Category: Fiction

“The seven techniques of successful bodhisattvas,” she said. “What would Siddhartha barbecue?” I said. Eleanor Eames, two months before she dumped me for my failures, she and I were in a hotel, a real fleabag joint in upstate New York. We were there for the wedding of a friend of hers from the prestigious publishing… Continue reading “What Would John the Evangelist Do?” by Thomas Israel Hopkins

Two seats over from me, a boney woman bounces her knees in a rapid beat. She sighs each time the bus slows for a pedestrian, checks the time on her cell, and returns to an impatient rhythm. I see a garden between the sliver of a strap from her black tank and the off-the-shoulder dip… Continue reading “Sakura” by Lori A. May

Yesterday I dreamt that Brittani Palagru brought me into the girls' locker room and let me touch her underwear. It was soft like the sheets I sleep on. It was red. I liked looking at it and touching it almost as much as I like Brittani Palagru—how she laughs at jokes that aren’t funny even… Continue reading “The Cut-Off” by Shawn Rubenfeld

There was a gun involved. There was also the issue of an unreturned helium tank, a Chihuahua named Buster, a Cadillac with the front grill crushed in, and sixteen missing pizzas. For Punchy, none of those things were as weird as they should have been, except maybe the gun. That was something new. Every birthday… Continue reading “Punchy the Clown Came to Visit” by Allie Marini Batts