Aaron J. Housholder They were old enough to have become nice boys, Jake and Jimmy, but somehow they had not. Their families would later describe them as upstanding young men who seemed so...
Rion Amilcar Scott Dearest Slumlord, I watched a most disturbing video the other day. It was a rare moment when the internet worked (yes, I know, not your fault unlike our water which is here...
Megan Cummins He sits down next to me at the bar of the sushi restaurant where I’m waiting for my take-out. With a sideways glance I realize he’s old enough to drink but just barely. So...
2017 Fiction Award Winner, Chosen by Patricia Park Ashley Morrow Hermsmeier Greer pulled a strip of rubbery, partially chewed chicken from her mouth and tossed it onto the saggy porch. “I...
Sean Lovelace Above western France, James Franco tumbled (more sucked out actually) from a C-82 cargo plane and spinning, spinning, through strands of torn cotton, whirls of luggage-shaped...
Miranda Schmidt When the two people come into the woods, they bring their noise with them. They crackle old leaves in new hiking boots, snap pictures and laugh as they point at birds and...
Kim Chinquee At the auction I wear a bright pink tank top and walk around in my bare feet. I touch my face. I’m so hot that my teeth hurt. People stand around a flatbed, where the...
Siamak Vossoughi There was a lie running straight down the middle of their town. As long and straight as Forest Avenue. The boy had been aware of the lie for some time now, but as soon as he...
Zach Powers He was a little gray moon. Small enough to be held in the palm of one’s hand. But a moon is too heavy for that. He would center his orbit on the object of his attention. He...
Leslie Pietrzyk You really hammer down the nail, my boyfriend says the second he swipes shut this phone call. Thank you? Not a compliment, he says. I arrange a hurt, pouty look on my face, a...