Samantha Zabell 9:02 pm I am throwing a funeral for a constellation and if no one comes I will feel like such an idiot. And not just because I went to Heinen’s and bought a whole sheet cake that...
AnnElise Hatjakes Every summer, Reno, Nevada and the High Eastern Sierra foothills it’s nestled within are a tinderbox. The fires are measured by the number of structures they threaten and acres...
Barbara T. Parker You are allowed one drink only, so make it count. My secret mission. I’m on my way to Old Town, the first night out since I became a shadow, abruptly and irreversibly over...
James Gianetti My parents struggle to tell me something while we have Christmas dinner. They avoid it between cleared throats, sips of wine, and futile conversation about inflation and how warm it is...
Jumaana Abdu 2025 Fiction Contest Winner Luqmān waited until Hābil was dead before he took stock of their camp. There was an eagle at the mouth of the cave with a brown snake under its claw. It...
Lydia Kim Every few days, a hair pokes up from the glossy surface of the hairline pimple she popped. It had crusted over like a manhole cover, then healed and left a slight, smooth curve. She pulls...
Jaime Gill September Well, this was a bloody stupid idea. About two months ago, you said, half-joking I think, that I should hire a therapist. “Don’t be absurd,” I said. “I’m...
Megan Eralie-Henriques Look closely at my hands. Notice how I’ve shredded the skin around my jagged nails. Look closer. See my fingernails picking at wounds, scarcely able to scab over. Bleeding,...
Erik Moyer I am born. I’m not thrilled about it. Two weeks overdue and another twenty hours of crimson labor later, I am at last evicted from the womb, a whopping ten-pounder. My mother is whisked...
J. L. Bermúdez Always at the same time, the green van with yellow letters. A man, tall and dark, hair parted like a curtain. A cigarette in his hand. I can’t recall if he is handsome, or just...
