Waiting Her Chance by Patti Abbott

My daughter had booked a cheap flight landing at City Airport rather than Detroit Metro and her departure from O’Hare had been delayed by snow. No E.T.A had appeared on the monitor for over an hour and my pacing was beginning to wear on the security force, a tired-looking man. In fact, the only high-tech […]

Breakfast Noir by Kirk Curnutt

He made eggs the way he made love, she realized: overheated, with an unnecessary amount of cackle and spatter, and a definite preference for the sunny-side up. She was just glad that after today he’d never again go back for seconds. “AC man comes at nine. I want the kitchen clean before then. That doesn’t […]

An Elephantine Metathesis of a Zamboni Driver by Matthew Dexter

The Zamboni driver started collecting fire ants when the snow began to thaw–and although the inspiration for the endeavor was not the weather but the removal of bandages from the third-degree burns on his left arm–this hobby was better than picking up a hunting rifle and blasting a bullet through his head like his father […]

The Reason Why I’m Calling by Chris Benton

Hello, you’ve reached Maria Calmer, please leave a message. Hey, Maria, this is Carolyn… you know…the evil cunt… uh… well… the reason why I’m calling is that I have your Romeo here, for the  rest of our fucking life and you don’t even know anything about this baby faced prick, do you, did you know […]

If I Ever Get Off This Mountain by Brian Panowich

Deddy always said “If I ever get off this mountain, I promise you boys I’m gonna carve us out a new life. One that don’t involve all this killin’. He talked about building us a little house on a flat patch of land, where’s each of us would get our own room.  He talked about […]

Trauma Therapy by Andrew Nette

The crunch of car tyres on gravel signals Wheeler’s arrival home. Headlights flash through the chiffon curtains as his huge four-wheel drive pulls into the carport. The luminous beads on my watch say it’s after seven. I’ve been sitting in the darkness in Wheeler’s bedroom for an hour. His house has given me a different […]

Tony De Luca’s Fuckin’ Bucket List by Mark Cowling

“Go fuck yerself,” croaked Tony De Luca, an exertion that led directly to a three minute spell of coughing, before the old man hacked up and spat out a cocktail of blood and mucus — a parting gift for the kind staff of South Woods State Penitentiary, New Jersey. “Hope you enjoyed your stay, Mr […]

In Order to Improve Gription by Andrew Paul Thompson

Lanton put the kerosene jug down on the oak table. The table was off. He’d drawn, cut, and measured it, in that order, himself, as a wedding gift he knew Jo would like. Never sanded it though.  Splinters with morning coffee wake you up right, she joked.  Twenty years they had breakfast every morning, at […]

Part-Time Hero by Matthew C. Funk

I sat Raymond down behind the Bywater hospital dumpsters, out of sight of the street, and asked him about the black eye. He looked at the grease stains on them, not at my badge or scowl. He gave me the dirt. Dirty 30 had rolled up on his auto body shop. Told him it was […]

Interview: John Kenyon

When you think about “Things I’d rather be doing?,” generally it’s a more personal thought. For me that’s how I was introduced to John Kenyon, whose website Things I’d Rather Be Doing acted as a gateway to all things that interest John. Part blog, part magazine, it is an introduction to John’s thinking, manner and […]

Settling the Tab by Mike Miner

It was a land of dust and scrubgrass, sand and rock, punished by the sun, forgotten by God, maybe it was Texas, by the time you made it down this busted up road it was hard to remember what country you were in, then Sally’s Airstream Diner appeared like a mirage out of the desert, […]

Twitter and Coke by Erik Arneson

Rep. Douglas Carr @CongressmanCarr The House passed my bill to protect personal #privacy online, big win for citizens. Tell your Senators to support the #InternetPrivacyAct 8:37 PM – 28 Jun 12 via web Monster Dude @bigmonsterdude @Reportasaurus where do u suppose @CongressmanCarr is right now 11:09 PM – 28 Jun 12 via Twitter for Android […]