domingo were so excited when they moved in. There would be a bedroom, an o...

Life is absurd. We all have to come to grips with that. The jungle of Vietnam is a hauntingly beautiful place. All the same, it is not a place I wanted to di...

1992 Gloria VanDemmeltraadt Ten-year-old McKenzie Ward turned her head as she usually did when her best friend Otis suggested a spitting contest. It might be...

3:24 Outside the Ladies’ Room Mack Eisenmann “You just got to time it right, is all,” Slogger said. He sniffed and scratched the rim of once-blonde hair circ...

The Corner House By Helen Lapakko One day I walk by a large sprawling house, carved out of stones and stucco. I see a man; he is stooped down on one knee, pu...

Nice Guys Finish Last Jason A. Feingold The window was open just enough to let in the cool night air. It was also, Jim noted, enough to dilute the gas if the...

One 40 oz. Coors, Two Plastic Cups and 20 Salem Menthol Butts in the Sand By Nadine Sehnert This morning I had three goals to accomplish before I headed off ...

The Sea Star War By Paul Rondema Anton removed his hat, smoothed his collar and remembered many years ago, when he was small enough to burrow under Grandfath...

The Exterminator By Niles Reddick The exterminator finally arrived. He apologized, said he left a message about being late, but when I questioned where he le...

By Helen Lapakko It was a black thunderous night; the rain was pouring down, the bony hand with its long fingers of light reached out with its death grip. Tr...

Mountain High By Pat O’Regan In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was within me an invincible summer. —Albert Camus The scenery was beautiful,...

As with Jazz by Libby Copa He sits on the edge of his bed letting his eyes adjust to the darkness and he remembers his father teaching him about jazz, him pu...

Barfly One block from my apartment is my favorite bar, Risky Pete’s. I stroll in at three in the afternoon and greet the regulars, Mel, Jackson, and Aida. I ...