The Big Click

A half‐hour after the news van had finally departed from the front of my house it was back and the vapid reporter was knocking at my front door sans camera and microphone. They had been driving in circles and needed directions out of the neighborhood. It was that kind of community, a labyrinth of soft […]

Another D. Britt sighed. Math was never going to be her strongest subject, but college wasn’t going to pass her along the way her shitty high school had. And it wasn’t going to get easier the deeper into the semester she got. She packed up her books in her beat‐up Jansport. Some hipster with a […]

It had been years since I’d seen Cal; probably not since he married Miranda two years ago. I gave a toast at the wedding and we danced, but after that, life got busy and now it was the occasional text or email, a card at Christmas. Probably for the best. Cal and I were fire […]

Birthdays get harder as you get older. Not the birthday itself; I hate when people complain about their birthday, like it’s such a drag to celebrate living another damn year, but trying to buy a birthday present for a grown man? You might as well be trying to find the Ark of the Covenant. “Just […]

The light danced along her cold black skin illuminating cuts and cigarette burns—some fresh, others thick keloids. Her body was a husk now and looked more like a wax figure than once living matter. The Reverend stood over her. He was tall and thin with a light brown complexion. He wore a crisp, white collar […]

Ft. Worth. “I fuckin hate that guy,” Leo said. Leo and her twin brother Lenny lounged poolside watching the host of the party, Johnny Blue, strut around. “There anybody you don’t hate?” Lenny asked. Leo’s upper lip curled as Lenny watched her face. “His wife. I’d hit that raw.” “Man you nasty.” Leo turned to […]

A comic by Chan Chau.

A comic by Nero O’Reilly.

The use of apostrophes and quotation marks, for the most part, are an arbitrary convention. In some special cases, like can’t/cant, won’t/wont, I’ll/ill, et cetera, they are necessary; however, there are no other words in the English language like dont, doesnt, et cetera. Writers, I believe, must reimagine the possibilities of the language. *** Anthony […]

Apartment buildings, locked. Like every car, locked. A parking garage, card‐key entry. A doorway, all too illuminated. The Chinese Consulate, for Chrissakes, Falun Gong penitents kneeling in the dark and in the rain across Laguna. Furlong Gone, good name for a horse. And, yes, it is raining on both sides of the street. Fifty yards […]