And because the house was filled with comfortable things, you wondered. As your wife slept under the perfect thread count, you licked peanut butter off a steak knife. You thought about what it might feel like to be ripped apart by something you...
publications
Fractured Lit Elsewhere Prize Winners & Shortlisted Writers
And the winners are... Sideways by Cassandra Parkin Canarsie Zuhitsu by Geri Modell Every Thought and Prayer by Stephen Haines Thank you to all of our writers on the shortlist! We know so many of these stories will find the right home soon!...
Reasons to Be Cheerful
One morning, as I stood at the bus stop waiting for the 7:05, my neighbor, Horowitz, drove over my left foot with his butter-colored Volvo. I shouted. I shook my fist. Then I limped home to show my wife, Myrna. I’ve had a long history of bearing...
PIEL MUERTA / DEAD SKIN
She begins each morning by peeling the dead skin off her lips. Sometimes, she feels like she is shucking corn and other times, she feels like she is unwrapping a present, but mostly, she enjoys the aloneness that allows her this ritual, this tiny...
Fractured Lit Anthology Volume 4 Longlist
We want to celebrate the 52 stories on our Anthology Four longlist! An eclectic group of fantastic flash fiction that we read with excitement! Our shortlisted titles will be announced early next week! tell me how it works Protocol for What to Do...
The Girl Made of Dirt
The other girls laugh when she struggles to stand up in the ditch, her mouth edged with dirt. She braces for another blow, but they let her scramble away, and she wonders if her shoulder blades poke strangely from her T-shirt, another mark against...
My Mother, the Water Monster
I drove to the county hospital to pick up my mother. She was not as I suspected. They handed her to me in a Tupperware bowl, her spotted tail flicking behind her. “I think there’s been a misunderstanding,” I said to the bored nurse in glasses...
In All The Loveless Places
The pretty cowgirl’s mouth is wild with tameless laughter, and the tassels on her calfskin miniskirt and waistcoat dance to her every move. Standing astride the centre line between four traffic lanes, gun belt and holsters sparkling in the car...
Intertidal
Spirits. Toria doesn’t speak German, but no language is necessary. Her voice melodious with children or men, she tilts her head and orders our drinks. Gin-tonic, always. Lights sweep the room, shading us ocean-deep. The barman leans in and whispers...
Fractured Lit Elsewhere Prize Shortlist
We're sending these 25 stories off to judge Rion Amilcar Scott! We're excited to find out what stories he chooses for the winners! Siempres & Wedding Cake The right to bear arms Bethany Keratin High Love Love Salsa Camping with Jeff In the Next...
Candied Lemon
Kate knew it would not work with Ethan when she watched him remove the thinly sliced circles of candied lemon she had carefully arranged on top of the cake. He piled the peels on the side of his plate, mouth puckered, before driving his fork into...
We Mistakenly Think It Keeps Growing
# Freddie goes missing overnight on a Sunday. That week is a blur of search parties and candlelight vigils, porch lights on in such abundance that the nights are as bright as day. We rake the cornfields in regiments of two dozen, flattening the...