Category: Fiction

Side A Short Fiction: “Bonifica / Clearance: A Hybrid Story in Seven Seasons” by Gabriele Micozzi

I. MARCH. THE SURVEY. Wide shot. Exterior, valley, dawn. Forensic blue. A slight telephoto: distance compresses things and makes them look already guilty. A man walks the boundary with a green notebook tucked under his arm and a wooden pencil between his fingers. The five-thirty light is still undecided, and the valley—two hectares of slope…
Short Story Excerpted from Alex Behr’s New Collection Animal Kingdom: “A Nation of Bombs”

They have vestiges of sex, like when a phantom limb feels pain. He is her man, and she pledged him her devotion, but she mispronounced troth at the altar, so does her pledge of fidelity count? Like, forever? How dead does she have to be? If they wished, they could unpaper the mirror with the…
l’Hôtel Dauphin Short Fiction: “A Better Way to Learn” by Darrin Doyle

“Get into mound formation, children,” Mrs. Bentwilder said. “I’m going to step on a poem.” The children, buzzing with excitement after a recess filled with coin melting and uncooked spaghetti fights, formed an unruly pile in the open area of the classroom. Mrs. Bentwilder spoke loudly, so those on the bottom could hear. “It’s that…
Side A Flash Fiction: “How I Forgot the Picture of Us as Babies” by Niles Baldwin

How I Forgot the Picture of Us as Babies My cousin said would I like to burn a picture of us from when we were babies? I said no. My cousin said but if we do then we will remember it more. I said we don’t remember it, we were babies, we just remember it…
Short Fiction for Haunted Passages: “The House of Mirrors” by Yeonjin Kim

Each autumn, the same hollow weight returns. This year it arrived with force, summoned by a conversation a month prior, when I had dared to mention the firm’s new lease. “A private office, you say? With a window?” My mother’s voice had been dry, easily shattered—meant to puncture silence, never to inhabit it. “Vanity. That…
New Autofiction: “The Worst Feet in Middle Village” by Mitch Levenberg

The week I had pink eye was one of the best weeks of my life. I was in 6th grade and president of my class, not because of my leadership qualities but because I could spell antidisestablishmentarianism. No one even knew what it meant, not even me, until the day I decided to look it…
Fiction from the Future: “Patch Notes” by Harm Deacon

5. PATCH NOTES v7.4.2 — BUILD 0.8.16.1 “COME AND SEE” EXPANSION — HOTFIX 3 Thanks for your patience, Riders. We know the latest rollout has been bumpy and want to thank you. Here’s what’s happening. PERFORMANCE Fixed a variety of memory leak problems introduced by Hotfix 2. We’ve addressed reports of red rendering artifacts during…
New Haunted Passages Flash Fiction: “The Tooth Fairy” by Miles Greaves

“You have to put your tooth under your pillow for the Tooth Fairy,” said the mother. “I want to keep it,” said the boy. “Ha ha,” said the mother. “What are you going to do with an old tooth?” “Just keep it,” said the boy. “The Tooth Fairy might not give you money,” said the…
The Future Has Fiction: “The Math Problem” by NM Whitley

The math problem leapt off the page and began its spree of terror. “…the fuck?” cried one eyewitness, speaking on condition of anonymity. The item was brief, a mere five lines, and as Bret read aloud in the kitchen, his sister Nan smiled, whether from amusement or because she’d managed to spoon peas into her…