Danny got to Average Joe’s early. Ten o’clock. Before Bobby. Before he lost his nerve.
Maybe ten people there, a couple along the bar, a few at the tables. A geezer sat on a stool near the door, with a cop’s buzzcut and a hard stare. A baseball bat leaned against the wall.
Continue reading “No Moon In January by Joe Mallon”
It was a backyard party with an announcement. Bev’s promotion had been long coming and George Filmore had broadcast invited her coworkers and as many neighbors as he could get hold of. The two groups, unknown to each other and with little in common other than Bev, exchanged oil and water chit chat, slithering off each other without really blending.
Continue reading “The House Guest by Edward Ahern”
“Things are going ok, things are going well, as well as they could be, given the situation, the scare, you know, the scare back there.”
Continue reading “Nobody Has Any Clue by Matt Liebowitz”
(A Novel Excerpt) by James Hanna
Author’s Note
Gertie McDowell, a naïve young girl with a talent for misadventure, has joined a women’s wrestling troop called Christian Ladies of Wrestling. The troop was put together by Wanda Sue, a bank robber with a streak of religion whom Gertie met while serving time because she “trusted the wrong sort of fella.” The mission of the troop is to bring folks closer to Jesus by having women posing as Christians beat the sin out of women posing as transgressors. Gertie’s wrestling persona is Haystacks Holly, a lustful temptress who needs a good punishing. The troop also includes three runaway girls: Cocheta, an Apache girl with sleeves of tattoos, and Sofia and Mia, a pair of sinewy migrant workers.
Continue reading “Christian Ladies of Wrestling”
Clothes have gone out of fashion because public life has disappeared. People continue to get out of bed but they don’t waste time getting dressed. People don’t dress for work and they don’t go to church. Men and women no longer wear underwear. That’s modern America. Many people no longer even use the toilet. Late century sidewalks are dirtier today than they were in the Wild West. It was once due to the number of horses.
Continue reading “Deliria, 2068 by David Lohrey”
Nothing.
Nothing to see. Nothing to feel. Nothing to smell. Nothing to hear. No sense of orientation.
Nothing.
Not just the lack of anything tangible, but the absence of even the concepts to describe the lack of senses beyond the externality of… what?
Me.
Continue reading “In the Beginning by Lee Stoddart”
Helen stood at the back of her car, in the unrelenting heat of summer in the desert, staring blankly at the pump. This was the first time she had pumped gas since David had passed. A great, vital man. A locomotive halted by the failure of the tiniest part, cascading into ever progressive, irrevocable destruction. It was one of the worst things she had ever experienced, and when the end came it was the worst relief. She had her hand on the valve when, looking back at her car, past the faded McCain 2008 bumper sticker, there was no gas cap cover. She remembered then that she had always been on the opposite side of the car, in the passenger seat, as David pumped gas. So she got back in the car and turned it around.
Continue reading “Helen vs The Gas Pump by Joel Pedersen”
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