Fiction - Year V - Number 36 - May 2020

BEAUTIFUL IN THE WATERby Brad Shurmantine  Packed with the fat and arrogance that would kill him three years later, Julius Schott lumbered back to his portable classroom after the secret lunch meeting he had organized...

OBSCURAby Ian Swalwell  It was too early for the cacophony, too early for the anxiety, too early for the shame, but it was there anyway.  It wasn’t late enough to grab someone by the shirt...

THE BRITby Alan Swyer  At first Adam Lerner didn't know whether to be stunned, dazzled, or simply jealous about Colin Nichols' rapid rise in Hollywood society.Both having arrived on the West Coast thanks to a...

THE PRICE OF KINDNESSby Robert Penick       I was born in Mississippi, which is a big Strike One right off the bat, but I was also born poor, to people who didn’t need to be poor,...

MESSINESSby Jahnavi Misra   “Does this spark joy?” Nita kept asking herself.She went around the room, tripping on random items, picking up one thing after another – a figurine, a coaster, a vinyl – and repeating...

JASPER & RUBYby Zach Murphy  “These guys have been around longer than us!” Jasper says to Ruby as they admire the Galapagos tortoises at the Como Zoo. “I bet they’re wiser than us too!” says Ruby. Jasper...

BETWEEN THE AISLESby Jessamyn Violet  Fixation: An obsessive preoccupation.Sometimes, the only thing I can do to keep my mind off of him is to go shopping—mainly for cheap, useless items that make me more aware...

HORSEBACKby Eric D. Goodman Dustin prepared the horses for another day of riding. The sun had barely risen, but he’d already put in a few hours. Earlier, he’d made breakfast—eaten three eggs, bacon, toast, and...

THE NEIGHBORby Fiona Cooke     Tommy was always the paranoid type; he bought 1,000 dollars' worth of security cameras and security locks, so if anyone were to show up, he’d see them. The only thing...

LINEMAN’S HUT NO. 13by Magdalena Blazevic   The shadow is alive and Sofija knows she cannot run from it. The room's walls cannot soak it in, nor can the dark swallow it up. She pulls the...