Author: Heavy Feather

Operating Systems, a poetry collection by Joe Pan, reviewed by Eric Aldrich

The title of the Joe Pan’s poetry collection, Operating Systems, refers to the operating systems underpinning society, from the interpersonal to the international, as well as the operating systems of poetry. The collection is divided into four sections of five to seven poems each, and a long prose poem that constitutes all of section five.…
“Field Journal,” a poem-hybrid by Phil Spotswood

the last scientist does not know where the others have gone. he searches the corners of the stone hearth for bacteria—to prove that there were breathers, once—that oxygen roiled. he rolls out dough to watch the yeast rise, for movement outside of himself. he breaks bread with his own two hands and says that this…
Fiction by Marcus Pactor: “Cake”

—after Blake Butler The cake reminded me of the twins’ wet sludge food. I could never shovel it well enough for them. My wife often replaced me halfway through their meals, as a mercy. I did not slice, then, so much as scoop dessert into a bowl. It tasted of egg and hair. That last…
Two Surreal Fictions by Michael Trocchia

The Uninvited It was the scene outside that would be of great consequence, yet they crowded around the uninvited guest, who in the larger picture had little to do with much of anything. The larger picture, in fact, was more than a frame of reference, for it was, of course, larger than that, despite the…
Haunted Passages: An Excerpt from ANGEL HOUSE, a coming-of-age horror novel by David Leo Rice

After crossing a vast inland sea in an ark called ANGEL HOUSE, Professor Squimbop docks on a distant shore. As soon as his anchor makes purchase, a town sprouts up that may or may not encapsulate all of existence. At the behest of some distant master, he embarks into this town to teach the children…
Two New Pieces by Vi Khi Nao

MY SKIN Because I dream of you as skin and door …I know you have been sublime beforeAs engorgedAs distorted as my view of the world If I could surrender your nameYour lipsYour invasionTowards more heroic hoursI would be asking you to slingYour kiss forward as if toKill what isn’t saliva, which isn’t the fiberglass…
Joaquin Macias Reviews Women and Men, a new edition of Joseph McElroy’s classic novel

In the new edition of Joseph McElroy’s classic novel Women and Men, we follow James Mayn and Grace Kimball, two neighbors who “never quite meet” but whose lives nearly touch through mutual friends across the city, Grace’s dreams, and a few passes in the streets. The narrative is told in a vignette style, jumping between…
Flash Fiction for Bad Survivalist: “Slow Burn” by Kristina Ten

The explorer wakes up on a strange planet with no memory of how she got there, clawing at the black ground beneath her, gulping against the smoke-filled air. It wouldn’t be the first time, this getting to and forgetting. She scans her surroundings: no ship, wrecked or otherwise; no rations or equipment to help with…
Poetry for Bad Survivalist: “The Bars, the Anthem” by Imran Boe Khan

Down here, spider blue’s sour candy singsong plays out like confession. On my walk home, civilians cleanse into pulpits, brining compassion as they watch me hammer euphoria into gallows. Some reach for cash, others call the cops and when the sirens come, they rise like it’s the national anthem, I’m on one knee till the…