| precious little fictions in 500 words (or less). |
Things to Read
Story from Issue 17
Bobby Kennedy and His Sea Lion Sandy
by Anthony Luebbert
07/01/10
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 »
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 »
Story from Issue 16
Fences Fly By
by Salvatore Pane
11/16/09
Nick calls and says he’s driving across America and needs a place to crash for the night. I tell him I’ve got a futon, and he shows up at dusk in a real beater, explains he’s shipping out to Iraq in a month and wanted to see the country. We go to Church Brew Works, ... more »
Story from Issue 15
It Doesn’t
by Randall Brown
11/15/09
They come up to tell me what a good person I am, for letting the cook’s daughter swim with us. The girls build a village of sand hamlets—and a man carries chairs, sets them up, covers each one with a towel, adjusts the umbrella. I ask him about his own kids. They live in Canada with ... more »
Story from Issue 15
Parcel Post
by Lydia Copeland
11/15/09
Under the three bays, a billion particles stir lightless, a cool upwelling and plankton like dark moons. A woman looks out at one of the bays from a dock. In this bay, blue and rust container ships float past. She thinks of independent movement, flagella. Atoms behaving wildly at absolute zero. And whales. Back home ... more »
Story from Issue 15
Their Health
by Dylan Nice
04/11/09
She had me riding a ten-speed down a reclaimed railroad bed. She was talking about things she liked while I thought of things I did not like. more »
Review
Mad to Review: Her Notes on his book Mad to Live
by Mary Miller
01/01/09
I read Randall Brown’s prize-winning chapbook Mad to Live in an hour, an hour and a half, and was sorry it didn’t last longer. Soon, no doubt, I will have an entire book of his stories, especially considering how quickly Flume Press sold out of the 500 copies printed. And with good reason—these 18 flash ... more »