Author: Heavy Feather

Glory Days, a novel in stories by Melissa Fraterrigo, reviewed by Asha Talib

Melissa Fraterrigo weaves together an intricate tale of loss, failure, greed, cruelty, hurt and comfort in her work Glory Days. At the heart of her story is the land of Ingleside, Nebraska, and the experiences it encounters through the tales of six individuals. The most notable story, of Luann and her father Teensy after losing…
Flash Nonfiction: “Sportsball Commentary” by Ann Petroliunas

Pay attention, ref! The men in this basement have proven 1476 times that they possess the vocabulary to be outraged. The men in this basement scream obscenities at toy figurines on television screens sitting next to women who have other reasons for screaming. Our cries of outrage sound the same to this soccer game. The…
Poetry: “here, in my body” by Bianca Phipps

the process of getting an IUD wasin no waywhat I would call fun I can only describe it as reverse birth, except!with something very cold & metal & a fraction of the size of a human baby. (don’t let this be misleading.something the fraction of the size of a human babydoes not make it less…
“Dreamland Grandma Patch Notes Updates V 1.1,” a poem by Cori Bratby-Rudd

This update enhances the compatibility of Grandma with other programs. It will henceforth be renamed “Dreamland Grandma.” It is recommended for all users. Restart required. Based on user feedback, increased source material of queer texts/knowledge Decreased speech ability Decreased ability to comment on fashion choices Increased desire for generosity Deactivates critical capacities in regards to…
“Master of the Concise”: Jesi Buell Reviews J. Bradley’s flash fiction collection Neil and Other Stories

Neil and Other Stories is a prepossessing examination of a parent’s influence on the internal life of their child. At first, the reader approaches what seems to be disparate scenes, but as the stories progress, a singular interlinking story begins to form. Neil and Other Stories is a predominantly a collection of flash fiction pieces that culminates…
Kiss Kiss, a flash fiction collection by Paul Beckman, reviewed by Brad Rose

Whenever I read Paul Beckman’s flash fiction, I feel like I’m benefitting from a humorous, avuncular neighbor who is comfortably narrating what are, by turns, realistic and surrealistic tales that highlight both the humor and sadness inherent in the human predicament. The brief, seemingly effortless, stories in Beckman’s newest collection, Kiss Kiss, explore a range…
Two Pointed Objects, visual poems by William Lessard

*Ed.’s Note: click images to view larger sizes. Fig. 12: Diagram for High-Capacity Automatic Rifle Fig. 16: Remote Control William Lessard has writing that has appeared in McSweeney’s, Brooklyn Rail, Hyperallergic, Prelude, FANZINE. His work has also been featured at MoMA PS1. He co-curates the Cool as F*** series in Brooklyn and is Poetry Editor…
“Eviction,” a poem by Brooke Ellsworth

The head of the primal tiger glared out at me in a blowout commercial space. Wine tastings take us into these nasty elevators, spoken for narrowness. The sun is “crazy” & boosted. A build-up of thunderheads here in blue Summer: a panicbombshell of meaningcan be fixedwith pairs ofex-000girlfriendsthere is the show-offMy thing is that I’m…
Poetry: Jared Joseph’s “Yes There’s No Litter, No Homeless”

matte and somehow stupid, the This (this photograph, tireless repetition of contingency arated without destroying them both; the windowpane me, in a severe tone: “Get back to Photography. What (however naive it might be): a desperate resistance to turn of the dead neously make another body for myself, I transform myself task) I have been…