Leo woke, instantly alert. Distant car sounds. Closer, the wide, dirty river. The sounds that didn’t belong came again: soft, shuffling steps. He stared into darkness, cardboard walls close around him. Instinct screamed keep still, keep quiet. He reached for Lucy to see if she was awake. Instead of warm body, there was only cold […]
Ariella wasn’t on the train. She always took the 5:45 from Hoboken to yoga class. What had changed? Despite hating yoga, Denise attended class religiously. It was her one chance to spend time with Ariella. Denise’s intermittent reflection in the train’s window tricked her brain into thinking Ariella stared back. Watching the girl each week […]
Greetings, and welcome to [REDACTED]! We are very excited you’ve opted to be a part of our esteemed and respected organization. Here at [REDACTED], we strive to be the number one name in assassinations. Whether we’re taking out political leaders, eliminating cheating spouses, helping to overthrow governments, or lending a helping hand(gun) to the Average […]
Nobody thinks about what happens to cocaine after it gets wet. They think about how to keep it from getting wet, and the answer is using enough plastic wrap and duct tape to last a suburban mom and dad the rest of their entire boring lives. Once water gets in, like if a brick washes […]
NOW BUYING. Grandad’s Attic, Auction House, antique dealers, estate closeouts and liquidation. Public auctions every Thursday, private auctions every Saturday. Always buying. Lyle Benton, auctioneer. Galleria Dimia, 2525 Main Street, Santa Monica. LOT A One photo album and six 8mm film loops. Photos are a mixture of amateur and professional models, including several Irving Klaw […]
The Concrete Cobbler, alias from his first job until too tired for this last, whispered goodbye to the shore.
We are please to announce the debut novel by Chris McGinley, Once These Hills, an epic coming of age story featuring a young Lydia King who forages a future in the rugged Appalachia of early 20th century only to be hunted by a dangerous past. What to Expect inside… It’s 1898. Up on Black Boar […]
People wearing badges pinned to identical blue polo shirts clutter the hotel bar. They’re young and athletic. Working for some fitness brand. I notice the woman the moment I walk in. She isn’t with the group. She sits at a table near mine. Her back is to me. From her fine profile, I guess she’s […]
The room phone rang. Diana flinched at the sudden jangling, but the client ignored it. At least, he had started out as a client. Now she wasn’t sure what to call him. “What’s the weirdest thing a guy ever asked for?” “That’s a hard one,” she said. “After ten years of this, what’s weird?” They […]
Lisa I’m walking home from school. The chestnut trees by the railroad track are in bloom. The smell of the flowers is strong, very sweet, almost too sweet. The birds chatter busily but I can’t see them. As I take the turn after the bridge, I have a full view of the valley with the […]
The filth beneath his fingernails might never shift. The grime-coated skin of his palms feels taut. He rubs a patch against the ball of his thumb, but the layers beneath offer the same. He flings a clod of earth towards the cavern’s lip; another bawled obscenity bounces off the walls. He wonders whether his colleagues […]
“Mommy, I need to pee.” Cindy sighs, kills the headlights of her repo truck and turns to face her eight-year-old son in the backseat. Charlie stares slack-jawed at the glowing tablet in his hands, the kind with the protective blue-rubber case around it. A must-have upgrade for clumsy kids and overworked moms. “I asked if […]
