At the General Store, a cashier said, “No, we don’t sell food,” so we asked if she had candy or soda or anything general stores tend to sell, and she laughed. “I don’t think you know what General means,” and she showed us a green helmet and army boots and badges...
I would like someone to haunt my house and simulate some of my deceased husband’s habits, so I can get some sleep. These include: Walking into the bathroom. Leaving the door open with the bathroom light shining in my face. Urinating loudly. Opening the refrigerator...
You ask me: What is the collective noun for a handful of spent cigars beneath the knotty, crooked oak in the parking lot outside the Dollar Store where you work, dark nubs nestled like easter eggs in the dewy grass, loops of paper bands snug around the ends, the...
The night your father and uncle guzzle a thirty-pack of Miller Lite and ride your glittery bike shirtless through the neighborhood, you punch through your screen and tumble into the mulch. You have no plan, no destination, just a vague ache that launches you out the...
1st Place: The circus without white horses or elephants by Fiona Lynch 2nd Place: Sheepskin by Hannah Zhang 3rd Place: Too Distracted to Function by Lannie Stabile Shortlist Natalie Abbott dm Armstrong Christine Aucoin Shannon Blake Roberta Clipper Alexis Collins Kyle...
We took BART and then a bus down University Avenue, me in my jeans and black pleather jacket, as soft as the surface of my tongue, which means not soft at all, and you in your leather skirt, zipper down the side seam. Every man’s eyes snagged on your torn fishnet...
but she is always multiplying, like a rabbit. In this version of the universe, Sally is only nine years old but she is always afraid, afraid of food poisoning, of losing her sense of smell, of screwdrivers that twist in the night. Evenings, she sits on her couch and...
First Place: Raising Rabbits by F.E. Choe 2nd Place: Burn It All Down by Karen Jones 3rd Place: Casual Pinch, 1992 by Alice Kaltman Raising Rabbits by F.E. Choe Will These Elevator Doors Never Open by Robert Clementson Hope by Rebecca Donley Aquatic Mammal by Shayla...
Ann and Andy have a small, quiet apartment. They live tucked into a nook in a towering building, which is filled with other people who also live small, quiet lives. Ann and Andy are made of biodegradable material. We should note here that their names are not...
Co-Editor of the New W. W. Norton Flash Fiction America Anthology The newest installment in W. W. Norton’s popular flash fiction anthology series, Flash Fiction America, will be released on February 14. Edited by James Thomas, Sherrie Flick, and John Dufresne, this...
1. You are six, and your brother is four. The sun is so bright compared to the lush New Jersey canopy you are accustomed to. It makes the world appear technicolor and elongated. You go through “It’s a Small World,” and something about the unease of Florida burrows...
The air raid sirens sounded and my brother Bruno scrambled, demanding to know where my basement was. I didn’t have a basement and informed Bruno it was the monthly test, that there was no attack, but Bruno started stacking canned goods, rifling through cupboards. I...