Tag: Fiction

  • Flash Fiction: “The Fire” by Matthew Meriwether

    Flash Fiction: “The Fire” by Matthew Meriwether

    She sees a fire in the huge dark field to the left of the road we’re driving down. Do you see that fire? she says. I look ahead of me, I look up—all the wrong directions. I see the moon, that white fire, which is bright and full, unblinking. Why were we talking about fire?…

  • “Lovers’ Lane,” original short fiction for Haunted Passages by Michael Cole

    “Lovers’ Lane,” original short fiction for Haunted Passages by Michael Cole

    Lovers’ Lane was a lake, an old crater, faintly heart-shaped, about a mile outside of town. On any Friday night, it was a guarantee that the ridge overlooking the water would be lined in Pontiacs and Oldsmobiles; they were candy apple red, dusty rose, Tiffany blue—all parked with just enough space in between for privacy.…

  • Job Aid Flash Fiction for Bad Survivalist: “Become a Target at a Boy Scout Camping Trip” by J. Bradley

    Job Aid Flash Fiction for Bad Survivalist: “Become a Target at a Boy Scout Camping Trip” by J. Bradley

    *Ed.’s Note: click images to view larger sizes. J. Bradley is a two-time winner of Wigleaf‘s Top 50 (Very) Short Fictions. He’s the author of Neil & Other Stories (WhiskeyTit Books, 2018). He lives at jbradleywrites.com Image: clipart-library.com

  • Five Fictions by Matthew Beach

    Five Fictions by Matthew Beach

    There She Is A woman in a pantsuit arrives first. She opens the lockbox and takes the key. She steps into the living room. The air washes over her, a wave of vinegar, astringent and thick. She draws back, brings her fingers to her nose, then crunches in heels over tattered carpet, calcified from encrusted…

  • Fiction from Our Colony Beyond the City of Ruins: “The Sea Captain’s Ghost” by Janalyn Guo

    Fiction from Our Colony Beyond the City of Ruins: “The Sea Captain’s Ghost” by Janalyn Guo

    Entering the city of Boris from the sea, the Sea Captain’s Ghost notices a mollusk on the back of his neck and peels it off. The city is full of flower gardens. People from all over the world come to Boris for its flower gardens, he is told by a billboard. Flower trellis–covered towers jut…

  • Haunted Passages Flash Fiction: “The Cable Company” by Darkansas author Jarret Middleton

    Haunted Passages Flash Fiction: “The Cable Company” by Darkansas author Jarret Middleton

    A barmaid closing up for the night stopped polishing a glass when a telegram dropped through the slot of the front door. She picked up the envelope marked “urgent” in red and unearthed a manila slip with a single typewritten line. “mechanism operational,” it read. “ascent at 0600. signed, the cable company.” The barmaid raised…

  • Fiction: “The Lawn Jockey” by Dez Miller

    Fiction: “The Lawn Jockey” by Dez Miller

    I’d been thinking about that swimming hole for nearly half a year, since the middle of winter. I first saw it in a photo on Hunter’s dorm room bulletin board. The 4 x 6 had lanky Hunter poised midair, his arms and legs flung about dramatically, his mouth open in what I imagined to be…

  • “Attend the Way,” short fiction by Theodore Wheeler

    “Attend the Way,” short fiction by Theodore Wheeler

    It’s because he has a train to catch that Rodney leaves his room after suppertime. He puts on dress shoes and his green suit, the one that looks good against his skin. Earlier that afternoon, the big woman next door trimmed his hair. He lives in the Kellogg Rooming House, an old brick building near…

  • Fiction: “Men with Potential: A Guide to Getting Sober and Staying Sober” by Kate St. Germain

    Fiction: “Men with Potential: A Guide to Getting Sober and Staying Sober” by Kate St. Germain

    Schedule a date with a tall someone with salt-and-pepper hair who finds you online. He will play drums. He will be part of an art collective. This will be interesting to you. Order beer, he will order tequila. Get drunk. You will be turned on by the fact that he is almost a decade older…