Tag: Fiction

Haunted Passages: Two Poems by Carolyn Supinka

Haunted House The haunted house does not require a history, but it needs a mouth: a previous, innocent tenant, someone to live to tell the tale. I can speak for its corners. Very lean and fine, alien landscapes of plateaus and dead red rivers spilling out behind, smoke of past lives burned and rising as…
“Accepting Your Planethood,” a guide by Carolyn Supinka for Bad Survivalist

1 You have just received your diagnosis. At this stage, we advise you try not to think about it too much. It is no small thing to become a planet. Take three deep breaths. If you are near a window, look outside. Do not look directly at the sun, but think about the sun. Feel…
The Future: “Really Good Puppets,” a short story by Jill M. Talbot

Things can be people, when you get down to it, and this can be dangerous. It is most dangerous when a puppet becomes a person and fights back all it has been used for, or when a person becomes a thing and is so thing-like that it forgets that it ever was a person. These…
“A Great Mentor Is the Kind That Teaches You How to Kill the Mentor”: John Kazanjian Interviews David Leo Rice

David Leo Rice’s novel ANGEL HOUSE is the story of an ensemble cast brought into existence by Professor Squimbop, who serves as the town’s creator, destroyer, and pedagogue. Squimbop’s role in his creation complicates the lives of the town’s people and compounds his growing existential ennui. The result is an examination of the creative process,…
“The Things You Think When Not Taking a Dump,” Bad Survivalist list fiction by Steve Gergley

1. Jesus 2. Shit 3. Goddammit 4. This is ridiculous 5. Two more sets of push-ups and then it’s on to the squats 6. But seriously why is this even happening? How the hell can food keep going in when nothing comes out? 7. It’s not like you’ve skimped out on your workouts or eaten…
“Survival Kit,” an executive summary by Craig Foltz for Bad Survivalist

I. Large bodies of water intrude into every sentence. Somewhere, over the horizon, a burst of mist; particles whose surfaces bristle with the memory of daytime. It’s night, the moon will not relent and pulls the ocean along after it. Up and down your street, power-walkers of all shapes and sizes parade past your porch.…
Bad Survivalist: “Born Again,” a flash fiction by Victoria K. Gonzales

Five years ago, I decided I would have sex with every man I could before I died. This meant long euphoric nights, giving and getting sultry kisses. This meant deep, sweaty moans, and, don’t stop, whispering in my ear. It meant giving my heart to lonely, scared men, but never allowing my heart to break.…
“Our Town”: A Short Story by Leona Vander Molen for Haunted Passages

We have always lived here and we always will. This is our home and we love it here. We love our house and our neighbor and we used to love our neighbor’s cat. But things happen. We know this. And we know we will never leave. How could we ever leave our home? We do…
Haunted Passages Flash Fiction by Candace Hartsuyker: “Safe with Paul Newman”

The girl is buried in a locked metal box. Three feet of shoveled sand is above her. The memories of how she got here are fuzzy. There was a man or men. There was a car and there she was, a girl stuffed in a trunk and then shoved in a box. The girl wishes…