Tag: Fiction

New Fiction for Bad Survivalist: “EDC” by Kent Kosack

Lesser men leave the house without sparing a second, third, or 464th thought for what they carry. Without a plan, a backup plan, a backup plan should the backup plan prove itself wanting. Not him though. He’s equipped for all contingencies. Prepared. Properly outfitted. Carry for the life you want, not the life you have—that’s…
Haunted Passages Short Story: “Pileups” by Andrew Graham Martin

Talking himself into a heart attack, Moses found, was easier than bending a spoon with his mind, which he’d tried without success to do for months in his youth. His mom had bought him Uri Geller’s book on psychokinesis as a consolation prize for not receiving a letter to Hogwarts on his eleventh birthday, and…
Haunted Passages Prose: “Moreso, Series Four” by Peter Cherches

The supermodel had a taste for ugly men of a certain age. She didn’t care if they were rich or poor, as long as they were ugly. In public places this always caused stares, stares of amazement, stares of confusion, stares of disgust. Sometimes people would actually shout things at her and her date. This…
Haunted Passages Short Story: “Boys Taste Better” by E Ce Miller

When Luke Cole goes missing, everyone blames his father. Classic case, folks mouth around town, in line for their lattes, their postage stamps, imagining how an estranged ex-husband might abscond with his own son to torment the kid’s mom. Most figure Luke will turn up in a week or two, sheepishly clutching a body-warmed Big…
Fiction for Bad Survivalist: “If, Then” by Iryna Somkina

Prologue: SPLIT SECOND “I pierced it myself”. He lifted his shirt to prove it. We weren’t that close—not really. But we shared the same side of the joke more often than not. He once teased me for not getting a kiss I wanted. I got him back—called him by that dumb alias he picked up…
Side A: Three Fictions by Andrew Bertaina

The Prayers of Strangers He pulled off at the gas station on the side of the road, gravel and rubber. At the pump, the attendant asked him if he wanted to confess anything. He’d forgotten that things were different in New Jersey, that the attendant walked right up to ask you if you wanted to…
Fiction for Bad Survivalists: “Butterfly Knife” by Joshua Wetjen

My dad waves the shiny blade in front of my face. “This is a real weapon,” he says, patting my fingers closed over the handle. My mom sighs and leaves to help Marnie make dinner in the kitchen. “What’s wrong?” Dad asks. Mom hates all weapons and violence. She hates how I’ve seen all the…
Original Haunted Passages Short Story: “The Late Mrs. Cole” by Salvatore Difalco

Mrs. Cole lived down the street from us. People said she was a witch. They’d seen her flying around on a broom. And she had been spotted in Eastwood Park picking poisonous mushrooms by the back fence. She was also said to walk around the neighborhood with a shopping bag full of frogs. But most…
Short Fiction for Haunted Passages: “Splitting a Pig” by Austin Goodmanson

The machines in my daughter’s bedroom kept their rhythm for weeks. Beep. Beep. Nothing changed that I could prove. Then last week I sat beside her bed, rambling about whatever came to mind. Regrets from her childhood. When I said I was sorry, her cheek was wet. One tear. I thought it was a fluke.…