Tag: Fiction

Original Side A Short Story: “The Hagiography of Agatka” by Zosia Koptiuch

The Hagiography of Agatka I really did think you were a saint. In the Polaroid I took of you, you stand in someone else’s room, holding someone else’s newborn. White dress dotted with tiny blue flowers. Nothing but boxes in the background. Reaching out, the baby’s hand lazily touches your cheek. You look down at…
Haunted Passages Flash Fiction: “Goatee” by Sarp Sozdinler

Your uncle is breastfeeding one of his goats in the yard, and you’re standing by his side, wondering what the right collective noun for baby goats would be. You remember goatee was the word your father used for that big hairy abomination on his face, his lips framed like a shelf placed on top of…
“A Sliver of Mirror”: Memory and Imagination in Sejal Shah’s Fiction Collection How to Make Your Mother Cry

I met Sejal Shah in 2016 when I moved to Rochester, New York, to become the executive director of a literary arts organization. Shah was a beloved teacher there. We quickly developed a friendship and we exchanged numerous phone calls and emails on any number of topics, though usually about books and literature. In many ways, Shah’s story…
“RIPE”: An Excerpt from Ross McMeekin’s Short Story Collection Below the Falls

Two climbers in the North Cascades risk their friendship and lives ascending a frozen waterfall. The girlfriend of a famous comedian in Greenwich Village must decide whether she wants to raise a child in the spotlight of fame. A mysterious Bird of Paradise makes daily overtures to an elderly widow in the frigid Midwest. A…
Original Haunted Passages Short Story: “The Little List of Garden Monsters” by Jordan Dilley

In the garden, the monsters bloom. Stems and vines trendil over and under, through and back, vibrating to the rhythm of a dance that has no rules. There are no plaques here, no little hand-painted signs segregating herbs from flowers from vegetables. Anonymous to others, but we know their names. Martha has a little list.…
Flavor Town USA Short Story: “A Juicy Soul” by Coleman Bigelow

As I prepare to enter the icy river, my mind wanders to that slice of meat lovers I’ve left behind. I’m regretting my restraint. Not eating all of my “last supper” now seems like an unnecessary sacrifice. What’s the point of being born again if you don’t go out with a gulp? The first time…
Flavor Town USA Fiction: “Definition: Love” by Winslow Schmelling

/ləv/ n.1 Origin: gas station hotdog “Remember how the attendant gave the rest of them to us for free? He hesitated for that heavy moment after we asked for two of them. I swear I saw his eyes glaze. Visions. PTSD. Memories of war. ‘You can just have them,’ he said, placing each dynamite stick into…
Haunted Passages Short Fiction: “No Smiling” by Salvatore Difalco

The room was spartan, of tan and ochre tones, with a medium in white linen seated at a table composed of yellow beeswax. My eyes widened at the sight of a crystal ball placed before her glittering like a small galaxy. It looked like the real thing. A strong smell of cinnamon filled my nostrils.…
New Haunted Passages Fiction: “My Loyalty” by Daniel David Froid

After she died I heard her voice. At first I did not know the voice was hers, detecting only a murmur in another room. In my kitchen I stood at the sink, scrubbing a pan crusted over with the remnants of a meal I’d spent hours preparing. The casserole had turned out poorly, my effort…