Category: Fiction

Side A Fiction: “Pieterjan Thyjssen” by Hugh Behm-Steinberg

Pieterjan Thyjssen For Peter Bullen One day during my morning walk I ran into Jim sporting the most staggering of haircuts. All the people around us, with their boring lives, their tedious bangs and fauxhawks, walking their shallow dogs, oblivious to the very concept of absolute beauty, each became entangled in leashes as their animals…
Bad Survivalist Short Story: “Progress” by Derek Fisher

TurtlePhone and Positively Pete! roll across a hellish expanse of the Mojave Desert. Roll, and drag. TurtlePhone, equipped with wheels under his plastic frame, is rolling comfortably enough. Positively Pete!, wheel-less, and without autonomy or propulsion, is dragged by the green tail of TurtlePhone, an appendage of hard plastic and pointy at its tip, which…
Flavor Town USA Fiction: “Sin Eaters LLC” by Will Musgrove

It was my first day. Inside the company vehicle, my trainer, Bob, read me the client’s file: sampling grocery store grapes, getting a little too tipsy on Sunday wine, several ticky-tacky sins, nothing a newbie like me couldn’t handle. Bob assured me the job was easy. All you had to do was eat the sin…
Side A Flash Fiction: “What Would You Say?” by Nicholas Claro

What Would You Say? I sent flowers. There was this card too, but I’ll get to that. My initial thought was roses. My next thought was too funeral-ish. It wasn’t supposed to be that kind of bouquet. What do you think? I said to The Florist. We were on the phone. What’s the occasion? he…
Astrophil Press Novel Excerpt: WAITING FOR JONATHAN KOSHY by Murzban F. Shroff

From the author of Breathless in Bombay and Third Eye Rising comes an intensely engaging novel about life, family, friendship, and duty. In the heart of Pali Hill, the Beverly Hills of Mumbai, four friends await the arrival of Jonathan, a man “greatly appreciated for his wit, his effervescence, and his indignation,” a man exiled…
“Crabgrass,” a new short story by Michael Cole for Haunted Passages

Diane woke calling out for someone, startled, in the same way that she would occasionally wake with a laugh, or even crying, embarrassed at the sharp blow of emotion dealt from a dream that was already fading. “Hello?” she said, still half asleep, chasing after a specter that had run a cold finger down her…
Short Story for Side A: “Dead Calm” by Jim Daniels

Dead Calm The clumsy enormous leaves of banana trees rattled in the sea breeze on their hotel balcony. “They look fake. Where are the bananas?” Rick asked. “Where are my sunglasses?” Their margaritas sat in absurdly large salted glasses sweating on a small plastic table, slowly warming like a shallow pond of scum. He squinted…
The Future: “HolyLand, USA,” a short story by Ron Burch

We’re having trouble getting the Red Sea to part, and my boss is flipping out. It’s our highlight and finale. Written about across the country. Our most expensive exhibit, oh yeah. Through an expanse of dirt, our Pilgrims approach the ride, an outside body of water. The water’s resting on the surface, and it looks…
New Flavor Town USA Fiction by Tyler Dillow: “Cherry Rum Flavor”

Deep red cherries in a bowl—I pit them, half them, soak them in rum. These are for later. Small treats take time. Even if only a little. When I make this, I think of countries stuck. Held in time. Always remembered for what they were and this is fine. Pour the cherry-infused rum over a…