Fiction – Year VI – Number 44 – January 2021

                                                                  The Blighted Madonna           There was a lady once, an extremely attractive lady, who appeared as to hold the beauty of the holy cherubs in her warm pleasant face and upon her delicate fragile...

The Princess in the Tower             The voices layered over each other--women’s voices--but she couldn’t make out the words. Valentine? Mannequin? She pulled out her hairpin, set down her coronet, loosed her hair. It fell...

The Locusts Have Eaten Everything “He didn’t do it.” Mom takes a deep breath. She exhales. “I don’t care what the other student said—my son would never hurt anyone.” I listen. I maintain meaningful eye contact....

                                                                                    Sleep Well, Shadow                                                                   By Aliyah Smith Every day, the same routine. Alarm pierces through my skull. Wake up in a cold sweat. Stand up from the mattress on the floor. Eat breakfast. Take a...

The Heart of a Revolutionary Jacob McLaws Zhang Tianyu is being released from the hospital today. The Peking Union Medical College Hospital. I smoke as I wait for him outside. He won’t notice me. He’s never...

"Morning, I'm calling about the room you've got advertised." "Sorry, it's already taken." "Okay, thank you." I drew a line through the phone number on my piece of paper. Another one gone. Surely, I wouldn't end...

Uriel Fox and the Mystery of the Dying Children Uriel Fox rambled through the mountain forests and meadows for much of the year, and frequently he’d meet a fellow sojourner along the way. These encounters...

Petunias             “So how’s it going at the not-home-alone house?” Darci asks Linda. They’re arranging some new dahlias on a two-tiered round table just outside the entrance to Bernie’s Hometown Hardware. Every spring Bernie expands...

A less painful end By Vivek Nath Mishra It was Ghure's daughter, Anju, who brought in everything Ghure ever desired and gave him some relief from poverty near the end of his life. Ghure’s poverty was...