Author: Heavy Feather

New Side A Hybrid: “Were” by Kathleen Rooney

Were Purest verb of wistful longing: I wish it were Friday. I wish you were here. Yesterday we were studying and we were studying yesterday. Were and wer are archaic terms for adult male humans in Germanic cultures, often used alliteratively as in “were and wife.” Therianthropy is a fancy name for shapeshifting. If you…
The Future Has Fiction: “Inside of a Dog, It’s Too Dark to Read” by David Ebenbach

1. Vulcan whimpered a little and then she let out a tentative yap. It was starting to get pretty warm in the lander. 2. There had been no good reason to send a dog to Venus, but that’s one of the interesting things about humans: we invented reasons in the first place, but, upon doing…
New Haunted Passages Flash Fiction: “First Night” by Sarah Daly

It was 1:00 a.m., the pizza was gone, the homework was not finished, and there was nothing on TV. Jay was staying at Cody’s that night. They were both in eighth grade and there were no adults present. In fact, it was Jay’s first time on his own. Jay’s mother had left him there, on…
Fiction Review: Dave Fitzgerald Reads Elle Nash’s Deliver Me

We teach people how to treat us. I don’t remember exactly where I first heard this little nugget of pop psychological wisdom, but it’s remained one of my most contemplated, and shared pieces of advice ever since. It sounds so simple, but for many people, myself included, it’s a truism that bears regular reminding. Though…
Poetry Review: Dave Karp Reads Hydra Medusa or Give the One You Want Away by Brandon Shimoda

Brandon Shimoda’s Hydra Medusa or Give the One You Want Away is a tantalizing book, one that unfolds through myriad echoes, motifs, and repetitions. Begun as a three-years-long daybook in response to the poet family’s peripatetic life and work and as a continuation of Shimoda’s 2018 The Desert: The Song Cave, this also conjures up…
Original Short Fiction from The Future: “Hard Boiled Ovaries” by Marty B. Rivers

Xiang Lee arrived home from work greeted by his Siamese cat, perched on the kitchen counter. “I’m hungry. Feed me.” Xiang blinked, looked at the cat, “Did you just speak, Toshiko?” “I’m hungry,” repeated Toshiko, pacing. “Feed me. I want sardines.” Toshiko then screamed a baby-cry of dissatisfaction. Wide-eyed and trembling from what Xiang considered…
Mary Ellen Thompson Talks to Dawn Major about The Bystanders

An avid fan of the rodeo and cowboy hats, Dawn Major has crafted her debut novel, The Bystanders, which, at first glance, appears to be an academic commentary about American society. But appearances are deceiving. Set in a small town in Missouri in the 1980s, this story uniquely captures the essence of the characters’ lives…
Poetry from The Future: “The Night the Moon Left Us” by Sam Bovard

The night the moon left us all the spiders lost their webs.Gossamer lay empty in the corners as they crawled outThe windows and cracks, haphazard,Drunk in the dull wind. We climbed onto the roofUnder a light drizzle, the darkening terracottaSliding like scree underfoot.She was the head of a nail at that point,Barely visible through the…
Fiction Review: Atsushi Ikeda Reads The Book Of: A Compendium by Frank Peak

Early on in Frank Peak’s The Book Of, a man named Hat breaks a dollar for two quarters with a newspaper vendor. He checks the dates on the coins, and if his “private smile” at the vendor means anything, maybe those coins are a Bicentennial and a 1965, like the two quarters he’s carried around,…