Tag: Fiction

Fiction for the Friggatriskaidekaphobic: “Immortal” by Stefan Kiesbye

On evenings she couldn’t sleep, she walked up the carpeted stairs and knocked on my door. Under the down comforter, my bony hips squeezed between her thighs, we listened to her husband’s snoring. Emily was richly layered and comfortable and her neck smelled of dark spices. When she was in a hurry, she knelt in…
“Hot Dog Exclusivity”: New Short Fiction for Flavor Town USA by Avery Gregurich

The people of Icon are celebrating their independence just as they have for centuries: with a contest of eaters. It’s hot throughout Icon. The national flags wave upside down on poles outside the pods of some of the people tuning in on their HomeScreens to watch the eaters. Most of those people actually hunger to…
Original Short Story for Haunted Passages: “Everything Got Worse” by Kelli Dianne Rule

November 1, 1991. Myakka City, Florida. The earth-moving machines had long sputtered out and all the workers were eating or sleeping so I got bored and decided to run off to explore the woods behind our construction site. Tall pines and old oak trees covered the floor in dry needles and acorns and when the…
Thad DeVassie: Four Microfictions from The Factory of Sadness for Bad Survivalist

Bulletin Board Material The bulletin board mounted outside the conference room has dozens of thumbtacks on it. Sticky notes and a few pens are below on an empty desk. There is a prompt written in blue Sharpie along the bulletin board frame: add to the conversation! Wendy put it there about a year ago, without…
Fiction for Haunted Passages: “Turnpike Dreams” by Dave Nash

Exit 18 – The George Washington Bridge connects the two ledges that rise from deep water in constant motion. On the New Jersey side, one hundred feet had to be blasted out to make it level with New York. Someone is always trying to cut us down, I tell Anna. She says I have a…
New for Haunted Passages: Four Microfictions by Salvatore Difalco

Say Cheese Let’s get this party started, Jack. Got no time to Mickey Mouse around the house tonight. Pirates and pickpockets are on their way. A fun bunch, as you’ll see. Try my special punch, I made it from an ancient Sumerian recipe, it’ll crack your teeth and give you wheels. Meantime I’ll spin some…
Original Short Fiction for Haunted Passages: “Saponified” by Taylor Hebert

So far, the honeymoon had been okay, but she couldn’t rid her mouth of the taste of soap. She had been brushing her teeth three times a day. Only breathing deeply could cleanse her palate—but with the next taste of anything, it was as if she had been gnawing on a golden bar of Dial.…
“Killing Is Caring”: An Interview with David Kuhnlein by Matthew Kinlin

Writer, poet, editor, visual artist, and actor: David Kuhnlein’s work is expansive and mutant. Working with fellow alchemist Sean Kilpatrick, Kuhnlein has developed a concentrated form of text: concise, insidious, visceral. Blood boiled into tar. His haunting first novel, Die Closer to Me, a work of science fiction set on the planet Süskind, was released…
Original Fiction for Bad Survivalist: “Sugar” by Gogol

You don’t like cutting anymore. You don’t like stitching too. You are broke, mostly a failure, and the only place where they will allow you to cut and stitch is in the hospital located at the outskirts of the sugarcane field. You stay in a room at the periphery of the hospital. The women yell,…