| precious little fictions in 500 words (or less). |
Things to Read
Story from Issue 18
Village 51 Glimpse
by James Grinwis
09/25/11
Mounting the fixture to the top of the cliff, the dwellers stared out to the frozen sea, not realizing that the fixture had been affixed incorrectly and would not survive the small gale that was soon to un-entrench itself from the sky. They were not of our village, they were of the other one, the ... more »
Story from Issue 18
There’s Bugs
by Dylan Nice
09/25/11
Her face was enough of a certain way to stop her from being beautiful. Her eyes didn’t seem to blink enough. She and her mother wore cotton dresses and planted flowers around their house’s foundation. Earl drove his truck down their road—he would see her and imagine different bare parts of her. Earl lived alone ... more »
Story from Issue 18
Belly Flop
by Katie Wudel
09/25/11
I can’t say I didn’t know we were out of gas, I can’t say I didn’t want this falling feeling, clouds made of icy swords and flashes of a small-town life: summer kisses, warm beef steak, fresh milk with a skin on top. I haven’t felt anything in far too long. I do what they ... more »
Story from Issue 18
Chinatown, Yokohama, 1977
by James Fowler
09/25/11
The windows of the bakery across the street reflect the setting sun partway down the alley. The scent of bean-curd pastry travels further. The only other light is the neon word bar quivering as if it’s weary of war against the gloom. I settle on the stool around the corner of the counter, incline against the wall and order. ... more »
Story from Issue 17
Bobby Kennedy and His Sea Lion Sandy
by Anthony Luebbert
01/26/11
Robert Kennedy returned from work, entered the front door of his large white house, Hickory Hill, kicked off his shoes, removed his suit coat, loosened his tie, walked over the black and white tiles of the hallway floor, past the enormous black Newfoundland named Brumus, five children, the governess, a nurse, three maids, past the ... more »
Review
Eight Miniatures on Sudden Fiction in General, and Sudden Fiction Latino in Particular
by Pedro Ponce
10/12/10
Sudden Fiction Latino: Short-Short Stories from the United States and Latin America. Edited by Robert Shapard, James Thomas, and Ray Gonzales. 336 pages. W.W. Norton. $15.95. 1. My vocation found me in the aisles of a church goods store. I was too young to appreciate the irony of crucifixes and other religious articles being on ... more »
Story from Issue 17
The Middle Distance
by Jefferson Navicky
07/01/10
From a window at the long end of the Bramhall Library, she saw the Duke splayed out on the bricks of Pollard Square, calling to her with his eyes. My girl, he seemed to say, my end is here and I wish to die with an acceptable view. She meant to ignore his plaintive face, ... more »
Story from Issue 17
Round Midnight
by Jaydn DeWald
07/01/10
Miles was in our kitchen wearing my blue-in-green bathrobe, while a humongous blackfish seethed in the deep-fryer. Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 1 spinning on the turntable. Images of The Outer Limits flickering like an eerie slide show upon the walls. Frances and I were perched on the windowsill, passing a stogie back and forth, watching the ... more »
Story from Issue 16
Spelling
by Kirsten Rue
11/16/09
The words never come simply to her, never just arrive the way milk bottles shiver down the shoots in old factory footage, each lid smacked on with a popping sound. They aren’t just ready; they aren’t just there. She works around them. Perambulates. Circumlocutes. She asks her mother to pass the steel wedge. Her sister ... more »
Story from Issue 16
Ghost Problem
by Jim Ruland
11/16/09
Ignore the knocking from the lying-in room while you rake the leaves. Your wife irons the bed sheets and stacks them in the closet. The house shudders like a sleeping horse, and the teacups rattle on their hooks. Out comes the silverware polish. The chandeliers are next. The trees are bare, and the blackened limbs ... more »