God Dam by Hector Acosta

Cesar found his Real Grade wing Gundam model, the one he’d put together over one weekend, missing from its regular spot. The plastic, six-inch figure now laid on his bed, the Gundam’s gun placed between its open legs. “Did your toy start without you again?” Sergio asked from the doorway, one foot resting atop a […]

The New Faces of Shotgun Honey, Submissions Open for Flash Fiction

Since 2011, Shotgun Honey has been honored to have a variety of talented writers helm what we fondly call the “Gauntlet.” A right of passage for every story that graces our site, where the story is reviewed individually by three submission editors and requires a majority vote. It started with Kent Gowran, Sabrina Ogden and […]

Dodging Bullets – July 27, 2018 – Passing of the Gauntlet

When Shotgun Honey first started in 2011 it was done so to capture something of the past, of zines that had come and gone. Some that flickered brightly and then vanished. I didn’t have any concept of how long the site would last or if it would exist past a few months. It wasn’t entirely […]

Scattered and Smothered by Hector Acosta

Every asshole in the county knew better than to rob the Waffle House. So when Louie stepped through the diner’s doors, shotgun aimed at Lynette, no one took him seriously. Especially not Lynette, who didn’t bother to look up from the tips she was counting, grease stained fingers sliding across wrinkled dollar bills. “No one […]

Shotgun Honey Joins Down & Out Books

Today Shotgun Honey is thrilled to announce a new partnership with Eric Campbell and Down & Out Books (downandoutbooks.com), an independent publisher of literary  and crime fiction. Shotgun Honey joins the Tampa, FL based company as a new imprint focused primarily on short length crime fiction: collected short stories, novellas and short length novels. Shotgun Honey has a […]

Shotgun Honey Presents: Locked and Loaded

Today we launch the third volume of the Both Barrels series with Shotgun Honey Presents: Locked and Loaded. Featuring 25 stories by: “A Boy Like Billy” by Patricia Abbott “Border Crossing” by Michael McGlade “Looking for the Death Trick” by Bracken MacLeod “Maybelle’s Last Stand” by Travis Richardson “Predators” by Marie S. Crosswell “Twenty to […]

Alacran y El Pistolero by Hector Acosta

The sun had become the old man’s worst enemy. It beat against him without any remorse, lashes of heat hitting his back and sending painful jolts up his shoulders. Reaching into his coat pocket he took out a handkerchief and wiped it across his forehead. The barren plains of the desert hadn’t changed much ever […]

Bitch by Hector Acosta

The mud clings to Mallory’s boots like an unwanted memory, making a wet, sucking sound whenever she takes a step. Brown water quickly drowning any footprints she leaves behind as she makes her way towards the car abandoned on the side of the road. Inside it she finds a man sitting on the driver seat, […]

Mint by Hector Acosta

Superman had Batman bent over while Spider-Man watched. “Damn it Billy, stop fucking around and help me look,” Ray said. Billy looked up from positioning the toys on the desk and flipped him off. “You aint the boss of me.” Ray walked over to Billy and slapped the action figures out of his hands. “Like […]

Day of the Dead by Hector Acosta

The baby sized skulls adorned the foot of the grave, packed so tightly that they almost hid the name of the buried from view.  They all faced the front of the cemetery, their broad grins etched in black, blue, and red icing. Sprinkled among the skulls laid other offerings- a plate of tamales and red […]

Big C by Hector Acosta

I ran away from the cancer about a year ago, when the word chemo first started to be used by the doctors. I’m surprised it took Lola as long as it did to find me, after all, it’s not like I ever went into hiding.  Do you know what the survival rate for stage-four lung […]